Hey FrGamble!

Let's just look at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan -- The entire Manhattan block between Fifth and Madison Avenues, 50th and 51st Streets - some of the planet's most expensive real estate - is owned by the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, they own 1.7 milli0n square feet of air rights (which they have been lobbying to be made unrestricted so the air rights could be sold and used anywhere in the City at an average of $225/square foot)

Naturally, the Church pays no taxes and no property taxes thereon.


All the while:

What is an air right?

Quote: Evenbob

What is an air right?

I was wondering the same thing.

Quote: SOOPOO

As far as what billions of dollars could do? I'll let someone else tell me how many fresh water wells could be drilled. How many acres of land could be tilled with some machinery. How many teachers could be hired.

This actually is not so much a hypothetical. We can look at the billions of dollars the Church currently gives and we can see the effect of the wells, the food provided, the teachers hired. It makes a big difference. It is also paired with the hope of a God who loves them and suffers with them and that is priceless.

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I din't say sell all the art.

I understand and thanks for that clarification and nuance. Sometimes people seem to think all art is only valuable for the rich and should only be in museums. We know that this is not true and the art itself serves both materially poor and rich to lift their spirits. I am fine with selling art that is just stored or not particularly interesting or spiritually uplifting. I wonder if some of it really wouldn't sell, I imagine it is a small market for many things. I also wonder if some of the art was given to the Vatican with a stipulation that it would not be sold. However, yeah there is much to be sold and I imagine people in the Vatican do sell art or look into doing so.

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The life of a priest is not cushy compared to an American millionaire.

The life is not cushy compared to lots of people. You don't have a home, you take promises of simplicity, celibacy, and obedience. Your life is one of constant service to the people of God and are called to be with God's people in their greatest joys and deepest sorrows. It's probably not a healthy exercise to compare comforts as I'm sure it differs for lots of folks but objectively I don't think you can call the priesthood well lived "cushy" in any stretch of the imagination.

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You underestimate the wealth of the Vatican. And overestimate the cost to feed the hungry.

I think you overestimate the liquid wealth of the Vatican and underestimate the cost to feed the hungry. We can feed the hungry now. The waste of America could probably feed the vast majority of the world's starving. It is not as simple as saying the food producers want to get paid, of course they do and they should. It is the greed of the wealthy and the poor distribution of food that causes starvation.

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The Vatican could sell a few billion, and just use interest on it to establish a NEVER ENDING source of money for the poor.

This is pretty much what the Vatican does.

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I am NOT saying that the Vatican could solve all the world's problems. I am saying, as you asked, that they are not doing enough.

I tend to agree with you. I am not doing enough and you are not doing enough. The greatest thing the Church could do to feed the world's hungry is not selling its art but preach stronger the responsibility of the world to care for, think of, and do something to help the world's people who unjustly do not have enough to eat, or are sold into sex slavery, or who are abused by companies, or who lack basic human freedoms.

Quote: Evenbob

What is an air right?

Quote: FrGamble

I was wondering the same thing.

Air rights are the rights to build vertically (the rights to the "air" above your land)

https://streeteasy.com/blog/what-are-nyc-air-rights-all-about/

Quote: FrGamble

This is pretty much what the Vatican does.

Really? Can you cite me a single example of the Vatican auctioning off a single piece of art in my lifetime? If so, I may have to change my stance.

Quote: SOOPOO

Really? Can you cite me a single example of the Vatican auctioning off a single piece of art in my lifetime? If so, I may have to change my stance.

I'll look into that. However, you got me thinking of a good idea. If my argument is that much of this art work is spiritually uplifting and free for the poor to enjoy then the problem is there is only a small percentage of the poor, namely those who live in or get to Rome. How about if the Vatican redistrubutes the famous works of art it has? Sending beautiful works to places of our world so that they can enjoy it would be great. It might boost tourism to those places as well and employ more people. I think this might work. One of the first things I would do as Pope.

Quote: FrGamble

How about if the Vatican redistrubutes the famous works of art it has?.

Hh ha, you're funny. You really don't
understand the hoarding attitude
behind accumulating vast wealth,
do you. Wasn't that the message
of Jesus? Hoard and grow wealthy,
and spread the word? It was something
like that..

Quote: FrGamble

I'll look into that. However, you got me thinking of a good idea. If my argument is that much of this art work is spiritually uplifting and free for the poor to enjoy then the problem is there is only a small percentage of the poor, namely those who live in or get to Rome. How about if the Vatican redistrubutes the famous works of art it has? Sending beautiful works to places of our world so that they can enjoy it would be great. It might boost tourism to those places as well and employ more people. I think this might work. One of the first things I would do as Pope.

What percentage of the poor, spending their days to figure out where they will get clean water and a bite of food, are concerned with being uplifted by art?

Quote: FrGamble

I'll look into that. However, you got me thinking of a good idea. If my argument is that much of this art work is spiritually uplifting and free for the poor to enjoy then the problem is there is only a small percentage of the poor, namely those who live in or get to Rome. How about if the Vatican redistrubutes the famous works of art it has? Sending beautiful works to places of our world so that they can enjoy it would be great. It might boost tourism to those places as well and employ more people. I think this might work. One of the first things I would do as Pope.

Ok, Pope FrG!

You do know that there is a charge to get into the Vatican to see the artwork, with the exception of ONE day per month, they allow a herd of the poor to enter for free? How magnanimous of them! And they have the GALL to sell higher priced "skip the line" tickets to those that don't want to wait in lines with the plebians. You know.... Jesus would have wanted the rich to be able to skip the lines, right? The hypocrisy is endless.

I am not a hypocrite. I paid for one of those upgraded entry tickets....