Not all Catholic Churches think that way. I have some priest and volunteers go out of their way to fil a request. I also have had some churches that will not do the request without some type if donation. And that is why I agreed to try to send a donation
A lot of times it is the wording how you are requesting it. I had a cousin who went to Ireland and went to Catholic Church he asked the priest if he could check for a baptism and the priest said he did not have time. That he only has time for the 2500 LIVING parishioners. I emailed the same priest stating he was my last resort that all possible records in the states I searched were unable to give me his mothers name. He looked up the request for me with no donation required On Tuesday, December 30, 2014, Joanne Mercier <[email protected]> wrote: > I work for the Catholic Church and I can say with surety that it's not a > matter of money for information when it comes to requests for genealogical > purposes. There are a few factors at work: > 1) there is enough work going on in a typical parish on any given day > that they cannot respond to every request in a timely manner. I once > suggested that someone with genealogy experience compile a database that > would be easy to look up for such requests. As you might imagine it was > dismissed under "not enough time and too little requests." > 2) the LDS folks have scared quite a few parishes into holding on to > this information because of what they reportedly do with it when they get > it. If you're not familiar with why they do genealogy in the first place > I'm don't wish to debate it here but suffice to say while it's nothing > sinister it is not a part of our belief system. I know for a fact that some > bishops in my area have told their pastors not to fill our requests because > of this. > 3) lastly, the prospect of identity theft using our information is real > since the church keeps such good records so, again, we've been advised not > to share anything with just anybody. Even I have had a difficult time > researching my family in the parish where I was born because of this and I > work of the church. Folks are very cautious and sometimes they would rather > just ignore a request than go the extra mile to fulfill it to later learn > that the information was abused in some manner. > > I hope this insight helps explain why Catholic churches are sometime or > most always uncooperative. > > Joanne Grota Mercier > > > > On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 2:23 PM, 'Lisa' via Azores Genealogy < > [email protected] > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','[email protected]');>> wrote: > >> I also have family that was active in that church and it is nearly >> impossible to get a look at records because they are "private". After much >> persistence & groveling in person, I was allowed to view an index of >> baptisms and found my grandmother and her siblings. I had been told there >> were no records for the family. The county record of my great >> grandparents' marriage states they were married at the church with the >> accurate name of the priest at that time but the church repeatedly tells me >> they have no record of the marriage. Why are they being so secretive & >> difficult? >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Dec 27, 2014, at 5:49 PM, Cakemom102 via Azores Genealogy < >> [email protected] >> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','[email protected]');>> wrote: >> >> St. Joseph's Church, Clarksburg, Yolo County, California Portuguese >> >> Is there anyone in contact with a man who years ago was given permission >> by the priest to completely extract the vital records of baptism, marriage >> and death from this church in Clarksburg? I was told that he would one day >> publish it, though he may have hit a snag with that idea. >> >> There were so many from Pico in those early years and many Sacramento >> area families could learn where their ancestors came from if they had >> access to these records. The most recent priest has not been letting >> anyone see the records. Even though he has retired, it would certainly be >> easier if the records have been extracted than to go to the church >> >> I believe that my grandparents may have been married there. >> >> Mary Ann >> >> -- >> For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail >> (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the >> right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my >> membership." >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Azores Genealogy" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] >> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','azores%[email protected]');>. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. >> >> -- >> For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail >> (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the >> right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my >> membership." >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Azores Genealogy" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] >> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','azores%[email protected]');>. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. >> > > -- > For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','azores%[email protected]');>. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. > -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
