I think Christ will have a word or two come Judgment Day for those who pretended to do good with tax payer money, while lining their own pockets with said tax payer money.
Need to Know
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
not one more dime to cc or crs…or the diocese which feeds them.
I think state and federal corporation law needs an overhaul, which would include a sensible taxonomy of philanthropic corporations, and a clear statement of the permissible activities, governance arrangements, and durability of each. In particular, only a few types should be permitted in law to make grants to corporate bodies and those types should generally be required to liquidate under corporate supervision after a specified period of time with their assets distributed in the manner most consistent with their founding documents and public policy.
I have been hearing since my teens that it’s acceptable to accept government funds to do good works. We’ve frequently called this “charity”, using the poor widow in the Gospel as evidence. We’ve rarely admitted that government funds are not optional and have strings attached. We also don’t admit how those strings frequently conflict with Catholic teaching. So long as Catholic agencies accept “charity” from government, or so long as we assume that government ought handle these concerns, ..we cannot fix this.
Art, I’d say most organizations already abide by those criteria. Even those skeptical of faith recognize the risk of man’s greed. Sometimes they recognize it more. Further, I don’t think time limits will matter much. Most “charitable” endeavors deal with hunger, medical, housing, or ignorance–aka poor education. Or clothing. None of these have ever gone away. Most NGOs will never overcome the need; they will never have cause to close shop. I expect they will all continue to request funds until internal leaders decide otherwise.
Don:
I think he will have other words for those who think pillaging there neighbors for state charity is a form of “giving what you have to the poor”.
Art, I’d say most organizations already abide by those criteria.
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What criteria?
“…which would include a sensible taxonomy of philanthropic corporations, and a clear statement of the permissible activities, governance arrangements, and durability of each.”
Most any organization, charitable or otherwise, already describes their mission and basic gist of how they fit it. Most list their board of directors and ceo. they also provide annual financial summaries, declaring how much they earned and how much they spent.
Did you have something else in mind?
What I have in mind is stated quite plainly in my original comment.
I indicated how I think organizations already meet your requirements, Art. It seems you mean something different. Care to elaborate?