'Church Donations via QR Code'... Churches and Temples Introduce Card and App Systems One After Another

The Catholic Church will launch the smartphone application ‘Catholic Hasang,’ which includes a contactless offering feature, on Easter Sunday, the 9th.

According to the Korean Catholic National Computer Officers' Conference, the app’s built-in ‘Catholic Pay’ allows users to make various donations contactlessly. By registering a bank account in the app and charging a certain amount, users can make offerings, church dues, and Mass intentions without time or location restrictions. However, Sunday offerings must be made by scanning a QR code at the church during Mass. The system will initially be implemented in the Archdiocese of Seoul and gradually expanded to other dioceses.

[Photo by Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul]

Such changes are also observed in Protestantism and Buddhism. Yoido Full Gospel Church has supported automatic offering transfers through its official church app since 2020.

Offering function in the Yoido Full Gospel Church app
[Photo by Yoido Full Gospel Church]

The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism installed kiosks (unmanned information terminals) at its headquarters, Jogyesa Temple, in January 2021, allowing devotees to make donations using credit cards.

Donation kiosk at Jogyesa Temple
Photo by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.