Questioning wealth of Catholic Church and attitudes

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Wealth built the Cathedrals, you don’t build up the poor by tearing down the rich.

Jobs with economic prosperity benefits all as the poor become the rich.

Amen.
If you say so. Just remember that a livable wage and health care are RIGHTS according to the Holy Father.

Pax :signofcross:
 
Onto the discussion of the OP…

First off, how much actual wealth does the Catholic Church have?

First of all, we have to consider what we mean by “the Catholic Church”… the finances of each diocese in the Church are separate. There may well be some dioceses that are wealthy and some that are not so wealthy (after the billions that have been extracted as a result of clergy sex abuse lawsuits, I would imagine that the not so wealthy are getting to the point of outnumbering the wealthy)

As far as the Holy See, though:

In money, as in liquid assets, not all that much. You can see this report on the 2009 audit conducted by the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Matters of the Holy See This includes net earnings from the Institute for Works of Religion (a/k/a the Vatican Bank)…provided for the purposes of the Church’s corporal works of mercy.

In property, there is a huge amount. But what are you going to do with it? Should St Peter’s square be sold off so that an office building can be built? Should they divide up the Sistine Chapel into condos?

Well…not so fast, they cannot be sold (official “World Heritage sites” – difficult to unload, even at a sale price)

But let’s take a look at another example. Let us say the Archdiocese of New York wanted to sell off St Patrick’s Cathedral so they could give the money to the poor.

They might make $100 million from the sale. Then some developer could turn it into office buildings, condos, shops, or maybe tear it down and erect a skyscraper in its place. St Patrick’s would never be the same. And would it solve poverty in New York City? Hardly.

And what about the memory of all of those people who sacrificed so they could donate to help build that Cathedral? Doesn’t that dishonor their efforts?

Consider, as a real example, Los Angeles. They used to have a lovely Cathedral, St Vibiana’s. Well, it was sold off after the current monstrosity was built. It’s now called “Vibiana’s” and is used as an “event” locale.


I’m sure all of those people who sacrificed to build that fine Cathedral are happy to see how it is now being used.

Now I agree that I don’t care for the way that many try to raise money. But the typical alternative offered is to sell it all off. And, in the case of the Church, I question that even more.
I’m sure all of those people who sacrificed to build that fine Cathedral are happy to see how it is now being used

I’ve seen ecumenical Christian rock concerts like this in my parish.😦 :mad:

If this sort of stuff is what is embraced by the Church for the sake of ecumenism I want no part of it. Sorry I don’t envision the Holy Sanctuary where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass takes place being used as a rock stage. Its the House of God not an entertainment center.

Makes me think of Jesus walking into the synagogue with a whip and driving out the money changers.
 
I may not have made myself clear in my previous post. That wasn’t a “Christian Rock” group. The former cathedral is no longer a cathedral or a Catholic church. It is a commercially owned venue for “events” – like the recording of media award shows, high priced wedding receptions, and “club” type rock concerts.

If I did not communicate that effectively above, I apologize.
Well I think there’s a far cry from my personal views bringing in a distinctly Catholic music choir on the Sanctuary or lets say the Catholic Saint Michael’s Boys Choir from the Archdiocese of Toronto singing Catholic music again on the Sanctuary with due respect than have a ecumenical Christian Rock concert who have no respect with coffee cups strewn all over the Altar and Tabernacle. I know. I’ve cleaned it.
 
to try and get this back on topic what would you consider bad use of money in the church, or what are some examples (excluding specifics) of misuse of money in the church?
For me, I think the misuse of monies in any church is the numerous social groups. Many for just repeats of others. Some had some much fun that they want to do it again and again, Hardly anyone is there but that social group lives on and on. Schooling works. Learning Non-profit social grouping for faith and entertainment should be a qualification at these larger churches. Weepers, lines do form waiting for many a group to get on with it. 😃
 
You reap what you sow, never covet thy neighbors weath

“You reap what you sow” is true, but not absolutely so, at least not in this life anyway.
There are many out there who, despite their poverty or lower-middle class status,
are VERY, VERY kind and EXTREMELY GENEROUS and VERY HARD WORKING,
yet are forced by the greedy corporations they work for (for example) to work literally like a dog with absolutely insufficient remuneration, when these business (I know this for a fact about my own, they even brag about their vast profits and wealth openly) could well afford, without any “pain” to themselves whatsoever, to pay you a much more fair and equitable wage than they do. Very often, they pay us as little as they can possbily get away with under Federal Law, and even THEN they COMPLAIN about having to pay THAT and use their money lobbying Congress to even do away with the minimum wage.
What disgusting attitudes.
I do NOT covet my neighbors wealth, and DO NOT WANT to live high-on-the-hog,
but that warning is, sometimes, a cheap shot aimed at people doing backbreaking work who finally speak up because they are, in fact, being abused by stingy, greedy, extremely wealthy employers who give no evidence of having ANY conscience about the matter at all.
People who work HARD, whether educated white collar, or relatively unskilled blue collar, deserve to be paid well enough to live a reasonably comfortable existence. And it is not “coveting” for those people doing backbreaking low-paid work to finally rise up and absolutely INSIST upon it.
Now, folks, in eternity, unless we avail ourselves of the Atonement provided us by Christ first, we WILL reap what we sow, and in strict justice, having rejected mercy which is overwhelmingly more generous than Justice. But that’s in eternity.
In this life, many, many, many people do NOT reap what they sow. Not at all !!
To use an extreme example, Stalin was a vicious, evil, apostate Christian and mass murderer. In THIS life, he did not reap what he had sown. He lived quite well, thank you, and died, being buried with hifalutin funeral and honors. Kruschev eventually suppressed his “cultus,” but that’s another matter. In THIS life, that monster lived very well.
**Fidel Castro **has caused UNTOLD suffering and horror and destruction to Cuba and to the Cuban people at large. Yet, despite now-failing health, he has lived a long, prosperous life and lacked for NONE of life’s necessities. Again, he has lived quite a nice, prosperous life, thank you. He is dying the failing health, old-age kind of death common to every human being since Adam. In this life, he has NOT reaped what he has sown.
When Nazi Germany was defeated, the top Nazi officials were put on trial in Nuremberg for their unconscionably brutal and heinous crimes against humanity. The Nazis murdered six million Jews directly, six million OTHERS (gypsies, priests, nuns, gay, etc) directly, and caused World War Two. That’s a lot of killing of innocent folks.
But the Communists of Eastern Europe and Soviet Union had, since 1917, murdered upwards of 150 MILLION people, mostly civilians.
Yet, when Communism fell, the top commie leaders were not put on trial at all, and most of them are still alive, unrepentant, have never apologized for their diabolical oppression and brutality against the Russian and other Eastern European people, and are living quite nicely, thank you. Why were the evil Nazis brought to account, but the Communist thug leaders were not? Regardless, my point is well made. In this life, you do NOT always reap what you sow. In THIS life, for some strange reason, you often reap the exact OPPOSITE. Look at all the sweet and kind, generous people in the world who get stricken with Cancer, Lymphoma, and other horrible deadly diseases. Are they reaping what they have sown? I really don’t think so. Not in this life, anyway.
Now, I’m not going to disparage this man, because he has repented and become a good Catholic, but Bernard Nathanson, founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League, responsible directly for untold numbers of aborted children, has been shown mercy by God (and I praise the LORD for this) and is doing well as a practicing Catholic. But in terms of “strict justice,” our brother Mr. Nathanson has, in this life, certainly NOT reaped what he has sown. Instead, he was shown (and praise the Lord for it!!!) GREAT mercy by God, and is now reaping many blessings, although he certainly didn’t SOW all these blessings. You don’t SOW future blessings by performing and promoting abortions.
Love to all of you,
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+
PRAY THE ROSARY DAILY
 
**Wealth built the Cathedrals, you don’t build up the poor by tearing down the rich.

Jobs with economic prosperity benefits all as the poor become the rich.

Amen. **

It’s not as simple as the above, although (and I’ve been one of them, too) followers of the Republican and, nowadays, the Tea Party politico/economic line, might believe so quite sincerely. St. Peter’s Basilica wasn’t built only by the wealthy. It was financed in great part through voluntary donations, no matter how small, attached to prayerful good works and repentance, to which an indulgence was attached. It was this indulgence, by the way, which led in part to the rage and rebellion of Luther, because some of the preachers of the indulgence reportedly made public, sacrilegious comments such as,
“as soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a Soul from Purgatory SPRINGS.” In other words, the monetary donation alone, would free you from Purgatory. Which is, of course, false.
And it has NEVER been the church’s teachings on indulgences, either, despite the aberrant 16th century preachers who said such false things.
The other Cathedrals of Europe and the Americas were also built, as well, with the gifts of the poor and lower classes, gifts in money and in kind (voluntary help in helping to erect them). It was not “the wealthy” who built the Cathedrals. Yes, they often gave, and if devout, gave quite generously. But, as always, SOME do their giving “to be seen and praised by men,” and give out of their SURPLUS (not sacrificial giving out of their NEED), while some others give privately, without public recognition, simply to help out. And give out of what they have to LIVE ON, not their surplus. Which makes their gifts actually meritorious before the LORD.
Jobs with economic prosperity benefits all? Not always. Many of the jobs are unjustifiably low paying while requiring risky, backbreaking work and , in the case of cleaning crews, dangerous health exposure to germs and filth and dangerous chemicals used in the cleaning, with NO “Hazard” Pay to make up for this risk. And usually no respect from their better-paid fellow employees, either, who often look down on these people (and sometimes publicly express those snotty sentiments— I’ve heard it with my own ears. One of my senior executives once even castigated ME because I happened to know the cashiers at the neighborhood Burger King by their first names, acting shocked, as if WHY would ANYONE want to know “those people” by their names??? As if they are just poor trash unworthy of being known and respected). And unless they are extremely lucky, or God gives them a much prayed-for miracle, the hard-working poor rarely become rich, no matter how hard they work. Some of becoming rich is ingenuity and hard work (in some cases) but often it is also WHO you KNOW and who you have curried favor with, along with Dumb Luck, as some would call it. There are many people with brilliant ideas and wonderful inventions, yet very few of them become wealthy and famous like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates even though their ideas, too, are worthy. And why is a God-hating Leftist like George Soros, a Marxist anti-god radical, so filthy rich? Where is the Divine Justice in THAT? He uses his vast wealth to spread antiChristian moral corruption, and he is not alone among the rich in doing this, either, not by a long shot.
The top execs at headquarters of my company, use the company’s vast profits to promote the Gay Militant Rights agenda, actively and proactively, and to promote radical environmentalism and to promote Planned Parenthood etc.
As I’ve said before, this Conservative admiration for the super-rich is extremely misinformed and misguided. Believe me, dear Middle Class Conservative Christian,
THEY, for the most part, do NOT admire YOU nor ANYTHING you stand for, especially not the Lord, His Church, and His Gospel, which they actively help undermine by the bad things they financially promote. They WILL, gladly, take the tax cuts that you provide them, but they will use a significant portion of that to support causes and issues that would rightly horrify your Christian conscience.
 
You reap what you sow, never covet thy neighbors weath

“You reap what you sow” is true, but not absolutely so, at least not in this life anyway.
There are many out there who, despite their poverty or lower-middle class status,
are VERY, VERY kind and EXTREMELY GENEROUS and VERY HARD WORKING,
yet are forced by the greedy corporations they work for (for example) to work literally like a dog with absolutely insufficient remuneration, when these business (I know this for a fact about my own, they even brag about their vast profits and wealth openly) could well afford, without any “pain” to themselves whatsoever, to pay you a much more fair and equitable wage than they do. Very often, they pay us as little as they can possbily get away with under Federal Law, and even THEN they COMPLAIN about having to pay THAT and use their money lobbying Congress to even do away with the minimum wage.
What disgusting attitudes.
I do NOT covet my neighbors wealth, and DO NOT WANT to live high-on-the-hog,
but that warning is, sometimes, a cheap shot aimed at people doing backbreaking work who finally speak up because they are, in fact, being abused by stingy, greedy, extremely wealthy employers who give no evidence of having ANY conscience about the matter at all.
People who work HARD, whether educated white collar, or relatively unskilled blue collar, deserve to be paid well enough to live a reasonably comfortable existence. And it is not “coveting” for those people doing backbreaking low-paid work to finally rise up and absolutely INSIST upon it.
Now, folks, in eternity, unless we avail ourselves of the Atonement provided us by Christ first, we WILL reap what we sow, and in strict justice, having rejected mercy which is overwhelmingly more generous than Justice. But that’s in eternity.
In this life, many, many, many people do NOT reap what they sow. Not at all !!
To use an extreme example, Stalin was a vicious, evil, apostate Christian and mass murderer. In THIS life, he did not reap what he had sown. He lived quite well, thank you, and died, being buried with hifalutin funeral and honors. Kruschev eventually suppressed his “cultus,” but that’s another matter. In THIS life, that monster lived very well.
**Fidel Castro **has caused UNTOLD suffering and horror and destruction to Cuba and to the Cuban people at large. Yet, despite now-failing health, he has lived a long, prosperous life and lacked for NONE of life’s necessities. Again, he has lived quite a nice, prosperous life, thank you. He is dying the failing health, old-age kind of death common to every human being since Adam. In this life, he has NOT reaped what he has sown.
When Nazi Germany was defeated, the top Nazi officials were put on trial in Nuremberg for their unconscionably brutal and heinous crimes against humanity. The Nazis murdered six million Jews directly, six million OTHERS (gypsies, priests, nuns, gay, etc) directly, and caused World War Two. That’s a lot of killing of innocent folks.
But the Communists of Eastern Europe and Soviet Union had, since 1917, murdered upwards of 150 MILLION people, mostly civilians.
Yet, when Communism fell, the top commie leaders were not put on trial at all, and most of them are still alive, unrepentant, have never apologized for their diabolical oppression and brutality against the Russian and other Eastern European people, and are living quite nicely, thank you. Why were the evil Nazis brought to account, but the Communist thug leaders were not? Regardless, my point is well made. In this life, you do NOT always reap what you sow. In THIS life, for some strange reason, you often reap the exact OPPOSITE. Look at all the sweet and kind, generous people in the world who get stricken with Cancer, Lymphoma, and other horrible deadly diseases. Are they reaping what they have sown? I really don’t think so. Not in this life, anyway.
Now, I’m not going to disparage this man, because he has repented and become a good Catholic, but Bernard Nathanson, founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League, responsible directly for untold numbers of aborted children, has been shown mercy by God (and I praise the LORD for this) and is doing well as a practicing Catholic. But in terms of “strict justice,” our brother Mr. Nathanson has, in this life, certainly NOT reaped what he has sown. Instead, he was shown (and praise the Lord for it!!!) GREAT mercy by God, and is now reaping many blessings, although he certainly didn’t SOW all these blessings. You don’t SOW future blessings by performing and promoting abortions.
Love to all of you,
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+
PRAY THE ROSARY DAILY
 
Perhaps it’s in the way a person sows. God said through the prophets that all the monies put to good things wouldn’t mean a thing unless the money was for the correct intention. Put pennies and nickles into a plastic jar at a fast food restaurant may get you favor for a few moments with the heavenly host. Working a 9am to 5pm job to feed a family may be reap for that few cents put into the fast food jar. If bounty, great wealth, and luxuries are wanted, such as living like the wealthy, then put one fold into the basket, and you will get ten fold back.

But to demand that the person who put their one fold in the basket have to give to those who only put in a few cents is gluttony. :mad:
 
**But to demand that the person who put their one fold in the basket have to give to those who only put in a few cents is gluttony. **

Karaleigh, hi !!!
You make a generally valid observation above.

But there are other things to consider.

Lets say YOU have only 75 cents to your name,
and YOU put 10 cents of that into the jar at the restaurant.

And the other guy puts in his one fold, or one dollar.
He put in one dollar, you put in 10 cents. 1/10th of what he put in.
But here’s the kicker. Yes, he put in more than you did.
But guess what? He has $500,000 dollars to his name.
While you only have 75 cents to YOUR name.
Therefore, karaleigh, YOUR gift of 10 cents, was like 12% or more
of everything YOU owned.
While his much bigger numerically gift of a WHOLE 1.00 dollar,
was only 1/500,000th of everything he owns.
Your gift, by comparison, is a thousand times LARGER and more generous than HIS.

NOW, in that case, if you ask for help buying a burger, are you still a glutton?

To him to whom much has been given, MUCH will be REQUIRED —-----
Jesus Christ, an infallible statement.
 
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