Catholics: How do you still justify going to church or being a part of the church?
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Anonymous
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Born and raised catholic here. Went all throughout K-college. I am now a recovering Catholic. I cannot continue to step foot inside of an organization that is rotten to the core with pedophile. It is abundantly apparent that the RCC is a global cabal of child abusers that commit the most sickening and vile abuse I've ever read. If you are still Catholic why haven't you read the Pennsylvania grand jury report yet? Is it because you willfully want to remain ignorant to the abuses of the Church? STOP claiming that there are only a handful of 'bad apples' in the RCC - the PA grand jury report blows a giant hole through that bogus argument! It clearly shows a systemic and intentional coverup of the massive problems with pedophiles in the Church. In other words, the ENTIRE organization is corrupt to its core. The RCC is an invalid moral authority. How anyone still gives them any money attending mass every Sunday or enrolling their kids in their schools is beyond me.
I'll also say this - my uncle was involved in a huge lawsuit against the RCC for abuse he endured at the hands of a pedo priest during the late 60s. Right before the trial started my grandmother (uncle's mom) died and was buried at the parish where my granny attended and where my uncle was abused. Church officials got wind of the fact that my uncle was thinking about joining the plaintiff's side AND DURING MY GRANDMOTHER'S FUNERAL pulled my uncle to the side and tried to interrogate him about it. They were literally trying to size up my uncle during his mother's funeral to see if he would have the strength to go through and endure a civil lawsuit in which he might have to provide testimony. Utterly disgusting. During the trial, it became apparent that the RCC was going to lose the case, thus the RCC began divesting its wealth to a myriad of banks across the globe in order to make it nearly impossible for the attorney on the plaintiff side to accurately determine the true wealth of the diocese to be able to come up with a number for damages. So much for their moral authority. And the best part was that the Church got off the hook after the trial and hardly had to admit any wrong doing. Not only that, some of the pedo priests were still alive at the time that the trial was over and were still allowed to receive all of the pensions and benefits from the RCC even after they were outed for all of their horrendous abuses of children. How can anyone still claim to be a part of such an evil and corrupt organization for morality purposes? |
Anonymous
| I get the impression no answer would satisfy you. |
Anonymous
I get the impression that you never read the PA report. |
Anonymous
| This has been hashed over multiple times in this forum. I’m sorry for your family’s pain. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
I think the answer is in the responses you've gotten so far. People simply put it out of their minds. They rationalize, they denigrate dissenters, they are bound by tradition, they coast along, clinging to the feel-good aspects of Catholicism. fearing the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. |
Anonymous
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To answer your question, OP, it's because believers prefer to worship God in the House they are used to, practicing the rituals they were raised with, and separate that in their minds from the financial support of criminals and torturers. They are essentially selfish, and make a choice to stay put instead of realizing that God is larger than any organized Church, and that they can leave and still serve the Lord. Not that this will make you feel any better, OP, but any pyramidal organization with gatekeepers is by definition a breeding ground for abusive relationships. It's just that many of them don't involve children, but adults. The Church, or any other similar organization with a specific children's mission, should be suspect in all parents' eyes. Kids + authoritarian practices + no accountability? Disasters waiting to happen. Same for any institution with vulnerable persons - see the case of the pregnant woman in a coma in that nursing home. I'm sorry about your uncle. I hope he has been able to find peace. |
Anonymous
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If someone truly believes they will go to Hell if they leave (not saying I believe that), what could you say to convince them to leave?
Don’t worry about going to Hell doesn’t sound very convincing. |
Anonymous
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This guy touches on all my reasons in this article
https://brandonvogt.com/im-still-catholic-despite-sex-abuse-crisis/ |
Anonymous
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Op... my DH left over this issue. He joined my faith instead and became a Presbyterian.
We are all so much happier. His mother, who converted to Catholicism 80 years ago, ditched the church too. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
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Faith is more than a church OP. Sorry for your pain.
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Anonymous
How lame. Jesus is in all the other churches, too. What is not there is a whole hierarchy that protected priests WHO ARE STILL WORKING WITH CHILDREN . |
Anonymous
| Even if I never again set foot in a Catholic church, I’d still feel Catholic. It would still be how I view the world, how I pray, etc. What, then, would be accomplished by my not going to Mass or receiving the Sacraments? I’d feel a deep sense of loss, without having actually helped a single victim. |
Anonymous
Episcopal Southern Baptist Latter Day Saints Orthodox Judaism All have currently serving clergy they protected through systematic coverups. |