Confused about Roman Catholicism?

Question

Jesus said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay His head." Jesus lived a life a self denial and complete charity. Why is it that the church who claims to represent Him has an extra 600 million bucks to pay those who were sexually abused by its leaders. Forget the sexual abuse claim, how can one diocese have a spare 600 mil when there are so many needs in the world? Can one truly say that the present day Roman Catholic Church really represents the all caring, self denying Christ?

Answer 1

>>how can one diocese have a spare 600 mil<<

There is no "spare 600 mil". The archdiocese will have to sell buildings, liquidate investments, and borrow money.

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Cardinal Mahony said that $250 million of the settlement would be paid by the archdiocese, $227 million by insurers and $60 million by religious orders whose priests and brothers perpetrated some of the abuse. He said the remainder, $123 million, would come from “other sources,” including religious orders “not yet participating” in the settlement.

In previous settlements, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles had already promised $114 million, bringing its total to about $774 million in settlements. Cardinal Mahony said that to pay for the settlements, the archdiocese would sell some properties, liquidate some investments and borrow money. He said he would not need to end any core functions or to sell any parish properties or schools.

Answer 2

Well, religion is never easy to talk about or understand. I myself am Roman Catholic, so it's a little harder for me. Granted, the Church could have made better decisions in the past and now, but we're human, people make mistakes. Even the Pope can sin, after all. However, just because they had all that money doesn't mean they were storing it in a vault for retirement or on strippers ( a funny thought, Pope Benedict the 16th at a strip club, lol). They probably had to get that from all the charity they get globally. If not, still, they repented for their sins and they continue the word and teaching of Jesus and God. That's what matters, serving the Lord and God. Hope this helps some.

Answer 3

There is no spare money. Did you perhaps read that the Church is going to have to sell off property to pay the settlement? As a Catholic, I agree that they should.

Did you know that the Catholic Church is one of the biggest charitable organizations in the world?

Do you have any idea how much charitable giving the Church does? Or how many services it provides? Here are just a few examples from 2005. And these totals are only for the United States. World-wide it is much greater.

Hospitals: 1837

Medicine Dispensaries: 5315

Leprosy Care Centers: 69

Homes for aged, chronically ill, disabled: 3910

Orphanages: 2470

Marriage Counseling Centers: 5179

Other Institutes: 4422

TOTAL: 22,203

That doesn't include all types of charitable work given at the individual parish level.

Doing a little research can do wonders!

Answer 4

whats to be confused about. they are into the money. after i left the church i received a letter in the mail 6 months later that basically said. "we haven seen any monetary gifts from you in the collection basket for a while. you are no longer considered part of this church , but if you would like to make donations feel free to give." for a church to say that is pathetic.

Answer 5

So, you are not worried by the fact that none of those, who abused children went to jail. You are not outraged by the fact, that they moved those "priests" from parish to parish and tried to cover up everything. You are worried where they get the money and if they still represent Jesus. And you are not worried by the fact, that the last Pope, who is being considered for Sainthood now, did absolutely nothing to interfere!
And you are not worried about why Jesus and his daddy allowed this abuse? Oh, sorry, I forgot, God gave us free will...

Answer 6

600 million is the amount that lakewood church in houston spent to buy and refurbish the Compaq Center (former basketball arena for the Houston Rockets).

The Catholic Church gives more money and time in charity than any organization in the world.

Answer 7

No. I am not confused.

People are fallible. Christ is not. Churches are "run" by people. They could stand to improve upon everything.

The Church of today is a product of this day, to include the monetary renumeration for sins that cannot be expunged by any amount of money. The Church is a child who is paying for the sins of its father, those who harbored criminals and allowed them to continue their crimes, unchecked.

To answer the q : We all fall far short of the example of Christ.

FYI : I am a Catholic. C. :)!!

Answer 8

That is an interesting question. The Catholic church is immensly rich and powerful. Yet thier priests do live a life of squalor...to the point that they cant even get married.
Why do you think they wont let them marry? because of devotion? Nope, it's because the church doesnt want to pay the expenses that a wife and kids would require.
It's all about the money.

Answer 9

Good points. Religion is basically man-made. It's the good and spiritual feelings of humankind corrupted into a package of rules and politics. When more people begin to understand this, we'll all be better off.

Answer 10

I am X anti-Catholic. I was like Paul who despised Jesus Christ Church (Catholic Church). There are many false sayings, and deceptions. One is that Catholic Church is so rich. In 1992, there was claim that Vatican had a lot of money in the Vatican Bank. It gained a lot of fame later it was debunk. Vatican at that time had been short of money, Jan Paul II gave money to the poor by selling antics from the Vatican for example; silver wear was given to by a king, gifts to Pope, and act. Knowing, he was going to be ridicule for his good faith actions. Then it happens by the press and government of Italy ridicule Jan Paul II. Let me touch another point, just because few man go astray does not mean the entire priest are bad. It is like saying few doctors gave wrong medicine or malpractice in a year does not mean that all doctors all bad. Let bring another sexual harassments to light, when I as protestant I heard from magazine Christianity Today around January 1993 cases sexual harassment, and abuses with protestant Christian ministers (pastor of all sort of church) out side the Catholic Church. This sexual abuse acts most with children even with young boys. The report was done by (protestant) psychologist and claim that churches were not doing any thing about cases. The news were not given spot light should be given to them, but were putting a lot of attention Catholic Church sexual abuse. She wanted churches to do something about those case because had too many case that she was working on (were not from the Catholic Church). She said that at lest the Catholic Church is doing something about it and paying the victims and admitting what was happening by doing they are dealing with the problem. Let me remind all of you, world is into sex does not want to face the problem of sex. We see a lot of porn in the internet and especially in the world. It is common in the world to talk about sex activities as it was natural and free to do. In this world in TV and Internet sex is advertised and some time it is worshiped some ways. In the Catholic Church, temptation and lust in fought with the graces of God. It is a battle that Catholic Church has always has fault against the flesh, specially this time which is very strong within our society. Like any battle you will have traitors as Judas how betray Jesus Christ. My faith is not base in man but in God alone. When I as anti-Catholic, I despised church for many reasons now I love the church and I am happy and found deep richness in her. In this richness, I have found profound love of Jesus Christ have grater understand of full salvation of Christ in her. I am not inventing this, and Catholic Church did not invent it her self. Jesus Christ build it and founded her Matthew 16:18. In the Aromatic word kepa means rock and transliterated into Greek as kephas (1 Cor 1, 12;3,22;9,5;15,4;Gal 1,18;2).