opinions on what happened recently to me at church. basically priests are gangsters?
August 15, 2011 by refl
Filed under Church stained
so me and my fiance had to get registered at a catholic church so we could get our son baptized. well this church wanted our account info so they could deduct money from us every week, whether we were there or not. we were like “uhhh no”. so then they tried to calculate how much we should donate and it ended up being like 20% of her income (she makes way more than me)! that made me sick that these people who are suppose to be all about good for the community were willing and eager to take 20% of the income of a young mom who is working and still in college.
what a bunch of gangsters! they would make Tony Soprano blush. i guess they gotta pay for those gaudy stain glass windows and statues somehow right?
what do you think? typical of organized religion or just catholics?
hehe someone doesnt believe me! i know its a wild story, i guess you just proved my point: its unbelieveable
some of you guys dont believe me? i admit, it looks like something a troll would conjure up, and i have done my fair share of trolling in the past, but i assure you (as assuring as one blogger to another can be) that this actually happened. the church is in a pretty well off neighborhood, so maybe they assumed we had 20% of our income to give so they could add yet another wing to the church.
orchidmg: her family, very religious. doesnt bother me one way or the other because im gonna teach him what the bible is really about, and to think for himself
Dang, George Clooney got pissed at you guy! but he’s so laid back in his movies? whats the deal george? didnt have your liberal-O’s this mornin?
photogra…: very true, one of the many reasons im agnostic. thanks for your input!
NOT TRUE…DONT WASTE OUR TIME…
I’ve never heard of forced donations before…just threats of hell if you don’t give more $
Sure you weren’t at the church of scientology?
Catholicism is a cult !!! This proves part of that.
Priests and ministers are nothing more than organized gangsters.
BULL!
Nonsense!
In Christ
Fr. Joseph
I’m an atheist and I call mad B.S. on this one.
Vatican City is the 18th Wealthiest Nation in the World.
Scary.. find another church?
I don’t think either =] I’ve never heard of any catholic church that I’ve attended asking for banking info or asking me or any other parishioner income related info. I’ve been to other churches that simply ask to tithe based on your income right before the collection plates are handed out.
I apologise in advance for what I’m about to do–that is, copy and paste. I posted a question along similar lines and got a lot of nonsense in respnse. I think the question I posted pretty much answers your question in the sense that it expresses my views on this topic rather well.
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Christians, can you explain this Bible quote and your reasons for acting in opposition to it (if you do)?
“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24)
Many, many authority figures of the Abrahamic God dress themselves in wealth. They dress and behave almost like rock stars and their congregations adore them for it.
Not only that, but many Christians are very wealthy, make relatively small contributions to charity (in proportion to their wealth) and somehow think that makes them charitable. But in the eyes of Jesus, the one who gives a mere penny, if that is all he has, is by far the most charitable person.
As the preacher said in the movie “Religulous,” the people expect their leaders to dress well. That was his reason for wearing several thousand dollars worth of clothing and jewelry. His next excuse was that his followers gave him the money directly and that he did not take a salary. What difference does that make? Jesus gave away the coins given to him, even as his disciples complained about the poverty they lived in.
I haven’t seen any camels pass through the eye of a needle recently. Have you? Are these people not damning themselves even as they presume to speak on God’s behalf?
There are no priests in The True Church,save for Jesus The Christ who is The High Priest and the Head of The True Church….. btw… there is no biblical justification for infant baptism
That’s not typical of even Catholics.
While many parishes (and other charities) offer direct debit as a convenient means to contribute there is no “required donation” and any *suggestions* even approaching 20% is a bit high.
If you don’t want to go to church and donate money, why do you want your child baptized?
you…lied about this?
why?
father tucker. are you bereft??? When was the last time you saw a camel? And are you SURE you know what “an eye of a needle is??” I don’t think you are. You probably think its the hole in a sewing needle. You dork. Don’t you know ANYTHING about islamic architecture? The eye of a needle is the arch of one of those doorways. Jesus christ. Don’t you READ?
Lincoln was a christian. He was also very wealthy. Are you going to dis him too? Besides, jesus turned his back on the poor. Or don’t you remember him saying to the apostles, (when they said ‘wait. Shouldn’t we use this money for the poor instead of oil of anointment?’) “the poor will ALWAYS be with us. I WON’T. Get the oil”.
And that line about one penny, that was a metaphor for EFFORT. If you give your FINAL EFFORT, then it works. If you don’t, then it doesn’t work. Money was a symbol for effort.
Dude, it is not just Catholics. My dear mother belonged to the same church from the time she was born until a year or so after she married my father (both are now deceased). They were just starting out in life and I was on the way so their finances were tight. At one point the preacher visited her and stated that if she did not catch up with her tithe and continue to pay that she would be stricken from the church’s roll.
Now I have been an Atheist all of my life, even though my parents and grand parents considered themselves to be Christians, but I still think about what that greedy pig of a preacher did and wish he were alive now so I could punch him in the nose! I am sure, that if I were to try, I could get her reinstated, but I would not waste my time or her memory.
I’d say go to another Catholic church. This church may not be the best one for you and your child if they do that!
That sound horrible!! I live in South Georgia, USA and I have never heard of anything so ridiculous! The worst thing that I have ever heard of was that you had to be a member of the church for so many months before you could be baptized and yeah being a member means paying dues but the dues are all the same and usually not more than 20 bucks.
Lol…yes, they have been the largest corrupt institution for centuries now. Gilded churches, while children starve. If there was a god I don’t think he would give a cr** if he had a gilded church, but he would care about starving children. Since it is exactly the opposite in this world, leads me to believe there cannot be an all-loving deity known as Yahweh.
10% of your earnings….your body, your mind and anything else they can squeeze out of you.
The bible is a fairy tale based on other fairy tales, and if you go to books.google.com, you can download a book called Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions. It was written 150 years ago, and was used at Harvard Seminary. It proves that most bible stories were “copied and pasted” and aren’t even original, let alone real, and the priests know this too.
Peace be with you mate,
This sort of thing should not happen in the Catholic Church. If it does, find yourself a different parish which isn’t corrupt.
False teachers like Herbert Armstrong and his followers have been known to enforce tithing yet it has never been a requirement of the Christian Church.
In the US a lot of Churches are aggressive about tithing, I have heard of people getting letters that they are not tithing enough and asked to leave the church for the same reason, it is not just the Catholics.
I would first find another parish, and then would send a letter of complain to the bishop. A may ask you for money, but I have never heard of a parish asking for a percentage of your income.
Assuming your story is true, you should report this immoral and unusual activity to the diocese. This is not how the Catholic Church operates.
The Catholic Church does not teach giving 10% to the Church. Tithing is the part of the Mosaic Law that covers temple worship.
Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses.
Christians are not held to the ceremonial parts of the Mosaic Law concerning of dietary purity and temple worship.
Christians are held to the moral law of God, some of which is expressed in the Ten Commandments.
However Jesus took the Ten Commandments to the next step summarizing them into the two Great Commandments:
• You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
• You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
And teaching things like
• Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
• Everyone is our neighbor including our enemies.
Therefore we have to go much farther than the original recipients of the Ten Commandments ever dreamed.
Catholics need to examine their personal finances, determine what part of their God-given time, talent, and treasure they can freely choose to give back.
For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, part 3, section 2: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2.shtml
For an interesting discussion of tithing and backrupcy, see: http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=22650
With love in Christ.