So…the pope’s in town. Or at least, in DC. And NPR is all abuzz with articles about it.
Among other things, he’s talking about the clergy sex-abuse scandals, which is only moderately interesting to me: it did not affect me personally (except to solidify the fact that I didn’t want to be a party to this religion, back in the day when it was going down) and, while it was horrible and I hope that the criminals pay and the victims are healed, it’s certainly not something that’s limited to the Catholic Church. Where there is power differential, there is abuse.
What was mildly interesting to me was the fact that he met (in private) with the presidents of every Catholic university in the country and with “many” leaders of parochial elementary and high schools. As the product of a Catholic elementary school, a Catholic university, and a prospective student at a “Christian” university, this is something that hits close to home. As the product of a Catholic education, I was always told that it was the best. I have no independent data to support this. I do find that I’ve received a much better education than most of my peers, but most often I can attribute it to my high school, a private but not religious institution. According to the NPR report, “America’s Catholic Schools [are] in Crisis” because of lack of funding. While some attribute this to falling enrollment, it is interesting to note that one cause noted in the report is the fact that Catholic schools now have to pay their teachers a reasonable wage; nuns, of course, being free labor. Which sums up to me what the reputation of excellence may have been built upon. The debate over vouchers is begun anew in both the media and the aristocracy (politocracy?).
What thoughts are out there about the pope, his visit, sex abuse, and/or parochial education? I’ll try to keep up with him in the next few days.
5 responses so far ↓
1 ron // Apr 17, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Re: Catholic schools and financing
The Catholic Church is one of the richest organizations on earth. The gaudiness and pomp and excesses of the Pope and the Church run directly contrary to the teaching of Jesus.
The Church should relinquish all its wealth and support education and the defeat of poverty and sickness.
For millenia. the Catholic Church has been one of the most hypocritical organizations around and it amazes me that the Pope and his clergy could be looked upon with anything but contempt.
2 xJane // Apr 18, 2008 at 9:29 am
dittos, ron: that same fact occurred to me when we visited the Vatican museum. As in, “Why are they passing the collection plate, again?”
There was an interesting supplement to the stories of Papal visits with victims of clergy abuse: he apparently met in private with two victims who were known to be moderates…the vocal ones are pissed and a lot of people are like, “why is this even news…?”
3 Brian // Apr 20, 2008 at 9:31 am
“The Church should relinquish all its wealth and support education and the defeat of poverty and sickness.”
Though corporal works of mercy are part of the duties of Christians everywhere, they are not the mission of the Church, which is the care and guidance of souls, and the worship of God. (Of course, one of the ways that this is done is by caring for the poor, the sick, the lonely, etc, vis Matt 25.) The Catholic church oversees some of the largest charitable organizations in the world, with global scope.
Despite that, what should be sold? The church buildings? They are places of worship, and I think that no one of any religious tradition should be deprived of a proper environment for the worship of divinity as they see it. Besides, when church buildings ARE closed and sold through disuse, there is an uproar about the hard hearted bishops not caring about their flock. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
What about all that gold and the artwork? Those are the perfect things to sell, really, and they’d probably fetch a fine price that could be used for charitable ventures. The first problem with this is that these pieces were by and large gifts to the church (local or universal) from patrons of the arts. To sell them goes against the giver’s wish. Secondly, I would bring up XJane’s example. Though she may have formed a different opinion from the experience, she went and saw beautiful works of art available for public viewing. If they were all sold, who would see them? A few might end up scattered in museums, but how many would be in private collections, never again to be seen by the public? They are a historical and artistic legacy of earlier times, held in trust by the Church for everyone of all or no spiritual persuasions to enjoy.
4 ron // Apr 21, 2008 at 7:34 am
Brian:
How about starting with the bank account(s) that are held in the name of the Church. Although the amount is secret (why?) there are likely to be billions of dollars on account. Why is the church afraid or unwilling to open their accounts to be viewed by their flock?
How about the life style of the hierarchy? It would not be asking too much for behavior consitent with that of the life of Jesus.
Keeping artwork and gold worth millions upon millions while millions are starving is also an affront to the message of jesus. It is a poor response to answer that this is done to permit the public to view these icons and it is an even poorer rationalization that these were gifts (? a way to get to heaven?) when many were given hundreds of years ago and many were commissioned by the church. I think it would be a relatively easy decision for most of us to make to sell our excesses if we found our family in poverty.
The Church as represented by the Pope and the Vatican is hypocritical and should be exposed for what they are.
5 Religious Education | Mind on Fire // May 19, 2008 at 9:02 am
[…] any of you (unless some of you out there are hiding something from me…); nor was it, like the sex abuse scandal, something of broad interest to people. So, while I intended to continue to comment on the Pope, he […]
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