Why you shouldn't withdraw financial support from the Church because of the crisis

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brian_custer said:
no; 99% of the local parishes in US had nothing to do with this

you are a member of a local parish that needs to be supported financially

no scandal in my parish; why would i “cut off” financial support?
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Because your local tithe goes (in part) to the Vatican. Withholding it sends the message that we all (including the clergy under Francis) must insist on transparency and responsibility. The local parish is DEAD without a head, and that head is Peter. Peter must act.
 
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ok; i understand your point. SO; if i withhold my “envelope” and the parish parking lot doesn’t get “snow-plowed” ; therefore nobody can attend Mass

that is a good thing?
 
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We are bound to support the Church but not criminals or those who cover up for criminals. Right now the bishops have exempted themselves from the standards for protection of youth from sexual predators.

I have heard the likes of Dr. Ralph Marttin urge people to stop giving to their bishop. In my diocese, the bishop gets money off the top, he’s first in line for the money. I have no choice but to withhold funds from the parish.

We hear a lot of words and statements but there’s no action. There’s only one way to get the attention of the bishops. I can’t in conscience pay for a 5-star hotel for my bishop in Baltimore to hide behind closed doors and craft more statements with high-powered attorneys.
 
Prodigal_Son said:
Withholding it sends the message that we all (including the clergy under Francis) must insist on transparency and responsibility.
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I don’t think that people are going to put two and two together on that.
 
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brian_custer said:
ok; i understand your point. SO; if i withhold my “envelope” and the parish parking lot doesn’t get “snow-plowed” ; therefore nobody can attend Mass

that is a good thing?
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In the history of the Church, people have undergone far, far worse fates than missing a Mass in order to maintain the integrity of the Holy Catholic Church. So yes, I think it would be a good thing (in this hypothetical).
 
No, they wouldn’t and that’s probably not going to happen either. At least with the letters it is clear and concise.
 
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EnglishTeacher said:
There goes your DRE, your maintenance person or janitor,
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uh, oh . . .
your music director.
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Ahh, the silver lining 🤣

More seriously, and speaking as a bankruptcy lawyer, the way that every, AFAIK, RCC diocese in the US is organized, the entire diocese is a single legal entity.

When the inevitable bankruptcy occurs for the diocese, the measure of the ultimate reorganization IS the value of the assets of the diocese: every parish if sold, every tuition fund, every school, every retirement home, etc.

The corollary is that every additional dollar you contribute to the diocese increases the pool and settlement by exactly a dollar.

Frankly, the solution is to sonata solely new legal entity, forcing the existing entities to use their assets for their missions and settlements. The new entities buy the assets of the old with the contributions.

I think that at the moment, donating to a RCC diocese is counterproductive (and I reached this conclusion over 15 years ago, and it has been working as I predicted . . .)

hawk, esq.
 
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i don’t think starving local parishes of donations, who’ve’d nothing to do with the pennsylavania scandals will solve any problem

my parish & its associated parochial school need to remain open & functional; that costs money, shipmate…
 
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I had no idea that many people in non-scandal ridden parishes felt this way. I am considering giving more than I had been in case people in my own parish are doing this. We have so many great programs and I would hate to see them have to stop.
 
It’s not really clear and is probably going to be ineffective at sending the message through.
 
otrrl said:
Right now the bishops have exempted themselves from the standards for protection of youth from sexual predators.
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Actually, most dioceses have excellent Safe Environment training, screening, protection, and prevention in place; and they urge everyone to immediately report any abuse both to the civil authorities and the diocese.

Decades ago, many didn’t. You are basically trying to punish your bishop for events and policies that happened years ago before he was bishop or had any control over them. (Not saying you personally but everyone in general who is blaming all clergy for the sins of a very few, the vast majority of which occurred before the Church overhauled its handling of reported abuse.)
 
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All that I have belongs to God - and I will continue to support my local parish and Diocese. It belongs to Him - not me.
 
I agree completely. It doesn’t make any sense to stop donating to the parishes because of the sins of some higher up. Without donations the parishes would have to close down because they wouldn’t be able to pay their utilities and insurance bills, etc., and they wouldn’t be able to pay their office staff and other staff like youth directors and nuns working in the parish, who did nothing wrong. There are also many good parish programs and assistance to homeless and poor that would suffer immensely or shut down. I was a parish secretary, now retired, and I know how hard it is just staying out of the red, as it is… so many people put their parish needs at the bottom of their lists of priorities. It would be like your employer held your paycheck back because your fellow employee stole from your work place. Definitely let your frustrations and anger about these scandals be known, write lots of letters to your bishop and the USCCB, but please don’t punish innocent people, that won’t do anything good.
 
dochawk said:
More seriously, and speaking as a bankruptcy lawyer, the way that every, AFAIK, RCC diocese in the US is organized, the entire diocese is a single legal entity.
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Are you sure that is still the case? In my diocese, each parish is now a separate legal entity (corporation)–for precisely the purpose of preventing the type of mass (no pun intended😄) diocesan-wide bankruptcy you describe.
 
Any money you hold back on, to your parish, your bishop, the vatican, is going to affect innocent people. Don’t forget the annual donations to the Vatican that the Pope uses exclusively for emergency disaster funds all over the world, and the money used for Africa, etc., same with the dioceses… people will suffer.
 
the last reported case in the PA attorney general’s report was in 2002. some of the cases are back in the '60’s.

i’d like to think the Catholic Church has cleaned up Her act since then

maybe yes, maybe no…
 
this is probably a bit anecdotal; and don’t mean it to be pardonative in any way

but i know a woman 7 years older than me (and i am no spring chicken) who said her “great uncle” was one of the accused priests

he is long gone…
 
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