A Fish, a Coin, and the Trial of the Century

When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?”  He said, “Yes, he does.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?” When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free.  However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.”

       Matthew 17:24-27 NRSVue 

 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

      Matthew 6:19-21

 I've come across a couple of articles about a corruption trial which has been unfolding in Rome for months now. It is regarding the mishandling and likely theft of millions of euros within the Roman Catholic church, money gathered in good faith from everyday Catholics for the  wider work of the church. This money is called Peter's Pence, not to be confused with Mike Pence, although at certain times both were lacking in courage.

Here is a description of what is at stake by John L. Allen which is far better than anything I could write: 

ROME – As I’ve said before, the Vatican’s “Trial of the Century,” which pivots on charges of fraud, misappropriation, and graft against ten individuals – including a cardinal – after a London real estate deal went horribly wrong, boils down to a Tale of Two Narratives. 

The first narrative is a story of criminality, featuring shady Italian businessmen and corrupt clerics who illegally conspired to bilk the Vatican of millions, and who are now getting their comeuppance. Making it worse, the stolen money came from Peter’s Pence, representing the hard-earned contributions of ordinary Catholics around the world to support the works of the pope. 

The second is a tale of terrible money management, which ended up costing the Vatican north of $200 million, combined with the age-old tendency of hierarchs to seek scapegoats for their own failures. Making it worse, the squandered money came from Peter’s Pence, representing the hard-earned contributions of ordinary Catholics around the world to support the works of the pope. 

As you can see, the two narratives overlap on some points. The main difference is whether anything criminal happened – unless one subscribes to the Hunter S. Thompson dictum that in a world of thieves, the only real crime is stupidity, in which case there’s some sort of crime here no matter how you slice it.

The situation is a colossal, slimy mess, and brings disrepute to the church of Jesus Christ. How did we get from an iternerant preacher and his disciples who hardly had a "pence" between them to this? Of course, there is a long tradition of grasping for money within the church despite Jesus' warnings about the ill effects of having too much. 

I served three congregations with a million or more in investments and one of them was amongst the wealthiest United Churches in the country. There was never any hint of illegal behaviour but I grew weary of the moral crime of refusing to use that money for mission with all sorts of arguments as to why we had to hold onto what was actually provided by others as legacy giving. According to Jesus it was God's money and our hearts were in peril if we grew too attached to it, but what did he know. 

We'll see where the trial goes and pray that something approaching justice is achieved.