A Donation Request From St. Pius X Parish - Turned Down

I went to the 8 AM Mass at St. Pius X Church here Toledo on Sunday, 01/14/13.  Heard an appeal from the pulpit by the priest at the end of Mss to help them pay, via donation, for the $4,000.00 system the parish there needs to put in to make it safer so a "NewTown" type incident didn't happen in the school (or church).

The priest said a fund has been established to install the system and to make sure when making out checks (to "St. Pius X Catholic Church" of course) and to put "school security system" in the memo so it goes to the right place on their ledger. He said any monies received over and above the $4K would go into "special fund" to cover such additional costs in the future.

I'm not a member there, actually since St. Hedwig's closed down I'm not a parish member anywhere - like the Jews exiled by the Romans - I wander with no home. But the priest said he got a donation on Saturday from a man who told him he wasn't a member, but he wanted to help keep the kids safe.

I want to keep kids safe too - it's why I've been an active advocate for over 7 years for victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.  So, I thought about giving money to this cause - just not to the parish. That's because I know money donated to churches is fungible - one can never be sure all of it is going to end up where it's supposed to go. 

And this is especially true with monies being diverted to assist in the defense of sexual predators within the Church.  St. Pius X is under the control of the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales - the very same parish and religious order that engendered the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. (S.N.A.P.) when one of the order's members seduced and raped the founder of S.NA.P., Barbara Blaine, beginning when she was 12 years old who founded the organization over 20 years ago.  The story is long on the misappropriation of funds to protect perpetrators and intimidate victims by the Oblate Fathers in this matter.  (Indeed a recent "settlement" with OSFDS shows that problem is still there). 

And for that reason I haven't given money to Catholic parishes, in protest, since 2005.

But I considered finding out the contractor's name and then calling up the company and offer to give the donation for the system to them directly. At least there's a better chance the money will go where it's supposed to go (I've done this when St. Hedwig's was open and I accepted the risk that there was deliberate padding of the estimate so that there could be a quiet kick-back to the parish).

However, that "special fund" established for the donation over-flow turned me cold.  There'd be no easy way to find out whether any monies I paid to the contractor might not end up back into the Oblate Fathers' hands after the $4K goal was reached. No donation therefore.

Too bad . . .

“Ego delustro sic non tu poteris nutu”. 

I disabuse so you can’t snooze.