Can anyone believe the Lord of Heaven would permit anything of this sort to go unpunished? No wonder AmChurch is dying. No wonder we've been seeing books with titles like David Carlin's The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America
(Sophia Institute Press, 2003) selling on Amazon over the last decade. Where is the sense of mission? vocation? commitment? sacrifice? What has happened to the Church in America?
Whom did Jesus call, in white-hot anger: "Hypocrites!" "Sons of hell!" "Blind guides!" "Brood of vipers!" "Whitewashed tombs!" etc.? It was the Scribes and Pharisees, who did not practice what they preached. He did not fault them for their theology, but for their hypocrisy. (Mt. 23:1-4)
We have our Lord's promise that the Gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church; but we do not have His promise that the Catholic Church in America or Western Europe or the United Kingdom or Ireland (or even in Rome) will persevere until the end. Indeed, if these reports out of Boston are any indication of the financial modus operandi of American Catholic dioceses, we should be not be surprised in a decade or two to find anything more than a few scattered, smouldering cinders left of the dying AmChurch establishment. If anything, we should expect divine judgement.
But lest I forget my "pastoral" manners, might I add: "Smile, God loves you. Have a nice day!"
Update: a reader writes:
Your readers may be interested in discovering what their local Diocese spends on salaries for its employees.
They can use this link
http://www.guidestar.org/Home.aspx
and create an account for free and check the 990 forms.
3 comments:
" I never supposed anything quite this perfidious, vicious, base and unconscionable was afoot."
Interesting. I had supposed things like this was afoot for many years. One work for love or money and there is ample evidence that love is in short supply.
Donna
Dear Dr. Thanks for posting this. I just emailed the Bishop's Secretary requesting a list of Salaries and Compensation packages for the Diocesan Employees of Palm Beach County, Florida and I took the time to note that non-profit agencies in Palm Beach County are required to publish similar information.
Now, do I patiently wait for an answer until I look like a Smurf or do I simply acknowledge that salaries are sacred turf?
And to think that some are promoting Cardinal O'Malley as papabile
One of the most corrupt and disgusting troughs in my fair city is the public school system. In that pail of public sector scum, the cliche "Call" is not to "holiness," but to zeal in serving "The Kids." But a con is a con.
The reign of our recently retired bishop resulted in the closing of close to 100 churches. The parochial school system is out of reach for households with less than a six figure combined income -- and a healthy six figures at that. Our seminary recently produced one (1) priest, a fellow who would be only a few years from retirement in the public sector. There's no money, no priests, no enthusiasm, no reason to expect anything better from the new guy -- and no news of any lay functionary volunteering, much less being compelled, to take a pay cut (well, there WERE a couple of embezzlement convictions).
There are, however, bumper crops of "extraordinary" lay ministers of various insipidities. So we got that going for us.
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