I go to a Dominican parish so it's a little different for me. I do not give directly to the diocese of Gal-Hou but do give to the parish and Dominican Province and also am going to start contributing to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP). I'm sure you know about these guys.

Until the Curia (especially DiNardo as president of USCCB) show some backbone, they will not receive a penny from me. This is one way we as laymen can make our voices heard.

Seamaster,

Quote:

---

Instead, I am sending a letter to the Cardinal expressing that I will no longer support the diocesan initiatives directly due to the American Catholic Bishop's failure to address sexual abuse in Baltimore as well as Pope Francis' refusal to respond to the allegations made by Archbishop Vigano.

---

Is your parish up northeast then? It seems the Texas dioceses are taking action. What's this about Archbishop Vigano accusing the Pope? Of what? (It is wearisome to have to say it this way, but which scandal does this refer to? )

The long and short of Vigano's letter is that the pope and a dozen other high ranking clergy knew of scandals including Abp McCarrick for years and did nothing, even covering up. For reference and insight check out Taylor Marshall on YouTube. He has several videos where he lays out the accusations and gives analysis.

Clear Creek Monastery

I also greatly appreciate the priests of Miles Christi. They have several silent retreats (Spiritual Exercises) in DFW and Houston. Highly recommend the retreat.

Do parishes tithe to the diocese? I ask because my parish does (Antiochian orthodox). This funds diocesan stuff like seminary and summer camp. If so, defunding the diocese may only be possible by ending parish direct funding.

Talk to your parish treasurer. They may have a way for you to donate and earmark funds for direct application and avoid anything going to the diocese...

k2aggie07 said:

---

Do parishes tithe to the diocese? I ask because my parish does (Antiochian orthodox). This funds diocesan stuff like seminary and summer camp. If so, defunding the diocese may only be possible by ending parish direct funding.

Talk to your parish treasurer. They may have a way for you to donate and earmark funds for direct application and avoid anything going to the diocese...

---

I don't know how the exact process works. My parish priest did tell me that if we meet the DSF goal (annual diocesan fund raising effort), no additional money gets pulled from the parish. If we don't, some portion of the 'miss' gets sent to the diocese. Either way, I think your last sentence is correct. If a person earmarks a donation for a specific need, it has to get used for that.

Quote:

---

If a person earmarks a donation for a specific need, it has to get used for that.

---

Honestly, I wouldn't think so...unless there's a direct call to support XYZ thing and they want you to call it out so they can route the funds there.

Yeah ours works along the lines of anything that is donated to the general fund (ie no earmark, like stuff in the Sunday collection or general tithes and offerings) gets tithed to the diocese. Stuff that's for specific purposes like fixing a broken AC unit or into a building fund or whatever doesn't. So it may be a simple matter to directly support your parish and mission and actively -not- support the diocese.

Other things that can get interesting for the laity is who exactly owns the parish. And the parish bank account, for example. If the parish itself is a corporation or some other legal entity and the officers of that entity are the current council...and there's no way in the legal charter for a bishop to remove them...you could, hypothetically speaking, tell the diocese to pound sand when they come calling. Or if they send you a priest that's not doing what you like. Or if they fail to remove a priest, or act, or whatever.

We give to Dynamic Catholic almost exclusively now.

Seamaster said:

---

Fellow Catholics.

I've recently decided to forego donating to the Diocesan Services Fund in my parish. Instead, I am sending a letter to the Cardinal expressing that I will no longer support the diocesan initiatives directly due to the American Catholic Bishop's failure to address sexual abuse in Baltimore as well as Pope Francis' refusal to respond to the allegations made by Archbishop Vigano.

I am close to stopping my local tithe to my local parish for the same reasons.

However, I will still give the same amount of money to worth charities.

Here are a few I suggest:

http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/entertainment/2019/february/tim-tebows-night-to-shine-happening-tonight-600-churches-100-000-kings-and-queens

^ Tim Tebow Foundation. Doing awesome work.

https://forlifeandfamily.org/

^ Faithful charity focused on training priests to teach the truth about marriage, family and human vitae as well as help Catholic families live out their vocations. Also trains doctors on ethics.

---

Did you hear back from the Cardinal?

What did he say?

The cathidraticum tax is set by the diocese and that money goes downtown regardless.

It always reminds me of the scene in Goodfellas where he is describing how they busted out a bar that the mob had taken partial ownership of.

Quote:

---

But now the guy's gotta come up with Paulie's money every week, no matter what. Business bad? "**** you, pay me." Oh, you had a fire? "**** you, pay me." Place got hit by lightning, huh? "**** you, pay me."

---

Since I worked at a church it has always seemed like more than a coincidence that the mob and the Church were both Italian.

The only way to apply real pressure on the hierarchy is to cut off their money. And that means not just DSF but the parish also.

Does that suck for them? Absolutely. But when they have to keep making that cathidraticum payment in full regardless of what comes in, that will cause the parish priests to turn the heat up on the bishops. Subsequently when they recalculate the cathidraticum for next year based on the reduced amounts parishes took in the bishops will be in the same spot the parishes were in the year before, with the Vatican saying "**** you, pay me".

And THAT will cause the bishops to turn the heat on Rome.

The American Catholic Church is Rome's wallet. Reducing Rome's ability to dip into that wallet is absolutely the only thing that will get their attention up the chain. If you haven't realized by now that the majority of the hierarchy both up to and including (maybe especially) this Pope doesn't give a damn about you, well I don't know what to tell you. This goes double if you have any notion of a "conservative" approach to the faith.