No accountability for the Catholic Church

[Nihilist Virus]

I think we can all agree that if an atheist organization was found to have covered up thousands of child rapes over the last few decades, then that organization would be torn to the ground within a day. No matter how much good it might be doing in the world.

Yet the Catholic Church gets special exemptions left and right.

The Catholic Church's books are closed. We don't know how much money they're making. But I can come up with a lower bound that we should all agree upon. After that, we can take a look at their "good works."

Number of Catholics in world: 1.2 billion. Source: Google.

Assume 1/3 of Catholics do not attend church; assume 1/3 of Catholics attend church only on special occasions, such as Easter; assume 1/3 of Catholics attend church regularly. Therefore, 400 million Catholics regularly attend church.

Assume that for every 5 Catholics, there is 1 father, 1 mother, and 3 children. Therefore there are (400 million)/5=80 million regular attendees who have the capacity to donate. Assume that of the regular attendees who are able to donate, 1/3 donate nothing, 1/3 donate 1% regularly, and 1/3 donate 10% regularly. Assume that the average Catholic household earns $9K after taxes annually (Google "average income worldwide" to see average income is $10K, so I put it at $9K after taxes).

This puts a low estimate of the Catholic Church's tax-free annual income at (80 million)(1/3)(0.01)($9K)+ (80 million)(1/3)(0.1)($9K)=$26.4 billion. Is the Catholic Church providing $26.4 billion worth of services per year?

[brewer]

Don't forget all of the donations upon death. That little extra heaven grease.

[zebo-the-fat]

The churches of the world (not just the catholics) have billions in cash, art and property, yet people are dying for lack of a decent meal every day. That stinks even before we get to the child molesting priests.

[Macoleco]

Society is hypocrit.

A criminal murders someone, rapes someone, steals something: all the weight of the law.

The Church commits a crime, they say sorry (sometimes), and everyone forgives them because they are the church.

Welcome to planet Earth.

[pgrimes15]

The Archbishop of Canterbury lives in a palace. What would Jesus think?

[dyresand]

The catholic church has billions of dollars with no oversight of pedophile priests so even if a few more a ton mess up and get caught
they get moved around. The vatican is a corrupt religious entity and they will continue to be one until they are no longer relevant or you know
Third world countries give them the boot.

[Minimalist]

The Church commits a crime, they say sorry (sometimes), and everyone forgives them because they are the church.

Um...I don't.

[Angrboda]

I don't know how this proves that the church has no accountability. It seems you're only complaining that they aren't as charitable as you think they should be. Where do you get this obligation of the church to disburse its collective wealth from? (Not saying that you can't justify it, but your logic seems a little thin.)

[Minimalist]

Where do you get this obligation of the church to disburse its collective wealth from?

Um.... jesus?

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Matty 19:21

Apparently the church isn't too sure about all that heaven shit.

[Angrboda]

Where do you get this obligation of the church to disburse its collective wealth from?

Um.... jesus?

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Matty 19:21

Apparently the church isn't too sure about all that heaven shit.

One might argue that the church has a custodial duty toward the body of Christ as His vicar on earth. With duty come responsibilities. Moreover the word here represented as 'perfect' is teleios, which means fully developed. This saying applies to individuals who wish to be complete. What it means for the church to be fully developed is not clear from this passage. You're taking Jesus' advice to individual's and applying it to something that is not an individual. What would it mean for the church to have "treasure in heaven?" You've taken Jesus' advice to one thing and applied it to another. It doesn't work that way.