Reply #118: There's also the Catholic faith itself

[shrike]

There's so much of the faith, and the mass, that's absolutely beautiful -- to me. I don't expect you to understand it, and why should you -- you don't believe and are not Catholic.

Many of us differentiate from the faith and the church leadership. Also, the church works a bit differently than a lot of people think. Many folks think it's a dictatorship -- it's not. The pope is considered infallible on matters of faith, and the papacy has not issued a proclamation on faith in a few hundred years, if memory serves me correctly.

The trouble is with political and social positions. I understand everyone's frustrations with that. But as I've said, the church is not a monolithic force. There are liberal bishops, conservative bishops. There are bishops who've covered up sex abuse cases (from what I've read, about 1-2 percent of priests have been accused of abuse, so we had the same guys running rampant in different diocese) and those who've spoken out against it. (My diocese has currently relieved two priests who've been accused -- though the charges have not yet been proven. But they've been put on indefinite leave, no contact with children of any sort.) We have nuns who play footsie with dictators and nuns who get themselves killed in rainforests. As I've said, the church is not a monolithic entity. Like my husband the agnostic says, the biggest problem with Christianity is Christians.

There is change that happens in subtle ways, and in not so subtle ways. Right now, we have conservative leadership at the church's helm, just as we have in many aspects of American society. But this changes, do mostly to the sea change within the clergy -- and the laity.

Thank you much for your support, Az. I always enjoy your posts. There are many who say the church is crumbling and becoming obsolete. Well, religion itself has become obsolete in certain ways -- and that may be a good thing. Perhaps faith can become the realm of the individual; one's relationship with God if one chooses to have one or believe in one.

I think many well-meaning folk had hoped that religion would curb man's baser nature. That obviously hasn't happened. We'll have to try something else. Because greed, avarice, hatred, etc., aren't going anywhere.