In a letter dated today, Tom Monaghan, the founder and current chairman and CEO of Legatus, a lay association of US Catholic businessmen, informed members that the organization's annual tithe to the Holy See would be placed in escrow "pending further determination" regarding the sex abuse coverup allegations of the last few weeks.
Legatus was created 31 years ago by Dominos Pizza founder Monaghan. Membership is limited to owners or CEO's of businesses with at least $6.5 million in annual revenue or $275 million in assets under management.
Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the international chaplain of Legatus from its founding through 2012, called it “the most influential lay organization in the Church”.
IRS records show the 2016 tithe to have been approximately $730,000. Even assuming the 2018 total to be somewhat higher, the amount of money is obviously not in itself substantial in the overall scheme of Vatican finances.
However, a source inside the Vatican communicated this:
It is significant because it is from a single source. And it is important because everyone in Legatus also makes personal donations, and each donor is the type of person that gets others to donate. Or not. I think the Vatican will be taking it seriously.
Mahound's Paradise also believes it to be notable because Legatus is a "mainstream" Catholic organization with no previous record of opposition to Francis or his policies.
Interestingly, the president of the other well-known Catholic institution founded by Monaghan, Ava Maria University, initially expressed his support for Pope Francis' approach to the crisis a few days ago, but was then was forced to backtrack in the face of a backlash from alumni and others, including a resignation announcement from the University's alleged current regent.
Catholic journalist and blogger Thomas Peters was one of the first to break the story on social media, writing that "If Pope Francis refuses to speak, US Catholic laity will speak with their wallets."
Now THIS is a significant development!
ReplyDeleteYes, this is fantastic news. One of the important factors is how many neo-con Catholics are going to decide this is too much for them to keep supporting. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all those Catholics "on the other side", came to understand just how terrible this is, and how corrupt and awful he is. Who on earth doesn't have a boy or young man in their lives that they love dearly? People love their kids, and for most people, hurting children is a deal breaker.
ReplyDeleteThis is why we need to keep sharing information and talking about this, because every day more people are waking up.
Now if we can get Congress to stop those Resettlement Funds, we can end the annoyance of all this immigrant blather and encourage bishops to care about our opinions once more.
Bergolio has been a clarifying agent who has forced faithful Catholics to mentally eliminate the slogan shroud of The Hermeneutic of Continuity that has covered-up the cataclysmic chasm existing between the Faith and Othropraxis of the 18th, 19th, and 20th century Popes and that of the modern Popes.
ReplyDeleteThere is a major rupture in continuity and the idea that there exists continuity is a shameless and shameful claim.
For a very long time a schism has existed in the Church. On one side is the faithless anthropocentric acolytes and on the other side is the Theocentric Faithful and the obvious and stark difference can be seen in the way men chose to worship God - the anthropocentric oriented are jake with The Lil' Licit Liturgy while faithful Catholics insist on The Real Mass.
Everyone knows any priest can offer The Real Mass but the vast vast majority of Priests and Bishop chose the Lil' Licit Liturgy over The Real Mass and that is the crucial identifier for those desiring to know which prelate is an authentic Catholic.
This time, when the funds begin to dry up for Team Francis, was predicted. It was for this time that PF took over the Knights of Malta, is STILL trying to get to the funds of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, etc.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-maradiaga-accused-of-financial-mismanagement-74083
The bribes and pay-offs to get votes in conclaves, to keep people quiet and on your side becomes impossible if you have no money.