Keeping the Church Lean and Clean
Pope Francis has loudly proclaimed that riches and privileges of
power are among the greatest threats to the church's mission. He speaks
of form fitting function: how an institution preaching an authentic
Gospel must take on the simplicity and humility of Christ in order to be
credible. He points to the tendencies of swagger and opulence among the
hierarchy as symptomatic of hypocrisy. He surrenders luxuries of the
papacy to demonstrate what this identification with the poor means to
him on a personal level. This is quite the opposite of the way the
church has done business; it's fine for a few dedicated souls to adopt
the look of the least among us, but a whole church? That's what he's
saying, isn't it? That it's not just a few individuals here and there
giving witness to the harmony between Jesus' way of life and his mission
but a fundamental requirement.
Meanwhile, Catholicism at the Vatican and in many locations around
the globe exhibit worldly wealth and reflections of medieval royalty.
Most are, arguably, the beneficiaries of the profit madness the pope has
recently condemned. Francis appears to be dead set against such
expressions of power and money, but he inherited an office which has
depended on it. Under John Paul II, authority spiraled upward and
Catholics with great riches were treated deferentially to say the least.
Groups such as the Knights of Malta and Opus Dei have long gained
influence by courting the influential.
For a pope who has castigated the untamed forces of capitalism,
decried "trickle down" economics and warned of money-worship as the "new
tyranny," this is a perplexing situation. How can a frugal pope in the
tradition of first century Christianity afford to float his barque on
the money streams of the rich while advocating consistency between
message and messenger? I know, who will pay for the cathedrals and the
seaside retreats and the affluent lifestyles?
One means of achieving a lifestyle the pope envisions might be to
limit contributions that go directly to maintain the institutional at a
basic level. In the manner of political campaigns which put caps on
giving in an effort to curtail special personal interests, restrict
annual giving by individual Catholics to something like a few hundred
dollars a year ($500? $800). That would entail, from the parish on up,
hard decisions about ends and means. It would presumably mean losing
ground to rather than keeping up with the Joneses as a way of fitting
the church to the Francis-inspired values of its mission. Beyond that
limit anyone could give freely to Catholic ministries to those in
special (Catholic Charities, etc), all of which would be chartered
independently from the reach of diocesan treasuries.
Reduced income to the church itself -- whether through something like
a cap or other strategies-- would require the most searching
discussions over how material goods relate to spiritual purposes. Those
are the very kinds of discussions which virtually never take place. The
subject is too tender, especially in America where the Francis'
"idolatry of money" warning has particular relevance.
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