What Every Catholic Should Know About Tithing
Many Catholics have questions about tithing and how to tithe properly. What is a tithe? What does the Bible and Christ’s Catholic Church teach about tithing? Are Catholics required to give ten percent of their income to the Church and her God-given mission? What’s the difference between a tithe and almsgiving? Also, what does Scripture and the Church teach about Christian stewardship in general, and not simply regarding tithing/financial giving in particular?
Here is a brief summary: The Church requires Catholics to support her material needs, and they should do so generously according to their means. While the Church does not designate a fixed percentage of income the faithful should observe in giving, Scripture and the Church provide consistent counsel to give back joyfully and generously to the Lord—and thus to his people and the Lord’s larger saving mission. A tithe technically means a tenth, and the Bible repeatedly connects tithing with gratitude, worship, and the support of God’s work. In addition, while a tithe would comprise one’s regular giving to the Church, almsgiving typically entails something additional—and specifically directed to the poor. Further, stewardship not only encompasses our monetary treasure/tithing, but also our time and talents in support of the Church’s God-given mission (see Matt. 28:18-20).
What Is a Tithe? Definition and Meaning
The biblical words for “tithe” are the Hebrew ma’aser and the Greek dekátē, which both literally mean “a tenth.” In the Bible, thus, a tithe is a gift of ten percent given back to God.
The earliest example of tithing in the Bible appears in Genesis 14. After Abram defeats four kings and rescues his nephew Lot, Melchizedek—king of Salem and priest of God Most High—brings out an offering of bread and wine (see Heb. 5:1; Luke 22:19-20). And Melchizedek blesses Abram, and then Abram gives the king “a tenth of everything” (Gen. 14:18-20).
This series of events illustrate that God’s people practiced a form of tithing before the Lord codified it in the Mosaic Old Covenant law. For Abram, his tithing expresses gratitude to God for delivering him in his battle with the four kings. Catholics should understand giving to the Church in the same way: not as a tax, but as a grateful response to God who gives us every good thing we have.
Tithing in the Bible: Old Testament
The Bible addresses tithing in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, tithes helped sustain the worship of God, related needs, and those of widows, orphans, and others in special need.:
- Leviticus 27 declares that the tithe belongs to the Lord.
- Numbers 18 shows that tithing supports the priests and their Levite collaborators who aided them in leading worship, i.e., offering sacrifice to God (see 2 Chron. 31).
- Deuteronomy 14:28-29 details a special tithe for widows, orphans, and others in special need.
- Malachi 3:10 calls the people to bring the full tithe into the storehouse, with God promising to pour out his blessings on those who give faithfully.
- Malachi’s words are not a prosperity-gospel formula. They are a serious call to trust God with our resources.
Tithing in the New Testament: What Does Jesus Say About Giving?
In the New Testament Gospels in general and the Sermon on the Mount in particular (Matt. 5—7), Jesus calls us to a more committed form of discipleship, not a lower one:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17).
For example, in Mark 12 and Luke 21, Jesus watches a poor widow put two small coins into the Temple treasury. Jesus says she contributed more than everyone else because she gave “her whole livelihood,” whereas the others “have all contributed from their surplus wealth” (Luke 21:4).
While Christians are not bound to uphold the ceremonial and disciplinary norms of the Old Covenant, including tithing, Jesus still exhorts his disciples to give generously and holistically—and thus through our time and talent, and not simply from our treasure (see Matt. 25:31-46; Luke 12:25-37). In addition, Jesus has given his Church the disciplinary power to bind and loose, including regarding tithing, and the Church has varied historically in her discipline regarding financial giving.
Are Catholics Required to Tithe Ten Percent?
The Church’s fifth precept obliges the faithful to help provide for the material needs of the Church, each according to his own abilities—in particular through one’s monetary giving (CCC 2043).
Three things stand out in this teaching:
- It is a precept—a minimum obligation, not a suggestion.
- “According to one’s abilities”—the amount is proportionate, and thus not identical for everyone.
- “Material needs of the Church”—real financial support for real costs: salaries, facilities, ministries, and mission.
The Church recognizes that a Catholic who is struggling to pay rent or feed his family is not in the same position to give as one who has significant wealth.
However, Catholics should give generously according to their means, including forsaking some luxuries, which can include—for rank-and-file Catholics—minimizing the frequency of eating out and limiting other forms of entertainment, e.g., whether and to what extent one has cable, satellite, or streaming TV. Studies have consistently shown that Catholics typically give only about 1–2 percent of their annual gross income, and yet the Church exhorts a ten-percent standard if at all possible. The Diocese of Wichita,Kansas, shows what’s possible when the faithful in a particular region give ten percent in solidarity with one another.
For many Catholics, ten percent is a worthy and achievable goal. For some in genuine financial hardship, it may be unattainable for now; and yet, in the meantime, they can still strive to give through their time and talent, especially as a family, which is a great way to form children in the Lord. For the wealthy, tithing a strict ten percent may be too little.
What Is the Difference Between a Tithe and Almsgiving
A tithe traditionally refers to one’s regular giving. If one is giving 10 percent of his annual income, he might give five percent to his parish and five percent to other worthy ministries, e.g., Catholic Answers or one that provides material assistance to the needy.
Almsgiving, which is a particular focus of the season of Lent, is an additional form of giving focused on the poor and given out of love, which in our modern times can include supporting women and their children who have endured the grave scourge of human trafficking.
In addition, the Church doesn’t require the faithful to use as their financial-giving standard either their gross income or take-home income. However, in making our budgets, we should remember that God is the source of every good thing we have (Jas. 1:3; Eph. 1:3). That includes the talents we have to generate our incomes: “What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” (1 Cor. 4:7; see (1 Cor. 16:2, 2 Cor. 9:7).
What Is Catholic Stewardship?
The Church reminds us that our giving back to God and his Church encompasses not only our tithing or financial giving, but also our time and talent in loving our neighbor, “even as I have loved you,” says Jesus (John 13:34; see Luke 10:25-37; CCC 1822-1829; 1880; 1936-1937). The U.S. Bishops have an excellent letter on stewardship, which provides basic principles in living out our Christian discipleship:
- Time: including our prayer, worship, and participation in parish life.
- Talent: our skills and abilities used to advance the kingdom.
- Treasure: financial resources given according to our ability.
Jesus admonishes the Pharisees for prioritizing strict tithing, yet failing in the greater and thus timeless demands of the Old Covenant law, namely, the Ten Commandments and their corollary teachings:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! (Matt. 23:23-24; see 25:31-46).
This means Catholics should ask themselves honest questions:
- Am I regularly supporting my parish?
- Am I giving according to my actual means, not the minimum I can justify?
- Am I helping the poor and supporting the Church’s corporal works of mercy (CCC 2447), including through my time and talents, if possible?
- Am I using my resources for God, or primarily for myself?
- Am I giving God something that costs me, or just my leftovers?
- Am I helping—according to my time, talents, and treasure—to help advance the Church’s spiritual works of mercy? (CCC 2447).
A Catholic who gives money without love is missing the point, like the Pharisees of millennia past (see 1 Cor. 13). But a Catholic who claims to love God while consistently refusing to support the Church materially should examine his conscience for grave wrongdoing on other grounds. Generous giving trains us to trust God more by loosening our grip on both our wealth and lives in general through supporting the Church’s mission—and thus, again, will help remind us that every good thing we have comes from the Lord.
Commonly Asked Questions
- What is the difference between a tithe and almsgiving? A tithe is one’s standard of regular giving, ideally—if possible—ten percent of one’s gross income. Almsgiving is additional giving ordered toward the poor in particular and motivated by charity.
- Is it a sin to not tithe? It is not automatically sinful to give less than ten percent, although we should give generously according to our means. In addition, one could seriously sin if he consistently refuses to fulfill the Church’s fifth precept, despite having the financial means to do so.
- Does the Catholic Church require Catholics to tithe ten percent of their income? The Catholic Church, consistent with Jesus, does not impose a fixed ten percent giving level on every Catholic, although the Church has historically exercised in varied ways her God-given, disciplinary power to bind and loose regarding the faithful’s financial giving. In short, each person should give generously according to his means. However, the ten-percent tithe is a biblical model that Catholics should take seriously as a giving standard.
- What does the Bible say about tithing and giving to the Church? The Bible presents tithing as a way of honoring God, sustaining worship, and caring for those in most need among God’s people. The practice first appears in Genesis 14, is formalized in the Mosaic law (Leviticus, Numbers), and is upheld by the prophets (Malachi). In the New Testament, Christians are called to even deeper generosity through holistic life living and giving (see John 13:34; Luke 10:25-37). St. Paul exhorts consistent, generous giving; and Jesus praises those who give sacrificially, not in a self-focused, convenient manner.
- What is the fifth precept of the Catholic Church? The fifth precept (CCC 2043) obliges the faithful to help provide for the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability, particularly regarding one’s financial support. It is one of the basic obligations of life as a Catholic Christian.
- What are the three components of Catholic stewardship or holistic giving as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ? The three components are time, talent, and treasure.
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