Reply #10: It's about idological purity, no more

[CatholicEdHead]

The current generation thrives on following rules to the letter. If you do not follow enough to the letter, there are some out there that will dismiss you as "not Catholic" on any technicality/disagreement (you meet more online than in real life, as they are scattered in real life).

Part of this comes from the sex scandals. I had an interaction with a ultra-conservative seminarian online and they are indoctrinated about the Church being a "perfect society", hense has never and will never do anything wrong in some people's eyes. So, the sex scandal is looked at as parishioners speaking up when they should have kept shut for the good of the Church (yes, my head always hurts trying to process that whopper).

It also brings back one reason why some are attracted to the clergy (some, but a growing number now), to have each parish as a little self-contained kingdom with the pastor really using his authority. It is one thing to have it, but you have to use it responsibly. That attracts some that thrive on power trips. They expect all parishioners to be "children" at all ages, but in today's educated society that is not possible and peer adult discussion riles some people.

It is a sad that we are going backwards so fast.