The Pope - After a Week In 'Murrica

[Faith No More]

Ok, I honestly can see BOTH sides of this.  I fully understand the emotional pull many have on here being ex-Catholic or family members who are Catholic as well as seeing the innumerable stories of pedophilia in the Church and the associated cover ups.  

Let's be fair here.  We all agree that child molestation is abhorrent.  We all agree that perpetrators and those that help them should be held accountable.  We all agree that victims should be compensated. 

Every day we support things that we may or may not know are doing immoral things or shady things.  Ever buy something at Wal-Mart?  Ever buy Nike shoes?  I'm sure you are aware of the child labor in the sweatshops over products these brands sell.  Sure it's not molestation, but is it right?  Are you supporting it when you make a purchase there, when other options are available?  

Catholics are not giving their money to intentionally support pedophilia or help cover it up, we all know this.  Just because those in power do those things, does not mean those doing good for the church need to suffer.  This is not something that can be fixed over night and admittedly they had steps in the right direction, IMO.  Most people are tithing to the local church/diocese.  If there is found something going on there and it is not swiftly dealt with, then I would agree an appropriate response would be to withhold tithing or move to a different diocese, but that's not what you seem to be proposing.  You seem to be saying, please correct me if I'm wrong, that all Catholics should stop supporting their local churches/diocese, because of the faults of others in different states/countries.  I just don't think that's fair to those doing things the right way.  I understand the motivation, but not sure it's the right answer.

I'm not saying that all Catholics should stop supporting the church(although they probably should).  I'm just saying that that's what I would do, and it's hard to swallow the reasons given for continuing to support such an organization.  I get that people's motivations are complex and that Catholicism resembles Judaism in the respect that it goes beyond simply being a religion.  It's a cultural identity passed down from generation to generation that is hard to escape from mentally.  What I don't get, however, is how people can become so ingrained to an identity that they will cling to it even when it has become so tainted.

Yes, we support all kinds heinous acts indirectly with our purchases and our Western lifestyles.  That's a guilt we should all bare, and we should do our best to minimize the effects corporations have.  However, if Wal-Mart had been guilty of what the Catholic Church has done, it would have been shut down and erased from existence.  

And I understand that people want to donate to their local diocese to benefit the less fortunate around them, but the reality is that a percentage of every dollar trickles up and supports the leaders and hierarchy that see fit to rest on thrones of gold and pass around pedophiles to protect their image.  And on top of that, all of this is done under the belief that the organization is sanctioned by god.  I realize that Catholics believe in the corruption of man, which makes criminality in the Catholic Church nearly certain, but how can one believe god was either too impotent or uncaring to protect children in his own house?

The question then becomes, when is enough enough?