CHURCH WEALTH

The sex abuse scandals have forced the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix into bankruptcy. We may be about to see the first significant public accounting of church wealth since the divorce proceedings of Henry VIII. I have friends who believe most of the Church’s riches are invested in buildings and artwork with comparatively little in genuinely disposable assets. I am with the group that believes the Church is, or certainly should be, among the wealthiest institutions on the planet. Just think of all those rich old ladies who died and left their fortunes in the care of Cardinals and Bishops. The Phoenix case could well provide a fascinating glimpse into what has happened to some of that money.

The Vatican has had more or less undisputed control over Church assets for over 800 years. Many of us remember that Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in the year 800. Many more remember that Napoleon abolished the office in 1806. Most of us have forgotten the significance. Charlemagne’s coronation highlighted a huge power struggle between Church and state. Were Kings going to appoint Popes or was it the other way around? The struggle would swing back and forth for several hundred years but by the 12th century Papal power was at its zenith with uncontested authority over the appointment of Bishops. Pope Gregory VII used that authority to impose mandatory celibacy in 1139. At the time, most priests and Bishops were married. They were required on pain of excommunication to divorce their wives, abandon their families, cede their property to the Church, and relinquish all personal claims. We can argue about whether the issue was nepotism or power and greed but the greatest transfer of wealth in history took place at a stroke.

Nobody knows how much it was all worth but by the time Henry confiscated Church property in England four hundred years later the land holdings alone were enormous. He decided to use it to secure the loyalty of the most important nobles and for this he needed an inventory. So his executors developed the survey system of sections and townships we use in the US today. Heaven only knows what the value of that land might be now. It is ironic that if there is a requirement for a survey in the Phoenix bankruptcy the courts will use a standard that dates back to Henry, and for a purpose not all that different.

Have the clerics been good stewards for the talents entrusted with them? I suspect most of us would say probably not. Secrecy and lack of accountably aren’t practices one normally associates with good stewardship. Still, it’s tempting to wonder. Let’s see now, invested wisely, say at a compound growth rate of 3% per annum, 855 years; one dollar would have grown to roughly $60 billion. Multiplied by what? A few million dollars at the time? Man that’s a lot of zeroes!

What has happened in Phoenix really is extraordinary and there could be more of it. With Catholics demanding more openness from the Clergy in matters ranging from personnel and financial administration to the personal conduct of priests, no wonder some in the hierarchy want to go back to the days when clerical authority went unchallenged. No wonder they are recruiting a new generation of more conservative priests, priest who hold loyalty and obedience to Bishops and the Pope to be paramount. If the laity ever started asking for audits on how the money gets spent this whole thing could get out of hand. This could get interesting.

FATHER FIGURES

Last fall The Dallas Morning News reported on a trend that has been apparent for some time among younger American Catholic Priests. In a reversal of classic generational roles, they are more conservative than the older, more liberal Priests who were ordained in the 1960s and 1970s. In many ways they seem intent on undoing Vatican II. They want to restore the authority of the clergy and “educate” the laity to respect that authority. I find the trend worrisome, not the right response to the troubles we have seen in recent years. I believe excessive authoritarianism is part of our problem. We’ve got serious issues here and we need a discussion, not a lecture.

Surely, no one would suggest that we transform the Church into a Jeffersonian democracy. But a laity educated in our society, having learned to challenge civil authority, cannot be expected to give clerical authority a free pass. We cannot be expected to let go without question policies, decisions, or even moral judgments that don’t pass our notions of reason or justice. When we see something wrong we will speak up and expect the clergy to hear us out. I’m afraid these new conservatives will drive the American Church into the irrelevance that an earlier generation drove the Western European Church to, precisely the problem Vatican II was called to address.

Nor does anyone expect our clergy to sit idly by and watch their congregations descend slowly into debauchery. We expect them to speak up when they see moral weakness or error, whether we entirely agree or not. We expect them to teach. That’s what they are there for. We can, should, and do look to them for moral guidance. But the days when we do that without question are over and that is as it should be. It would be a good thing if those days were also over inside the clergy. It is a virtuous Priest who is obedient to his Bishop, and a virtuous Bishop who is obedient to his Pope. But it is no virtue to blindly follow superiors when they are wrong, not in business, not in government, not even the army, and not in the Church. Priests must make their voices heard on the most pressing issues facing them. Please, let’s don’t go back to the day when they simply submitted under the principle that God’s Vicar on earth, along with his surrogates, could never possible be wrong.

Western Europeans left the Church in frustration. Americans, for now, are staying but protesting loudly over what we see as abuses of power and wrong headed decisions. In our private lives we listen, but go our own way. In matters of Church policy and clerical behavior our voices are growing louder. I believe the volume will continue to increase until the voices get through. American laity doesn’t just want to vent. We have something to say and we demand to be heard.

One more thing; we tend to place our clerics on pedestals, my Church perhaps more that most, but I suspect the same is true of Rabbis, Imams, and religious leaders in other faiths. I am no exception. The Priests I know are among those men whom I hold in highest regard. But putting them on pedestals is idolatry. The idea that Priests can do no wrong is one that has had terrible consequences. We should never forget that they are men, subject to the same human frailties as us all. When they prove to be human we should not allow our faith to be shaken. Men can be wrong.