Please go to the website of Our Parish Times and examine the January 2020 edition. On the front page, left side is an article by Msgr John Enz ler entitled "Is Our Anger Hurting Those Most In Need?" As you read it, you'll see that it's not much more than a cheap attempt to lay guilt trips on faithful Catholics who are making their disappointment known in the only language the Church hierarchy understands - money. Well, obviously we are having an impact in that area. That is why we see this backlash from Ensler, who no doubt scribbled this screed at the behest of higher-ups in the Church.
Not only does Enzler dance around the problems that we are addressing (other than token lip service), but he is actually downright dishonest about the use of our donations. Nowhere in his diatribe do I see acknowledged the fact that a portion of our donations to our parishes is assessed by the Archdiocese and then paid to the chancery. Moreover, as I noted last week, the Archdiocese in turn forks over a portion of those assessments to the USCCB. In his article, Enzler quotes the late Tip O'Neill who said "all politics is local". If that is the case, Msgr Enzler, why shouldn't donations stay local as well?
If the DC chancery is really concerned about the financial well-being of their parishes, they would announce ways that parishioners could donate without any money being siphoned up the chain of command. Perhaps they might cease their own contributions to the USCCB. Perhaps the bishops as a whole stop having their semi-annual meetings in swanky hotels; a retreat center would be more in conformity with their sacerdotal offices, anyway.
In the meantime, I would suggest that faithful Catholics do all they can to keep their money from funding corrupt chanceries and the USCCB. Now we do have the precept of the Church that says we must support the work of the Church. But it is not the work of the Church to shield predators from justice or to glom onto progressive causes as though they are equivalent to the salvation of souls. There are traditional orders to be supported. There are local charities and pro-life efforts that operate on shoe-string budgets. There are local food banks and soup kitchens that need help. Truth-telling Catholic sites such as LifeSiteNews and Lepanto Institute need assistance. This is a non-exhaustive list of organizations that will put your donation dollars to worthy use.
Maybe Enzler might want to think of the real mission of the Church. Then he might write of himself and his cronies, "Is Our Dereliction of Duty Condemning the Souls in Our Care to Hell?"
Saturday, January 25, 2020
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This is why I send money every month DIRECTLY to the fuel oil company that supplies our Church.
ReplyDeleteSo your parish does not include that in their assessment calculations as a contribution-in-kind? Different dioceses vary with each other as to how these matters are handled.
DeleteGood article. Good advice. No $$$ to Bishops annual fund for sure in order to get their outspoken attention re-directed to Bergoglian heresies.
ReplyDeleteThe Council of Constance infallibly repudiated tithe and offering boycotts, even when the boycott is well-intentioned. In response to John Wycliffe, the Council specifically forbade “each and every Catholic henceforth, under pain of anathema, to preach, teach, or hold . . . [that] people may withhold tithes, offerings and other private alms from unworthy disciples of Christ.” [Council of Constance, Session 15 (July 6, 1415), error 41]. See also, [Ibid., Session 8 (May 4, 1415), error 18] (condemning that “tithes are purely alms, and parishioners can withhold them at will on account of their prelates’ sins.”) Further, the Council condemned redirecting the tithe away from the secular clergy towards other ministries. [Ibid, error 38]. The Council’s decisions were affirmed and promlugated in Martin V’s bull Inter cunctas on February 22, 1418.
ReplyDeleteFor more, see https://www.catholicstand.com/withholding-tithes-church-heretical/
The piece that Mr Young cited is his own post on the topic. By all means read it, but also read the comments wherein most of his readership refute his arguments. One of the six Precepts of the Church, binding on us all, is to "support the work of the Church". We must examine and make prudential decisions about our tithes lest we "support the demolition of the Church". While it's quite true that ultimately we don't own our money (nor any of our other possessions for that matter), we are stewards of those resources. I believe the Lord will call us to account if we blindly fork over the bucks to the Wuerls and Cupiches of the Church.
DeleteDon’t forget “Nighty-night, baby,” sponsor of struggling Italian male models who wish to learn English, or something like that.
DeleteThe question isn't one of whether to "withhold tithes", the question involves where exactly to direct them.
DeleteOne may not "boycott the Church" but one may direct one's financial support to various ministries within the Church. I don't think anyone here is suggesting that giving to the Church be stopped entirely, but rather that giving be directed to worthy priests and ministries.
You put it very well. The Diocese insists we use their employees who live 200 miles away and for whom we must provide room and board to do a major repointing job of the Church's stonework when there a local stonemasons available. One day I saw one the the Diocese's employees painting a 8X16 shed with a 2 inch brush. It is not a sin to get the best value for the money I give to the Church. It is a sin to subsidize their waste.
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