Priestly "bailouts"

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syrinx2112

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Some Catholic friends of my parents told them they would not put anything in the collection plate because the Church was using so much money to help pedophile Priests stay out of the public eye. This is very disturbing. Does anyone here have similar sentiments?
 
I dont agree with your parents friends. We have to do our bit and leave the judging and punishing to God. It is not our perogative to stop giving to God. He has been generous to us and we should cheerfully give towards his work.

Peace and love
odopa
 
odopa said:
I dont agree with your parents friends. We have to do our bit and leave the judging and punishing to God. It is not our perogative to stop giving to God. He has been generous to us and we should cheerfully give towards his work.

Peace and love
odopa
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I would agree if the money donated was, in fact, being used for the purposes for which it was intended. This is not always the case and I think people who support Church charities are entitled to be aggrieved if their generosity and trust are abused by those entrusted with Church finances.

For example, according to the recently published Murphy report, Irish paedophile priest Ivan Payne was paid money from a fund meant to help the poor of Dublin after his release from prison. From the time of his laicisation in 2002 until 2007, Payne was supported with money from the Poor of Dublin Fund. The fund is made up of bequests to the archdiocese and is meant to be used for the relief of the poor.
 
  1. The purpose of the Church Collection is to alleviate usual expenses (altar bread, wine, vestments, incense etc)
  2. There are special collections in which we donate to religous orders or other causes.
  3. Priests are still priests even if they have committed terrible crimes. They are left to the judgement of God, their bishop superiors and the local justice system.
Support your church as your means allow!
 
Firstly, let me say that I don’t support calls for Catholics to withdraw financial support for their priests and parishes.

However, I must say that I am a bit perplexed by this notion regarding priests who were involved in abuse, that God will be the judge. How far do we take this? I mean, God will be the judge of all - not just the priests and bishops; but in the real world we don’t leave it to God to punish criminals - paedophiles are punished (hopefully with some sort of rehabilitation also), murderers are given harsh and lengthy sentences. Why do we feel that priests are above this? I am genuinely seeking an answer to this - why some people think that in the case of a paedophile priest, he will be punished by God; yet a layperson found guilty of paedophilia is punishable by civil law as well as the punishment that God will rightly give him?

From the pieces of the recent Murphy Report into abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese which I’ve read, I think I recall it saying that four priests involved in child sexual abuse are still in active ministry in the Archdiocese. Can you imagine if your weekly contribution to your parish was going towards the upkeep of a priest involved in such disgusting and scandalous - and indeed, criminal - behaviour? He may still be able to celebrate Holy Mass, but I know I would have great difficulty in financially supporting such a situation - people wouldn’t stand for this type of thing in any other walk of life.

All that said, I would reiterate that I would not support an “across the board” withdrawal of financial support for our priests - but in Ireland at the moment, tempers are really raging & I understand why people in their anger would make such calls. If the hierarchy believes that there is no place in the priesthood for abusers and such appalling carry-on, is it not time that they actually took action to show that this really is the case?
 
One thing to remember in this terrible story:

Accusation is NOT proof.

Remember also at one time two things were believed about peodphilia:
  1. When it happened, especially among priests, this was considered an “occasion,” an exception. Bishops had to do two things–protect the reputation of the priest and the privacy of the victim.
  2. Pedophilia was amenable to the psychotherapeutic process.
We now know, to our sorrow, that neither of these are true. In the meantime there were many bishops trying to do the right thing for the right reason, and wound up doing the wrong things, though their motives might have been better.
 
syrinx2112 said:
Some Catholic friends of my parents told them they would not put anything in the collection plate because the Church was using so much money to help pedophile Priests stay out of the public eye. This is very disturbing. Does anyone here have similar sentiments?
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But I suspect they want a church that is warm in the winter, a full time priest, bread and wine available at the Consecration, staff to hanlde the minsitries of the Church-where do they expect the money to fund these to come from?
 
A parish needs to pay it’s bills. If you go to Mass, you should give to the collection plate. Period.
 
syrinx2112 said:
Some Catholic friends of my parents told them they would not put anything in the collection plate because the Church was using so much money to help pedophile Priests stay out of the public eye. This is very disturbing. Does anyone here have similar sentiments?
Click to expand...
If you can’t support your local parish, switch.
 
I hear that (quite often) from people that somewhat want to be mad at the Church. (And in most cases, also refuse to give to any other charity)

Personally, we give what we can. Specially since we are able to pay better attention to the mass when the A/C is on, and the microphones work.

If they decide to do something else with the collection, it will be between them and God.
 
I agree with the others that say that we should still give. All monies collected do not go to ‘bailout’ these priests. Some money does go to pay for settlement for those abused, but that is the Church taking responsibility, not shurking from it.

We recieve so much from the Church (there would be no baptism, no Eucharist, no marriage, no Confession). How can we expect this from the Church, and then not contribute to it?
 
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