Expert: Fr. Michael - 4/4/2008

Question
Hello,
  I was born Catholic, went 12 years to Catholic school and had the same parish priest for over 20 years.
  My question is "how do priests get wealthy?"  My wife is a banker and she says she handles some priests accounts and some are multimillionaires and deposit lots of money into their own personal accounts.  I was always under the impression that when men went into the priesthood they pledged poverty, chastity and obedience.  Where do they get all this money from?  I also hear that some priests retire and lead lavish lives while those poor nuns that educated us are struggling to survive in poverty.
  Pope Benedict said that extreme wealth was sinful.  Does this apply to priests?

Answer
It is a common misconception that priests pledge poverty, chastity, and obedience.  Members of some *religious* order do (e.g., Franciscans, Dominicans, etc.)  But not *secular* priests, who receive salaries and maybe independently wealthy, as from family money or inheritance.

However, there have been a number of reports that after Vatican II, the New Order presbyters (who are what your wife is describing rather than traditional priests) are embezzling money from the Church on a large scale.  Although there is a titilating fixation on the sex part of Newchurch's Great Sex & Embezzlement Scandal, the embezzlement side of the scandal is in many ways worse.  Regrettably, the Newchurch authorities are even more secretive about the embezzlement than the sex.

This situation is well-covered in the Daily Commentaries of the TRADITIO Network.  Go to www.traditio.com/com.htm and use "embezzlement" in the search engine there for reporting on many cases of this nature.