ordinarily confused in the way we express what we in church and charity, there are several terms and obligations in one way or another we know not to confuse.
Alms: monetary donation is commonly given to people who need this support. The charity is a Christian gives a different sense of the simply giving alms. It's just, it is by love and not pity, is not interested, is respectful of the poor, is prompt, cheerful and secret. Every Christian is bound to give alms to charity rich or poor according to their means. We can not confuse what we give alms in the temple, although many of the priests themselves are sometimes so called. The Christian charity is to give what I have and not what I have left.
contribution to the Church: the last commandment of the Church is to help the Church in their needs. For this there are two forms that are commonly called Peter's Pence and the "Tithe." In the first case and is an old practice of Peter's Pence, in a certain way and force between the first Christian communities, arises from the awareness that all Christians are called to support, physically, in the work of evangelization and, same time to generously help the poor and needy. The money collected on this occasion is not within the budget of the Holy See, it goes directly to charity. And in the case of tithing in the Old Testament, we set the tithe, which was to give ten percent of the collected fruits, yet Jesus with the story of the poor widow (MC 12 42.44) brings us a new way to give is to love. Tithing should not necessarily be ten percent of what you earn, but is visible from the scope and the awareness of giving generously. May be more than ten percent or less. The issue is not to forget the obligation you have to give the support of the Church.
But there are other ways to help:
The money collected at Mass
personal donation to the parish
personal donation to the seminary
personal donation to a nursing home, hospital ...
And the donation can be cash, in kind ...
