What is wrong with the church?

[Pekka]

This is not a thread that bashes a certain religion, but I just find it weird, that we are starting to have new cases of pedophiles as well. Some priest fellow just molested many kids, and got caught. Church KNEW about it for a longer time, but they didn't say a thing to police or anyone else, because they wanted to solve the thing amongst themselves. But did they solve it? No. It continued. So what is wrong with these people?

I've found in general, that the 'legistative' side of church, what ever councils they might call it is often rotten and dirty. And they make a bad name for the religion. These guys are something else let me tell you that much. They are believing in the good side of the molesters, but how about protecting our children from these monsters?
Do pedophiles get these jobs, because it has certain appeal to them in some weird way, or do they become pedophiles there? Anyway, I think there should be more responsibility put on these guys who knows it, but doesn't do anything real about it. And frankly, I don't know how those bastards sleep at night. I refuse to respect any of these pedophile protecting. I refuse to listen to these people talking about higher values and my religion, as they are rotten sexual predators or their protectors, so that makes them hypocrites in my eyes.
We should group up and kick their butts.

[Ecthy]

What's wrong with the church? WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE CHURCH! ISN'T THIS OBVIOUS??!!!11

It has a roof with a pointy tower on it, that's what's wrong with it. It looks ugly. Viva mosque.

[The Viceroy]

Does depend what you mean by Church.

If we are talking about the organised church, I guess it suffers from what many large organisations suffer from. Too much self interest, and lack of direction, and the people that man the top posts have forgotten why they are there.

The church as a whole (ie, the people) are no different to the people that make up any religeous group, you will find all sorts in all religions.

my personal view is :-
There are as many faiths as there are people,
organised religion will always be hijacked by people who have alteria motives or who forget the reason for being there.

Have a faith of your own, and stick with it ! Its no better or worse than the person's next to you.

[DanielXY]

My personl view on this matter is probably offending to some ppl., but oh well I dont really care about all this pc stuff.
Its against human nature to be a (catholic) priest. To not have sex or other pleasures (or feel guilty about it). Not being allowed to love someone besides a god you cant touch or feel. To be in this selve-destructive mind-set ("Im a sinner! Im a sinner! bad! bad! bad!"). Did anyone ever see a priest who really seemed happy? They have a) all the time a serious face or b) they give you the enlightend look, which is a mask you can clearly identify on most of them.

Depression and ****ed up minds lead to such stuff as pedophilia from priests.

Of course this is only my opinion, you may have observed diffrently, but thats my conclusion from what I have seen.

[Datajack Franit]

The real problem is that religion became obsolete and no one in the high spheres noticed

[Dinner]

I think the problem with the church is they don't buy enough bananas.

[Ben Kenobi]

Its against human nature to be a (catholic) priest. To not have sex or other pleasures (or feel guilty about it).

So all forms of celibacy are unnatural or unhealthy?

Not being allowed to love someone besides a god you cant touch or feel.

So love = sex? There are plenty of ways to love someone without involving sexual pleasure.

To be in this selve-destructive mind-set ("Im a sinner! Im a sinner! bad! bad! bad!").

Why would priests be special in this regard? We all have our sinful pleasures.

Did anyone ever see a priest who really seemed happy?

Yes.

I think the problem is that some of these priests are not supposed to be priests, that they are not suited for a life of celibacy. It's not easy, and certainly not for everyone.

[Cruddy]

The Church is what is has always been - a safe haven for frigid males and pederasts where they can hide in safety from the real world.

Your question should have been, "What is wrong with humanity that they didn't recognise what the Church was for 2,000 years?"

Kingdom of Heaven? I don't think so.

Keys of Heaven given to St Peter? Sheesh, if anyone gave me the keys to Heaven, I'd make damn certain no clown in a pointy hat got hold of them.

[Elok]

Celibacy alone doesn't necessarily do it. I should know. I have never in my life felt any desire to fondle little boys.
With that said, it would probably lessen the problem if the Catholics let married men join the presbytery like we do. Priests are meant to help and support others, so marriage doesn't automatically render them unfit for duty. Married priests have more practice, so to speak.

[DanS]

There are a couple of things at play here. First, modern society puts a premium on protection rather than other things that the church holds dear (such as forgiveness) and this caught the church off guard. This showed that the church administration was out of touch with its flock on some issues. The second item is related to the first--the church needs to rededicate itself to its pastoral mission and has to put the proper personnel in place to make a success of it.

This seems to be the scoop for the US Roman Catholic Church, at least. Your diocese/schismatic church/sect/denomination may vary.

[Cruddy]

OK, on further reflection I must admit the VAST MAJORITY of "people of the cloth" are not in for the easy access to children and the cloak of secrecy around their activities.

A lot of good has been achieved by many religions.

But when it comes to child molesters, I strongly believe in the Christian thing to do - namely, tie rocks around their necks and throw them in the sea.

At least, that's my understanding of the Christian teaching on the subject.

[Heresson]

Where's forgivance?

[Heresson]

Aaaa! I'm finally a king! Hurra!

[Adam Smith]

Originally posted by Cruddy
The Church is what is has always been - a safe haven for frigid males and pederasts where they can hide in safety from the real world.

People such as Oscar Romero, Carlos Belo, Desmond Tutu, and Mother Teresa would dispute that.

On the other hand, HERE are some other problems looming on the horizon.

VATICAN CITY, Sept. 23 -- Under new rules being drafted by the Vatican to crack down on "abuses" in the Roman Catholic Mass, altar boys will be given preference over altar girls, who should serve during the rites only in special cases, Vatican officials said today. The proposals, which have not yet been formally presented to Pope John Paul II, come at a time when some parts of the church are concerned that having altar girls might lead to a female priesthood.

(As if the existence of nuns might lead to a female priesthood )

The new norms also would prohibit dances and applause during the mass.

The proposed new rules would roll back some de facto changes that resulted from the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meeting of church officials that altered many Roman Catholic practices. Among them was an increased role for lay people in helping conduct worship services, as well as reaching out to other Christian sects.

The heirarchy keeps forgetting that Church = heirarchy + religious + layity

[Elok]

I think the concern in the case of "altar girls" is that, unlike nuns, they serve in something like the role of clergy. I don't know about the Catholics, but for us, "acolyte" is actually the very lowest form of ordained clergyman(tonsured, wears an orarion, and everything), and that's only a step above theoretical altar-girls.