In response to the recent report that the church is broke and getting broker by the minute, lots
of people have spoken out in defence of the church, saying how it takes
care of the old, orphans etc. However when I looked at the accounts
published recently I was struck by the fact that these actually form a
very small percentage of the church's expenses. In fact, the Pope's
visit of last year cost 6.6 times as much as all children's homes
combined.
The church's income comes primarily from donations, collections etc.
I wonder whether the people making the donations are thinking that they
are donating towards orphanages and homes. Do they know that, if they
donated €50 last year, €2 from that went to finance the pope's visit,
compared to the 30 cents that went to children's homes, or the 38 cents
that went to old people's homes?
The church is not generous. Nor
is it ungenerous. The church is an organiser - it collects money and
redistributes it. The generosity comes from the Maltese people - they're
the ones who earned the money. They hear of poor people and they
donate. They donate to a church charity just as they donate to L-Istrina
and to the Inspire foundation and other worthy causes.
If I found out that one of the secular humanitarian charities I donate
to spent €1 million out of a grand total of €26 million to send their
CEO on a trip somewhere, I'd immediately stop patronising them because
I'd feel that they had betrayed their mission. If they spent 1.5 times
as much on the media as they spend on the homes I'd say they have their
priorities wrong.
I'd also say that if someone wants to help the needy, there are better entities than the church to ensure that your money is primarily used for that purpose.
