There are plenty of reasons to be disgusted with Catholic leadership. Outside of a few superstars, I don't trust anyone from Bishop McElroy up to and including the Pope. I trust my parish and that's it.
To name only one of McElroy's failures, he was named in the Vigano letter as part of the Cardinal McCarrick Cabal, albeit possibly only on the periphery. The dude has never come clean about it. He's a Catholic bishop who runs an organization that tells me how much I suck every Sunday, but he's clammed up about his role in one of the biggest scandals in Church history. By the way, the scandal isn't what you're told by the media. From my blog post linked above:
Those penalties (created to stop pederasty by priests) did not apply to the bishops or any of the prelates. The rules were deliberately written that way. If the feedback we got from the priests at this meeting was any indication, they're disgusted by it. Further, Bishop McElroy, our idiot leader, came out and attacked the Vigano letter which named names in the Lavender Mafia. Lots of other bishops came out in support of it, but the nincompoop in San Diego decided to rail against Vigano. Maybe because he was named as a member of that cabal.Getting back to the sermon, we were told that this year, all of the donations were specifically targeted at programs we love: Catholic schools, homeless programs, prison ministries and so forth. "None of it will go to that weasel, McElroy!" was part of the message.
The other part of the message was, "If you don't give, children will be kicked out of school and homeless people will go hungry!"
"Targeting" donations is another way of saying the McElroy will take his discretionary cash straight out of the general fund and stiff the schools and other programs unless we donate. "Hey, man, if they go broke and turn people away, it's your fault. We warned you."
Sorry, the issues at hand are bigger than one year of funding for popular stuff. Bishop, if you want to hold the kids hostage and tell me they're going to get it if I don't donate, be prepared for my response.
Go ahead the strip them of funding, you fraud. I'm totally willing to let those programs wither in exchange for not supporting your fat, lying butt. I'm just a digit, no one knows my name, but everyone knows you. When the donations fall short, people won't blame me, they'll blame you.
When you're ready to come clean and name names in the Lavender Mafia, let us know.
In the meantime, enjoy poverty.
* - The Annual Catholic Appeal is where we donate to the diocese instead of the parish. All the money comes under the control of the bishop.
"we were told that this year, all of the donations were specifically targeted at programs we love"
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered about that sort of statement. They can say anything they want about where the money goes, but what kind of check do we have on that? If the Church members don't like where the money is going per the diocese budget, is the Bishop still free to spend it on whatever he likes anyway?
By cannon law, funds given directly to a specific purpose must be used there.
ReplyDelete...the Bishop's Appeal, or ACA, are not targeted.
Interestingly enough, El Paso actually has it set up so you can donate to specific funds. Last year when I checked-- well after the appeal was over-- stuff like training the priests and supporting retired religious or the buildings fund were at 90+%.
The "totally be complicit in illegal immigration" fund was at like 20%.
Here's the current link, our priest did a good sermon, then said something like "Oh, and we have to show you this video."
I think he was supposed to just do the video. Glad he didn't. It's the guy who's only been a priest like 9 months.
https://www.elpasodiocesefoundation.org/donate-to-a-fund/ministries-charities
It looks like San Diego doesn't have a site like that, but here's an option for schools:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bishopfloresscholars.org/make-a-gift/
Tim, that was my thought, too. If the guy is willing to hide his role in the McCarrick mess, he's certainly not above a little financial shenanigans.
ReplyDeleteFoxie, that's great that you can donate directly to things you want. We can, too, although we'd have to go to the establishment and hand them cash in person. I don't mind doing that at all.
After last week's...questionable...activity, we cut our weekly donation and directly donated to somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteIt'll go back up next week, especially since Father New Guy did such an awesome job.
I can't remember if you have any military background, USAA has an awesome send checks at will option.
ReplyDelete