Oh how they snidely sniggered ... oh how they chortled with calumnious joy ... actual documentary evidence discovered and recorded by the pond ...
Realising the vast extent of the conspiracy - aye Jim lad, it's off to hellfire and damnation for you, and lickety-split too - the pond immediately put in call to brave Catholic warrior, prattling Polonius, who routinely looks like the prune and bran diet isn't working ...
Thank the long absent lord for prattling Polonius.
At last a chance to take a stand against the Barners situation, at last a chance to smite mightily the wretched Fairfaxians and the vile cardigan wearers at the ABC, all heathens and heretics and socialists and destined to an eternity of hellfire for their secularist, sectarian ways ...
Remember when it comes to defending the tykes, Polonius is the pond's man ...
Now there's an important point, just there in that google splash. It's not just the Catholics that accumulate wealth compulsively, the Jews do it too ...
The bloody Jews! They probably run the international banking system and are possibly reptilian.
And then there are the tele-evangelicals and the likes of Donald Trump and many other non-government organisations that obsessively accumulate wealth, and what's wrong with that ...
Oh dear, silly billy, that's just about people, it's got nothing to do with institutions ...
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Forsake land and the best plot at the top of the hill?
Phew lucky that only applies to people, and certainly not to glorious institutions of the Catholic kind ...
Remember, it's property, property, property ... and now let Polonius explain and defend in the unique way that only Polonius can ...
Oh it's true, it's true.
Damn you atheistic heretical secularist cardigan wearers, damn you all to eternal hellfire, and may there be a special place reserved - with extra roasting facilities - for those wretched Age infidels, Royce Millar, Ben Schneiders and Chris Vedelago, who scribbled Catholic Inc. What the Church is really worth ... and dared to point out ...
Damn you atheistic heretical secularist cardigan wearers, damn you all to eternal hellfire, and may there be a special place reserved - with extra roasting facilities - for those wretched Age infidels, Royce Millar, Ben Schneiders and Chris Vedelago, who scribbled Catholic Inc. What the Church is really worth ... and dared to point out ...
The Catholic Church in Victoria is worth more than $9 billion, making it the biggest non-government property owner in the state and much wealthier than it has admitted in evidence to major inquiries into child sexual abuse.
A six-month investigation by The Age has found that the church misled the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse by grossly undervaluing its property portfolio while claiming that increased payments to abuse survivors would likely require cuts to its social programs.
Figures extrapolated from a huge volume of Victorian council valuation data show the church has more than $30 billion in property and other assets, Australia wide.
Shocking, but is it true?
That doesn't matter, simply speaking a word against the church is heretical, secularist, sectarian, deeply divisive, hurtful, intrusive, possibly Marxist, and most upsetting to prattling Polonius.
That doesn't matter, simply speaking a word against the church is heretical, secularist, sectarian, deeply divisive, hurtful, intrusive, possibly Marxist, and most upsetting to prattling Polonius.
Oh how the bigotry rattles down the ages, and after all, where's the harm in accumulating lots of property and fiddling with a few kids and then protecting the assets?
WJWD? He'd make sure there was no way he could be sued ... that's WJWD ... and maybe diversify into stocks and bonds ...
WJWD? He'd make sure there was no way he could be sued ... that's WJWD ... and maybe diversify into stocks and bonds ...
Sure enough those heathers and barbarians at the ABC picked up the chant with Catholic Church national wealth estimated to be $30 billion, investigation finds and it's just so damned unfair ...
Has anyone ever thought of the enormous drycleaning bill for keeping the frocks in good shape?
Please allow Polonius to explain the grotesque unfairness of it all ... look, see how shameless they were...
Tell 'em Polonius, go 'em ...
He what? He used "Jesuitical" in a negative way? Has the man never opened a dictionary, or looked the word up here?
What's wrong with being crafty, sly, intriguing, practicing equivocation, or being a little furtive about your wealth? Next thing you know, people might be wondering why the taxpayer supports all sorts of activities, and even dare to think that churches running enterprises under the cloak of religion could do with a little taxation ...
As for that talk of the generosity of Catholic laity who supported the provision of education, it reminded the pond of the times that the parents would return from church in tears for not having paid enough to the church, and likely to spend an eternity in hellfire if they didn't change their ways.
At the time we were as poor as church mice in the Irish Catholic way, and the pond can still remember the shame at not being able to afford a pair of mandated gym shoes, and being made by the teacher to hit the jump board barefoot ... and collecting a splinter as a suitable punishment, and a warning of the hellfires to follow ...
Ah the good old days of the Ponzi scheme shakedown ...
As for that talk of the generosity of Catholic laity who supported the provision of education, it reminded the pond of the times that the parents would return from church in tears for not having paid enough to the church, and likely to spend an eternity in hellfire if they didn't change their ways.
At the time we were as poor as church mice in the Irish Catholic way, and the pond can still remember the shame at not being able to afford a pair of mandated gym shoes, and being made by the teacher to hit the jump board barefoot ... and collecting a splinter as a suitable punishment, and a warning of the hellfires to follow ...
Ah the good old days of the Ponzi scheme shakedown ...
And now what's the bet that Polonius will lead with that ancient withered elf, perhaps the father of Jeff Sessions, the immortal loon Malcolm Muggeridge, boasting how Xians run charities ... while failing to mention that it's secularists who frequently dip into their purses, courtesy of taxing governments, to offer benevolent cash in the paw support for such activities?
Indeed, indeed, and throughout the whole shabby, grubby affair, the Catholic church has behaved in an impeccable way and without the slightest thought for protecting its wealth and its assets ... though perhaps only a deluded Catholic true believer still fearing hellfire might argue that case ...
But that's the way it goes for hypocrites, charlatans and rogues, frequently in conversation with imaginary powerful friends, while forgetting, overlooking, ignoring, twisting or making over what was actually said by said imaginary friends ...
You know, like the humbugs who talk about the wonders of traditional marriage, then go off and fornicate in an adulterous way like rats in heat, forgetting the fourteenth line in Exodus 20:
You know, like the humbugs who talk about the wonders of traditional marriage, then go off and fornicate in an adulterous way like rats in heat, forgetting the fourteenth line in Exodus 20:
[14] Thou shalt not commit adultery. (The full list, which runs more than ten, here. Watch out for the polluting hewn stone!).
Oh sheesh, how did Barners get back into it?
Never mind, if Barners is back, that's enough of a Saturday meditation, which should have turned up on Sunday, and if we're speaking of charities, why not bring in the Donald too, that fine Xian president, with a few recent cartoons?
The Prattler: "...Hart owns a beach house in Dromana valued at more than $1m. Unlike those who belong to relgious orders, priests such as Hart do not take a vow of poverty."
ReplyDeleteWell I guess it's good to know that the Catholic Hierachy is not a religious order - just a good old capitalist investment fund that pays no taxes.
Also good to know that the word of Yahwey communicated via Yeshua can be simply ignored unless one "takes a vow".
Prattling some more: "...Hart is entitled to buy property and dispose of any inheritance as he sees fit."
And he's also free to be refused entry to "heaven" because he hasn't taken a "vow" to obey God. Does he pay council rates on his home ? Does the Catholic Church pay council rates on St Patrick's ? Or is that just another example of Holy Exemption because poverty ?
Let me get this straight. What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Well, I'm told I must honour my father and my mother, and yet to receive everlasting life, later i'm told I must forsake them.
ReplyDeleteGosh it's a confusing way to get into heaven.
Can’t blame even Jeebus for the confusion. After all, he must have been a bit muddled which side of the blanket he was born on, not to mention being told he was both descended from King David and YWH. Or perhaps he was in two minds about the reward meted out to Ham, who possibly should have cared less about his father and, instead of covering Noah’s immodesty, buggered off out of it and left the old bastard to soak in his own piss and vomit. So many edifying tales to reconcile, and all of them true, as god’s my witness!
Delete"except that it depicted a preparatory school in Kew"
ReplyDeleteGerard really does know how to quibble, doesn't he? Well, "Bureaucrat Henderson, you are technically correct; the best kind of correct."* They have shockingly illustrated their reference to Kostka Hall, Xavier College's $66 million prep school in Brighton with a picture of Burke Hall, Xavier College's $54 million prep school in Kew. Clearly they don't know what they are talking about and the whole thing can be dismissed out of hand...
But Kostka Hall is not "a boys school", as Polonius describes, or even "a boys' school", as many would suggest is grammatically preferable. It is a co-educational school, since the junior school (K-4) has girls (the middle school, Yr 5-8, does not). So Polonius is utterly wrong about the thing he is quibbling about, and can also be dismissed out of hand.
I had a quick squizz at the Age story, and I might add that they are missing several properties in the area where I grew up (as a mick) that I know are still owned by the papacy, and the valuation of several others is very lowball. Their limited coverage means the data they have is likely an underestimate, and that is not even including an impenetrable wall of obfuscation of proxy owners, shell companies and secret slush funds - the Age found a few, but do we think they found them all? I think >$50 billion Australia-wide would be entirely defensible.
Less than four years ago the Church testified to the Royal Commission that it's properties in the Melbourne Archdiocese were valued at $109 million. Age's estimate for the same area is probably 70 times that. I suppose there is some medieval restriction on prosecuting men of the church for lying to a Royal Commission. But then, technically they didn't lie, because they have some magical dispensation to value their property based on what they paid for it, not what it is worth, and since much of their property was gifted to them in Land Grants, it is valued at $0 on their books. I would like to see the government compulsorily acquire such properties on that valuation - that's "on just terms", right?
*with apologies to Futurama - "How Hermes Requisitioned his Groove Back".
I see that at least one 'bishop' is running the old line about how the money and assetts of the Catholic Church are spread around a lot of different Church dioceses and organisations (including lay groups) such that although Catholicism is obscenely rich, each separate part of it is poor and so only very little compensation could be paid to the victims.
DeleteTo my admittedly fuzzy recall, that tactic has worked every time and probably will this time too, though I haven't seen much response to it yet.