What should local prosecutors who happen to be Catholic do? Is it wrong for them to make a donation to their diocese if they are currently investigating the diocese for sex abuse claims?
The DA in Worcester County, Mass., is under fire from victims groups for making a donation to the annual bishop’s appeal, something he’s done for years. There are no official ethical guidelines and it’s completely legal. But is it unseemly?
Yeah, this is a tough one – that my wife and I have argued about. We have always given (generously) to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. Since the pederasty scandal broke, we have not. For me, until I see 1) that our bishop will even just admit the true nature of the scandal (homosexualism gone wild in the priesthood and the breakdown of the teaching of Catholic sexual morality); 2) the bishop and his minions even just appear to be truly repentant for this; 3) parents are deemed to have the right to know if priests in close contact with their sons are homoseuxal; 4) known active homosexuals are removed from ministry; 5) our diocese starts to actively teach true Catholic sexual morality, we will not give anymore. I don’t trust them – and I’d be a fool to do so. In truth, I would like very much to give to a diocese led as it is supposed to be. Seems like I will have to wait a long, long time. Finally, I don’t trust them to do with money what they say they are going to do. Right now, I can think of many better places to give to charity.
That’s all well and good, but that’s not really my point. My question was whether a Catholic DA can practice his faith as he sees fit while investigating the diocese.
Well, the official has the freedom to give and others have the freedom to condemn his giving. Does it send a signal of bias in favor of the Church? It doesn’t for me, but I can see where it would for others…
“The Church” is not the bishop. Let me sound the spirit of Vatican II here, we are the Church.
A lot of worthy organizations need the money and frankly, their need is so great it’s not even a matter of discretion for the bishop to allocate the money to them.
If you want the bishop to eat hamburger rather than prime rib, you’ve got to find some other way to make that happen.
If you find out, let me know.
You know, Patrick, a heck of a lot of Catholics around here (New Jersey) don’t trust their bishops at all with regard to how their money is spent anymore. A great many Catholics we know try to give the same or greater amounts to charity as they would have given the Bishop’s Annual Appeal – but to do so directly. What so many Catholics suspect is that their money is just going to multi-million dollar payoffs for sexual molestation tolerated by and often furthered by their bishops. A great many Catholics around here (you know, in my local area) believe also that not giving is the only way to show their disgust with the pederasty scandal in a way that their bishops will recognize. (And I concur with that.) It’s not a matter of letting the bishops eat hamburger (though it would do them good) – just a matter of indicating their complete and total revulsion – and that huge blocks of trust have been completely shattered. I don’t know about where you live, but here trust will have to be built up over a great period of time. So far (in my diocese), it’s not working. Now, of course, with regard to the above topic, I don’t know why survivors would object to money going to what so many Catholics assume to be molestation payouts. – Finally, in my area, my understanding is that Mass attendance is down by 10% to 20% and giving is down by 10% to 15%. The bishops should be more concerned about lost souls than lost money, but most Catholics I know believe it’s the reverse.