Nuns' leader decries church environment of fear

There idea is to bring back the Latin Mass so that the people do not know what is going on so that there is an air of mystery to it. The vatican tells nuns that they are spending too much time on the poor and not enough time on doctrine. how dare they take care of the poor. Do you think Jesus would spend his day with deadbeats? I was appalled when the vatican said that. They want to loose all of the liberals in the church, close 25% of their churches, and have control on those who stay. I left this church almost 16 years ago for the Episcopal Church, and I never look back.

religion, but to me it always seems the Vatican is all about control. It seems most of the public statements by the Vatican always evolve around control of the flocks.

When I was a child in the Catholic Church it was always give, give, give: money for the parish, money for Catholic Charities, money for this, money for that. To be sure, some of it goes for building maintenance and good works, but a lot of it ends up getting kicked up to the diocese, and then to the Vatican. (read Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church, by Jason Berry, for an account of cash flow in Catholicism). In my parish there were periodic food drives for the nuns, who in addition to teaching school also did most of the church cleaning, but the priests were each supplied with late model cars (for their pastoral duties, y'know, visiting the sick and all ) and a housekeeper. And of course, one must always show respect for priests because they're special.

Pope John Paul II fooled a lot of people, I think, because he came across as a genial grandfatherly figure, but he reminded me of the old-school and old-country priests of my youth, who firmly believed that their words were the only opinions worth listening to. JP2 was the one who appointed the current hierarchy, along with his right-hand cardinal, Ratzinger. The current Church acts like it wants to go back to the days when cardinals and bishops were literally Princes of the Church.

You captured what the church was like for years.

Catholics are fine but the male leaders are infected by Satan

and as a Catholic, I will think for myself.

They seem to be the only ones within the hierarchy who are actually following Christ's example.

Harm on large scale from the Crusades and the Reformation. Harm from the Inquisition. Harm from guilt based on violating teachings based on nonsense.