By Frank Douglas
Voice from the Desert
June 21, 2011
http://reform-network.net/?p=11179
PRESS RELEASE
JUNE 21, 2011
CONTACT: FRANK DOUGLAS (520) 404-2489; frankdouglas62@yahoo.com
The 2011 Peter’s Pence collection takes place this Sunday June 26. Ostensibly for papal charities, the latest (2009) information we have—as documented by Jason Berry in his highly praised new book Render Unto Rome—reveals that only about 10% of the Peter’s Pence collection goes to charity. The rest goes to fund the Vatican’s annual operating deficit which flows from the Holy See’s nasty habit of living beyond its means, very much like we see in governments in America and elsewhere in the Western world..
If you are disturbed by the pope’s gross mismanagement of the clergy sex abuse phenomenon, especially putting children at risk of great harm from known and suspected pedophile priests, the Peter’s Pence collection provides every Catholic an opportunity to send a message to the pope in a universal, well-understood language: MONEY.
One can send this message for just one Lincoln penny:
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If you eat at a restaurant and the service is awful, you have three choices: 1) you can leave the usual tip—and the waiter has no incentive to change his/her ways; 2) you can leave no tip which allows delusional thinking such as “They probably forgot;” or 3) you can leave a penny (or two) so that there can be no doubt in anybody’s mind about your dissatisfaction.
Giving as usual means business as usual for the Vatican because there it has no incentive to change. If you don’t put anything in the Peter’s Pence collection, church officials can delude themselves by saying, “It’s the economy!” When you put a penny in the collection plate (along with a brief note expressing your dissatisfaction), there can be no doubt about your message. This Sunday, June 26, send the pope a message: BUSINESS AS USUAL WILL NO LONGER BE TOLERATED.
To send this message, just drop a penny in the collection basket this Sunday.
If you won’t be at Mass this Sunday, June 26, but still want to send a forceful message, a penny and a 44-cent stamp are all it takes for your voice to be heard, too. We urge you to send a penny with a brief note to:
Peter’s Pence Collection
The Apostolic Nunciature, the Holy See
3339 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008 .
Desert Voices, Inc., an Arizona non-profit corporation, sponsors Send the Bishops a Message.
Contact: Frank Douglas (520) 404-2489; Frankdouglas62@yahoo.Com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.