Conflits of Interest

A few years ago, I heard about a priest at a dying little parish. Once a strong and thriving church, in the course of the last ten years or so, everyone watched and wondered as Sunday attendence withered from 300 to 200, to 100, to 50, to 29. Seems that every year or so, a few parishioners would raise 'issues' and 'concerns' about finances or spending. Priests are apparently above reproach and are not bound by ethics, so they are easily able to easily manouver and manipulate meetings and votes. The parishioners raising the concerns are easily labeled troublemakers. They simply can not be tolerated. Consequently, no holds are barred and they were ostericized. But, who would have expected so many "troublemakers" in such a single church? None the less, no troublemakers equals no problems.....sort of.

Unfortunately, as the attendence fell, so did the giving. Apparently a lot of the troublemakers had been tithers, and had histories of being big givers for special projects. Luckily, though the cash flow of the church was drying up, the spending habits of the parish did not have to change because deficits were covered by the reserve fund. As luck would have it, the very same people who had given to the reserve fund were the ones who had become troublemakers and had left the parish. They were no longer there to object when the memorial money they had given for dedicated purposes was diverted into operating expenses. Promises are so easily broken when you are above reproach.

As the reserve fund was drawn down over the years, and the end of the money comes into sight, the priest became concerned. The end of the reserve fund, and consequently the end of the parish, will clearly arrive prior to his retirement.

What's a good priest to do?

Set up a 'special fund' at the parish to encourage the elderly parishioners to bequeith money to the church, of course!

Time passes on, but few parishioners do. Depending on your particular perspecive, that may not be a good thing. Now, money is really tight at the parish. The reserve fund is almost empty.

Call me cynical, but when a elderly parishioner falls ill and is hospitalized, and the priest goes to visit and to pray over the parishioner, what's he praying for?

The parishioner?

If the parishioner survives, the priest may not make it to retirement. If parishioner passes, then the parish profits. So, what's a priest to do?

He will do what he has always done. He's a good priest.