My mom: “The Church should sell all her buildings, use that money for the poor, and hold Mass in a run-down building.”

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Life is just full of mistakes, and you seem to have learned some lessons. I am sorry that you had to learn some in a painful way.

Do you have anyone you can talk things over with whom you trust to give you good feedback?
 
DeniseNY said:
It’s already been stated that the Church gives more to charity than any other organization.
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Forbes Top 100 Charities

Catholic Charities (13)
  • $1,306M Government Support
  • $858M Private Donations
  • $1,574M Other Income
For comparison:

Salvation Army (5)
  • $366M Government Support
  • $2,033M Private Donations
  • $1,924M Other Income
You’ll notice the CC takes in 4 times more Government Support than the SA and more than double Private Donations. So I’m not quite sure where this idea comes from, though I’m very willing to be educated.
 
No one here specifically said the organization Catholic Charities; they’ve said the Catholic Church.
 
DeniseNY said:
No one here specifically said the organization Catholic Charities; they’ve said the Catholic Church.
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OK, is the assertion about the Catholic Church world wide? Or is there another substantial branch of the USCC that is giving money?

Charities by Domestic spending

Even here government support ranges from $366 Million to $0 for the three larger ones. I hate to be too blunt, but CC, getting more than a third of its budget from the Government, is in part a government contractor for some of the social services they supply.

Why am I going after this? It’s too easy for Christians to sit back with some sort of idea that their money somehow makes it to charitable causes outside the Parish. The Catholic Church is the single largest denomination in this country, so it should be the largest donor by amount. That claim means little if you can’t look at it per ca pita or percent of budget.

What our family has done is to setup a small church (with an aim to become an official Lutheran Church) with just a rented room at a local park district center. The goal is to:
  • Bring in people marginalized by the Church.
  • Worship in a very activity based way that promotes interaction between adults and kids and even allows for kids that can’t easily sit still.
  • Establish a ministry directly aimed at providing supplies and establishing relationships with the local chronically homeless.
I’ll admit this is in great part possible because of my spouse being an ordained Lutheran Pastor and having the passion for this. But it takes substantial, unpaid, professional time from our family and some other additional expenses.

I’m by no means saying anyone in particular needs to go this far. But this is to my point that you do not need any building to worship and do effective evangelization, charity, or worship. Further to the point, I spent Good Friday at a store front regular Lutheran Church.
 
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TheLittleLady said:
It is not polite to correct your mom. Give her a hug and be kind to her.

Maybe you could compare how she cooks her best food, uses the good dishes fresh flowers when there is an important guest coming for supper.
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He or she should share his views but in a good manner and with respect redgarding his/her mother.

Maybe you should find a polite way to explain to her how the Church is completely dependent on evangelization, and that is done by reaching people - through church buildings.

You could also cite Matthew 26,6-13:
"And when Jesus was in Bethania, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman drew near to him, holding an alabaster box of precious ointment, and she poured it over his head while he was reclining at table. But the disciples, seeing this, were indignant, saying: “What is the purpose of this waste? For this could have been sold for a great deal, so as to be given to the poor.” But Jesus, knowing this, said to them: “Why are you bothering this woman? For she has done a good deed to me. For the poor you will always have with you. But you will not always have me. For in pouring this ointment on my body, she has prepared for my burial. Amen I say to you, wherever this Gospel will be preached in the whole world, what she has done also shall be told, in memory of her.”
 
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@LiveSkype

The question of the Church’s art treasures vs. care for the poor is a false dichotomy.

The Catholic Church is mobilized throughout the world to care for the poor. Her charity is unmatched.

The beautiful buildings and art treasures do not belong to the bishops and the pope. The Church is the custodian of these treasures, which belong to all of Christendom.

As for arguing with your mother, I would advise you to step back. The obligation to respect a parent is paramount. Your mother is entitled to disagree with you. Debating with her won’t change her view. Move on and be nice to your mom. She did, after all, carry you in her womb and give you life.

God bless you.
 
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The Church is the people of God. Cathedrals and other sacred spaces are places of assembly. What is not taken into account is how long it has taken for the Catholic Church to accomulate its wealth. This is not wealth that was accomulationated over the course of a single lifetime, but over centuries.
Genesis tells us that we are created in God’s image. God created the world in 7 days. Man, created in God’s image, also uses his imagination to create.
Before the invention of the printing press, literacy was reserved for the elite. Stained glass windows provided a way for the illiterate masses to understand the Scriptures proclaimed from the pulpit.
The people of God used their creative talents to worship God in desiging and building beautiful artitecture. Creative artistry can be a form of worship, as can its contemplation. Prayer is more than the rote memorization of written prayers. It is lifting up hearts and minds to God. The creative process, as in the case of Notre Dame, and other cathredrals could take 200 years to build. The flying buttresses were innovative in their day, providing structural support, while leading eye upward.
Bishop Barron says all that needs to be said when describing how the Rose Windown enhances contemplation.
 
I am no expert on this, but common sense seems to tell me that if an individual or an organization has assets, it is more productive to maintain those assets and to use the income generated than it is to realize those assets and then just have a finite amount of cash to spend.
 
Kima said:
He or she should share his views but in a good manner and with respect redgarding his/her mother.
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I’m a woman, not that it matters. I’m just glad you didn’t refer to me as “they”. 😁
njlisa said:
She did, after all, carry you in her womb and give you life.
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I don’t know if you missed this part of my last post, but it’s okay of you did (since it was rather long):
LiveSkype said:
…my biological mother passed away when I was 7…
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Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t remember Christ complaining about how the Temple was clad. I think that a nice church represents a beautiful offering for God in his Glory and majesty.

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Cathedral of Christ the King Atlanta GA

Good hearing from you OP!
 
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Regarding the OP, basically it’s where log meets eye. Matt 19:16-22. Dollars to donuts it won’t happen. Just use it as a gentle reminder.

Peace and God bless
Nicene
 
@LiveSkype:

Alexandria, I’m sorry for my mistake. I apologize for offending you.
  • My mom is not evil , I love her very much! Even though she was the one who married my dad after my biological mother passed away when I was 7, we just don’t see eye-to-eye on everything.
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Oh you didn’t offend me, you just glossed over some information that was buried in a long drawn-out post. You’re forgiven!
 
I commented about a similar situation in another post, I think it was about the Notre Dame fire. You could probably search my screen name. Some of what is said, and there are links in the other post and more detail:

1)The Catholic Church, if referring to the Vatican or Government part of the Church doesn’t own much property other than the Vatican grounds itself. Most Catholic Churches (CC) are owned by the individual Parishes or Dioceses. The CC is mad up of individual Dioceses that have their own Parishes under them. Each parish is subject to the Bishop of that diocese and each have their own budgets, income, and properties.

2)The Vatican has an operating budget of a medium to large city and is normally in the red, not the black. Most of the large famous universities have more wealth than the CC.

3)The art work, Statues, historical artifacts and ect in the Vatican Museum and CC, actually belong to the faithful not to the Vatican.

Yes a lot of it is priceless, but was gifted to the faithful buy the artists. The Vatican has cared for and maintained these Documents and art work for 100s of years. If they had not a lot of it would’ve been lost to history.

Selling these items would be akin to the US Government deciding to sell the Washington, Lincoln Monuments or the Declaration Of Independence, Constitution Of The United States to pay off its debts. The government in no way could legally do this because we the people own it. Plus a lot of us would be upset if that happened, I know I would.
  1. I no way recommend you say this, but you could suggest she could sell her home or donate money to support the needy.
 
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Also the Catholic Church, with all it’s different organizations like Catholic Charities, Catholic Outreach, Knights of Columbus and other groups is one of the, if not the biggest global charity on the planet.
 
DebCWil said:
Dorothy Day, who worked with the poor responded to the question of the beautiful places for worship and asked, “Why should beautiful works of art be reserved for the rich?”
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That’s a good one to remember because most the devout Catholics who think the church should sell everything love Dorothy Day.
 
That’s just Catholic Charities (which is the name of an organization) in the United States.

That’s not worldwide and not the Universal Church.

Even in the United States, there are TONS of official Catholic ministries serving the poor besides Catholic Charities.
 
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