CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF BENIN CITY ECCLESIASTICAL PROVINCE APPROVE UNIFORM MASS STIPENDS AND STOLE FEES, REAFFIRM THAT SACRAMENTS ARE NEVER FOR SALE
Benin City, Nigeria|March 1, 2026–Fr. Dr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Ãmos
The Bishops of the Benin City Ecclesiastical Province have approved uniform guidelines for Mass stipends and stole fees across the Province, in a move aimed at strengthening pastoral consistency, financial transparency, and doctrinal clarity.
The Province comprises Benin City Archdiocese as the Metropolitan See, together with the Dioceses of Bomadi, Auchi, Warri, Issele-Uku and Uromi.
The decision was reached at a recent meeting of the bishops of the Province and has been issued by mandate of +Augustine Obiora Akubeze, Archbishop of Benin City and Metropolitan.
Under the approved norms, the offering for booking a Mass is fixed at ₦500, while stole fees for Baptism, Marriage and Confirmation are set at ₦1,000 respectively.
In communicating the directive, the bishops were unambiguous: “These amounts are not charges for the sacraments but reasonable offerings.” The distinction is neither rhetorical nor cosmetic. In Catholic theology, the sacraments are acts of Christ entrusted to the Church; they are not commercial services rendered upon payment.
The term “stole fee” derives from the liturgical stole worn by the priest while administering sacraments. Historically, it came to signify a customary offering given on the occasion of a sacramental celebration. It is not payment for grace, but a contribution toward the material support of the parish, the upkeep of sacred spaces, and the sustenance of clergy who dedicate their lives to pastoral ministry.
In many parts of the world, such offerings form part of the ordinary means by which parishes meet operational costs: electricity, catechetical materials, maintenance of church property, and support for charitable outreach. The bishops’ decision to standardize the amount across the Province seeks to prevent arbitrary variations that may burden the faithful or create confusion.
Significantly, the directive states: “No stole fees are required for funerals. Priests are urged to deal compassionately with the bereaved and avoid any form of extortion.”
This exemption reflects a deep pastoral instinct. At the hour of grief, the Church stands first as mother and consoler, not as administrator of dues. The bishops further reiterate a foundational ecclesial principle: “No one should ever be deprived of the sacraments because of financial incapacity.”
The directive also cautions priests to avoid “any semblance of simony.” Simony, in Catholic moral and canonical tradition, refers to the deliberate buying or selling of spiritual realities—an offense named after Simon Magus in the Acts of the Apostles, who sought to purchase apostolic power. The Church has consistently condemned simony as a grave distortion of the Gospel, because it attempts to commercialise what is gratuitous by nature.
By explicitly invoking this term, the bishops are not merely issuing an administrative reminder; they are safeguarding theological integrity. Grace is gift. The sacraments are efficacious signs instituted by Christ. Any perception that they are conditional upon payment undermines both doctrine and evangelisation.
The harmonisation of stipends across the Province reflects an ecclesiological logic. An ecclesiastical province is not a loose federation of dioceses but a communion structured around a Metropolitan See. While each diocese retains juridical autonomy under its bishop, provincial collaboration fosters unity of discipline and pastoral coherence.
The directive concludes with an appeal for “understanding, cooperation, and fidelity” from priests, religious and lay faithful throughout the Province.
In substance and tone, the measure reinforces a perennial Catholic conviction: offerings may sustain the Church’s visible structures, but the sacraments themselves remain, in their essence, the free and unmerited gift of God.
Fr. Dr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Ãmos is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Uromi and a Lecturer at CIWA, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
