{"id":1942,"date":"2016-10-22T17:11:29","date_gmt":"2016-10-22T04:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/?p=1942"},"modified":"2017-08-25T04:03:26","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T16:03:26","slug":"the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church’s Overblown Wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"A<\/a>
A beachfront view of Rangitoto Island from 47 The Strand where the Pacific Area Presidency are accommodated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I\u2019ve tried and tried over the years \u00a0to figure out why the LDS church<\/a> needs so much money. \u00a0Estimates are that LDS Inc. owns about USD$375B, debt free<\/a>. \u00a0That makes them a Fortune 5 company. \u00a0It feels \u00a0sketchy and inexplicably off to me. \u00a0I know, I know \u2013 I\u2019ve heard all about the church\u2019s rainy day policy but the more I think about it \u00a0this runaway corporate train just looks\u00a0like a huge conceit\u00a0 for the suits who run these ventures. \u00a0I\u2019m sure there is a lot of fist bumping, high fives and narrow eyed, smug self-satisfied hand shakes with every report of the church\u2019s bank balance, their acquisitions and\u00a0their commercial enterprises.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Except that its not really that impressive. \u00a0It has all come\u00a0at a price, and the price\u00a0to get on this acquisitive\u00a0gravy train has been paid by the sacrifice of \u00a0everyday\u00a0church members over successive generations. \u00a0 So don\u2019t come the raw prawn and tell me that its commercial ventures began with a few million that magically appeared out of thin air. \u00a0That money originally came from the sacrifice of \u00a0the people. \u00a0End of story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When church members are asked to give up\u00a0\u00a0their money, their time, their resources and \u00a0even their relationships for the church you\u2019d think there\u2019d be some reciprocity. \u00a0You\u2019d think that with the bulging pockets of the church\u00a0there might be some generosity, some largesse and some thoughtful distribution of funds to support communities where its needed. \u00a0But generally there isn\u2019t. \u00a0Bishops have to scrape by on tiny budgets while the bulk of their\u00a0wards\u2019\u00a0tithing contributions\u00a0get sucked into the corporation. \u00a0To make matters worse our careful allocation of funds to budget, missionary or tithing is a fiction. \u00a0The small print tells us that all donations are fungible. \u00a0That means the corporation can do what they want with it and that\u2019s important because as we know \u2018you can buy anything in this world with money<\/em>\u2018; including shopping malls.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So here\u00a0are\u00a0some figures. \u00a0 There are around 225 units in New Zealand. \u00a0Last year\u00a0the New Zealand church\u2019s local \u00a0donations were $40,123,000<\/a>. \u00a0 \u00a0 Yet \u00a0of that $18,432,000 was\u00a0paid to the LDS Trust Board employees (of which there 204 full-time staff members and 18 part-time). \u00a0That puts the average salary for each employee of the church at $86,535.21. \u00a0To put than into perspective the median New Zealand income is $45,000. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Methinks that few church employees are getting $80K +\u00a0in their take home pay, so some folks up in Auckland are sitting mighty pretty on the backs of the sacrifice\u00a0\u00a0of the New Zealand members. \u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps the differential can be explained by how much\u00a0is going toward the upkeep of\u00a0 the \u00a0Area Presidency & co. (all Americans) who are housed in swanky multimillion dollar beach front apartments on 47 The Strand in Takapuna. \u00a0 There are also some US \u00a0management imports who have been overseeing the property development project in Temple View and as it turns out Americans don\u2019t come cheap.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sadly none\u00a0\u00a0of this passes the ethical\u00a0smell test. \u00a0 \u00a0Sure its legal, but its not moral. \u00a0Once I sent an email to the Area\u00a0Offices in Auckland asking \u00a0them to explain why it was that the incomes of church employees were so inexplicably high. \u00a0They replied that they didn\u2019t have the resources to explain. \u00a0I pointed out that with a NZD $3,100,000 communication budget surely they could come up with some explanation. \u00a0I didn\u2019t hear from them again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across New Zealand members manage to scrape together\u00a0an average of\u00a0$178,324pa in donations per unit. \u00a0With Stakes often pilfering some of the unit budgets for their \u2018special event\u2019s\u2019 sometimes ward\u00a0and branches\u00a0are often \u00a0left with less that $8000 pa to run programmes for their congregations. \u00a0 That means that units are contributing around\u00a0 $170,000 pa to the corporation \u00a0to pay for the Area office\u2019s incomes and operations.\u00a0 \u00a0Sure member donations\u00a0also pay for rates, maintenance\u00a0and utilities,\u00a0 but with most church buildings housing multiple wards these costs can be easily covered through local donations with plenty to spare.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the final kicker! \u00a0As of last year, units in New Zealand have to pay \u00a0the church out of our budgets \u00a0for donation\u00a0slips and envelopes. \u00a0That\u2019s right \u2013 we have pay to pay. \u00a0Our family contributes several thousands of dollars per year; \u00a0 enough to\u00a0send our large family on a fancy trip each year. \u00a0 \u00a0 Instead we PAY to\u00a0send various members of our family (using my husband\u2019s holidays) on expensive trips to the temple. \u00a0And we \u00a0PAY through tithing \u00a0for the \u2018privilege\u2019 to do so. \u00a0 We just keep paying and paying and the church keeps hoarding and hoarding while \u00a0sharing some of its \u00a0impressive profits\u00a0with\u00a0its favourite red chair occupying sons of Pioneers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its\u00a0time for the church to get clean. \u00a0They are in a position now to support their operations through its profits\u00a0while they zero out their annual tithing income to invest in the well-being of\u00a0\u00a0its\u00a0 members. \u00a0 How about using some of their property for well resourced community gardens? \u00a0 How about sacking some of their over stuffed employees and thinning their management tiers? \u00a0How about supporting projects that support LDS children who are suffering from malnutrition<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Or here\u2019s a radical idea! \u00a0How about they \u00a0pay the General Women\u2019s Presidencies a salary equivalent to the General Authorities or Apostles incomes? \u00a0 From\u00a0\u00a0what I understand \u00a0the\u00a0General Presidencies only get gas money for their full-time jobs overseeing the spiritual welfare of over half the church. \u00a0Wouldn\u2019t it be a small yet significant\u00a0something to crack open the church\u2019s coffers and pay these women like the General Authorities they are?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

How difficult can it be to call it a day on the excessive and brazen taking and start giving something back aside from buildings? \u00a0From what I understand of Jesus\u2019 teachings that\u2019s exactly what he would do. \u00a0 \u00a0He took loaves and fishes, turned them into a feast for all to share. \u00a0 \u00a0I wish the church that bears His name would do the same.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve tried and tried over the years \u00a0to figure out why the LDS church needs so much money. \u00a0Estimates are that LDS Inc. owns about USD$375B, debt free. \u00a0That makes them a Fortune 5 company. \u00a0It feels \u00a0sketchy and inexplicably off to me. \u00a0I know, I know \u2013 I\u2019ve heard all about the church\u2019s rainy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1182,"featured_media":1975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,15,16,17,18,20,22,23,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-culture","category-church-leadership","category-mormon-church-discourse","category-mormon-church-history","category-mormon-conservatism","category-mormon-corporate-culture","category-mormon-finances","category-mormon-political-economy","category-new-zealand-and-us-mormonism","category-new-zealand-mormon-culture-2"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church's Overblown Wealth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've tried and tried over the years \u00a0to figure out why the LDS church needs so much money. \u00a0Estimates are that LDS Inc. owns about USD$375B, debt free.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church's Overblown Wealth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I've tried and tried over the years \u00a0to figure out why the LDS church needs so much money. \u00a0Estimates are that LDS Inc. owns about USD$375B, debt free.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KiwiMormon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-22T04:11:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-24T16:03:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/269\/2016\/11\/IMG_4311.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gina Colvin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gina Colvin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/\",\"name\":\"The Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church's Overblown Wealth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-22T04:11:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-24T16:03:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#\/schema\/person\/f4801b82021fdcdf483ff9fdfff515f7\"},\"description\":\"I've tried and tried over the years \u00a0to figure out why the LDS church needs so much money. \u00a0Estimates are that LDS Inc. owns about USD$375B, debt free.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church’s Overblown Wealth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/\",\"name\":\"KiwiMormon\",\"description\":\"Mormon Reflections from the Antipodes\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#\/schema\/person\/f4801b82021fdcdf483ff9fdfff515f7\",\"name\":\"Gina Colvin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91d0f73ea4aecb0bf0a178457d873a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91d0f73ea4aecb0bf0a178457d873a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gina Colvin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/author\/gcolvin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church's Overblown Wealth","description":"I've tried and tried over the years \u00a0to figure out why the LDS church needs so much money. \u00a0Estimates are that LDS Inc. owns about USD$375B, debt free.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church's Overblown Wealth","og_description":"I've tried and tried over the years \u00a0to figure out why the LDS church needs so much money. \u00a0Estimates are that LDS Inc. owns about USD$375B, debt free.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/","og_site_name":"KiwiMormon","article_published_time":"2016-10-22T04:11:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-08-24T16:03:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/269\/2016\/11\/IMG_4311.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gina Colvin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gina Colvin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/","name":"The Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church's Overblown Wealth","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-10-22T04:11:29+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-24T16:03:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#\/schema\/person\/f4801b82021fdcdf483ff9fdfff515f7"},"description":"I've tried and tried over the years \u00a0to figure out why the LDS church needs so much money. \u00a0Estimates are that LDS Inc. owns about USD$375B, debt free.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/2016\/10\/the-spiritual-dilemma-of-the-lds-churchs-overblown-wealth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Spiritual Dilemma of the LDS Church’s Overblown Wealth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/","name":"KiwiMormon","description":"Mormon Reflections from the Antipodes","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#\/schema\/person\/f4801b82021fdcdf483ff9fdfff515f7","name":"Gina Colvin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91d0f73ea4aecb0bf0a178457d873a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91d0f73ea4aecb0bf0a178457d873a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gina Colvin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/author\/gcolvin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kiwimormon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}