Good grief -- I honestly had no idea! [View all]
I was reading up on developments of the Catholic church's child sex abuse scandal and came across this article, which pretty much lays out just how much money this one archdiocese is worth. Good grief! This isn't a church -- this is a global mega-corporation raking in cash free of oversight while preaching about ending poverty and balking at paying sex abuse victims. If just this one diocese is worth this much, how much money is floating around in church coffers around the world? And we're being preached to about capitalism and poverty while they're talking about the success of their managed funds and investments? Yeah, okay. No wonder they have millions to throw at anti-gay, anti-woman legislation and lobbyists around the world. That's chump change.
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Sydney's Catholic Archdiocese has assets over $1 billion, royal commission told
Date March 25, 2014 - 3:31PM
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/sydneys-catholic-archdiocese-has-assets-over-1-billion-royal-commission-told-20140325-35fu8.html#ixzz2wyhA9PKP
Sydney's Catholic Archdiocese, thought to be the richest in the country, controls funds with assets of $1.24 billion and generates annual multimillion-dollar surpluses, according to evidence at the child sex abuse royal commission...
...The royal commission was shown accounts revealing that the Catholic Development Fund held $810 million, including $321 million in cash at the end of 2013. The procuration fund from which sexual abuse claims are made held $426 million, including real estate assets of $207 million. This included buildings and land used “substantially” for church purposes.
The archdiocese's reported net assets in 2013 were $192 million...
...Last year's $9.1 million surplus included a 125-year lease transaction contributing $5.5 million and “we had a very good year with our managed funds and out investments," he said.... MORE
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