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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!mcnc!idis!cadre!geb
From: geb@cadre.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Catholic Pastoral Letter
Message-ID: <86@cadre.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-Nov-84 11:27:42 EST
Article-I.D.: cadre.86
Posted: Thu Nov 15 11:27:42 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Nov-84 03:20:00 EST
Distribution: net.religion
Organization: Decision Systems Lab., Univ. of Pgh.
Lines: 25

So the Catholic hierarchy has decided that it is time to
be generous with the taxpayers' money!  Use governmental
coercion to redistribute the wealth.  As former treasury
secretrary Simon did, I looked in vain for any suggestion for
increasing PRODUCTION of wealth.  

May I suggest that the bishops have it in their power to
alleviate a lot of poverty in this country and others
without recourse to the use of police power?  If all 
catholics were urged to contribute a portion of their
income (5% would probably do) to a special fund, to be
used to help poor catholics (not to build any new cathedrals)
and this money used to set up welfare programs to help
their worthy poor with job training, or whatever other
programs the fathers believe needful, a great deal of
good could be done.  This would relieve the strained government
welfare rolls, leaving more to go around for those
who were unchurched or belonged to less wealthy denominations.
In addition, church-run welfare could be more humane
and less bureaucratic, something the fathers complained about.
This is not to say that the catholic church isn't
performing any charitable acts now, but to stress
the more appropriateness of a church to work within the
private sector rather than relying on governmental
coercion to attain its goals.