Servants of mammon – Fr Brendan Gatt

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C. Today’s readings: Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13 (shorter version: Luke 16:10-13)   “You can’t talk to God while flying commercial!” is the justification which American televangelist Kenneth Copeland gave for purchasing yet another luxury private jet. When you share a normal plane with other people, he claimed, they agitate your spirit by flooding you with prayer requests. Copeland owns three private jets; perhaps he has mastered the gift of trilocation and uses all of them simultaneously. His case is not even the most egregious; another “prosperity gospel” preacher, Jesse Duplantis, owns four planes. He holds that were Jesus to come into the world nowadays, he wouldn’t be riding a donkey; rather, he would be on a private jet spreading the Gospel around the world. Presumably, one of Duplantis’s jets is on standby for Jesus, just in case. I don’t want to give the impression that Catholics can claim some moral high ground in this regard. We too have our fair share of shameful scandals and issues, with clerics (all the way up to cardinals) mismanaging finances, living in luxury or involving Church funds in extremely dubious...