why would anybody want to be catholic?

[Gaura Priya]

Numbers only tell a part of the truth. The true reason anyone wants to become Catholic is for the Communion Wafers and Booze.

/Joke stolen from Simpsons
//Wish it was mine

I have to say the booze is not bad!

The wafers though, a little on the dry side...

 

[Sum1sGruj]

Be a Bible Christian. It's the purest form of Christianity in my opinion. Catholicism, Baptist, Methodist, Pentacostal, etc. etc.,
All these denominations around the same ordeal, and yet when it comes down to it, it's you and the Bible.

 

[Gaura Priya]

Be a Bible Christian. It's the purest form of Christianity in my opinion. Catholicism, Baptist, Methodist, Pentacostal, etc. etc.,
All these denominations around the same ordeal, and yet when it comes down to it, it's you and the Bible.

You're right. IF I were to come back to my Christian roots (my Filipino ancestors have been Christian for four generations...), this is probably the closest to my beliefs.

I believe in Jehovah, and that Jesus Christ was verily the Son of Jehovah God... but not a god himself.

[youtube]YGCtsJvh0bQ[/youtube]
YouTube - Why the Trinity Doctrine Doesn't Make Sense: Five Reasons

 

[*Anne*]

... lemme know whats goin on here...

For some, being Catholic is so closely entwined with their every day lives, that walking away from the Church would be like walking away from one's family.

No one is happy with the abuse that has been uncovered.

 

[Autodidact]

But there is a problem with integrating justice and textbook profiling.

Lets look at the obvious:

Catholic priest who practices celibacy.

Catholic priest gets desperate.

Catholic priest does something really bad.

I fail to see how it can be declared that he is a person with a child fetish.

You're right, there is nothing wrong with rationalism.

Why would this "desperation" express itself in pedophilia, rather than ordinary sex?

 

[Sum1sGruj]

Why would this "desperation" express itself in pedophilia, rather than ordinary sex?

Because priests can't just go off, get a hotel and pay a hooker. It's really just that simple.
They are generally high profile and have eyes and ears around. If they are caught, their priesthood is practically done for. Mix that with desperation and you have crazy results.

 

[Autodidact]

Because priests can't just go off, get a hotel and pay a hooker. It's really just that simple.
They are generally high profile and have eyes and ears around. If they are caught, their priesthood is practically done for. Mix that with desperation and you have crazy results.

So when you said you weren't going to engage with me you were what...just kidding?

Yes, priests can just go get a hooker. Why not? No, they're not done for, as we have observed. They can do whatever they like, and the Vatican power structure will protect them. In any case, they can change their collar, drive to the next town, and have all the hookers they want. I'm sure many do.

You don't seem to grasp that some men are pedophiles. They prefer sex with children. A lot of them became priests, because they knew they would have guaranteed access to children, a foolproof way to persuade them to have sex, and no possibility of being prosecuted.

 

[Sum1sGruj]

So when you said you weren't going to engage with me you were what...just kidding?

Wow, you're going to throw that up when you were the one who took the cheap shot of getting the last word?

There's a difference between the Vatican and the public. Someone sees a priest get a hooker and there goes his rep among church goers.
You just can't accept the fact that it's profiling.

 

[GabrielWithoutWings]

The road to hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts.

I find this rather fitting.

 

[David69]

Sorry, but I can't help but find the idea of letting some kooky geezers in silly hats, who presume to speak on god's behalf, dictate your morality and how you live your life a little silly. I find it even more silly to remain blindly obedient to them even after they've attempted to cover up countless cases of child rape. Don't you think that would make their claim of moral authority a little suspect? How can something remain an exemplar of righteousness while perpetuating some of the most evil acts one could commit? Do people really require something so foul and corrupt to serve as the mediator between man and god?

The true evil manipulators of religion and the gullible will fall and good riddens to them!

 

[Blackheart]

Sorry, but I can't help but find the idea of letting some kooky geezers in silly hats, who presume to speak on god's behalf, dictate your morality and how you live your life a little silly. I find it even more silly to remain blindly obedient to them even after they've attempted to cover up countless cases of child rape. Don't you think that would make their claim of moral authority a little suspect? How can something remain an exemplar of righteousness while perpetuating some of the most evil acts one could commit? Do people really require something so foul and corrupt to serve as the mediator between man and god?

No mere mortal can speak for God unless they are chosen as the prophets were. The Catholic Heirarchy are chosen by themselves, sit around a table and presumed to be able to even think for God. Their unwillingness to seriously address the peado issue was a perfect example of how they are capable of disregarding God and seek to fulfill their own agenda.

Having said that Catholic priests and peados are not synonimous in much the same way that atheists and peado's arent. If an individual chooses to do bad then its down to the individual not down what church, school, football club they go to unless you have evidence that these institutions are telling them to do bad.

 

[Father Heathen]

Having said that Catholic priests and peados are not synonimous in much the same way that atheists and peado's arent.

The obvious difference is that the catholic church is an institution with positions of power and a structured hierarchy. For years and including the highest levels of church authority, the church has attempted to cover up the crimes of pedophile priests and shielding them from the law, and then transferring them around and enabling them to continue to abuse children with impunity. This includes tens of thousands of victims over a span of decades. It isn't just coincidental and isolated incidents. The problem runs deeper than that.

 

[Kathryn]

So when you said you weren't going to engage with me you were what...just kidding?

Yes, priests can just go get a hooker. Why not? No, they're not done for, as we have observed. They can do whatever they like, and the Vatican power structure will protect them. In any case, they can change their collar, drive to the next town, and have all the hookers they want. I'm sure many do.

You don't seem to grasp that some men are pedophiles. They prefer sex with children. A lot of them became priests, because they knew they would have guaranteed access to children, a foolproof way to persuade them to have sex, and no possibility of being prosecuted.

I agree with a lot of this post, but I want to point out that not "a lot" of priests are pedophiles. Approximately four percent of the population are pedophiles. Four percent of dentists, four percent of teachers, four percent of car salesmen, four percent of electricians, four percent of engineers, and four percent of pastors and priests.

Two things are at play here outside of those well documented statistics. One is that of COURSE there is more moral outrage when a person in a position of moral/spiritual advisor or guide is found to be a pedophile, so that in itself is splashier, "sexier" news for the media. Add to that the real news that in ADDITION to that sensational aspect, the church hierarchy DID cover some of these crimes up rather than prosecute, and you've got an outright, and justified, media frenzy.

No large organization likes negative press, and that includes the Catholic Church. Any huge organization facing this problem would put a spin on it, try to minimize exposure, etc. That doesn't make it right, and in fact, in the case of a religious organization, it compounds the crime.

All this is bad enough - without the erroneous implications that the rate of pedophilia is HIGHER in the priesthood than in the general population. That simply is not the case.

 

[Blackheart]

The obvious difference is that the catholic church is an institution with positions of power and a structured hierarchy. For years and including the highest levels of church authority, the church has attempted to cover up the crimes of pedophile priests and shielding them from the law, and then transferring them around and enabling them to continue to abuse children with impunity. This includes tens of thousands of victims over a span of decades. It isn't just coincidental and isolated incidents. The problem runs deeper than that.

I know, which is why I criticised the Heirarchy. My point was that not every Catholic Priest should be considered a paedo as not every Catholic Priest is responsible. As for the ten of thousands of victims..isnt that a bit of an exageration??

 

[Autodidact]

Wow, you're going to throw that up when you were the one who took the cheap shot of getting the last word?

I never said I was done; you did. Apparently we should regard your statements with some skepticism.

There's a difference between the Vatican and the public. Someone sees a priest get a hooker and there goes his rep among church goers.

But apparently having sex with little children is just fine?

You just can't accept the fact that it's profiling.

What is?

 

[Autodidact]

I agree with a lot of this post, but I want to point out that not "a lot" of priests are pedophiles. Approximately four percent of the population are pedophiles. Four percent of dentists, four percent of teachers, four percent of car salesmen, four percent of electricians, four percent of engineers, and four percent of pastors and priests.

Two things are at play here outside of those well documented statistics. One is that of COURSE there is more moral outrage when a person in a position of moral/spiritual advisor or guide is found to be a pedophile, so that in itself is splashier, "sexier" news for the media. Add to that the real news that in ADDITION to that sensational aspect, the church hierarchy DID cover some of these crimes up rather than prosecute, and you've got an outright, and justified, media frenzy.

No large organization likes negative press, and that includes the Catholic Church. Any huge organization facing this problem would put a spin on it, try to minimize exposure, etc. That doesn't make it right, and in fact, in the case of a religious organization, it compounds the crime.

All this is bad enough - without the erroneous implications that the rate of pedophilia is HIGHER in the priesthood than in the general population. That simply is not the case.

I don't think a school board, or the Boy Scouts, or most other organizations, have hidden the perpetrators, transferred them to other assignments with no warning to the families, refused to open their records, fail to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, and continue to employ and shield the predators. Only the Church has done all this, all over the world, for decades.

 

[Autodidact]

And then, the ultimate in sheer chutzpah, after basically functioning as a global criminal child sexual abuse conspiracy for decades, until they were finally busted, the Church has the affrontery to go around making moral pronouncements, as though it had some expertise on the subject. It's galling.

 

[sojourner]

But there is a problem with integrating justice and textbook profiling.

Lets look at the obvious:

Catholic priest who practices celibacy.

Catholic priest gets desperate.

Catholic priest does something really bad.

I fail to see how it can be declared that he is a person with a child fetish.

You're right, there is nothing wrong with rationalism.

Rampant masturbation is desperate. having sex with children is pedophilia. And illegal.

 

[sojourner]

Be a Bible Christian. It's the purest form of Christianity in my opinion. Catholicism, Baptist, Methodist, Pentacostal, etc. etc.,
All these denominations around the same ordeal, and yet when it comes down to it, it's you and the Bible.

Not so. The earliest Xians were not "Bible Xians." There was no Bible.

 

[Sum1sGruj]

Not so. The earliest Xians were not "Bible Xians." There was no Bible.

Seriously? How blatant can one be in being purely argumentative..

That's probably the most childish argument to come out of you yet.