Selling the Vatican

Last updated on: February 7, 2011 at 4:19 pm by Marc

Selling the Vatican 2011-02-07T16:19:00-05:00 Marc

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I had a conversation with someone who could only be fairly described as a prodigy of Michael Moore, and it went as follows.

Him: “America needs strong leadership because capitalism is so disorganized.”
I: (not taking his oh-so-clever talking points seriously) “We should sell America to The Vatican then, they’re good at organizing.”
Him: (angrily) “The Vatican should sell all it’s gold to feed starving people in Africa.”
I: (noting with interest how the mere mention of the Catholic Church in conversation destroys and derails any logical train of thought) What gold – exactly – are you talking about? Does every bishop have a treasure chest I don’t know about?
Him: (moving hands to indicate accumulated wealth) You know the churches, and cathedrals and the Pope lives in a mansion.
I: Where do you think the Church gets it’s money from?
Him: …
I: I mean it’s not exactly like we have much material commodity to sell, besides the Eucharist, and that’s free.
Him: …
I: (getting my preach on) The Church, by definition, is all it’s members. The money the Church has is the money it’s followers have; the money they give. You’d have a poor person put his tithe in a basket for the Church, the Church would buy him a gold tabernacle, and you’d have it melted down so he could get his money back. Your entire argument rests on the arrogant assumption that all the poor want is cash and food. Have you ever asked the Catholic poor whether he’d like the beauty of his church stripped for cash? Boy, you’d get smacked, because the majority of Catholics are poor, and know what’s important in life. Is it not enough that we are the largest charitable organization in the world?
Him: But you can’t deny the Pope lives in a mansion.
I: And you can’t deny that if he didn’t, the Catholic people would put him in one. We’re human, we like to reverence things.
His Friend: (quietly) Dude I think you lost the argument…
Him: Nah, I’m good.

Have a wonderful evening!

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 6, 2011

Peace, Love AND A SWORD.

Next Post

February 13, 2011 All Praise To God the Forgetful

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Another Look Atheism Bad Catholics Beauty Communio Crookedhart Destupidification Exiting the Culture Wars Gender Theory That Doesn't Suck How To Language Liturgy! Love One Another Marriage Equality Modesty Music Objectification pop culture Poverty Sacraments Sex Technology The Best Religion in the World The Erotic Phenomenon Time Uncategorized Virtue Ethics That Don't Suck Winning the Culture Wars

Select a Month January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 July 2016 June 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book directly follows Joshua?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Numbers Ruth Judges Leviticus