Tuesday 23 August 2016

PRIESTS AND MONEY




IF THE TRUTH WERE KNOWN there are far more Irish Catholic priests involved in MONEY SCANDALS than there are in SEX SCANDALS!

Many priests LOVE money and the number of Sunday sermons looking money are quite high.

I have worked in the area covered by the Diocese of Down and Connor - counties Down and Antrim - for 38 years. Let me tell you about what I have seen there.

FATHER VINCENT McKINLEY: Vincent McKinley was the administrator of St Peter's Cathedral on the Falls Road in Belfast.

McKinley
1. All of his Sunday sermons were about money and he himself had a telephone account with a bookmaker and on one occasion in 1980 lost £2,000 on betting on a Saturday afternoon.

2. He used to specialise in visiting the old ladies in the parish - asking them how much they had saved. He would then convince them to "lend" their savings to him for the period of their lifetime and promised them he would return their money to their relatives after they died. I do not know if this ever happened?

3. One night when I was on duty the door bell rang and when I went to the door I found a large brown envelope with "FOR THE PRIESTS" written on it. I opened the envelope and it contained £16,000 in cash (1979). Foolishly I brought it to Vincent McKinley who took it and told me never to tell anyone about it. I do not know what happened it.

FATHER MICHAEL COPPINGER: Michael Coppinger was a parish priest in Down and Connor. He liked to visit old people in their homes and when there he would ask them if he could have antiques he spotted in the house. If they suggested leaving it to him in their will he insisted on taking it there and then and would bring it back with him in his car to the presbytery.

Sadly, later, as the parish priest of Glenravel in County Antrim, he hung himself in the presbytery garage as a result of lending a large sum of parish money to his nephew who failed to return it.

FATHER CONLETH BYRNE: Father Byrne ended up in court in Northern Ireland in the past few years by giving or lending £145,000 of Loughinisland parish funds to a female. He got a light sentence by promising to send the money back over time to the bishop Noel Treanor. I know several old ladies who sent Father Byrne money towards paying back what he had removed. 

BISHOP CAHAL DALY: 




A Catholic butcher left his family home and all his money to Bishop Cahal Daly and the Redemptoriat Order in Clonard Monastery. Bishop Daly evicted the family from the family home and they ended up living in a government provided house.

FATHER MARTIN KELLY AND DRUMBO PARISH: 




In recent times on this Blog you will have read the parishioners of the South Belfast parish of Drumbo complaining about the fact that the parish priest sacked the whole finance committee. To date date the Drumbo paishionbers have not had a satisfactory response about their concerns from Bishop Noel Treanor.

CANON WALTER LARKIN: 


When I was a curate in Kilkeel parish in County Down a local farmer left his farm and all his money to the parish priest. This involved him leaving nothing to his two nephews who had worked the farm with him for years and expected to have the farm left to them in his will. I remonstrated with Canon Larkin about the injustice of this and asked him to give the nephews their day on the farm. He refused saying that he had to protect Church assets!

I know that these things have happened and are regularly happening in every diocese and parish all over Ireland.




We all remember Bishop Eamon Casey using £70,000 of Galway diocesan funds in a failed attempt to but the silence of his lover Annie Murphy.

Yesterday correspondents have submitted the following to this Blog: 


Regarding the question of money and the Catholic Church and nearly 500 years after the Reformation, visitors might be surprised when visiting the Reds at Clonard...




Through the Holy Door first and receive FULL remission of the temporal punishment due to sin-according to the leaflet! 
Can you go in and out indefinitely? 

Then collection box for St Anthony,
Collection box for St Peters
Collection box for St Pauls
St Vincent de Paul collection box
St Alphonsus collection point
Sacred Heart candle collection box
Donations box for candles at St Joseph's Shrine
Donation box for candles at Our Lady's Shrine
Various boxes in the wall on right aisle for money 
Paper selling box
Pamphlets box

If you've any money left go to the Reception office and buy any number of little religious bric a brac (soon to be extended)
Then ask for "a Mass" and the card is given for a "share in" the prayers of the Red Community but the buyer has asked for a Mass-then, here's the funny bit, the money till is operated and your "donation" goes into the till! No receipts! But sure it's a wee charity isn't it? 

Of course there are the collections at Sunday Masses and Thursday Novenas.

There is a notice at the back of the Church warning visitors that they are being observed on webcam!!

Is anyone watching these bare faced gangsters?

At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!!!

REVEREND FATHER RICHARD TURPIN CSSR



Martin Luther would be rotating in his grave. 

It's good to see others raising the matter of "donations". I've mentioned it before here querying if any legal eagles had knowledge of the legal position concerning such payments , ...usually to the PP, priests of the parish, the clergy etc in wills, but often as cash in hand, for, as Rasputin aptly puts it above, the RC clergy in Ireland leech after the frail elderly.
["Leech after old widows and lust after young widows springs to mind but let's not go there just now!]
So again I'm asking if there's any legal precedents known relating to RC church donations which might put a stop to what seems to be a regular occurence.
MMM

Pat
As an aside to the Gaynooth thing I would like your blog to explore the clergys unhealthy relationship with money and money and un registered donations. A friend of mine visited his mother recently and was shocked to see £200 sitting on the kitcken table. He told her off and she went on to explain that it was for the parish priest and he comes every month for his 'donation'. Turns out that as older people draw closer to the pearly gates they are more susceptible to the gimme yer money and I will get you into heavan routine!

Lets stop these vultures

Rasputin



There is a MASSIVE MONEY SCANDAL involving the Irish Catholic Church.

It is a hidden scandal.

People think that by leaving the Church their money they will have a ticket into Heaven.

I believe that the opposite is true. God will punish those who deprive their families and the poor of their just inheritance.

Jesus said that God would avenge the plight of the widowed and orphaned.




I would like to see justice in this world for the greedy money loving priests and bishops!

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:




TODAY'S CATHOLIC CARTOON:


51 comments:

  1. I would say AB Martin cant wait to get out in 3 yrs. Who will be given the Dublin poisoned Chalice next ?. Hopefully not Doran of Elphin. Leahy of Limerick might be ok. Any thoughts?.

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    1. The next AB of Dublin will be Bishop Paul Tighe of the Vatican - a Dublin priest.

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  2. The accounting system is called rob-yee -blind and fuck the lot of yee! Why dont Irish catholics focus more on how their donations are squandered?
    The accountant.

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  3. One of the contributors in the wake of Tootsie O Brien's departure said that he wished the matter relating to one of his women friends had gone to court. Do you know what that was all about.
    Dalriada Dick

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  4. Indeed. Worth exploring. I knew of one old lady who left £70000 in cash to her parish AND her house. In the "parish accounts" the following year there wasn't a mention of it. Perhaps some of the priest contributors to this blog can explain what accounting conventions are used to illustrate these type of transactions

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    1. Friggin' right! My poor old mum, 84 yrs old and with Alzheimer's, gives her parish priest hefty (and I do mean 'hefty') Mass donations. This has bothered me a lot for some time, but I can't reason with her.

      'm sure the pp just loves visiting her (the f****r!)

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  5. The new rector at Clonard Monastery is a Father Kehoe from Newry.

    He is buying a new FLEET of cars for the priests at the moment.

    On the back window of each car it says: "KEHOE GARAGE NEWRY" ????

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  6. Lady with Alzheimers? Does she have capacity with regards Money Matters? Might be worth speaking to G P? Money is the first sedative I believe every new priest gets introduced to. Can be a compensation for celibacy and or loneliness. It never ends there as this blog can confirm. Proper accountability with parish money matters is required. Holy Door and Temporal Punishment due to sin...Holy Shite. Time as we know it does not exist in the word of Heaven or Hell. Davincis Demons is a fantasy show on SKY Boxsets. It is fictional but does give an insight into the sort of gobshitery that has been at the heart of church thinking for centuries

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  7. MourneManMichael23 August 2016 at 13:33

    A very good point Sean.
    To Anon @ 11:14, it can be very difficult "reasoning" with someone with Alzeimers, especially if there are familial/emotional ties. And basically, often the A's sufferer has, (in the commonly used term associated with the illness) 'lacks capacity'. As a progressive illness, deterioration is inevitable, but every sufferer's deterioration is different and variable.
    So dependent on your mother's current state, it may be worthwhile speaking to her GP indicating concern to ensure she is properly cared for in the future, both physically and mentally, and that you are wondering if an application for an Enduring Power of Attorney may be adviseable.
    Before this, do read up the very helpful on line fact sheets via the Alzeimer's Society, dealing with the processes of obtaining an EPA, and having done that, write to the GP saying you wish an appointment to discuss the issue (to brief him/her) before actually making the appointment.
    MMM

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    1. Thank you, MMM. And Sean, too.

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  8. Pat am I not right in thinking you have had a few financially beneficial relationships yourself over the years with wealthy families and women? Multi millionaires even? Theres also the matter of your accommodation that you have lived in rent free from many decades? Is it not a case of people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones? As a working many with numerous outgoings who barely earns enough a month to cover those outgoings, I think that all clerics are parasitical living of the people.

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    1. You are quite right. I did have one wealthy sponsor. Mind you I had to "earn" every penny of sponsorship they gave me.

      That said for the last 30+ years I have been self employed and have had absolutely no income from the Church.

      I have also paid all my taxes.

      To this date I am self employed and self earning.

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    2. Are you a practicing Catholic, anonymous at 13:38? I doubt it, so none of your hard-earned wages are going to the priests.

      None of the priests I know are "parasites". They are good and hard-working men who give selflessly of their time and energy caring for, serving and supporting others - especially people in difficulty and hardship.

      I know there are some priests who are driven by desire for money. I also know plenty of people, in all walks of life, including non-religious people, who are obsessed with money.

      You have no right to tar all priests with the same brush. This is typical of your mentality.

      A priest is entitled to a just wage so that he can live. He earns his wage just as much as you do. Neither does a priest work 9 to 5. He must be available at all times, even during the night.

      The Irish Catholic newspaper a few weeks ago gave a breakdown of what priests are paid in Ireland today. They are not paid a fortune. Most of them are on the minimum wage. Priests also pay their taxes just like the rest of us.

      Some priests come from "moneyed" backgrounds but many more do not have any personal wealth at all. If a man enters the priesthood "for the money" he will soon leave in disappointment.

      The priests I know are not getting back-handers and they are not fleecing elderly people. Furthermore, what someone puts in their last will and testament is that person's own business "being of sound mind", etc.

      Priests, most of them, give excellent service to their people and are present and available to us in the best of times and the worst of times. It is despicable for the likes of you to call them all "parasites". It is a slanderous lie and slur.

      Some priests are guilty of crimes and abuses in the area of sex and money. However, it is totally unjust to lump all priests together in the way that is being done here. Most priests only do good.

      A priest may live "rent-free" but, more than likely, he will never own a house and he must be ready to move house at a week's notice. He has to live somewhere. The Parish provides his accommodation. It's the least we can do. Jesus said, "the labourer deserves his wages".

      Anonymous at 13:38, you are probably one of those ones who "hate" the Church and its priests and who regard the faithful with contempt. Mind your own damn business.

      Not a red cent that you are complaining about comes out of any pocket or wallet of yours.

      Parishioner.

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    3. I agree that most priests earn in the region of £20,000 (Euro 24,000) per annum. They also have some benefits in kind.

      I think we are talking here about those MONEY LOVING PRIESTS.

      I agree that money lovers exist in all professions.

      But I think you would agree that a money loving priest is a big contradiction?

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    4. I totally agree that a money-loving priest is a contradiction - just as a sexually abusive/exploitative priest is a total contradiction.

      As regards the comments above about Clonard and all the collections boxes.

      No one who goes into Clonard Church/Monastery is obliged to part with a penny. You can go in there freely - there is no charge.

      At the same time, Clonard does not run on fresh air. No Church or school does. And people of faith should be allowed to contribute to the material upkeep of the Church and its ministers without being ridiculed and mocked. It is our own business.

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    5. You've avoided the question about your (Catholic) CHURCH OWNED, rent-free accommodation though.

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    6. I live here with the agreement of the diocese. Our arrangement is confidential.

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    7. In my own parish, the priest gets everything paid for him according to the Income and Expenditure Account. His wage goes straight into his pocket and he has a housekeeper who is paid by the parish. He gets a whopping number of gifts at Christmas through the envelope system. You get a box of envelopes for the following year in December. He deliberately has the Christmas Gift envelope at the front of the box sticking up. That money is never declared to the accountant. The greed of a crafty old man who claims to be following Jesus who was poor and who never donates money to the poor of the parish except a tenner in the SVP box is reprehensible. It is disturbing how priests get away with that and are loved despite being totally better off financially than many of the people in their parishes. Sorry but I think somebody who does no good except prayers and sacraments that in fact do nobody any good for believers and unbelievers are as good or bad as each other is a parasite. The priest I have in mind was proven corrupt in the book Breaking the Silence and nobody in the parish seems to care. Is God worship really a cover for idolatrous devotion to clerics?

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    8. To Anon at 15:25, priests are ALL financial parasites.

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    9. I can't get George Carlin's sketch on God out of my mind after reading this. All powerful, all mighty but just can't handle money and needs it...I have been or tried to be a believer all my life but Carlin's attack on God and religion I find impossible to refute especially when I get a chance, as in this blog, to see behind the looking glass as such. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPOfurmrjxo

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    10. The Buggers still have one claw on you re arrangement about your property Pat

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    11. God never started a Religion. People invented religion as a bag to put God into. Jesus said New wine New Wine Skins...or the fekin bag will burst so it will!

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    12. To Anon, 24/8 @ 02:37 - Everyone who provides a service deserves a wage. Are plumbers financial parasites when you pay them to fix your tap? Get a life and get over yourself. Take your nasty little gripe with the Church down the pub.

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  9. Four wonderful Months In Rome By Fr. Aidan Carroll

    A review :

    Save yourself the bother - This book was on my bedroom floor for the last year - I was stuck one evening to prop something under my laptop hence the curiosity to have a browse. If D.M. seminarians read this they could possibly do self harm .Carroll ex CBS is off his rocker,. Romancing and Prancing around the Eternal City on a Sabbatical - could he not have given his services of Four Wonderful Months to the Old Alma Mater on Armagh Road.Crumlin 12.
    It's a very bad area of Dublin with mass shoot outs. Maybe Fr. Aidan will include it in his next drivel of story time shit.

    Who paid for the vanity project?
    How much was actually made for the poor of Bosnia?

    Delighted to see the man has retired, and hung the old Jesus boots on the back of the door.

    Put a Devil on Horse Back !

    Pax Christi


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  10. an interesting piece but i think that we should draw focus again on the Maynooth crisis as the Bishops are meeting soon. these money problems will always be present., but hopefully the problems regarding Maynooth staff won’t be

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    1. I agree. I did todays blog at the request of readers - but I am watching Maynooth etc most carefully.

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  11. Here's something that might interest you all regarding the 'Maynooth Union' document that came out in defence of Maynooth staff
    It was written by none other than Fr Patrick ‘Pat’ Hannon. I’m not sure how objective that statement he wrote can be, given that he lectures here AND that he contributes to the Furrow together with Fr Mullaney, Fr Collins and Fr Paul (who is also a member of his committee) AND that he even wrote a book together with Connolly

    (He is also a member of the ACP - so no surprise about his mention of them)
    Curious cat

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    Replies
    1. Hannon, retired now, was a thoroughly disagreeable drunk. God help the students in his lecture when he had a hangover - which was most days.

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  12. Deacon Michael Byrne has beautiful hands - his fingers are so long & slender - very elegant! Isn't it said that the size of a guy's hands and feet says a lot about the size of his penis? I'd love to find out for myself!!!

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    Replies
    1. Well, start going to Mass at Dublin's Pro Cathedral.

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    2. Maybe he would be out of your price range?

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    3. disgusting!

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    4. I'd have to say Michael Byrne seems to take a lot of slick looking selfies. He seems a little too taken with himself to be priest material. A little too much pride and vanity. No denying he's a pretty boy. He'd be better finding a lay job and a boyfriend and be done.

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    5. he has a 'friend', whose now vanished off the face of the earth











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    6. Like all mice - they too will fall for the Trap.

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  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. Money Matters are always something of an issue in the Catholic Church.

    Shall I tell you the story of the Parish of Drumcree??

    The Parish of Drumcree got a new PP last August/September, who happened to the the Chancellor of the Armagh Archdiocese.

    On Vocations Sunday, instead of speaking about thew vocation to Priesthood, Religious Life, etc, parishioners got a sermon about Money, or rather the lack of it.

    It turns out that the Parish is somewhere in the region of £945,000 in debt.

    Now, there have been a number of "Donations" to the Parish to help alleviate the debt. It has been heard that he talks about people being "good for it" regarding giving a larger donation. Treating parishioners like an ATM.

    Hope this is if interest to someone.

    Kind Regards,
    Armagh Archdiocese Parishioner.

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  15. Luther rotating in his grave? More likely he's still in Purgatory for the destruction he left behind on earth, if he wasn't damned for it.

    Just because the doctrine of Indulgences had been corrupted, by the likes of Leo X and Tetzel, does not make the doctrine itself untrue and false.

    The doctrine of Indulgences flows from the Church understood as the Mystical Body of Christ. Within that Body, we are connected to each other and we help each other. This means that those who "lack" can draw from those who "lack not".

    We sinners can avail of the Infinite Riches and Merits of Christ and the merits of Mary and the saints. In the true understanding of Indulgences, money cannot ever be involved. Tetzel, Leo X and co were committing the grave sin of simony and they are answering for it now.

    Luther, by the way, was no paragon of anything. He had a burning hatred for some of the other "reformers" with whom he vehemently disagreed - denouncing them in most violent and excoriating terms.

    He believed the Jews "deserved" to be persecuted.

    He led the poor German peasants up the garden path and then turned on them and approved their being slaughtered on account of the Peasants' Revolt.

    He was, by many accounts, a deeply unpleasant, obnoxious and pride-filled individual.

    Church History scholar.

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    Replies
    1. Your training as a 'Church History Scholar' must have taught you the necessary rudiment of making at least plausible argument: that it must proceed on the basis of evidence rather than assumption if one is to be taken
      seriously as a 'scholar'. So where is your evidence that Martin Luther is 'more likely...still in Purgatory', much less Hell?

      As for the origin of indulgences, a serious historian would know that it lies in the Crusades, and that it has no definitive scriptural support. Moreover, a
      serious historian would know that the doctrine of indulgences is based on the misassumption that absolution of sin is obtainable only through
      sacramental confession.

      Crusaders feared death in battle without the tender ministrations of a priest (and, therefore, without having been absolved of sin). To get round this unavoidable, and potential deterrent, the papacy had a wizard wheeze and
      conjured up the idea of 'indulgences'. In return for good works (here, the
      slaughter of Muslims to 'free' Jerusalem), etc., remission of temporal punishment due for sin (time off in Purgatory, in other words) could be had
      by obtaining an indulgence.

      As for Luther's pet hates, yes, he was an anti-Semite...like virtually all Catholic priests in the Catholic Church of the time. So, no surprise here. (Have you
      read the anti-Semitic hatred of some of the Church Fathers, like Augustine?)

      And no, Luther did not lead German peasants into revolt. As a serious Church
      historian would know, this was done by radical opportunists who seized upon Luther's zeal for Church reform as a pretext for class warfare.

      I agree with you about Luther personally: yes, he could be 'deeply unpleasant, obnoxious and pride-filled' at times. Pardon me, but are you any
      different?

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    2. Calm down, Anon at 23:24. Of course we can all be unpleasant, obnoxious, etc., at times. Everyone of course except you - I'm sure none of those traits exist in YOU.

      Indulgences were not "conjured up" by the Church. They are part of our Catholic Apostolic Faith. The Bride of Christ, in the book of Revelation is clothed in dazzling white linen - the good deeds of the saints.

      The doctrine of Indulgences is the "how" of those good deeds being applied to us sinners now. For your reading, I suggest:

      http://www.catholic.com/tracts/primer-on-indulgences

      http://www.catholic.com/tracts/myths-about-indulgences

      I did NOT say that Luther led the Peasants' Revolt. I said he led them "up the garden path". His preaching gave them hope and then he "turned Turk" on them and lambasted them in his own inimical scathing and damning terms, spewed out his vitriol in "Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants".

      There are many articles on Luther at the following link:

      http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2006/11/martin-luther-a-catholic-appraisal-index-page-for-dave-armstrong.html

      Only God knows ultimately the fate of Luther's soul. Personally, I hope he will be saved. We will all need God's Mercy, even though the majority of us did not cause 500 years worth of division and chaos in Christ's Church.

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    3. 02:23, no one could be calmer. But I am amused at your pretension of scholarship on Catholic Church history.

      Yes, those traits exist in me, too. But I don't beat myself up over them;I just confess my sins to God directly. What I don't do (unlike you) is single
      people out for special mention because they display these traits, and then
      make presumptious judgement as to their likely eshatological
      whereabouts.


      Yes, the doctrine of indulgences was conjured up by the papacy to accomodate the absolute certainity that knights would die in battle without
      having been shriven. I know you don't want to hear this; but then, serious historians are mature enough to handle even the most uncomfortable
      historical truths Indulgences would not have arisen had the papacy not been absolutely and immovably wedded to the theological falsehood
      that sacramental grace, including absolution, was obtainable only through the sacramental rites of the Catholic Church.

      As for your reference to the Book of Revelation, there is no definitive
      support here, or anywhere else in Scripture, for the doctrine of indulgences. The origin and spur for this was the Crusades, not Scripture. You would
      already know this if you were what you claimed to be: a 'Church History
      scholar'.

      Too late now for denial about Luther's effect on German peasants. You did,
      obliquely, attribute him with inspiring the German peasants' revolt (of
      leading them 'up the garden path') and then of turning on them. Luther did neither. He was a theologian who sought reform of the Church, not revolt
      against it (much less social revolution). He never sought schism; he was driven to it by the murderous reaction of that likely paedophile, Pope Leo X.

      Luther 'led no one up the garden path'; opportunists, driven by hatred of
      serfdom and corruption and greed among the German nobility, exploited Luther's words, twisting them into a manifesto for inciting social revolt.
      Luther reacted savagely to this revolt; I admit this. But he did not inspire it;
      nor was he morally responsible for it. As I think I said above, a serious historian would know this. But then, you're not a serious historian, are you?

      Delete
    4. You clearly are biased and prejudiced against the Catholic Church. Your judgement therefore is clouded by your own subjective understanding and interpretation of history. Cheerio! :-)

      Delete
  16. His monthly salary isn't his only income. Is tax due on money received for mass stipends, funerals, weddings and baptisms and the 'say a wee pray for me Father' money given by people like my auld granny, who regularly gave a fiver for such purposes.

    Was at a baptism last Sunday where a number of children were baptised and would estimate the priest got at least £80 for the session. Our group gave him £30 which was barely acknowledged but stuck in his back pocket pretty quick. Maybe it goes to the parish, wouldn't know.

    Apart from Mass I never see a priest about the place. In our parish now about twenty years and never been blessed by a visit from the PP, unlike the sixties, when you would be guaranteed at least a yearly visit from Canon McSparron if you lived in Rathcoole.

    I know there are fewer priests knocking about but you'd like to think they had more of a purpose than saying Mass, given the stresses and strains of those in the pews, never mind those who have given up. Sermons in our parish are crap, week after week after week. Where are we supposed to receive our 'daily bread'?

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    1. How do you know how much he got? Did you count it with him? From my observation, many people don't give the priest anything for his services. The priest isn't looking their money anyhow.

      Canon McSparran was a typical old high-horse aristocrat who looked down his nose at the poor. He was a dictator. Plenty of time for the "money people".

      Many priests today are stressed out because they are fewer in number and the problems of people they are often saddled with have not lessened.

      Some of those bringing babies for baptism would be far more honest not bothering their heads because they have no intention of doing their duty to God and bringing their children up in the Catholic faith.

      Same for 1st Communion and Confirmation. A fiasco. They haven't the first notion and can't hardly bless themselves. Such parents are deeply dishonest and they making a mockery of the Church. Its all for the party and all-day drinking session.

      You can bet your life they are not giving the priest "say a wee prayer for money" of any sort. Leave the priests alone. They are doing their best in bad times.

      Greencastle Granda.

      Delete
    2. Heard one fucker paying his Rent Boy out of the sodality Monies - Jesus I taught Barry Fitzgerald was dead.

      Delete
  17. The Irish Cathokic article on priest wages seaid priests in the Derry Diocese are paid the least money in terms of wages compared top their counterparts in the other 25 dioceses. How can this be the case - I thought all priests got the same salary?

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  18. I recently had cause to ask a priest to sign a form for me (forget what it was about) and he read the form and signed it. I offered him a £10, he flatly refused saying that he couldn't possibly accept money for a few minutes work. I left a £5 on his desk and he attempted to return it, I refused. I recall my cousin being given back the fee for her marriage as a gift, the priest was totally unknown to her.

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    1. Aww that's lovely. Our priest is the same. I had never filled in one of those Special Intention envelopes when I wanted prayers said for a friend with Cancer and I asked the priest how much was I supposed to put in and he said "you don't have to put anything in". Our priest is very humble and his home is very run-down.

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  19. You mentioned Bishop Casey and the 70k used to try to buy Mrs Murphys silence. Believe me Pat there is similar example much closer to home !

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  20. How much is a mass? How much money does it cost to have the Eucharist celebrated for a soul in Purgatory? Is it 2 pounds, 5 pounds, 10 pounds in an envelope for the priest? Do monasteries do cheaper mass or are they pricier? And this is 499 years after Luther and the Tetzel affair...

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    Replies
    1. A Mass costs NOTHING.

      The person, however, may make a Mass offering.

      This comes from an ancient tradition of providing for the priest's livelihood for a given day.

      In the past he would have been given a basket of eggs, or vegetables, or a chicken. Doctors were paid similarly.

      Everyone who provides a service deserves a wage. It's a human given. Get over it.

      If you want a Mass said and have no money, the priest will still say the Mass for you.

      If you need to visit the doctor in the 26 counties, it's gonna cost ya - even for a brief consultation.

      If you need to speak with a priest about something worrying you, for as long as necessary, it will cost you NOTHING.

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