Just to be clear, I am not posting this to be critical of the Catholic Church but only as a warning, consistent with the fraud and deception concerns that I often post here.
I was raised as a Catholic and even served as an "altar boy" during grade school. In fact, I was seriously considering going into the priesthood once when I was very young, then shifted my sights to becoming an astronaut and eventually a physician.
Based on my studies of personal development literature and the Bible for many years, I am absolutely convinced on many levels of the importance of tithing -- giving 10 percent of your income away. If everyone tithed and gave their donations to responsible entities, I firmly believe we could reduce our tax rate to almost zero, as we would not need to inappropriately rely on government to provide social charity.
Furthermore, I believe a lifetime of personal tithing has a great deal to do with the success I have enjoyed in life, another reason I strongly encourage others to apply this amazing principle in their own lives.
That's why I find this Time story so devastating. The Catholic Church is the largest church in America, based on many surveys of religious affiliations. It deeply saddens me to see so much of the revenue donated by worshipers was being embezzled.
What REALLY amazes me is that the survey shows 85 percent of the churches had been embezzled because the corporate hierarchy was highly irresponsible in their accountability practices and did not require auditing.
So, I feel it is my responsibility to bring this to the attention of those who are attending Catholic churches so they can hold their priests accountable to make sure this does not continue to occur and that the hard earned donations can really be used to serve those who truly need it.
Time Magazine February 15, 2007