What IS good, and how do we determine it?

[Catholic_Lady]

Like I said, the people who protected these molesters are just as much at fault. The Church does not condone this.

I'm not saying the Church condoned it.  But it sure as hell protected them.

And furthermore, you have ignored Jesus's point, that the essential qualities of an organization imbue its members.

What would Jesus think of a Catholic Church which shelters child molesters against justice?

And -- do you still donate to the plate? Do you support a church which protects molesters?

The Church is made up of 1 billion people right now. To say "the Church" as a whole protected molesters is inaccurate. There were individuals within the Church who did, yes. But it was never condoned by the Pope and it was never even close to something the majority of Catholics did. The fact that human beings can make bad decisions does not, to me, dismantle an entire institution made up of billions of people.

Public school teachers commit more acts of abuse than any other career field, and a lot of times the school does cover it up. More so than the Church ever has done any of this. And yet it would be silly for any of us to make the blanket statement that "Public Schools" are bad, or that Public Schools support child abuse. It would also be silly to say all teachers are bad. People are people and people from all walks of life will do bad things. This is never an excuse, but it is a reason to not stereotype entire groups of people and not discount entire institutions based on the actions of the relative few.

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There have been people in the Church who have covered it up, yes. Those people did wrong and were definitely not acting on Church teaching.

Reason informs me that if I was informed of corruption within an institution that I respected to the point of following its dogma, no longer would I be a participant of stated institution.  Of course, I already know that religious people do not reason properly.

I respect your views, but I feel differently. Reason informs me that bad people come from all places and all walks of life. Yes, there are Catholic people who make very bad decisions. Being Catholic will not automatically stop people from doing bad things or from being flawed individuals. We never claimed it did.

The fact that some Catholics did some bad things (in the very small minority) does not, to me, discount an entire instituion which is comprised of a billion people.

Like I told another poster. There are far more teachers than priests who abuse children, and there are far more school staffers who cover it up then there are Church officials. But we don't make the broad statement that public schools are bad, or that teachers are bad, or that education is bad.

People are just people, and some people do horrific things.