UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
[Earthly concerns – The Economist]
Posted by Barbara Dorris on August 16, 2012
Church officials handle money the same way they handle predators—“it’s our business, you stay out of it.” Catholic bishops want the benefits of money from the government but refuse to be clear about or held accountable for how it is used.
It’s important to understand why “the finances of the Catholic church in America are an unholy mess,” according to the Economist. It’s because that’s what bishops want: they want parishioners and the public to know very little about the church’s vast wealth.
We agree with The Economist, which says evidence suggests that “maladministration in the Vatican goes beyond mere negligence.” And we’re grateful The Economist notes that the church’s “national charitable activities” are “just 2.7%“of its overall spending.
We’re troubled by the bishops’ “trend towards replacing dollars from the faithful with publicly raised debt as a way of financing church business.”
The Economist, however, mischaracterizes the motive for diocesan bankruptcies. It’s not about money. It’s about secrecy.
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