Which of the following statements is TRUE?

1) Joe Biden is a devout Catholic.

2) Joe Biden is a very cheap Catholic.

The answer

As I’ve written many times I’ve been a weekly Sunday Mass usher at my church since I was in 8th grade. One Sunday umpteen years ago the ushers were instructed to hand out cards to people asking them to sign a pledge to tithing where they’d give a portion of their income to the parish. A few churchgoers immediately got up and walked about.

A few weeks later at Mass the pastor approached be in the back of church and said he noticed I had not turned in my card. I nicely explained I wasn’t going to, that details about my income were between me and the federal government.

I added that since I pass the basket around every Sunday that I knew quite well who donated regularly and who didn’t and suggested the good priest put the bite on the non-givers.

“Good points,” he responded. There never was an aggressive push and the entire tithing idea quickly fizzled.

By the way, our pastor at the time urged parishioners to devote 10% of their income which is the traditional tithing concept. Our devout Catholic POTUS offered up 0.55%.