Legatus Temporarily Revokes Annual Tithe to Holy See

Church Militant ^ | 11/18/18 | Christine Niles

[marshmallow]

Announcement comes after disappointing bishops' meeting in Baltimore

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Just after the close of the U.S. bishops' meeting in Baltimore, Legatus, a national group of Catholic businessmen, announced it would be temporarily revoking its annual tithe to the Holy See. Members who have already paid dues will get refunds, and members who have not yet donated will get revised invoices minus the tithe.

On Friday, Chairman Thomas Monaghan issued a letter to members making clear it was not yet "prudent" to send money to the Vatican in light of "the current crisis in the Church."

"Since our founding, the annual tithe has been an important part of Legatus membership," the letter states. "Thus, it is the intent of the Board to reinstate this practice once we have sufficient communication regarding the specific accountability related to the use of these funds. The Board will revisit this topic by the fall of 2019 in order to chart a plan related to the 2020 dues."\

The annual tithe is significant, reaching nearly $1 million. Just two days before Monaghan's letter, the bishops had wrapped up their three-day meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, a conference viewed largely as a failure. The meeting opened with the surprise announcement from Rome that the bishops could not make any binding resolutions on sex abuse — the very reason they were meeting — and closed with a failed measure to release files on sexual predator Abp. Theodore McCarrick, voted down 137–83.

Monaghan's November 16 letter follows his Sept. 6 announcement that the organization would be temporarily withholding the tithe, after the Church's "Summer of Shame" prompted multiple calls from concerned members.

[Paladin2]

When will Stalin become a Saint?

[ebb tide]

Ping

[G Larry]

It would be interesting to know the average Legatus donation amount over that last 5 years.

[irishjuggler]

Well, the article mentions an "annual" $1 million.

Good for Tom Monaghan and crew for cutting it off. Ideally, this would have the effect of sending a message to Team Bergoglio that they need to clean up their collective act. The real reaction is probably a collective shrug and a lot of griping along the lines of "Those right-wing American capitalist pigs aren't going to push us around."

[edwinland]

Agreed. As I just posted on a related thread:

Let the metropolitan bishops investigate themselves without the involvement of meddling laypeople.

And let them also fund themselves without the support of the same meddling laypeople.