[  http://JesusWouldBeFurious.Org/EpiscopalExtravagance.html  ]

The source for most of this page is an out-standing study
in PDF form which I found at http://richardsipe.com/
Burke_Gallery/The Cost of Looking Good2007[2].pdf,
but I thought the format could be improved considerably.

      Here's yet another relic of the heyday of European royalty, a man whose fame rests on this story:

      "A Jackson County grand jury has indicted Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on misdemeanor charges of failure to report child abuse. The charges, announced at a news conference today, make Finn — leader of the 134,000-member diocese — the highest-ranking Catholic official in the nation to face criminal prosecution in a child sexual abuse case."

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/14/3207527/bishop-finn-diocese-indicted.html#ixzz1c2HC58b5

        According to both Matthew 8 and Luke 9, when someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go",  Jesus responded that anyone planning to follow him had better be ready to live a tough life, i.e
“The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

"Do you wish to honour the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not pay him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect him outside where he is cold and ill-clad. He who said: "This is my body" is the same who said: "You saw me hungry and you gave me no food", and "Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me"... What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well."

--St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (347-407AD)

Anybody who thinks that in following the teaching and example of "the Vicar of Christ", the bishops of the "one, true, holy, (Roman) Catholic church" are following the teaching and example of Jesus Christ has to have several screws loose. For much more on the contrast between the actual Christ and the so-called "Vicar of Christ", see my PopesvsChrist.html.

The Archdiocese of Orange Calif.
"Crystal Cathedral" ?

Schuler's Crystal Cathedral.

        The Archdiocese of Orange has become the proud owner of failed Robert Schuler's ostentatious "Crystal Cathedral".  The diocese's winning bid for the property with all of its associated buildings was $57,500,000.

[ http://www.theblaze.com/stories/sold-catholic
-church-to-purchase-crystal-cathedral-for-57-5-million/ ]
Ruppert Murdoch's contribution to

Our Lady of Angels Cathedral

Senior Catholics are said to have been “mystified and astonished” when they heard that the purveyor of newspaper sex, scandal and nudity, who isn't even a Catholic, any longer, was made a "Knight Commander of St Gregory" ( along with his "trophy wife") at a ceremony in Los Angeles. Mr Murdoch appears to have been honoured purely for donating large sums of money to the church. The following year he donated $10 million to build a Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles.
        The fact that his TV stations and movie productions are some of the sleaziest, did not stop Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony from anointing him and his wife as members of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great in January, 1998. This knighthood, bestowed on behalf of the pope, is given to persons of "unblemished character" who have "promoted the interests of society, the [Catholic] Church and the Holy See [Vatican]."
        Murcock abandoned his wife of 31 years and married one of his "dynamic, tall and gorgeous" female employees who is half his age. When a spokesman for Cardinal Mahony was asked if the knighthood honor would be revoked, he replied, "As far as I know, once you've got it, you've got it for good." [ http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/murdoch.htm. ]

"Mr James Murdoch (Rupert's son - who runs the British part of the Murdock empire) was among major donors who were invited to personally greet Pope Benedict after a special mass at Westminster Cathedral during the pontiff's 2010 visit to England. It is believed that the Murdoch family paid a contribution towards the Papal visit of around £100,000." (about $160,000)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/james-murdoch-paid-163100000-to-meet-pope-2314086.html

Rupert Murdoch's papal knighthood questioned as investigation continues.

from a Catholic website:
"Cathedral: a Church with a special chair"

"A Cathedral is the center of the life of the local Church. The very word "cathedral" in Latin or Greek, means "chair." From the cathedra, the chair or the seat, the Bishop teaches, sanctifies, and guides the people of God, the church. From the cathedral, the church with the bishop's chair, the Bishop oversees and safeguards the life of the Catholic people of a particular diocese.
        Since the early Christian centuries, while seated in their chairs and facing their people, the bishops have preached the gospel of Christ to them. Respect for the chair, the cathedra, has always signified respect for the bishop and for his sanctifying and governing role, for his role as leader and witness to Christ the Good Shepherd."
        from CatholicDoors.com
papal throne

 

"Holy See" ?

    Isn't it amusing how English-speaking Catholic churchmen insist on translating the Latin "Sancta Sedes" into the meaningless "Holy See", instead of the correct, but silly–sounding "Holy Seat"?
        The prices for some cathedral furnishings have also caused consternation.
  • $ 5 million was budgeted for the altar,
  • the main bronze doors cost $3 million,
  • $ 1 million for the tabernacle.
  • $ 2 million budgeted for the wooden ambo (lectern)
  • $ 1 million budgeted for the cathedra (bishop's chair),
  • $ 250,000 for the presider's chair,
  • $ 250,000 for each deacon's chair, and
  • $ 150,000 for each visiting bishops' chair,
  • pews cost an average of $50,000 each.
  • the cantor's stand cost $ 100,000.
  • bronze chandelier / speaker cost $ 150,000.
    The great costs incurred in its construction and Mahony's long efforts to get it built led critics to dub it "the Taj Mahony".

The "episcopal extravagance" featured on this page is just part of the Roman Catholic Church's many problems, albeit and important part. Click on the following to see THE BIG PICTURE !

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