Sunday, August 14, 2011

Forgive us our debts...

Deacon Dean announced in this weekend's bulletin that our parish now has a balanced budget. Praise be to God. This is very good news.

He said, "On national levels we are seeing the consequences of over spending and accumulating overwhelming debt in Europe (e.g. Greece) and we will see it unfold within our own country if spending does not change. We have now lost the best credit rating for the first time in our history. No government or household can survive by consistently outspending its income and borrowing money.

On a practical level, financial stress creates marital stress and is one of the greatest contributors to divorce. So, following biblical principles of financial management benefits both families and nations. The same is true with our parish. I am happy to say that this year’s budget is balanced and does not depend on possible bequests to do so. The first in over a decade. As we plan for the future we will not borrow money to build or meet our current obligations. We will continue to work at reducing expense, increasing income, and setting money aside for the future."

Marshall Taylor over at Canterbury Tales also has something to say about the national debt, aka 'social sin'.

8 comments:

  1. No need to close any churches then.

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  2. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Isn't it miraculous that there is suddenly a balanced budget? Who's fooling who?...

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  3. "we will not borrow money to build or meet our current obligations" would appear to be a carefully scripted statement which does not exclude borrowing money for FUTURE obligations.

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  4. A wolf in sheeps' clothing.

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  5. Maybe we could sell Saint Mary's rectory with contents included.

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  6. I think St. Mary's must be preserved, too. Rectory included. :-)

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