Catholics, I would like to hear your opinions about the current state of your Church.?

Question

I am having trouble understanding why you adhere to this particular church due to their corrupt and inept handling of their members.

Don't you think guilty priests should be expelled, instead of being protected and transferred? And Hundreds of Millions of dollars from donations have been used to settle these cases.

Why do you stay? You don't need to be affiliated with the Catholic Church to be a Christian.

Answer 1

I have study Catholic dogma and I agree with many of it. This is why I stay Catholic, all churches have had sex scandals. Protestants, Baptists, and evangelicals. This problems are not only known to Catholics. I think those priests should be put to the death penalty but I will be satisfied with them in prison for life. Every church has problems but not all priests are like that and there is a lot of good in the church. These problems won't be the only ones, like all organizations more trouble will come. The state of my church is suprisingly not in peril. There are many who still go to Mass and there are many who still consider themselves Catholic.

Answer 2

I'm a Catholic and I hope you give us Catholics a "fair shake" in answering your questions.

1) Yes, guilty priests should be expelled - and though that wasn't happening in the past, it is happening now.

2) Yes, the costs have been staggering and even quite damaging to some diocese. Perhaps if those bishops had taken better care, the costs would not be so high? The problem is, as in my diocese, the bishop who had the problems has been expelled and the new bishop (who is quite good) is left to sort it all out, mend the wounds and continue to grow the Church the way it should be grown.

3) Why do I stay? In the words of St. Peter, "To whom should we go?" It is through the Catholic Church that we have the words of eternal life. It is through the Eucharist that Jesus Christ is not merely spiritually among us - but physically as well.

4) No, we don't "need" to be affiliated with the Catholic Church to be "Christian" - but we have found the fullness of the Faith - to go somewhere else would be something less.

To make a long story, short - the teachings of the Catholic Church are not impugned by the few men "in" the Church who have been "bad." It is true, those men should have been dealt with LONG ago - and it's sad they weren't. Now they ARE being dealt with and it is costing the Church (read that, the parishners who donate to the Church) millions of dollars - but we do not throw out the baby with the bathwater. We stand by our faith - not by the misdeeds of a few.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Corruption? Scandal? The Church is made up of people, all of whom are sinners. I won't leave Peter because of Judas.

People who are guilty of molestation should be drawn and quartered. I am very unhappy about how a small number of bishops covered up the sins of a relatively small number of priests.

Much of the settlement money has come from insurance.

Why do I stay? The Catholic Church was established by Jesus as His Church on earth. We have the Real Presence in the Eucharist, and the Gates of Hell won't prevail against my Church.

Answer 4

Actually I am Catholic and proud of my religion. There are many things I don't agree with in the Catholic dogma, however I stay to study the reasons why the church has the opinion it does.

I don't think one should quit something because it is imperfect. I think we should stay and strive to improve upon it. After all, did not God create the imperfect beings that currently inhabit the Earth?

There are many corrupt, flawed, dishonest, and messed-up individuals who permeate all societal and religious areas of life. All we can do is weed out the bad guys so the rest of us can continue our quest towards enlightenment -- or whatever it is that we happen to be seeking.

Answer 5

You seem to be under the impression that consumerism is involved here; that is, if we're unhappy with the way Company A runs things or scandalized by the things done by those in authority, we can just switch to Company B.

Sorry. Doesn't work that way.

It is the fullness of the Christian faith and the truth of the Gospel found within the Church that we stay for. Leave? "To whom shall we go?" We are one body in communion; far better to stay and be a part of healing the body, than to remove ourselves from the communion entirely because those who lead us are not perfect -- and are, like us, sinners in need of a Savior.

Show me who is not.

Answer 6

It's still the church of Christ and does not change to meet the demands of men. It sticks to the Biblical roots that started it unlike most Protestant churches.

It is a structured church that is prone to pay for its indiscretions like no other church has to.

Just last month a minster from the Church of Christ Church in Lubbock was convicted because he brought back a young woman from Kenya to their College to have sex against her will. Others from the college were also receiving sexual favors from women he brought back through their ministry.

Baptist have problems in Lubbock also: http://mojoey.blogspot.com/2007/04/baptist-pedophile-in-lubbock-texas.html

The priest are no worse than other clergy they just have to live up to a higher standard..

Answer 7

Generalize much? Protestant ministers are statistically more apt to molest women and children in their congregations, and yet you seldom hear anything about that. (If you don't believe me, do a Google search on Catholic versus Protestant abuse statistics. The results are eye-opening, to say the least.)

The number of abusive priests is actually very small, and those who were guilty of trying to cover up the scandal have been removed from their positions -- Cardinal Law, in particular. Very seldom do Protestant churches admit to the wrong-doing of their ministers: they simply dismiss the pastor and that's the last that's ever heard of him unless he does something too terrible to keep out of public view.

The Catholic Church has weathered other storms and still continues to provide its members with peace, joy, and spiritual blessings. Catholicism is right for me, and I have no intention of leaving such a beautiful faith.

Answer 8

I understand and realize that the Church is not perfect - and no religion is perfect. Catholics are still human so they are prone to make mistakes.

However I am able to see that those who do those "immoral acts" does not in any infringe about the truth the Jesus established this One Apostolic and Catholic Church.

The Church has seen darker day and has survived - and I believe it will survive again - as promised by Christ to Peter.

Answer 9

The Church is the Church Christ himself started. The gates of hell will not prevail. This does not mean Satan will not try to ruin the Church and he has. Only the more reason to stand fast and hold on to the truth.

The members of our Church who are corrupt are human beings who have weaknesses and sicknesses....just as all human beings. Their sin is not justified, but they are loved by Christ just the same as all of us are. We are all sinners and fall short of his glory.

Martin Luther had the same thinking...he thought one bad Pope meant the whole Church was corrupt. Not so. We cannot control each person within the Church but this does not undermine Christ's grace and protection. Christ is stonger than any scandal of human error.

As far as I know, the guilty priests are expelled...defrocked. As a matter of fact, the Church has been judged more harshly by the media and the public than any other institution which has allowed and protected sex abusers. I believe this is pennance for the Church. All sin requires pennance.

In our country there are more educators and coaches involved in sex abuse cases than priests. Over the years the school system has dealt with these offenders by moving them to different schools, giving them different jobs etc. Where is the outrage? Where is the media hype? Non-existent.

Yet the Catholic Church is scorned, analyzed, and labled even though the offenders are fewer than those in the Protestant Churches. You have to ask yourself why. I believe the reason to be the very fact that Christ's Church will always be Satan's focus of attack.

I stay because of the Eucharist. I stay because within Christ's Church I am obediant to his commands and to his will. Jesus tells us in Matthew 23: 2 The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.

In other words, Jesus tells us to recognize their authority based on their office. But as far as their personal ways we are not to follow them. So, the authority of the Church and of those appointed by God is official and we are to continue to follow that authority because it is an appointed office by God. But each of those who holds those offices is also a person who sins, and answers to God as we all do.

So, in summary, yes, there has been those who are corrupt in our Church and every Church. This only shows that all of us sin and does not undermine the authority of Christ's Church. The Church's handling of these incidents was definitely wrong, but we have the advantage of many years and hindsight now. As we all know, it's much easier to judge in hindsight...look at the Holocaust and slavery.

Answer 10

I'm not Catholic, but you can't let the actions of a few ruin it for the many. Out of 1 billion Catholics, one or two abuses here and there is a tiny percentage. I wouldn't allow a few bad apples ruin my beliefs, just as a few cases of police brutality won't stop me from calling 9-1-1.