You're barely scraping by. You get an email from your church. "Pastor's wife is sick. We need food for her - this, this and this. No need for you to come to the church, we're sending out a fleet of limos to pick the food up. Thanks."
But that's not all. The church in question is bankrupt, and the pastor and his wife have million dollar salaries (and a son and five daughters, all well off, three of whom live quite near). Yet they're asking you to send food, but of course they're perfectly willing to pick the food up... in their limousines.
How could these people not see that what they were asking for was beyond the pale - even in California?
From YahooNews: Bankrupt church wants donations for pastor’s sick wife ferried in limo.
.By Zachary Roth
Some members of a bankrupt Orange County, Calif. megachurch are expressing outrage after fielding an email request for congregants to deliver food to waiting limos so that it can ferried to the founder's sick wife. The appeal comes weeks after a lawsuit charged that the founder of the Crystal Cathedral house of worship, Rev. Robert Schuller, and his family had been paying themselves lavish salaries and other benefits while the church was in financial straits.
"They've completely depleted the church's funds," one member, Bob Canfield, told the Orange County Register. "But they have shown that they have absolutely no remorse for what they've done. They're still being chauffeured around in limos. We, the congregants, have nothing."
An email sent recently by Crystal Cathedral administrators said that Schuller and his wife, Arvella, "would appreciate meals over the next three to four weeks." It added: "They are to be sent to the church in order to be transported to Arvella. The limo drivers could pick up the dinners or meet in the Tower Lobby around 4:30 p.m."
Arvella Schuller has been suffering from pneumonia, and the email asked that the food be low in sodium and include items such as fruit, meat, soup and eggs.
Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy last month. A lawsuit filed by creditors alleges that the Schullers borrowed more than $10 million from the church's endowment fund, and used it for salaries and regular church expenses.
"R.H. Schuller used his control and influence to cause the [cathedral] to enter into the agreements that benefitted himself and his family, to the detriment of the creditors and in breach of his fiduciary duties" to the church, the suit charges.
A spokesman for the church, John Charles, said the food request was in keeping with the church's commitment to Christian charity. "As Dr. Schuller always says, 'Find a need and fill it,'" he said. "I think that's what we were trying to do here."
But Canfield sees things differently. "These are millionaires who have limos and chauffeurs," he said. "Why in God's name would they want the congregants to deliver meals? It's ludicrous."
Don't get me wrong - Christian charity does a lot of good. (As do charities from other religions and atheists.)
But for millionaires to think that asking for food from their congregants is giving them an opportunity to charity...there's something insane about that. Charity goes to those less well off than oneself - not to millionaires who ran their own business into the ground (and not because they were forced to do stupid things by government regulators - ala the bank bailouts and union bailouts!)
The Schullers have a son and five daughters - all of them well off and capable of tending to their parents needs, surely.
The saddest thing about all of this? Some of the Schuller's congregants probably will send some food along.
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