Cardinal Pell and Brisbane (Main Forum)

by Helen , The other side of Australia, Saturday, March 24, 2012, 17:36 (423 days ago) @ desi

Financial Obligations

Most new members will be admitted with the rank of Knight or Dame of Magistral Grace. The financial obligations, apart from certain ones, are limited to (currently) $650 AUD per annum subscription. The initial expense (in all countries) is that if accepted by the Sovereign Council in Rome, the new member, except as mentioned below, is expected to make a once-off payment equivalent to 2,000 Euros (or in some circumstances a lesser amount), depending on which form of membership is chosen by the member. This payment, which is known as "passage money", is to sustain the cost of conducting the Grand Magistry, which is the international Headquarters of the Order. The origin of the term "passage money" is that when a Knight volunteered his services to fight in the Holy Land he was expected to pay the cost of his passage!

The cost in joining is obviously substantial, but it is a way in which members are called upon to contribute to the very considerable costs of running the central government of the Order. As the descriptive material shows, the Order has very extensive international activities conducted from Rome. These include major relief operations, diplomatic relations currently with some 96 countries and Observer status at the United Nations.

http://www.smom.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Item...

Only the rich can afford to join anyway in order to suppot the cost of the 'Grand Magistry' - now would you want to support somehting that is called that????!?!?

Let us light a candle and say to the dark, we beg to differ