A question to Catholics here. . .

[Brian_Expat]

As a former Catholic myself, I have to ask this question. It's a hot potato but one that needs to be asked.

With the Portland diocese in bankruptcy court, how come the Catholic Church in the United States has MILLIONS of dollars to spend on anti-gay advertising, movies, and lobbying efforts, but claims it doesn't have any money for child rape victims?

Pardon my cynicism, but the recent filing by the Portland diocese seems to me to be the religious equivalent of Enron.

"We have no money -- ehrm, except for what we want to spend it on."

[Redhead488]

1. Don't confuse one Diocese

with the whole church. What anti-gay lobbying has the Portland Diocese done?

[LTR]

2. I didn't know the church itself was funding advertising and movies

And dioceses tend to fund themselves. But the churches are having problems with funding and hiring new clergy.

Many times, it's independent groups that do the P.R. stuff. Some churches do a lot of propaganda, including the fundies and Mormons.

I'm what one would call a casual Catholic, meaning I seldom go to services, so I may be somewhat out of the loop on this.

[kikiek]

3. Former Catholic too..I also noticed they seem to spend a lot of

money on some pretty nice properties. Are they selling those to payout?

[Quahog]

7. Yes, a huge amount

Major holdings in MA were sold off to local universities to cover settlements.

[kikiek]

8. Don't know if they had to or not but I am happy they did.

[Quahog]

4. Can you provide an authoritative link

that shows where and how the Catholic church is spending money on anti-gay advertising and movies and lobbying efforts? I have seen none of this. Just curious where you're finding evidence of these millions being spent by the church, and whether you might be confusing church spending with that being done by private groups (who may or may not be made up primarily of Catholics).

[Brian_Expat]

9. The lobbying arm of the RCC in Massachusetts has spent millions

on anti-gay advertising, including an anti-gay movie that it showed at the end of Mass to all Catholics in the state attending Mass that day.

The Massachusetts Catholic Conference, an "independent" lobby group that just happens to be run by the bishops of the RCC in Massachusetts, has been granted access to churches all over the place, has gained lists of churchgoers free of charge, and at the height of the gay marriage row in Massachusetts, was spending over $50,000 PER DAY on lobbying.

You can read about the movie that the RCC showed in Catholic masses in Massachusetts here:

http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2004032908.html

You can watch the movie here:

http://www.marriagepreservation.org/

[meegbear]

5. I noticed that too ...

here in Boston, they sold properties they owned because of the abuse scandal. The Vatican won't help, but they're pushing hard on the DMA.

[ugarte]

6. Many of the things you're talking about are done by advocacy groups

Private people, private money, Catholics of different persuasions.

There are liberal Catholic groups and conservative ones. The Mel Gibson-type conservative ones usually have more money and are highly visible, but they are not the Catholic Church per se.

[noonwitch]

10. Maybe they sold some of those gold icons/statues?

Just a thought. You could feed a lot of poor people with the money that some of those are worth.