50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 687 What is the ceremony for the 100 million?

The key point is that in the future, the spending level of high-ranking believers in the church will be raised, and their spending in the church will increase dramatically.

It's like communion. In the past, church communion used red wine that cost a few dollars a bottle. Back then, there was no other choice, so people would just have a couple of sips and that was it.

But now, St. John's Cathedral has imported a lot of high-end red wine from France. These wealthy people are no longer willing to drink those cheap grape waters that cost only a few dollars. Naturally, they want to order high-end meals instead.

Even the most expensive wine is just a glass of red wine, costing only a few hundred dollars each time, and it only happens once a week. They won't skimp on that; that would be asking for trouble.

Just like now, Sun Zhiwei would no longer drink inferior red wine; he really couldn't stand the sour taste.

It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. He can never go back to the days of hard work and struggle.

After listening to Father Irwin's introduction to the advanced baptism ceremony, Sun Zhiwei didn't mince words and directly inquired about the current pricing for the ceremony.

The price is reasonable; Bishops Irving and Wilson charge $100 million per baptism for this highest level of ceremony.

Of course, this is the price offered by the church to the public. As the main creator, Sun Zhiwei should definitely be given the full discounts he deserves.

Irving calculated that the direct cost of the ceremony was around $1, with the main cost coming from the airlifted water from the sacred mountain.

That was the real deal, airlifted from the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem in oak barrels.

A single baptism of a child requires one bucket of water, while a baptism of an adult requires several tons.

As for the sacred objects used in the ceremony, they are all old items accumulated over the years. If you say they are precious, they are indeed precious, as many of them are antiques from hundreds of years ago.

If it were auctioned off, one piece could fetch at least several million dollars. However, the cost of using the sacred artifact is incalculable.

Just imagine what it would be like to drink from a golden cup bestowed by Emperor Qianlong, and you'll get the gist of it.

It should be said that it is even more sacred than that situation, because the influence of religion on Western believers is far more exaggerated than the influence of emperors within the country.

If you were to pay a price for using the sacred artifact, it would cost at least $100,000 per use.

Moreover, the ritual will certainly involve more than one sacred object. If three or five are used, the cost of $500,000 would naturally follow.

There are also baptismal ceremonies presided over by bishops. There are only a few dozen bishops in the entire United States, and their status is truly prestigious; they are all high-ranking officials at the state level or above.

If this were in ancient times, they would be saints who could touch the top of one's head.

It's really inappropriate to have them officiate a ceremony for you without spending at least a million dollars, right?

Any less and it would be beneath them, and the bishop might not be willing to pay more. So, a price of $100 million for a single ceremony is genuinely not expensive.

The reason they didn't set a higher price was to leave room for future price increases.

Irving has limited the number of times this high-level ceremony can be held, only three times a month. Those who don't have a spot should compete by raising their prices.

Upon hearing his arrangement, Sun Zhiwei couldn't help but give him a thumbs up in praise.

This guy has completely grasped the essence of his original proposal and even created a limited-edition, scarce gimmick. Father Irving is a business-savvy man.

Under Father Irwin's guidance, St. John's Cathedral will surely flourish.

After understanding the details of the new baptism ceremony, Sun Zhiwei arranged a baptism date with Owen for next month's Sunday. Of course, payment was required, and Sun Zhiwei wrote a check to cover the full cost of the baptism.

As for discounts and rebates, it's not about directly reducing fees, and of course, it's not about giving money back directly—that would be too tacky.

Therefore, Irving set up a church points system, which he recorded on the church's computer, and could be used to offset their family's future expenses at the church.

Looking at Father Irwin's holy and solemn face, Sun Zhiwei couldn't bring himself to get angry.

On the second weekend of October, Sun Zhiwei and his family visited St. John's Cathedral in New York.

Today, the church hall was decorated in a magnificent golden light, with two choirs lined up on either side, and the audience gathered below the stage, which was decorated in a solemn and dignified manner.

The sacred objects, which are only taken out and displayed at Christmas each year, are arranged on both sides of the stage.

In the center, in an ancient stone basin, holy water from the sacred mountain is heated to the right temperature, and Bishop Wilson, dressed in his bishop's robes, stands in the very center.

As he recited the prayer, all the believers joined in, and the entire choir offered their blessings in harmony.

The ceremony proceeded one by one, with the sacred objects not only being displayed but also being held directly in Bishop Wilson's hands during the ceremony.

The golden ladle he used to scoop water was brought from Rome by members of the Anglican Church 500 years ago and was later kept in the treasury of St. John's Basilica.

It is not usually brought out except on religious holidays throughout the year, and many veteran believers have only seen it once or twice in the past few decades.

Today, however, they are being used to baptize a pair of babies, which is no ordinary ceremony.

All the believers were amazed by the grandeur of this baptism ceremony and gained a new understanding of the top-level rituals at St. John's Cathedral.

A while ago, when the ceremony's rules were first released, they weren't very enthusiastic about holding a ceremony for 100 million.

They thought Father Irving was probably obsessed with money; it was just a baptism ceremony, something that could be done with a quick wash, so how could it cost a million dollars?

They clearly remembered that in the past, a baptism ceremony only cost a few dozen dollars.

Sun Zhiwei had made his concerns very clear to Father Owen, and he knew exactly how to respond to them.

Therefore, during this period, he did not offer any rebuttal, allowing the doubts to fester until today, when the highest-level ceremony was held for the first time.

The magnificence of the ceremony, the solemnity of the event, and the extravagance of the baptismal items were all vividly displayed in this ceremony.

All previous doubts were swept away by this ceremony. This reversal not only did not harm the church, but also added to its solemnity and sanctity.

Seeing the expressions on the faces of the believers present, Father Owen couldn't help but smile, feeling even more grateful for Sun Zhiwei's teachings.

He recalled that a few months earlier, Mr. James had made this whole set of suggestions to them in the bishop's tea room.

At the time, Mr. James had already anticipated people's reactions to all of this and had even devised countermeasures for him, which allowed him to calmly face all the external doubts.

In fact, he has been under a lot of pressure these past few months, and there have been many nights when he almost couldn't hold on and wanted to give up.

But the outcome of today's ceremony has confirmed Mr. James's initial judgment; his accurate grasp of human nature is something I can't match at all.

(End of this chapter)