Catholicism Argements for and against

[thermoid 0]

Post your thoughts on the Catholic Church, pro and con. Please keep you posts intelligent. FYI= the full name is catholic apostolic, Catholic=UniversalApostolic=Teaching.

[JoeyG 0]

Well, as a Catholic myself, I have this to say:The Catholic Church is run by people, which means that it has it's fair share of problems. However, when Martin Luther and his Reformation caused a split (I know he didn't mean it to, but it did), it may have fixed some problems, but it created some new ones as well as split up the Christian church. This set an example for many other people who created their own denominations, and today we have well over 10,000.So, the Catholic Church appears stubborn because it will not deign to political correctness or some such other blather, but we really don't care. In the words of a priest I know, "The media's always bashing us, but you know, we're used to it, so it doesn't really bother us."There's my take.

[Jguy101 0]

I'm also Catholic.

 

Also, a little tidbit 'bout us and the Bible: it used to be that every church had bible hand-written by monks. If somebody wanted their own, they would have to pay somewhere around US $10,000, becuase it took a loooooooot of time and effort on the part of the monks.

 

Well, when the printing press was invented, bibles started flying off of 'em. The Protestants started creating bibles that they labled "Saint Joseph", but had fake books in them (like the "Book of Timothy"), and some of the stuff in them the Church considered heresy, so the Pope at the time kinda got fed up with the Protestants pretty much lying (well, I guess it was lying....) to convert Catholics.

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

How is this topic different from one about general christianity? Or are you just asking for pro/cons as compared to protestantism?

[webguide 0]

I don't know of any pro's but one con is the churchs protection of paedophile's is well beyond any other organsation. He created a Cardinal out of Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor who renewed the licence of a priest who was a known paedophile to him. In any other organsation this new Cardinal would have had legal action taken on him for helping this paedophile, but this is the church.

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

I don't know of any pro's but one con is the churchs protection of paedophile's is well beyond any other organsation. He created a Cardinal out of Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor who renewed the licence of a priest who was a known paedophile to him. In any other organsation this new Cardinal would have had legal action taken on him for helping this paedophile, but this is the church.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is true, but unsurprising. Organizations as a general rule try to protect themselves and their members. This seems really bad, but realize that if an organization has a tendency to go after and investigate its members, it rapidly falls apart. Granted, it SHOULD go after something like pedophilia, but the tendency to self protect is not that good at differentiating between offenses.

[adamsgi 0]

One of the big cons about the Catholic Church is the idea of confession. The premise that a priest can absolve you of your sins by giving you a couple of our fathers and hail mary's is absurd. Especially when those sins can be (oftentimes) illegal in nature. There is a bone of contention that within Christianity is the teaching that if one truly repents of his sins, no matter how grave they are, God will forgive those sins and s/he will gain entry into heaven. This confession/absolution cycle means that you can go and kill someone, confess to your priest, he absolves you of any sin and then you can go out and do it again. Maybe this is why there are so many paedophiles in the catholic church.If I have offended anyone I do apologise. It is not my intention, but an unfortunate by-product of topics such as this one.On the pro side, Catholicism gives a lot of people a lot of strength. Whatever gets you through the day, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

I think the modern interpretation is that the absolution only counts if you TRULY repent your sins. Otherwise it was a false confession. However, you are correct(as far as I know) in that what you described was how it used to be.

[Analyst 0]

Is there a lot of difference between confessing to a priest and confessing to an analyst.

At least one confession is privaleged

 

 

I think the modern interpretation is that the absolution only counts if you TRULY repent your sins.  Otherwise it was a false confession.  However, you are correct(as far as I know) in that what you described was how it used to be.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Jose Manuel 0]

First of all, I must say I am a Catholic.I am not sure what you meant with "pros and cons" of Catholicism... "pros and cons" with respect to which other? Islamism? Budhism? Atheism?I can share with you all why I believe in Christ under the Catholic faith, but with that I do not mean my faith is "better" than any other person's, they are just my opinions, and obviously they are very argueable.I have university education, and a large culture, however I have always felt that there are some questions Science does not answer or at least does not answer completely my doubts. Obviously, most of them are about life after death, but there are also many of them about morality and things like that.Catholicism answered many questions I had, it gave to me a pathway on how to behave with others and also on how to behave with myself. With that I meant how to be YOURSELF with freedom, not linked to material things that tie you up and don't let you be yourself. It is the way I have found to get in touch with my soul, with the spiritual part of myself.The figure of Jesuchrist showed (and even today, shows) me how every man should behave in order to fight for a better place. I don't believe in Communism/Socialism, that is I do not share the idea of redistribution of wealth; or at least, I don't believe in a forced redistribution of wealth. But on the other side, I think we all should help everyone not to be poor. Jesuchrist showed me the path for that: Charity. But not that Charity in which rich people give money to poor people, showing them they are much better because they have money and wealth... I mean Catholic Charity: we share what we have with others, in a free manner (no one should force me to do so) and in a "peer-to-peer" behaviour (P2P rules!!! )There are obviously some things I don't like about Catholicism, mainly: I think women should be allowed to be priests. And also I have always noticed that "sexual sins" have always been taken to be more important than other sins (in my home country we say that there seems to be that there are no sins other than the ones of the "lower" part of the body). I think condoms should not be treated as sins and they shouldn't be taken as inmorals...Well, that's a VERY VERY brief discussion about this topic... Feel free to criticize whatever you all want...

[mitchellmckain 0]

I am a protestant and I embrace the protestant program to liberate access to God, salvation and the church from the hands of men who could misuse it as a tool of manipulation and control. Obviously I reject the common but far from universal Catholic notion of the infallability of thier leadership as foolish in the light of history. But I do have a soft spot in my heart for the Catholic church and I see much to admire in it.

 

The Catholic church is one of oldest and largest Christian churches. It has a long history from which it has had ample opportunity to make nearly every mistake that a church can make and then learn from those mistakes. Therefore, in the Catholic church you are safe from some the dangerous excesses you can find in smaller younger churches. Furthermore since the Catholic church has always seen itself as the church for everybody, it has learned to embrace some degree of diversity of practice and in the emphasis of belief. In this manner it has become something of an umbrella church and provide quite diverse opportunities especially if you seek to devote your completely to the service of God in a vocation.

 

Against the Catholic church is the fact that it teeters close edge of what I call the "Pauline consensus" which is a group of churches who agree what they consider the most important doctrines that define what is Christian. I think this is largely based on the importance that those within this consensus place on the epistles of Paul in understanding the Bible. By contrast the Mormons (or Latter Day Saints) and the Jehova Witnesses, do not belong to this consensus at all, and they consequently have difficulty with the epistles of Paul. The Catholic church lies on the outskirts of this group because, although they affirm most of these key doctrinal beliefs of this consensus they also, like the LDS and JWs, often claim to be the only true church.

 

Also against the Catholic church is the sharp division between the lay members and the clergy. Historically they have not encourged the lay membership to study the word of God. Hopefully this has changed throughout much of the church but I think they still have a long way to go in this. At least I think some of the protestant churches are much more focused and effective in getting the lay members to study the Bible. Furthermore the size of the church also has it problems too. The "beaurocracy" is large and can be quite burdensome. The individual member can feel quite insignificant and powerless and the church can seem unresponsive to the needs of its members and slow to respond to problems.

 

However the sense of mystery and reverence of things holy is quite powerful in the Catholic church, and this is of no small account. The dedication of its clergy and the weight of their prayers is another thing to consider carefully. All in all I think the Catholic church is a valuable member of the world Christian community, especially when they bother to acknowledge that community and make the effort to participate.

[Jose Manuel 0]

Thanks for a so interesting and respetcful answer/opinion.I think in the Catholic church there existed a pair of key points in the history: one of them was tenebrous, the Trento counsil in the XVIth century, which, in my humble opinion, meant a step backward... while the Vatican II counsil in mid XXth century which meant the reunification of the church, the clergy and the old/traditional customs with the real people and the time of the history. Now, priests, monks, and even bishops are more tractable by the plain lay members. I have drink a beer with a priest talking about politics, and a bishop told a joke to me. I think the "new" Catholic chuch that appeared after Vatican II counsil was closer to the believer. They have relaxed their pretention of "infallibility", they only affirm to be infallible in matters of religion and faith affairs, but they don't affirm so in terms of morality or science... I think that is a step forward fact.

[Mafamba Team 0]

I think that in the times of the reformation, the catholic church, was a business and not a religious organistaion, and to some extent today remians that way - yet it does have that air of peacefulness about it.Good: Lovely lavish churches and cathedralsbad: HAve so much money, yet don't give enough to the poor yet they constanly say they do...Also - Catholcicism ahs chnaged alot so it can't be what Jesus wanted at all, and all other forms of Christianity came a lot longer after that, so there are very few true Christians in the universe really -if any.

Edited October 28, 2006 by Mafamba Team (see edit history)

[vbritton 0]

Once a Catholic, alway a Catholic - or so they say. I was raised in the Catholic faith, and although I'm no longer practicing in terms of attending mass, the doctines will stay with me for the rest of my life. And I know it's not politically correct to say this, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing! Not a bad thing at all. In fact, it was the well rounded education I received from Jesuit priests that I believe gave me an edge in the game of life. Had I become a ward of the state and forced to attend public school, my chances at sucess in life would have diminished greatly.War is currently being waged against all things Catholic. And I'm tired of hearing about pediophiles. Truth be told, they exist in every institution, lay or otherwise. The vast majority of individuals who consider themselves products of Catholicsm consider themselves the better for it, myself included.

[mitchellmckain 0]

Once a Catholic, alway a Catholic - or so they say. I was raised in the Catholic faith, and although I'm no longer practicing in terms of attending mass, the doctines will stay with me for the rest of my life. And I know it's not politically correct to say this, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing! Not a bad thing at all. In fact, it was the well rounded education I received from Jesuit priests that I believe gave me an edge in the game of life. Had I become a ward of the state and forced to attend public school, my chances at sucess in life would have diminished greatly.

 

War is currently being waged against all things Catholic. And I'm tired of hearing about pediophiles. Truth be told, they exist in every institution, lay or otherwise. The vast majority of individuals who consider themselves products of Catholicsm consider themselves the better for it, myself included.

 

I attended a Catholic school only one year of my life but it was a turning point. So I also can confirm the high quality of Catholic education. I don't know about any war against Catholicism but I will say that they do bring about a great deal of opposition upon themselves by their attitude of smug superiority and their claim of authority which the Catholic does not have. The Catholic church has and should have a great deal of power that properly reflects their rather large membership. But I believe the rest of the Chirstian community would be more accepting of the Catholic church (for all the great things which they are and have done, including the volume and sincerity of their prayers) if they did not insist that their human organization was the judge of all Christianity. God not Rome is head of the body of Christ.