U P D A T E – 16th August, 2009 . . .
According to newspaper reports this weekend, Bishop Devine has not spoken out following the newspaper reports cited in our original report below about the purchase of a home for his housekeeper, due to the fact that he did not want to publicise his expected inheritance. The house, he explains, is a personal gift to his housekeeper and will, ultimately, be donated to the diocese. We still don’t recommend donating to diocesan collections (that’s our general position) but, happily, we are pleased to report that while, as the Bishop himself admits, this matter could have been handled more efficiently, we do not believe there to be any likelihood of financial wrongdoing.
http://www.bellshillspeaker.co.uk/news/Motherwell-bishop-insists-housekeepers-house.5555866.jp
O R I G I N A L R E P O R T (based on newspaper reports plus no rebuttal form the Bishop) . . .
Just when we’re all wondering where the millions from the Faith Into Action project in the Archdiocese of Glasgow have gone, this week’s Scottish newspapers were full of speculation about the Bishop of Motherwell and The Case of his (anything but) Homeless Housekeeper.
The question for Catholics these days is, increasingly, should we be putting money into the collection plates? Shouldn’t we withhold our hard earned cash until there has been the long-awaited clean out and the local Church has returned to what it is supposed to be doing – preaching the Faith and saving souls?
Canon Law requires us to contribute to the support of our pastors. That means, they shouldn’t starve to death, not that we need to keep them in luxury.
In my novus ordo days, I came to the conclusion that, in conscience, I could not contribute any money that would find its way to the diocese. Too much money is wasted on the wrong things (e.g. top salaries for educationalists who are destroying Catholic schools) so I looked at other ways of fulfilling my duty – such as offering a donation to an individual priest, on the understanding that not one penny of it was passed on to the diocese. I never had any arguments!
So, what do you think? Should we be contributing to parish collections at this time, risking the misuse of our hard-earned cash?
Click on ‘comments’ with your views, as and when.