Quote:
Originally Posted by eweissenbach
There is much to admire about "capital C" Catholicism, except for the concept of infallibility of the Pope, not to mention the politics of the priesthood. The military type chain of command is largely what has created the pedophilia problem among priests by covering up their indiscretions and moving them away from the parishes where the acts occurred and moving them to another parish, often to repeat the same behavior. The Pope is just a man who has served his church well, and earned the respect of his peers sufficiently to be elected to his exalted position. I could never be a part of a religion, or any group, that was expected, or required, to treat the leader as though he or she were infallible. It sounds as though he is trying to create a more inclusive environment in the church, but we will see how it plays out.
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Ed, you are spot on. Too many Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals covered up for pedophile priests and passed them around from parish to parish, and this went on for decades in some cases. Some of the church hierarchy should have served jail time for this. And the parishioners in the pews in some dioceses will be paying for this for a long time. Dioceses in Portland, Milwaukee, San Diego, Tucson, Davenport, IA, Spokane, WA, Wilmington, DE and Fairbanks, AK have filed for bankruptcy protection because of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
I am not a priest basher or a Catholic Church basher. There were and are many good Catholic priests who have served and are still serving their parishioners. Most of my extended family is still Catholic. I could have joined the Catholic group, Call to Action, which is trying to bring the Catholic Church into the 21st Century, but most of the changes they are working for probably will not happen in my lifetime, so I voted with my feet and joined the Episcopal Church. Just my 2 cents.