A middle aged sister lost her husband a week or so ago. He was very active in the ward but got sick and put in nursing home for a half a year. The sister has two teenagers that are quite active in the Church.
Saturday is funeral at church. Everyone is invited. My friend gets a call from Relief Society to bring a cake. I said oh they are having refreshments afterwards, that is good. "NO, it just for the family. Relief is providing lunch for about 30 close family members."
Why can the Church not provide refreshments for everyone? They used to. Bottom line. This man probably paid big bucks all his life and the Church can not provide refreshments for those attending his funeral. Like a recent post said, the Church gives you nothing but you give them lots.
I recently attended a funeral at another Church that the person was a member of. You should have seen the spread. Oh wait they are a Christian Church that does not require tithing.

My wife's funeral was at a Catholic church in the small town her family came from. The CWL did the luncheon and one asked for a donation.

Even the public schools, which are notoriously tight-fisted, provide nice lunches for the staff several times per year. I recently enjoyed a "welcome back" lunch of lasagna, chicken pasta Marsala, salad, garlic bread, dessert, and beverage. It's a pity that the ward budgets are so tight that they can't provide a nice sendoff for a longtime member, who likely donated a huge amount of tithing over his lifetime. If the members don't provide it, it doesn't happen. Can't take from those multi-billion dollar investment accounts!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2023 05:38PM by summer.

In my area, wards usually only cover the cost of meat for a funeral lunch. It's usually ham. Like you said, only close family is invited. So basically, the church pays for a Costco ham or two. All the sides and desserts are donated by ward members. Yep, the LDS church is cheap.

You don't amass an estimated 300 billion dollars (and who knows what else?) by being anything but miserly.

The meal for LDS funerals is generally the same every time: ham, funeral potatoes, green beans,jello, rolls, and water. I actually like the dinners, but I'm so amazed it's the same thing everytine.

It could be a faith promoting exercise. The priesthood holders of the ward are expected to repeat the loaves and fishes trick from the gospels.

A Snickers bar and a Twinkie should be enough to provide refreshments for the whole ward. It's got to work, unless they've been looking at porn or something.

So if they're doing miracles like they are supposed to, a ward budget is not necessary.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2023 03:40AM by bradley.

Best part is they are being cheap with other peoples money (in the form of a donated cake).

Maybe the ward leaders weren't notified until the last moment. And while I would love for the church to be generous, we know that it's the members who come through in times of need.

Another thing the ward has to deal with are the ward moochers. These are the families (every ward has 2-3) who never bring anything to a ward potluck. Yet, they are the first in line to help themselves, take everything in sight and then are back in line for seconds when members are still waiting for firsts.

And as someone who sat through weekly church leadership meetings, they are very much noticed and discussed. Usually home visits were planned to verify that they did indeed have food in their homes before rushing to judgment that they are gimme pigs.

Dichotomy of The Church™:
On the one hand it's a neighborhood of hardy pioneers who look after each other and volunteer their time, talents and everything for the building up of a humble, not-wealthy church in Zion.
On the other hand, it's a money juggernaut, totally disconnected from anything Jesus ever taught.

In my Utah wards it has been the family who has been asked to provide the meat, or pay for it, and the RS provided everything else.