The Stewardship of Resources: Financial Strategies of Roman Catholics in the Glasgow District, 1800–70
Too much of this world’s goods has traditionally been regarded as detrimental to Christians. But the experiences of a small, poor area like the Western District of the Scottish Roman Catholic Mission from the 1800s to the 1860s show that religion can become entangled with worldly questions of money...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
1987
|
| In: |
Studies in church history
Year: 1987, Volume: 24, Pages: 359-370 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Too much of this world’s goods has traditionally been regarded as detrimental to Christians. But the experiences of a small, poor area like the Western District of the Scottish Roman Catholic Mission from the 1800s to the 1860s show that religion can become entangled with worldly questions of money through arguments over how to spend scarce resources. Scottish bishops in order to make the most effective use of the meagre funds they had (derived from grants from Rome, bequests and donations from laymen, and loans secured on church buildings) were forced to operate as bankers as well as pastors. Like bankers they had to provide stability and protect existing funds; at the same time they had to expand their credit basis laying out speculatively what they could to create new congregations, hoping that these new resource centres would, through their contributions, pay off the interest on the loans raised to erect their chapels. - Like all banking systems everything ultimately depended on credit and credibility, not only on trustworthiness, but also shrewd and cautious business management to keep the web of such monies as they had utilized to best advantage. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2059-0644 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in church history
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0424208400008445 |