Keep in mind this was originally posted 7/20/09 ... a long time ago and I had a lot more energy to be feisty. Oh, and I was pregnant.
I always hear people complaining about churches being money-hungry. But do they consider what it takes to actually run a church? They need money to pay their staff, pay for the air conditioning, someone to mow the grass, fix the parking lot, trim the bushes, mow, clean it, you name it.
Here in Overland Park, Kansas we have churches that are always struggling, like mine, for things like paying the bills, etc. BUT then they do a capital campaign to raise like 3 million dollars for crap they don't even need, like new carpet. The carpet is FINE! Fix the freaking front walk that I see kids falling down on and getting bloody on every week! Fix the air conditioning at the school first, people, and do it preferably BEFORE school starts in August!
Churches, like schools (don't get me started on that one), need to run themselves like we have to run our homes … in a thrifty manner, wasting as little as possible and recycling as much as possible for money.
Then there are churches just a few miles away that are RICH RICH RICH ... rolling in it. Why can't they all spread it out? Take what they NEED and put the rest in a kitty to share ... and to help parishioners out when they need it (job loss, health issues, fire).
What do you think about a big Catholic pot o’ money that can be put to good use? But then you have the problem of finding someone trustworthy to run the account. Those people are among us, but there are too many who would have trouble actually doing the TRUSTING.
Updated 11/5/18: We've moved since I posted this and we go to a church in Missouri that seems to know how to run itself very well. They take donations of items and sell them throughout the year at a Christmas shop and a garage sale. My family teaches Confirmation because we can't tithe right now. People at church help clean bathrooms, the Confirmation kids will rake leaves to help pay for their Confirmation workbooks, others chip in to clean up, paint, etc. It's a real community that runs in a frugal and impressive way.
Let's pretend Paris Hilton is going to get her hair done, and the upscale hair place has a leaky faucet and 1970's wallpaper. The floor is kinda dingy. And worst of all, the chair in which she must sit for the next two hours during her crimping is uncomfortable and stained!
ReplyDeleteBut hey! The air conditioner is fixed, and so is that front walk that all those children fell down on. Now they are safely playing loudly in the "play area" nearby.
Paris leaves and decides to get her hair done somewhere else.
Ok, now go back and read "church" and "rich old people" instead of "hair place" and "Paris Hilton."
Hmmm. I'm not sure how much churches are at "fault" for setting themselves up as competing agencies, or if it's all of us for refusing to worship in a building with duct tape patching the shag carpeting and plastic flowers permanently cemented into the ugly brickwork of the altar.
Yeah, when our church bought its current building all that stuff had to goooooo...
As odd as it sounds my dads church has a Starbucks and a restaurant. The thing is ridiculous! They sometimes travel almost an hour to go to there old run down church because it is not commercialized. But this church is five minutes away and my step siblings go to the big church. Just weird to have so much in a church, it's like a little mall.
ReplyDeletestarbuck's! that' is wild. churches are getting quite strange. fun fact: i heard our priest got hate mail when he decided to have a special spanish mass on sundays. so much for acceptance, etc. puke.
ReplyDelete