The Lavish Homes of American Archbishops

[ClarkeVII]

Clearly, "lifestyles of the rich and religious" doesn't cut it for Pope Francis.

The pontiff has said it "breaks my heart" to see priests and nuns driving the latest-model cars.

He's blasted "airport bishops" who spend more time jet-setting than tending to their flocks.

And he's warned against church leaders who bear the "psychology of princes."

The Vatican fired one such "prince" last year: German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst -- aka "The Bishop of Bling" -- who spent $43 million to remodel his opulent pad.

(Bronze window frames? $2.4 million. Getting on the wrong side of the Pope? Far more pricey.)

"God save us from a worldly Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings!" Francis said in his book-length blueprint for the church.

Say what you will, but this Pope puts his preaching into practice.

See the homes here with full article: www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/08/us/american-archbishops-lavish-homes/?hpt=hp_t1

[hedgehog]

1. This is the icing on the cake - "Three nuns who care for the cardinal and his mansion "

Three women who were told their mission in life is to live in poverty and to pamper a grown man!

* Typically, American sisters take a vow of poverty which means they live in communal and/or inexpensive quarters, drive older cars and have a very limited clothing and personal allowance. Somehow these women, many of them over 60, manage to take care of themselves and their homes without outside help. And they don't need chauffers, either!

[lovuian]

5. I toured the Bishops home in St Louis

Upstairs the Bishop lived in lavish surroundings downstairs the nuns who served him
lived on beds with army wool blankets in the basement

[MineralMan]

2. Here's a working link:

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/08/us/american-archbishops-lavish-homes/

[Bluenorthwest]

3. If he practiced what he preaches, he would abstain from judging the faults he sees in others

until such time as there is no longer a fault in his own realm, as long as he points fingers at good, innocent gay people while these lavish mansions exist in his realm, he is a false prophet, hiding his own corruption in rhetoric of discrimination and division. While he harbors abusers and venal divisive men, all his words amount to assistance to those men. That he would dare speak of the speck in his brother's eye while there is a giant log in his own suggests he needs to review the basic teachings of his alleged object of worship.

[Earth_First]

4. In San Antonio...

The archbishop lives in a $1.1 million dollar home.

In 2009 facing a budget shortfall, the diocese was forced to remove 11 full-time employees.

All while the archbishop enjoyed a housekeeping staff, cook and a chauffeur.

Humility my ass!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. That the place off McCullough on the near north side with the green Spanish tile roof?

I thought that was where the archbishop lived. I could be wrong. It's been decades since I lived there.

[Iron Man]

6. It looks like they're not humble servants of god.

[hedgehog]

7. I think all of this goes back to a lot of history we were never taught in school -

I think during medieval times, bishops often held power as the secular authority in certain places, especially the Holy Roman Empire. The Papal States are another prime example. They got used to living as princes, and their culture remains unchanged into the present day.

[dilby]

9. The houses are owned by the Church and are used kind of like investments.

The values of the homes only go up and when an Arch-bishop dies they can sell the home for a profit.

[seveneyes]

10. Jesus H Christ

That kind of money could help feed a lot of hungry people.

[Skidmore]

11. Why the heck does a church official need a tiki hut

on the property?

Most of those places are big enough to house orphanages, youth homes, nonprofit offices, dorms for the homeless, and any number of other functions that would help the people who are fleeced regularly by the Church.