General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you know why Catholics put money in the collection plate at Sunday mass? [View all]Sheldon Cooper
(3,724 posts)He cajoled and browbeat people into donating, to the extent that he read out the names of each parishioner and their weekly donation at the end of each mass. He scrimped on everything, and never bought anything for the church unless he could pay cash. He built a completely new church in the mid-60s, and did it without incurring debt. That's a pretty remarkable accomplishment by anyone's standards. He was also a shrewd investor, and by the time he died in the late 1980s, the church had well over a quarter-million dollars in their account. When he died, the bishop of the diocese tried to take all that money, but church leaders stood up to him and demanded that it remain in our parish. They won, which surprised me to be honest - my understanding at the time was that the bishop would have had every right to just help himself to the riches.
Anyway, I'm not really sure why I'm posting this, I guess it's just an anecdote about local donations staying within the parish, and not being used to support pedophiles in the Vatican.