Monday, April 16, 2007

New Color for Easter Season

...is white; the gold was for the Octave.

Yes, it's kind of a bluish white, that looks better to me than a white-white.

I did try going back to the tannish color I had, before I started playing with the colors like a kid with a 64-count box of crayons, and I didn't like it. I kind of liked the green I had during our last bit of Ordinary Time, so I guess I'll go back to that after Easter Season.

Why I am writing this? My alternative is doing my taxes...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Priests pay taxes?

beez said...

He didn't say pay his taxes. Everyone has to file.

Father Schnippel said...

Oh, yes, priests pay taxes, at least us poor diocescan priests.

We get it, too, as the government treats clergy as independent contractors, so to speak -> self employment tax.

I got hammered as I dont keep records of what I give to charity. :banghead:

(I'm one step ahead of ya, Father, I did mine yesterday while watching the reds game!)

Anonymous said...

Jes tain't right, I tellsya ... jes tain't right.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Victor:

If you mean to recall Mamie's line from Gone with the Wind, I believe she said,

"Jus ain't fittin', that's all--it jus' ain't fittin' . . ."

Anonymous said...

OK ... canning the Innocent Act for a moment ...

We get it, too, as the government treats clergy as independent contractors, so to speak -> self employment tax.

What's the logic of that? And hold the IRS jokes ... there has to be SOME kind of logic.

I understand that the priesthood is a vocation, not a job or career. But "vocation" is not a category anywhere in the secular law. Indeed, the ways that the priesthood differs from a career all point in the direction of a GREATER dependence on the employer and AWAY from the direction of "self-employed."

A priest signs over his life to the Church in a way that no secular employee does. Sure, Father Fox or Father Schnippel could tomorrow take his collar off, go dig ditches or lobby for gun rights or whatever, and the Diocese of Cincinnati could do nothing about it. But so can any secular employee.

I mean ... I have to uphold company rules and policies. But don't take any vow of obedience to the management at The Washington Times. Nor is my job 24/7. Nor does the Times provide my room and board or much beyond money and some in-kind fringe benefits. My job is much closer to contracting -- i.e., a pure sale of my labor during certain fixed times -- than the priesthood, where the priest is radically subordinated to the diocese, to the point that he is to regard his bishop as a father, not a boss. I hope, Fathers, that you won't take offense at this, it's obviously an imperfect analogy; but the priesthood more resembles a (voluntary) serf or slave situation, or perhaps more positively, a love-based family situation. But either case would be the very opposite of independent contracting.

Anybody know how long priests have been in this category or why?

Anonymous said...

Another consideration (which again I hope neither Father will think is a veiled shot) -- if priests are indeed independent contractors, then why would the diocese bear any responsibility for Father Perv's interest in the altar boys.

It's a slam-dunk no-brainer under corporate law if priests are the diocese's employees. But if they're independent contractors, the only person who committed a tort would be Father Perv (OK ... blood from a stone ... but, again, there has to be SOME logic to it).

Fr Martin Fox said...

...Still procrastinating on my taxes . . .

Victor, I'll stick to addressing what I understand the current situation to be; I'll let someone else explain how it came about.

Priests are treated differently under different parts of the law.

Under some parts of the law, we are treated as employees -- so, we can have taxes withheld, we can get benefits, etc.

But for social security purposes, we are self-employed, so we have to pay "both sides" of social security tax.

In any case, the question about "Padre Perv" has to do with civil liability, and that has only a tangential relationship to what the law says, as everyone knows by now. ("Hot--I mean, lukewarm--coffee anyone?")

Anonymous said...

Victor,
I had to laugh at your "priests work 24/7" implication because, for several years and two pastors now, our parish bulletin has listed Monday as "Father's Day Off." I totally understand this from the standpoint of them being mere mortal beings who require rest SOME time or another but, as a stay-at-home home-schooling mom of 5 (4 ages 6 & under) I have to laugh about it (the alternative being to cry) because I don't get a day off, ever.
Don't get me wrong. I chose my vocation the same as my pastors chose theirs. I wouldn't want their job even if I could have it (wouldn't want it then either!).
I do know that my pastor does not GET Monday's off. But it has always been a coarse reminder for me that I don't either :-)
Feisty Muse

cantatrix said...

Hi Father,
Over at NLM you asked about resources re: educating your parish about chant etc. You will find some useful material at the website for St. Veronica's Parish in Chantilly, VA http://www2.stveronica.net/
Look under Music Program, then under A Capella Mass Parts for a document written by their pastor and music director.
Rosemary, the music director, has been very kind in answering my questions and allowing use of this document as I am trying to convince my local parish that chant and traditional music still have a place in the liturgy. She was at the CMAA conference last year. Will you be there again this year? Hope this helps.

Jenny