Bingo! : Game Considered Necessary Evil to Raise Funds

At times it seems as if the game is up for Bingo, a parish hall gambling exercise sometimes jokingly called by Roman Catholics “the eighth sacrament” of the church.

One Catholic bishop recently announced that he will ban bingo in his diocese by 1991, and two others have asked that the game be eventually phased out of the churches--all on the premise that it is not a fitting way to raise money.

But a recently published nationwide survey of Catholic parish life has demonstrated that “St. Bingo,” as it also has been called, has a devoted following.

The survey by the University of Notre Dame found that when 1,099 parishes were asked to list the three best-attended activities, the Sunday Mass came first, but bingo was second (60%). Only one-fifth of the parishes placed religious education in the top three parishioner activities, followed by 17% listing parish school events and sports, 12% listing Lenten services or devotions to Blessed Virgin Mary and 10% listing social activities such as the Knights of Columbus.

An Inexpensive Night Out

“Bingo is a curious phenomenon among Catholics,” the study said, noting that it is a generally inexpensive night out for family members of various ages in a friendly, safe setting.

“Bingo as a social phenomenon,” the report continued, “has a staying power among many parishioners that has outlasted the concern expressed by many bishops, pastors and fellow parishioners about bingo as part of the regular parish budget and stewardship program.”

When asked what activities best exemplify the parish’s “vitality,” parishes again mentioned Sunday Mass the most. Bingo dropped to 29%, but still edged out religious education, sports, and fraternal activities. Parish social services, social justice work, liturgical preparations and youth ministry all were mentioned 10% or less of the time in the survey.

The socializing benefits of bingo are not denied by Catholic leaders, nor are the small-stakes games denounced as immoral, but they tend to be, if anything, a source of theological embarrassment.

“We must first convince ourselves that the stewardship of money is a genuine theological principle and see gambling as a betrayal of that principle,” said Bishop Warren L. Boudreaux of the Houma-Thibodaux diocese in the bayou country of Louisiana.

No Games of Chance

On July 1, Boudreaux gave his priests and parishes five years to stop using bingo, raffles and other games of chance to raise funds. He said he also wanted fairs and festivals, which rely on games of chance and raffles, to be phased out over the next 10 years.

“It seems to me unworthy of our God that we should have to use these means to support his Gospel and his church,” Boudreaux said.

No deadlines were set, but Bishop Ernest L. Unterkoefler of Charleston, S.C., and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago have endorsed efforts to disengage the church from the games. Bernardin told a priests’ group in his archdiocese this summer that although he does not regard “bingo or other forms of gambling immoral per se, I do not think that gambling is an appropriate way to raise money for the church.”

In California dioceses, the success of bingo as a fund-raiser varies from place to place.

Games on Reservations

High-stakes games on Indian reservations, where bingo prizes are not under state-imposed limits, have evidently hurt parish bingo in some parts of San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles has not addressed the issue. “We neither encourage nor discourage bingo at the parish level,” Financial Officer Jose A. Debasa said this week.

“Only 12 of 34 archdiocesan high schools use bingo to raise funds,” Debasa said. The amounts raised range from $20,000 annually to “substantial” amounts, he said.

Msgr. Anthony L. Duval, pastor of St. Monica’s parish in Santa Monica, said his “dream” is to have Catholics contribute enough money directly to support the parish schools.

Nevertheless, very shortly after the City of Santa Monica started granting licenses in 1977 for non-profit, charitable groups, St. Monica parish, then pastored by Msgr. Raymond J. O’Flaherty, begin holding bingo games on Tuesday nights to provide capital funds for the parish’s two schools. The church was attracting as many as 350 people in the first several weeks.

Lottery May Hurt Bingo

Duval said that bingo, still on Tuesday nights, has drawn 130 to 140 people the last two months, a recovery of sorts from an average of 110 in the spring. Duval speculated that the California lottery games may have sometimes hurt attendance.

“I’m happy as long as we make a little profit,” Duval said, although he admitted that “it is a constant preoccupation” helping a committee to get the 15 to 20 volunteers needed each week to run the game.

Within the last year or so, some parishes have dropped bingo for lack of patronage. And yet, Our Lady of Malibu parish launched its first-ever bingo night 11 months ago and has finally started to bring a “fairly profitable” income, said Associate Pastor Benjamin J. Murphy.

In San Bernardino, the pastor of Our Lady of Assumption parish told the diocesan newspaper, Inland Catholic, that bingo was “a necessary evil” because it raised $25,000 in each of the last two years for the parish school.

But elsewhere in the San Bernardino diocese some parishes have ended their bingo nights because of the competition from Indio bingo games. Diocesan policy limits the maximum prize to $250 for any one game whereas the maximum prizes at the Indian bingo parlors can amount to thousands of dollars.

Inland Catholic Editor Dan Pitre, in an editorial in this week’s issue, lamented the signs that bingo by far exceeds the popularity of other parish activities, especially spiritual growth and learning opportunities.

“It’s not that bingo pulls people away but that many Catholics are more attracted to such activities as bingo than they are in learning about their faith,” Pitre wrote.