Vow of Poverty? Bishop Retiring to Live Alone in $2.3M Mansion Bought By Church
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Oh, those Catholics! If they’re not molesting children they’re stealing from their parishioners, which is the case in the following news brief from Newser:
The Catholic Diocese of San Jose has purchased a five-bedroom, $2.3 million home in Silicon Valley for its retiring bishop despite the 640,000-member diocese’s mission of charity and serving the poor. Bishop Patrick J. McGrath, 73, acknowledged in an interview with the Mercury News that he “could understand” how the purchase might not sit well with some parishioners. The nearly 3,300-square-foot home’s listing boasts of a “grand-sized chef’s kitchen,” ”soaring ceilings,” and a “spa-like marble bathroom” in a “Tuscan estate.” It was purchased with funds set aside for paying the costs of a bishop’s housing and upkeep after retirement, said a rep for the diocese. McGrath said the diocese also got the proceeds from selling a condominium where his predecessor, retired Bishop Pierre DuMaine, lived before moving into assisted living, reports the AP.
“The fund … can be used for nothing else,” McGrath said. “When I’m not around anymore, the house can be sold. It’s a good investment in that sense. It probably makes more money this way than if it were in the bank.” Still, the purchase appears at odds with McGrath’s previously expressed concerns about housing inequality in Northern California. Many retired clergy choose to live in a retirement community in Mountain View sponsored by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Others live in church rectories, the homes of parish priests. McGrath said he wanted to “live in a house so I would have the freedom to help the diocese but not disturb the priests in the rectories” and that he “like[s] the valley.” McGrath said he’s not planning to have other clergy as regular housemates, though people to help him cook and clean might come and stay.
Hypocrisy anyone? What about that vow of poverty? What happened to giving to the poor?
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Only the strictest Catholic institutes, or orders of priests (Franciscans, Jesuit, etc) require priests to take a vow of poverty. Bishop McGrath is of no order at all and is known as a “diocesan” priest. Or more plainly put: GENERIC. Other priests do not take this vow at all and can engage in the world’s economy and can even hold side jobs, some which can be highly lucrative. Whether or not priests have taken poverty vows, all clergy are admonished to live modest and simple lives by abstaining from unnecessary extravagances. Those who do take vows of poverty generally receive a meager living stipend for basic personal needs. Any goods they use, such as housing, vehicles and clothing, do not belong to the priests themselves, but to the institution.
However, ALL orders of nuns take vows of poverty. Some highly educated professional business people, lawyers, CEO’s, etc. also happen to be nuns and may in fact earn very high salaries appropriate to their position. But, their paychecks go to the order (Daughters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy) and the nuns themselves must live on the amount allotted to them by their order.
This is but another glaring inequality in one of the world’s most powerful institutions.
Looking at this guy, I think his ship sailed a long time ago.
so far there is no mention of celibacy. If those guys could marry it would ease the propblem