More Damage Control From The Archdiocese Of Baltimore

Remember how, in the DC archdiocese, the geniuses in that office thought that we'd be fooled if the Campaign for Human Development second collection was renamed "Communications and Human Development Campaign" (or something to that effect)?  Not too many people were fooled by that charade.  The Archdiocese of Baltimore did not learn from that mistake.

They are renaming their "Archbishop's Annual Appeal" collection to "Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries".  Of course we aren't learning this from the Catholic Review, but the Baltimore Sun.  Supposedly we are to be fooled into thinking that none of the money will be going towards the sex scandals but only to the various ministries of the archdiocese.  Well, not quite, and to understand why, we need to take a look at the concept of fungibility, particularly as it is used in non-profit budgeting.

Here is an article that explains the concept well.  Applied to this Archdiocesan situation, funds earmarked for "Catholic ministries" could well free up other funds to be used elsewhere in the budget - such as sinking funds for anticipated legal expenses.  Michael Hichborn did a video that explains how Planned Parenthood uses fungibiity in relation to government grants.  My advise is this: don't give one red penny to any archdiocesan collection, for at least some portion of it will go to where it shouldn't.  Instead, send your money directly to worthwhile charities.

Back to the Sun article.  Notice how the archdiocese is trying to reassure the Catholics that sex abuse matters are paid out of an insurance trust that was set up?  Well, that's nice, but... who pays the premiums?  And aren't those premiums most likely going through the roof now?  What kind of dunces do these people think we are?

Apparently some of them think we're stupid enough to believe that "music can unite the faithful" - at least according to one "music minister" in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  His name is Zachary Stachowski, working at St Ignatius of Loyola in Ijamsville MD.  He wrote a song after the abuse crisis jumped in our faces again and that is the subject of that interview.  Apparently the song is being used quite widely.  I wonder how much he may be garnering in royalties?  I have no problem with that, for the song is his intellectual property.  The premise that "music can unite the faithful" is simply a bunch of hooey, though.  Authentic unity can come about only when all accept the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed through Holy Mother Church.  Along those lines, Stachowski seems to be keeping company with some who blatantly oppose those teachings.

One of his buddies is David Haas - yes, him.  According to his twitter page, he and Haas teamed up to do a "singing workshop" at that heretical hootenanny known as the LA Religious Education Conference.  See here and here for a flavor of what goes on there.  While I know little else of Stachowski, what I do know leads me to question just what he thinks "unity" is.

I have made it a point to skip all archdiocesan collections and to plan my parish donations so that they aren't assessed by the Archdiocese of Washington.  I certainly suggest to my Baltimore friends that they do the same, and those in many other areas of the country should do likewise.