Thank you for your comment.

I am, forgive me, a bit confused by your assertion that there are some “who would make of the Holy Church a PAC for the party of property, gun, and dominion – which is fundamentally at odds with the Gospel.” Specifically, I am unclear about the phrase “the party of property, gun, and dominion.” To the best of my knowledge (private?) property is not contrary to the Gospel, neither is gun ownership as such (though what we do with those guns is an all together different matter!).

As for “dominion” this all together stymies me–we call Jesus Lord and so, in the sense, not only the Church but all Creation (including the government)is under His Lordship. This does not, to be sure, demand a theocracy (and I would argue against such a form of government for reasons that are at once practical and theological), but it does (I think) require of Orthodox Christians living in a free society to make a compelling case where appropriate to advocate for laws compatible with Gospel and to oppose those laws that run contrary to it.

But maybe I have misunderstood your intent here–can you fill me in a bit more please?

As for your broader concern that surrendering the Church’s nonprofit status would allow open the door to transforming the Church into a PAC. Well maybe, but why is that necessarily a bad thing? While I can appreciate that there is always a risk that some will strive to use the Church to further their own political goals, this (or so it seems to me) has NOTHING to do with the Church’s status under American tax codes. Actually given recent events, I am tempted to say that it might be BETTER if we were a for profit endeavor since absent fraud committed against the general public (and even then) religious non-profits are given a great deal of more latitude by the US government than is given to for profit businesses.

Your thoughts please?

In Christ,

+FrG

In a rural area, communal living can further sensitivity to God through sensitivity to His Creation. There (where monetary income is hard), sharing becomes even more important.

Typical modern parish phenomenon only perpetuates spiritual immaturity as does living immersed in the consumerist world with its transient lifestyle encouraged by nuclear “family”, suburbia, etc., where individual choices revolve around money (“economics”) not family, much less Church. Predators, such as the evil one and his minions, isolate their prey from the group (herd; community) to facilitate capture. Community helps to offset modern living that facilitates downfall as prey to temptors through strength in numbers with those dedicated to same spiritual goal, as opposed to isolated individualism.

Few take time to really ponder how effected by consumerism they are. It takes incredible determination, drive and strength to really resist consumerism, so that few do what it takes to resist on an individual basis. What a waste (as evident in all the landfills) for every “nuclear” family to have to consume all of the same trappings of modern culture that could otherwise be shared in a group setting. Such wastefulness and willingness to give oneself over to materialism surely has spiritual consequences. One cannot look at pornography extensively without being spiritually effected. Likewise, no one can live an uncritical, unrestricted modern consumerist life without being spiritually effected either.

In an extended family setting (which the Church is meant to be), no one should be bored and prone to shop for ego gratification, nor be in need of individual distractions. In community, there are plenty of brothers and sisters with whom to socialize, converse and “play”. There is also possibility for deep bonds of unity that make interaction meaningful instead of superficial, which isn’t possible in secular pluralistic society. As opposed to such real community, loneliness, depression and mental illness are growing side effects of individualistic modern society, the canary in the mineshaft.

Thank you for your comments. I certainly agree with you that what is most important is the spiritual maturity of the faithful–clergy and laity and that absent that maturity we risk disaster. I think you also make a good point about how the Church has not exploited the potential in our non-profit status–though I’m not sure about the legality of parish owned housing for the members of the parish.

Thank you as well for the links to the different articles and your own blog. Having read the information there and having listened to Metropolitan JONAH, I’m not sure how what is discussed on these links fit with what His Beatitude’s understanding of spiritual maturity?

In Christ,

+FrG

However, if spiritual profit is rightly comprehended and sought through the Church’s path of salvation, and a parish is at a higher point of realizing the Incarnation of Christ and becoming transparent in communion to the Kingdom of God, then and only then, might it be possible for the parish to make better use of the capitalist consumerist economic system in which we find ourselves to further necessary funding for parish outreach and ministry.

What might be a more useful question to ask, is how a parish might manipulate the existing economic system to serve its first and foremost goals of spiritual maturity. Does having parish members “embedded” in the mammon worshiping secular culture, otherwise isolated from one another unless converging upon the parish in secular fashion of “auto” mobiles, further the goal of Spiritual Maturity? I think not, because I think it more important to BE Church than “attend” Church, and that no one can attend Church at a beneficial level sufficient to resist consumer culture when embedded in it.

The lost of ability for political activism that may come with non-profit status may be no real “loss” in that evangelism is more successful by showing the world how Christians “love one another” than in rhetorical discourse over ideology, or worse, morality. Non-profit status may actually turn out to be helpful in creating parish owned housing for its members without incurring burden of taxation.

See: What chores would Jesus do?, Consumerism & Modern Fast Food versus Fasting Food & Ancient Faith, and what’s been Done Before (see links on page that opens).

In Christ,

+FrG

At the very least, it should be considered an experiment – not IF it will work, but how BEST it will work.

It certainly is worth serious consideration.

That’s my question–is it desirable? I ask because I’m not sure non profit status works for us.