No accountability for the Catholic Church

[Doubting Thomas]

It's just that if they're going to preach "help the poor" they ought to lead by example.  It would be far easier for the church to buy a bunch of food for people who are starving than I personally could, if I were still Catholic.  Yet they keep raking in donations via the collection basket while exhorting followers to help the less fortunate.  It's like some religious version of trickle-down economics.

Part of the collection basket money does go to the poor. And they often also have a second collection at the end of mass that goes entirely to the poor.

But the vast majority goes into the church's accounts, and I'm assuming a very large portion goes to the Vatican.

[Catholic_Lady]

Part of the collection basket money does go to the poor. And they often also have a second collection at the end of mass that goes entirely to the poor.

But the vast majority goes into the church's accounts, and I'm assuming a very large portion goes to the Vatican.

I'm looking at my church's bulletin right now, from a couple weeks ago. We kept it because there's an event we want to go to. 

Anyway, according to the bulletin, the little church I go to made $4,551.02 on the Sunday of October 9 from collection basket money. Of those funds, it's showing that $1,479.92 went to a charity called Hope for the Future. I usually don't pay attention to the part in the bulletin where it says how much was made and how much went to what charity, but I do know it's usually a fixed percentage every week and it goes to a different charity every week. A few months ago I remember seeing that the donations went to Louisiana when they had that massive flood. 

That's nearly 1/3 of the funds they made being given to charity. Not a small amount at all. Of the other 2/3 that are left over, I don't know how much of it stays in the local church and how much goes off the to Vatican, but I do know the majority of it does actually stay in the local church. Since people don't have to pay an entrance fee to go to church, the donation $$ the church keeps to itself is used to pay for the expenses of the place, upkeep, and paying the employees.

[Nihilist Virus]

But the vast majority goes into the church's accounts, and I'm assuming a very large portion goes to the Vatican.

I'm looking at my church's bulletin right now, from a couple weeks ago. We kept it because there's an event we want to go to. 

Anyway, according to the bulletin, the little church I go to made $4,551.02 on the Sunday of October 9 from collection basket money. Of those funds, it's showing that $1,479.92 went to a charity called Hope for the Future. I usually don't pay attention to the part in the bulletin where it says how much was made and how much went to what charity, but I do know it's usually a fixed percentage every week and it goes to a different charity every week. A few months ago I remember seeing that the donations went to Louisiana when they had that massive flood. 

That's nearly 1/3 of the funds they made being given to charity. Not a small amount at all. Of the other 2/3 that are left over, I don't know how much of it stays in the local church and how much goes off the to Vatican, but I do know the majority of it does actually stay in the local church. Since people don't have to pay an entrance fee to go to church, the donation $$ the church keeps to itself is used to pay for the expenses of the place, upkeep, and paying the employees.

According to the bulletin. Lol. Catholics have kinda lost the benefit of the doubt. I'm not considering their input when compiling my figures. Thanks anyway for investigating.

[Nihilist Virus]

Catholicism isn't an "organization." It's a belief system. Despite whatever wrongdoings Catholic individuals have done in the past and will surely continue to do (as we don't claim to be perfect), you can't simply forbid someone from being a Catholic. 

That's like saying that since there have been sexual assault cover ups by people working in schools and colleges, education should no longer be allowed.

There is no school pope. The Catholic popes were aware of this for decades (probably centuries or even two millennia).

Also no one is claiming that the dean of a college is appointed by God.

Also colleges do worthwhile stuff. Churches do nothing. Don't give that garbage about opening hospitals. I'm pretty sure if I rolled into a Catholic hospital that they won't fix me up for free.

[Tonus]

One might argue that the church has a custodial duty toward the body of Christ as His vicar on earth.  With duty come responsibilities. Moreover the word here represented as 'perfect' is teleios, which means fully developed.  This saying applies to individuals who wish to be complete.  What it means for the church to be fully developed is not clear from this passage.  You're taking Jesus' advice to individual's and applying it to something that is not an individual.  What would it mean for the church to have "treasure in heaven?"  You've taken Jesus' advice to one thing and applied it to another.  It doesn't work that way.

Not just that, but Mark 12:41-44 would give the impression that donating all to the church is highly commendable:

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Thus it can be inferred that it was the individual's obligation to give as much as possible. He didn't criticize the keepers of the temple for accepting the offering.

[dyresand]

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/article...where-fast