I am planning a church abroad and my local parish is preparing the paperwork for me as well as a letter of freedom to send to the priest abroad. I will be making a donation to the church abroad for the ceremony and all, but my local church has said there is a charge or ahem... "donation" fo $1000 just to help us get everything together on this end. I was a bit blindsided by this. I really can't afford to pay two churches. Does anyone else have experience with this?