FOLLOWING THE WEALTHY

There’s a biblical passing in the Gospel of Luke (18:18-23) where a man approaches Jesus and asks what is necessary for him to gain eternal life. After a brief verbal exchange, Jesus tells the man to sell all his possession and give the money to the poor. Luke’s passage ends with a note that upon hearing Jesus’ words, the man became filled with grief, because he was very wealthy.

Yesterday, I was reminded of that passage in Luke’s gospel when I was reading an article posted on CNBC (www.cnbc.com/id/101302230 ) entitled, Pope’s Sharp Words Make a Wealthy Donor Hesitate. CNBC’s chief international correspondent, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera reported in the article that Ken Langone, the billionaire-investor spearheading Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s $180 million dollar campaign to restore St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City has hit a snag with a potential seven-figure donor. Apparently, the unidentified potential donor is reluctant to make a donation in light of Pope Francis’ recent criticism of greed, wealth and the dark side of capitalism and the Pope’s exhortations that the wealthy should focus more on improving the lives of the poor. Like the man in Luke’s gospel, the potential donor is filled with grief upon hearing the Pope’s words, because he is very wealthy.

It’s not surprising that Pope Francis’ remarks would cause such grief among the world’s wealthy individuals, or that potential wealthy benefactors would become reluctant to donate to Catholic Church projects, but after reading the CNBC article I was disappointed by both Cardinal Dolan and Ken Langone’s response to the situation. Langone essentially told Dolan that the Pope ought to tone-down his message if he expected the wealthy to donate to the church, and Cardinal Dolan, in an attempt to assuage the potential donor’s concern and keep the monetary donations flowing, responded that the potential investor had simply misunderstood the Pope’s recent remarks. Both men should know better!

The potential donor in the CNBC article didn’t misunderstand the Pope’s words. He knew full-well the import of the Pope’s retelling of Jesus’ message, and the donor didn’t like what he heard, so he’s likely to keep his money and walk away. That’s fine. That’s his choice.

I’ve argued repeatedly that the Catholic Church has abandoned Christ’s social gospel and allowed itself to be corrupted by a narrow-minded focus on campaigning against homosexuality, contraception and abortion. That’s not a message a lot of Catholics want to hear, especially the wealthy ones, but it’s the truth. The Catholic Church is at a crossroads. It can follow Jesus, or it can follow the wealthy donors, but not both!