MANILA (UCAN) -- "Transparent" financial accounting by the laity has helped a new system, tithing, gain acceptance among parishioners in one of the country's oldest archdioceses, Nueva Segovia in northern Luzon.

Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Nueva Segovia says three years of discussions involving parishioners and priests paved the way for the "modified tithing system" the archdiocese implemented about a year and a half ago.

Under the system, parishioners commit to a certain weekly or monthly contribution to their parish and are enrolled in the roster of contributors. They are not asked for a set amount or percentage of their income.

A finance committee in each "barangay" (village) chapel, composed of laypeople, handles the collection and bookkeeping of this parish fund and posts a monthly financial report on a public bulletin board.

All Sacraments are administered for free, and stipends the parish priest receives must go into the fund. Priests now receive a standard salary with an additional premium for each year in the priesthood.

The tithing system, Archbishop Quevedo told UCA News Feb. 21, has changed the work of the priest from being "merely sacramental" to one of formation.

It does away with the "arancel" system introduced by the Spanish, the archbishop explained, in which parishes set fees or take donations for Baptisms, Confirmations, funerals, marriages and the celebration of Masses. This money is then recorded in a book of accounts kept by the parish priest.

The arancel system, with modifications, is followed by the majority of Philippine dioceses.

Critics say it places too much discretion in the handling of parochial finances with the parish priest, encouraging secrecy, and leads to having different "classes" and exclusivity in the administration of Sacraments.

Archbishop Quevedo said people had to be convinced that the arancel system was inadequate and that the local Church needs regular support.

Much effort went into a "conscienticization and educational campaign" among Catholics of the archdiocese to "explain to them what their obligation is in supporting the Church," he said.

Still, he noted, people were leery at the beginning. "But they became more convinced when we showed 'transparency' in the handling of funds."

Parish funds are allocated as follows: 50 percent for parish evangelization projects; 10 percent for archdiocesan projects; and 40 percent for maintaining the church, priest's residence and other operational expenses.

Parishes with sufficient incomes are also urged to share with the smaller ones that are being subsidized.

The overall response to the new system has been "most positive," Archbishop Quevedo observed. "People feel very much involved in the running of the Church" and in their share in the task of evangelization, he said.

The archbishop said he first broached the idea of tithing to the clergy, two years after he was installed in Nueva Segovia in 1986. "The priests are the key," he said. "Once they agree, they themselves will think out the way."

And one of the more contentious issues in the following three years of filling out the concept was that of determining the salary of the priests.

"For the priests themselves, they have accepted the fact that the old days are gone when they kept secrets, although there is nostalgia among a few for the old ways," Archbishop Quevedo said.

The greatest resistance has come from the rich, who must contend with the same type of sacramental administration as the poor. There is only one kind of celebration to be followed for Baptisms, funerals, weddings, etc.

Rich and poor alike have to follow the guidelines set by the archdiocese, guidelines that tend to simplicity and a preferential option for the poor.

The see of Nueva Segovia, erected as a diocese in 1595, was transferred to Vigan, 280 kilometers north of Manila in Ilocos Sur province, in 1758. The archdiocese's quadricentennial anniversary is among the events Pope John Paul II is expected to celebrate when he visits the Philippines in January 1995.

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