Nominated Archbishop Didn’t Pay Tithe

Pope Benedict XVI is set to announce a new Archbishop of New York to replace Cardinal Edward Egan, an informed Vatican source tells Newsmax.

Many conservatives are pleased because the source says that Cardinal Egan’s successor is from the “conservative and orthodox” wing of the Church.

But CMR is speculating the the nominated Archbishop could have some tithing problems in his past. Some liberal theologians are saying that the Pope’s nominee has failed to pay years of back-tithing -a fact which, if true, could derail his nomination.

Although Catholics are not officially asked to tithe, they are asked to give generously to the Church. Many still believe that ten percent of income to the Church is a good guideline. It is not demanded but a position of such high standing would lead one to think that the priest should have tithed in a proper manner despite giving all of his life in service to the Church.

The supposed nominee, on condition of anonymity, said he “just plain forgot.” He said he was deeply embarrassed by the unfortunate disclosure recently made public and asked that this “oversight” was put in context of years of service to the Church.

He wrote a letter to L’Osservatore Romano saying, “In December, the archdiocese’s accountant advised me that I was a little behind in my donations. In an effort to ensure full compliance and the most complete disclosure possible of my personal finances, we remedied these issues by filing amended tithing returns with full payments, without interest. I assure everyone my mistakes were unintentional and I disclosed this information to the Pope voluntarily, and paid the tithing (without interest) promptly.”

Pope Benedict XVI seems to be standing behind his nominee, saying today that his nominee is truly the only man for the job and that any attempt to derail this nomination would be seen as an attempt to play “the theologies of personal eschatology.” He said the nominee was uniquely qualified for the position of Archbishop. The Pope then added that it actually didn’t matter what anyone else thought because “I won.”

Some New York Catholics, who haven’t attended Mass in years or donated any money to the Church but still felt they had the authority to speak on this issue, said it would be outrageous for the nominee to be confirmed. “Puttin’ this guy in charge of the New Yawk diocese would be like puttin’ some joik in charge of the IRS who didn’t pay his taxes.”