[07055]

The only reason the Pope has spoken out now is because the scandals are costing the Church big bucks. The only way to keep the Church's attention on getting rid of these bad actors (including the Cardinals) is to withhold your money from the collection plate.

[wideawake]

If money was truly the issue, then the "vernacular Mass" experiment would have been discarded long ago after attendance at Mass halved, nor would the Church's finances ever have been allowed to go into the red.

The issue is that Church leaders have too long kept their heads in the sand and hoped the problem would go away - and now they're realizing that it won't go away as long as predators are allowed to roam around in the Church.

Being a pastor isn't about smiling and shaking hands and giving sermons. It's about defending the flock from the wolves. The Church's pastors have become fat and complacent, that's the problem.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"...costing the Church big bucks."

Other scandals which have and do cost the Church losses in contributions from loyal Catholics:

A Walk Down Memory Lane: Can Jesus Get into Georgetown?

The Case for Apostasy: Fr. McBrien's "Why I Shall Not Seek a Mandate"

President of NOW Speaks at Loyola

[fooman]

I agree that we should back on the collection plate, but gosh, I hope and doubt that the pope himself is that cynical. I know that some individual priests can be, and ven bishops, But I seriously doubt the pope. If the Catholic church falls, then it will be bad for all christianity. The rest of the religions will likely just splinter and fall like dominoes. There is too much cynicism in the world already and without our church, it will just run unchecked until we fall like the romans did. Only this time we all have nukes.