They do. Many priests and bishops get as close to the line as they can, even today.
Mentioning specific names is an absolute no-no.
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I wonder how much money would actually be lost if the Church lost its tax-exempt status. Certainly, the schools and hospitals would still remain tax exempt and also its work for the poor.
If the main thing we're talking about is property taxes, I would prefer my parish pay the taxes and if that were the price of a backbone so be it.
I haven't given money to the CCHD ever - from its inception it sounded like a communist plot to me. And I haven't given any money to the bishops since the sham of a meeting in Dallas. Last weekend we had a second collection for the "American Bishops Overseas Appeal". On the envelope it said part of the funds goes to the bishops "Department of Social Justice and World Peace" which sounds like more Berrigan socialist hippie crap to me.
I usually put the amount that I would normally put into a collection right towards a pro-life group. A friend of mine who counts the collection says that anytime an envelope says American Bishops on it, the take is worse than the time before.