What troubles catholics the most?

[dorisbonkers]

I spent a very quiet weekend in the office and ended up trawling through the Catholic Answers forums. Like watching a couple you know having a blazing row, it was at once repellent and at the same time compelling.

By far the majority of posts, pleas for help, and rants concerned:

Masturbation
Bikinis vs swimming costumes
Breastfeeding in Mass
Porn
Gays
Drugs
Modest clothing
Home schooling
Abortion
Drinking
Wifely duty
Lesbians
Husbandly duty
What to do if your friends and family marry in a place or way you don't approve of
Other people having sex
Atheists infecting everything with their materialism
Birth control
Rude songs, films and TV programmes
Annulments (divorce in any other name)
Money

Nothing new there I suppose....And yes, we're all guilty of being parochial at times.

But there were so few posts about really significant issues affecting the world, like hunger, poverty, education, politics, or climate change. In fact the site has banned all discussion of the upcoming US election.

Given certain catholics' pride in being humane and caring about others less fortunate than themselves I was shocked these issues didn't feature.

And there was an awful lot of *unchristian* bickering and name calling and an overwhelming stink of hubris -- both in terms of their own conduct and that of their church being the only true church.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was.

[farmersboy]

Well I agree with them - other people having sex? Disgusting...

Really, I think it just highlights how pathetic they are if that's what they spend their time worrying about.

[Mulder]

From that list, I notice matters related to sex come up a lot.

[dorisbonkers]

Isn't it just, Farmersboy

The threads that really exploded and ended up being locked concerned:

Modest clothing
Breastfeeding in Mass
Stay-at-home mothers
What to do about gays
Natural family planning

[farmersboy]

Modest clothing - to be encouraged I presume?
Breastfeeding in Mass - why should that be a problem?
Stay-at-home mothers - how dare they?!
What to do about gays - err, nothing...
Natural family planning - an attack on contraception I take it?

What about self-righteous Catholics with their heads up their own backsides? What should we do about them?

Easy - ignore the silly buggers...

[Floppit]

Oh god! You've infected me with a horrible curiosity...

But no, I will not give in, it feels a little like the desire to rubber neck.

On a side note how can a church so often filled with gold, that owns a HUGE amount of land possibly complain about the materialism of aitheists?

[Matt]

Oh god! You've infected me with a horrible curiosity...

But no, I will not give in, it feels a little like the desire to rubber neck.

On a side note how can a church so often filled with gold, that owns a HUGE amount of land possibly complain about the materialism of aitheists?

In context the materialism of atheists is the philosophy of materialsim in which the only things that are real are physical particles. These are the sole source of all other metaphysical concepts, even conciousness.

The materialism you're talking about is economic materialism. It's all about the aquisition of material things.

[dorisbonkers]

Speaking of catholics, this just popped up on my screens.

You take a man, put him in a frock, tell him he can't ever have sex or even masturbate, and then surround him with young boys....

Nah, nothing will happen. It will be fine....

(I'm quite tempted to post it on there)





18:48 03Sep2008 RTRS-Ex-priest in Australia faces 93 child sex charges

SYDNEY, Sept 3 (Reuters) - A former priest has been charged with 93 child sex offences stemming from an alleged paedophile ring at a Catholic boy's school, police said on Wednesday.
The 65-year-old was arrested and charged with the offences police allege took place from late 1970s to the early 1980s, according to a statement issued by the New South Wales police.
Police suspect dozens of boys may have been abused during alleged hypnotic "prayer" sessions at St Stanislaus College, located 75 kilometres (45 miles) east of Sydney, according to local media reports.
The former priest, who was not named in the statement, was charged in May with 33 offences stemming from evidence of alleged victims, and a further 60 offences on Wednesday relating to at least 13 alleged victims, police said.
He was released on bail on Tuesday and is due to appear in court on Sept. 15.
St. Stanislaus' principal John Edwards last week told local media he first became aware of the allegations "several years ago" and referred the claims to police.
The allegations reportedly included claims of late night prayer and chanting sessions in which boys were sexually abused.
A total of 615 boys attend St Stanislaus' and 188 live on the campus as borders.
The priest is the fourth person arrested by the Strike Force Belle police unit, which is investigating a number of sexual assault offences that allegedly occurred at one Catholic and one Anglican secondary school in the town of Bathurst in the 1970s, according to the police statement.
"We are currently sifting through a significant amount of information and as a result we have broadened this investigation," Detective Superintendent Michael Goodwin said in the statement.
"Inquiries are continuing and we cannot rule out further arrests," he said.
The allegations came to light five weeks after Pope Benedict apologised for sexual abuse in the Church during a visit to Sydney.
Sexual abuse by Catholic clergy shadowed the pope's week-long visit to Sydney in July, with emotional pleas by victims and their families for the pope to ensure that the Church deals openly with the issue.
(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
((jim.regan@reuters.com; +61-2 9373-1814; Reuters Messaging: jim.regan@reuters.net)) Keywords: AUSTRALIA CATHOLIC/ABUSE

For Related News, Double Click on one of these codes:
[G] [PSC] [RNP] [PGE] [AU] [REL] [LIF] [CRIM] [ASIA] [LEN] [RTRS]
Wednesday, 03 September 2008 18:48:35RTRS [nSYD196196] {EN}ENDS

[Floppit]

Thank you Matt - I learned something.