Show us the money.

In the August Glad You Asked ("Where does all the money go?") Father Paul Boudreau says that we American Catholics are cheap. He says we give less money per person to our church than the members of all other faiths do to their churches or congregations.

That may be so, but no other denomination has paid more money to keep some discredited spiritual leaders out of prison. And this is the main reason why we can expect the faithful to pay even less in the future. Many of us have lost faith in the financial abilities of our bishops and priests.

There is a way out: Let the People of God--also known as the faithful or the parishioners--handle all finances of the church and keep all the books wide open, so everybody knows where his or her money goes. This will greatly magnify the trust of the faithful in their leaders. It will also leave much more time for bishops and priests to take care of the spiritual needs of their flocks. As far as I know, there is nothing in the gospels, dogma, of papal encyclicals forbidding such a proposal.

Tadeusz Debski

Chicago, Ill.

We realize that if we are to have large parishes, the costs that Boudreau mentioned are necessary. Yet, there are other costs even more important, like giving our money to God's poor.

That appears to be one of God's main reasons for us to come together as a community--to share our bread with the poor. However, feeding the poor was not even mentioned as an expense in Boudreau's article. Instead, giving to the diocese is listed as the first place where our money goes.

Joseph Bukovchik

Vista, Calif.