Catholic Church Scandal! (1 Viewer)

I realize you werent asking me.. but i have personally known two $cientologists (that im aware of).. Both were highly successful (one self-made rich) and highly motivated.. it’s my opinion though that literally almost any organization or movement has at least a couple of nuggets that can benefit you if you apply them.. whether it’s LDS, Catholicism, the Quakers or anything else, you can find something positive if you look hard enough.. it’s my opinion that the two $cientologists ive known happened to use that as their vessel, they most likely would have been successful regardless and would have just channeled their energy into a different philosophy if they’d never discovered the teachings of Hubbard .

But it does make ya wonder, i heard someone say after seeing Top Gun Maverick , with Tom Cruise looking like he hadnt aged a day in 35 years- “Does $cientology actually WORK ??”
They are not rich because they are Scientologists. They are Scientologists because they are rich.

More specifically "public" Scientologists. IOW, not the ones that become Sea Org members who are the ones subjected to no wages while working practically 24/7.
 
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Heartbreaking. As a lifelong Catholic, one who taught theology in Catholic schools, and who is a former youth minister at a parish, the archdiocese never fails to disappoint in the most disgusting of ways.
This is the men in dresses that I personally don’t want anywhere near my children, or my children’s children
 
I visited the Vatican. There are no holy men running the Catholic church. It's been converted into a gilded palace dedicated to making more money to gild the palace. Poor and sick line the walkways and inside is literally gold plated where they hawk 'blessed' items in the hallways.
I was there a few years ago also, just from past experiences that I’ve had here in the states regarding churches, I was not surprised to see what I saw, the destitute outside with the opulence on the inside. To think that anyone of the pictures/work of art that the Vatican has hanging in their walls could feed all the poor that hang out outside the church for at least a year it’s nothing short of a crime.
 
If not then maybe you missed the part where I said I don't believe in any organized religion.....they've done more harm then good IMO.....
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the Catholic church has done more good than harm. Their sins are many and heinous, but the church does a lot for the poor in the world.
 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the Catholic church has done more good than harm. Their sins are many and heinous, but the church does a lot for the poor in the world.
You are right. They have done some good.
It’s just that as more of the harm cones out, it’s hard to see the good. Really hard.
 
It does beg the question though and this is something Dortesesky touched on in the Grand Inquisitor: how would Jesus Christ be received and treated if he came back today and called out most religious leaders for their fraud and hypocrisy like he did 2,000 years ago?
It is not a hypothetical question - it has been answered.

 
I'm not good at expressing myself but here goes, I come from a very devout Catholic background. The people who influenced me were my mother, grandmothers and aunts and also their husbands who devoted themselves to believing that church life was essential to raising a family, the men kept their faith or lack of to themselves but participated in church matters.
I can honestly say that after 10 years of Catholic schools and mass every Sunday, maybe 2 priests and 1 nun showed me what truly good people look like. To me the truly good people were my family members who made it their business to be God's right hand and spent their time doing for others. They never gossipped or spoke badly (out loud) about others. This is the thing I struggle with, in this day and age and particularly with this subject, how do you not judge the bad guy?
We were taught and I believe that we are not to hold each other in judgement.
I don't know how nor am I a strong enough person to judge not.
Why did it come easier for the people who came before me?
 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the Catholic church has done more good than harm.
OK, let's keep score.

On the "harm" side we have oppression of the poor (kings raising taxes to buy indulgences), suppression of women, suppression of science, hoarding of wealth, wars throughout Europe, genocide outside of Europe, crusades, inquisitions, and molestation of children on an industrial scale.

Where is the "good" exactly? Maintaining schools that brainwash kids into believing stuff that few adults would if hearing for the first time? Doling out subsistence-level charity in exchange for subservience and conversion?
Their sins are many and heinous, but the church does a lot for the poor in the world.
The church does a lot to keep the poor in the world poor. The best way to raise a community out of poverty is to empower women, particularly with regard to birth control and family planning choice. So the church can give a portion of its wealth to keeping people alive, in exchange for the power to prevent them from improving.
 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the Catholic church has done more good than harm. Their sins are many and heinous, but the church does a lot for the poor in the world.

Strongly disagree.....but you are entitled to your opinion of course.....
 
Organized religion can be a lot like governments. They tend to cause more problems then solve them or make them worse.


I wasn’t defending Catholic Church’s bad behavior or institutional corruption, I’m just pointing out that at least you can safely criticize, condemn them and not be put on a hit list, like some cults do.

So, are you awarding a cookie or something here? I'm puzzled why this would even come up in a thread about a Catholic church scandal.....The "there is worse out there" doesn't really apply here.....
 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the Catholic church has done more good than harm. Their sins are many and heinous, but the church does a lot for the poor in the world.

If you look at the history of the Catholic church, can you honestly say they have done more good than harm? Ironically, many of the poor in the world are poor as an effect of the Catholic church siding with kings and slavers, aiding an abetting in the destruction of civilizations, while the church enriched itself.
 
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I’m just pointing out that at least you can safely criticize, condemn them and not be put on a hit list, like some cults do.
Not anymore, anyway. They are not allowed to carry out executions anymore, like the did for 100's of years, simply because one didn't believe as they did. But they still can black ball you, and make your life miserable, depending where you live.
 
I'm not good at expressing myself but here goes, I come from a very devout Catholic background. The people who influenced me were my mother, grandmothers and aunts and also their husbands who devoted themselves to believing that church life was essential to raising a family, the men kept their faith or lack of to themselves but participated in church matters.
I can honestly say that after 10 years of Catholic schools and mass every Sunday, maybe 2 priests and 1 nun showed me what truly good people look like. To me the truly good people were my family members who made it their business to be God's right hand and spent their time doing for others. They never gossipped or spoke badly (out loud) about others. This is the thing I struggle with, in this day and age and particularly with this subject, how do you not judge the bad guy?
We were taught and I believe that we are not to hold each other in judgement.
I don't know how nor am I a strong enough person to judge not.
Why did it come easier for the people who came before me?
I thought you expressed yourself extraordinarily well.

I didn't come from a Catholic background. But my sense over the years is that priests and also nuns are very much revered. That if little Jimmy came home and said, Mom, Father Smith is messing with me, little Jimmy would not be believed. In fact, little Jimmy would have been admonished and/or punished by mom and dad for lying about Father Smith.

I was raised "in the church". That is, it was important to my mother that we attend church. But none of her child rearing was ever abdicated to, say, the pastor or junior pastor or youth minister and the like. Now, if ever I had come to her and said, Mom, Pastor Smith is messing with me, I don't know what she would have done. At least I feel like while it would have been a complete mind torque for her, my mom would have had MY back rather than believe in ANY adult over me. That is a night and day difference from how all those little Jimmys who DID tell someone about Father Smith and were not only not believed but told they were liars by the church. My parents never let me down. It's why I still wear my mom's ashes around my neck and my dad's class ring on my finger whenever I leave the house.
 
I had 2 of those kind of priests pass through my elementary school when I went.
Nothing happened there. They just sent them to my school when they got caught elsewhere.
 

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