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Time to stand and deliver

31 Jan 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Reeling from a string of political reversals, Democrats needed words of encouragement such as those in the first reading this Sunday where Jeremiah hears the Lord tell him: “Be not crushed.” Hoping to regain momentum, it was time for President Barack Obama to “stand up and tell” the nation Wednesday his opinion on the state of the union. In his speech he promised to help people struggling to pay bills and care for their families and also proposed a partial freeze on federal spending. Defending his approach to the economic crisis, the president said his administration acted “immediately and aggressively” to stave off a second depression but noted the devastation remains. His speech focused on getting the economy moving again. Obama reiterated that he wants to salvage an overhaul of health care, called for more money for schools, and acknowledged there had been some setbacks in his first year in office. Conscious of concern over deficits, he also called for a freeze on unfunded spending bills and promised to use his veto to enforce it if necessary. The president follows his speech with a quick trip to Florida Thursday to detail $8 billion in awards for high-speed rail. The stimulus funds would go toward grants for 13 major rail corridors. The announcement is seen as an effort by the White House to show that the president has a plan to get Americans back to work. Deficit reduction has also emerged as a major concern this week, as the Congressional Budget Office released a report Tuesday projecting that the deficit for this fiscal year will likely be $1.3 trillion. That is a slight improvement over last year’s shortfall, but the long-term budget outlook, according to the report, is for persistently high deficits that will drive the debt ever upward to the point that it could nearly equal the value of the nation’s entire economic output by 2020. Source: Articles by Richard Wolf for USA Today, Jackie Calmes for the New York Times, FoxNews.com, and Julie Pace for Associated Press

barack obama health care reform economic recovery state of the union spending freeze high-speed rail deficit federal deficit congressional budget office

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Taxing Illinoisans’ patience--and pocketbook

16 Jan 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Extravagance” is the title of Alice Camille’s Prepare The Word.com reflection on this Sunday’s readings, a commentary on the “high-flying exuberance and over-the-top promises” of salvation on display in this week’s texts. After what many Illinois residents believe was years of extravagant state government spending and over-the-top pension deals, the end result is a huge budget deficit. In a last-minute, lame-duck session, legislators passed the tab on to taxpayers in the form of a major hike in personal and business tax rates. The measure will raise the personal income tax rate by 67 percent and the business income tax rate by 46 percent. “We had an emergency, a fiscal emergency,” said Governor Pat Quinn during a statehouse news conference Wednesday. Many states face deficits brought on by a combination of government growth and economic downturn, but none has resorted to a tax hike approaching the size of Illinois’. Democrats argued the tax increase was needed to rehabilitate the state’s deadbeat image, but Republicans predicted it would drive businesses out of state. They also argued that Democrats who have controlled state government since 2003 should make stringent budget cuts before seeking a massive income tax hike during a struggling economy. “I can’t figure out how this plan does anything for our real problems. Our real problem is spending, the increased spending, the mentality that we have,” said Republican state Rep. Roger Eddy. “We’ll continue to throw money into a hole that has no bottom.” As if to prove the point, state senators also gave final approval to a House-passed plan that would allow the state to borrow nearly $4 billion to make its annual payment for public employee pensions. Source: Articles by Ray Long for the Chicago Tribune and Ilan Brat for the Wall Street Journal

illinois budget deficit roger eddy pat quinn spending tax increase

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“Bishop of bling” called to account

27 Oct 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The Lord hears the cry of the poor,” says the psalm refrain this Sunday. Pope Francis has made it clear that he expects those in church service to be especially attentive to their cry and to live simply in solidarity with them. This week he sent a signal that he means business when he suspended a German bishop after an outcry over the lavish $40 million remodeling of the prelate's residence and offices. A church investigation of the expenditures is underway.When Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg traveled to India last year to minister to poor slum dwellers, he reportedly flew first class. This year renovations to the bishop's residence ran massively over budget to cover $620,000 worth of artwork, $1.1 million in landscaping, a $20,000 bathtub, and last-minute design revisions—with German Catholic taxpayers footing the bill.When Tebartz-van Elst flew to Rome this month to explain himself—on budget carrier easyJet—he was left waiting eight days before getting his papal audience Monday. On Wednesday the Vatican issued a statement saying Tebartz-van Elst was taking an unspecified leave because “a situation has been created in which the bishop can no longer exercise his episcopal duties.”The spending scandal has roiled the German government as well as the church hierarchy. German churchgoers are compelled to pay a tax to the state that is used to cover government-administrated religious expenses. Berlin collects more than $6 billion a year for the Catholic Church from those who identify themselves as members of the church on their tax forms, though that number has declined significantly in light of recent scandals. German church leaders welcomed the decision to remove Tebartz-van Elst, some indicating that they didn't expect him to return to his post in Limburg, about 50 miles northwest of Frankfurt.Homily hint: While the bishop's lifestyle may come in for just criticism, let’s avoid the temptation to consider ourselves above such temptation. Instead of imitating the Pharisee in the gospel parable, we can find our voice where it belongs, with the tax collector. Sources: Articles by Carol J. Williams for the Los AngelesTimes and Mark Memmott for National Public Radio

bishops germany church spending church tax franz-peter tebartz-van elst

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The economic forecast brightens

19 Jan 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s second reading Saint Paul wishes grace and peace for the followers of Jesus in Corinth. A steadily improving economy may bring a measure of peace to harried wage-earners and the grace of a new job to more of the long-term unemployed. An improving U.S. federal budget situation offers evidence of the bettering prospects.Rising tax revenues and government spending constraints are expected to trim this year's annual deficit to around $600 billion. That would be lower than last year's deficit of $680 billion, which was the lowest since 2008.The economy has g,radually improved since the recession ended in June, 2009. As more people find jobs, tax revenue rises and the deficit shrinks. So far this year revenue has totaled $664.6 billion. That's 8 percent higher than the first three months of the previous budget year. Government spending meanwhile has fallen 7.8 percent to $838.2 billion.Annual deficits had ballooned above $1 trillion from 2009 through 2012. They peaked at a record $1.4 trillion in 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office. The 2008-2009 recession led to a drop in tax revenue. At the same time, the government stepped up emergency spending including unemployment benefits for millions who lost their jobs during the downturn.Congress reached agreement in December on a budget deal aimed at bringing some stability to the budget process for the next two years. A battle over the budget resulted in a 16-day partial government shutdown in October.Homily hint: If present trends continue, it may be that the nation is finally able to enjoy a period of relative prosperity and, it is hoped, the domestic tranquility which can accompany it. As we move ahead with recovery, however, let’s do our best to see that no one is left behind. Source: An article by Martin Crutsinger for the Associated Press

budget deficit economy government spending tax revenue

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Catholic laity call out leadership on simple living

06 Apr 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In seeking forgiveness, the psalmist cries out to be heard by the Lord this Sunday. “Let your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication.” The story above from Atlanta fits a recent pattern of lay Catholics voicing their concerns and asking to be heard regarding lavish expenditures in the church, church analysts contend.Pope Francis altered the landscape by choosing to live in a modest Vatican residence rather than the apostolic palace, to travel in a Ford Focus, and to denounce overspending by church leaders. “It breaks my heart when I see a priest or a nun with the latest model of car,” he said last summer. “Cars are necessary, but take a more humble one. Think of how many children die of hunger.”Lay Catholics seem to be taking the pope’s words to heart. In Newark some have expressed unhappiness about a planned $500,000 expansion, with three fireplaces and an indoor pool, of a weekend home used by Archbishop John J. Myers. In the Camden, N.J. diocese questions have been raised about Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan’s purchase of a 7,000-square-foot, $500,000 house.West Virginia Catholics cited Francis’ humble lifestyle in questioning what they viewed as excessive spending by the Wheeling-Charleston diocese. And, most significantly, last week the pope accepted the resignation of a German bishop who had spent $43 million renovating his house and other church buildings.“Francis has very definitely sent out a signal, and the signal is that bishops should live like the people they pastor, and they shouldn’t be in palaces,” said Paul Vallely, a British biographer of the new pope.A number of American bishops have sent similar signals over the last decade, even before Francis became pope last year. Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, who is now the pope’s closest American adviser, began his tenure by selling the Italianate palazzo that had housed his predecessors and moving into a rundown cathedral rectory.Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput sold the mansion occupied by his predecessors and moved into an apartment on the grounds of a seminary. Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik lasted two weeks in that diocese’s mansion before putting it up for sale and moving into a seminary apartment.Catholic dioceses are not the only organizations being scrutinized for spending on leadership benefits. Many nonprofits, including universities, Protestant churches, and other charitable organizations, have faced criticism after providing fancy houses, high salaries, or lavish perks to executives. But the arrival of Pope Francis appears to have emboldened lay Catholics to speak up more forcefully when they sense overspending.Homily hint: How have each of us taken the pope’s words to heart in our own lifestyle and spending choices? With so much of our economy now geared to travel, leisure, and entertainment, it is no wonder there seems to be less available in budgets for social programs, education, and aid to the economically challenged. Our personal priorities also help set the national agenda; it’s all related. Source: An article by Michael Paulson for the New York Times

Pope Francis bishops church spending paul vallely

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