Quote:
Originally Posted by CroFlames
I often wondered about this.
Is the ownership of some random ass Catholic church in Canada a legal entity in Italy? Or do those local parishioners own it etc?
Have to think some of those old ass churches in the downtown areas of like Boston, Toronto, NY etc are sitting on land that is worth $100 million or more.
Also I heard the Mormons own an absurd amount of real estate.
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That's the thing. A lot of their wealth is tied up in things that are not easily flipped. It's like how Jeff Bezos is considered the richest person on the planet by some metrics (personally, I think it's Vladimir Putin), but Floyd Mayweather can actually write a bigger cheque on the spot. In order for the Church to survive, it needs to generate revenue. Wealth generates wealth, and without wealth, they can't be charity on a large scale. The business side of the Church is important for that.
And before people say they should just go away, consider for a moment that Catholic institutions employ over 1 million people worldwide and are one of, if not the biggest charitable institutions on the planet. The Economist printed a story a while ago that said the Church does about $170 billion in charitable work (based on data from 10 years ago). Besides being one of the biggest funders for HIV research, they account for between 15-30% of the entire social safety net in the U.S. alone. It's even more in places like Africa and South America.
It's difficult to calculate the exact amount. Catholic Charities USA, the largest group in the U.S., regularly ranks #3 behind the Salvation Army and United Way in the top 400 charitable organizations. But there are other Catholic charities that rank in the top 400 (Father Flanagan's Boys Town for one), and it also doesn't include individual parishes that conduct charity work independent from the Vatican. Taken as a whole, the Catholic Church is quite likely #1 in the U.S. This is in a country where only 20% of the population are Catholics, so it is a pretty substantial contribution. I don't see other non-religious institutions stepping up to take over. They are also the leading hospice givers in North America. Honestly, I would rather have people die in comfort than take it away just to spite a religion I am often at disagreement with.
For all the warts the Church has, it would leave a massive hole to fill if it just disbanded and sold off their wealth on a one-time cash dump as some people suggest they do.
It's also worth mentioning that although the Salvation Army isn't Catholic, it is a Protestant Christian organization. So the #1 and #3 charitable organizations are Christian-based. I mean, come on Atheists, do your thing! If you want to see religion go away, you have to put your money where your mouth is.