Paying Church Offerings with Credit Cards

ParishPay LLC has reached an agreement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago to allow all members of the parish to make their offerings and other donations with their credit cards. The Chicago diocese is one of the largest in the nation. Under the program, the Archdiocese will need to obtain a merchant identification number. Church members who wish to participate in the program may charge their offerings or donations using their debit cards or credit cards. The diocese will accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards. CardLine reports that the target market is "Catholics who don't attend church, and Catholics who attend regularly but miss attending Mass seven or eight Sundays a year for various reasons." The card program also assists the diocese by smoothing out seasonal dips in cash inflows.