Posted on 05/31/2006 9:27:03 AM PDT by petkus
Police called after she was told not to come; she wants documents
A Hopewell woman, a vocal critic of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, was escorted by police from her parish church over the weekend after she refused to leave.
Lynn Allgeier, 58, who has attended St. James Catholic Church in Hopewell for eight years, has tried to get the diocese and her parish to make their financial records available for inspection by the laity. She also wants to read the personnel file of Saint James' pastor, the Rev. Frank L. Wiggins Jr.
"They wouldn't give me a line-by-line budget showing how money is spent. I want that, and I want to know the history of the priest," Allgeier said.
William Etherington, an attorney for the diocese, said Allgeier has been disruptive.
"She accuses people of things that are not true and demands she be able to interview the pastor. The pastor has said, 'I don't want you here.' And he has the right to say that."
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
Maybe so, maybe no. There seem to be 12 parishes in her local "region" as defined on the diocese web site.
Myself, I'd drive 50 miles to go to Mass. But how many people wouldn't? How many people would say, "I'm Catholic but there's no Catholic Church that I can go to, so I'll go to ________ instead, because I have no other choice"?
If she truly felt that way and truly had no other recourse, I'm sure God would understand. But it seems here to be a problem of her own making.
SD
Says she only wanted a line by line accounting, which is not unreasonable.
Depends on what you (and she) mean. It sounds like she wants a complete audit of everything done on her terms and her schedule.
As others have noted, annual statements of revenue and expenses are available to all. This obviously doesn't satisfy her curiosity.
SD
But I don't have a cat.
John 3:19-21
Hi, leenie! Haven't seen you posting for quite a while. Good to see you here. Our church also has an Annual Meeting and another one as well. We all get a printed budget with allocations and all the other info we need. No need to hide anything if you are honest.
We don't know 'the rest of the story,' so it's hard to judge what she is really looking for. The MSM is always looking to bash Christians and Catholics so you can't trust them to be totally honest. Love, Mxxx
"The parish nut. Every Church has at least one"
We used to call ours the "LaLa Lady" because of the way she sang during Mass...don't even get me started on the way she dressed!!
SD
C'mon Sink, you know damn well that most protestant pastors are also middle class and they don't earn anything like Joel Osteen earns. For one reason, their churches aren't huge like his.
In our town, the Catholic priest always drove a nice, new black Cadillac. The protestant pastors drove second hand cars. Of course, Catholic priests don't have wives and children to feed so that might account for it.
How true. And, if you don't know who it is in your church, well......it might be you ;-)
Our Catholic Church presents a financial report each year too!
Hint to this lady -- get involved in a positive way in your parish!
Knowing your dear Pastor as I do, I can attest to what you are saying. Our pastors certainly are 24/7. Ours has visited me every time I've been in the hospital--sometimes at 4 in the morning. He's always there for us and we're always there for him. He has made very little money as our pastor because HE REFUSED IT, especially when we were struggling. We paid him, but not nearly what he was worth. He tithes 30 percent at least of everything he earns. These are truly great men of God, doing the simple things they're required to do by God and by their congregations. Both of us are blessed to know these men and their wonderful wives and families.
I think, and correct me if I'm wrong (like someone being wrong would ever get ignored around here anyway) that a Trinitarian Baptism is recognized between RCs and Paedobaptist Proddies. However...an RC baptized as an infant would not be recognized by the credo-Baptists. (And I am using the term Protestant in the strictist sense of the term, those who are Protesting, not the broad term applied to all non-RCs).
Calvinists only see two sacraments: Baptism and Communion. We recognize RC Baptism, but our disagreement on the nature of Communion is enough for another thread....
The sheperd is disturbed, I see.
You are correct. When I said "sacraments" I pretty much meant Communion in this case. Catholics should not think a Protestant communion is the same thing as the Catholic sacrament.
(Needless to say, if a Catholic decides she needs to be re-baptized, she's gone way off the reservation.)
SD
If it is a not-for-profit corporation then the church may not have a choice.
Many states have laws which require the financial records be available to members and or regulators and or the public.
I would say that Baptists would reject all infant baptism's.
We would have the adult believer be re-baptized by immersion as a symbol of his faith in the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps that's the case. I don't know. Perhaps it's not. Perhaps she's a liberal who's trying to stir crap. Perhaps she's uncatechized and is just seeing some new light now that Richmond's new bishop is cleaning house.
Perhaps...
Perhaps...
Perhaps...
Perhaps...
Perhaps...
Perhaps I am relying upon information gotten from an MSM source as my only source. So perhaps I don't know what the real circumstances are surrounding this situation.
And, unless somebody around here is a member of the parish in question, none of us really know what all the facts and circumstances are.
And, just maybe, some of us who are proud to call ourselves Catholic should maybe try to remember that before pronouncing judgement on somebody like a stinkin Protestant would
You know the types...they like trolling on threads condemning Holy Mother Church while having no facts to back up their allegations?
From the article "Parishioners are not entitled to the church's financial records..."
Apparently no parishoner can see the financial records. This 'policy' seems contrary to what many RCs on this thread say about their own parishes. this does not cause you concern?
I don't want a cat.
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