Catholicism is ridiculed constantly by the media, other religions, and the general public. People are quick to judge when someone states that they are catholic; however, many people do not know much about the Catholic faith. The ignorance that surrounds the Catholic faith has caused an unbelievable amount of distaste for the people who practice it. Although it is still practiced by many people throughout the world, it has become an easy target for people to mock. A small amount of Priests have committed pedophilia, but that is the only time they are talked about in the media. This has created a stigma that all Priest are pedophiles. I personally never thought there was anything wrong with my faith until two years ago when my parish was struck …show more content…
The Vatican is the place where the Pope presides and is also where the Cardinals live. As I said earlier, Father was removed from his hometown. In an agreement previously made, it said that he could not move back into Sigel until everything was cleared by the police. Father assumed that since there was a confession of the accusation being a lie that he could move back home. Apparently, that was not the case. He moved back into town and the Bishop immediately held a meeting to discuss the future of the parish. The Bishop said it was against the contract for Father to come back because it was not cleared completely by the Vatican. When something is sent to the Vatican, it can take years for them to look at. Father Bud disagreed and stated that he could stay in Sigel because he was no longer under investigation. Father was tired of being told what to do, and he wanted to stay in a town where he knew people. The Bishop thought people would view him as a pushover if this happened and he wanted Father to stay out of the church. With the amount of accusations made about priest being pedophiles, the Bishop did not want people to think he would allow that in one of his churches. He removed Father Bud’s right to say mass and preform sacraments. They did not want another scandal on their hands so they decided it would be best to strip his rights of …show more content…
Nobody besides the people of his congregation stopped and thought that he might be innocent. They all assumed he was guilty because so many priest did what he was accused of. They all acted out of hate because they did not understand the situation. They found it easier to assume the accusation was true rather than asking question to get the correct information. One man’s life was ruined because of the hatred from so many people and a power hungry bishop. The events that took place actually led me to question my own faith. Many people are quick to judge things that they do not understand. We are a society that founded on stereotypes. In this case, a stereotype ruined someone’s life. If people would have taken the time to learn what was going on, they would have known the accuser was lying the whole time People have their lives ruined everyday because of false accusations based on skin color, gender, religion, and cultural
clergy finally decided to listen to his ideas and many of the accused were released
A reputation can be so well established that if one person in power does a wrongdoing people will not believe it. For example when Mrs. Muller says, “Let me ask you something. You honestly think that priest gave Donald that wine to drink?” (47). Donald’s mother is questioning sister Aloysius because she does not believe Father Flynn would do something like that. He has a reputation of being a great priest and his reputation is better than Sister Aloysius’. Mrs. Muller states, “You’re not going against no man in a robe and win, Sister. He’s got the position.” (47). Just by Father Flynn being a male he has a higher reputation than a nun, which he knows and can accumulate for his actions. In the hierarchy of the Church, the head male priest is the most dominant. Therefore, nobody questions what he is doing; he has a reputation of being this influential priest who gives great sermons. He knows that he has the power to do what he wants and has his fellow Monsignor and other men in the ...
Another grievance towards the Bishops was that many of them ignored their vow of chastity by having mistresses and illegitimate children. The lower clergy and parish priests hadn't got a better reputation. They were viewed as ... ... middle of paper ... ...
The goal of this paper is to determine if the Catholic religion has continued to modernize since Vatican II. In order to help analyze the modernization of Catholicism, this paper will examine the immigration of Catholics to America in the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout this paper, I will reference Dr. Julie Byrne’s commentary, a professor in American religious history at Duke University, as a means of explaining how Catholicism has assimilated into American culture. Next, this paper suggests three challenges that Catholics are presently facing in the 21st century. Finally, this paper will elaborate on the growth in “irreligious Catholics” and its potential dangers. Although Catholicism assimilated into American culture during the 19th and 20th centuries, research and the rise in “irreligious Catholics” in the 21st century suggests it is possible that Catholicism has not continued to modernize.
In Montgomery Gentry’s hit song “Where I Come From”, he sings about his small town southern pride. In this country tune, the line “That little white church is gonna have a crowd,” is accompanied by lyrics about a town that could easily be located in East Tennessee. One thing that can be assumed from Gentry’s song is that the, “Little white church” he sings about is probably not a Catholic cathedral. In southern towns, like the one Gentry sings about, Protestant churches drastically outrank Catholic churches. In Kingsport Tennessee, Catholic churches are outnumbered forty two to one by Baptist churches alone. This statistic makes it easy to see why, as a whole, Protestants are uneducated and overly critical about the Catholic faith, the very religion that Protestantism is derived.
Abuses such as the sale of indulgences (or spiritual privileges) by the clergy and other charges of corruption undermined the church’s
In today’s society many technological advances have contributed to advanced communication. While these are advantageous and can improve communication across the globe, they have become a hindrance to critical thinking. With the advancement of technology throughout the world human beings are able to think less while still “functioning.” Literacy is thrown to the wayside and texting “lingo” runs rampant. Why read a book when you can watch the movie? Students are becoming less interested in language, reading, and writing and more involved with surfing the web for answers. This shift in the value of literacy opens the world up to many dangers that if not confronted and demolished could lead to a society unable to think for themselves.
...o be directly linked to him. Of course to Christianity this was a huge slap in the face. In no way did they condone this. Within the two hundred years that these witch trials took place, thousands of people were tried and killed due to their “involvement” in witchcraft. Today, a person’s religious beliefs are protected by the Constitution of the United States. No longer can people be tried and punished simply for having views that oppose those of the elite group. This does not mean to suggest that witchcraft and other extreme ideas don’t exist. Media is bombarded with ideas of Scientology and Atheism. Exorcisms are still performed today by members of the clergy. Crimes are still committed most frequently by members of the popular group. So, while the way these matters are publically dealt with are different today, the gap caused by these matters still exist.
There are several issues at play as this scandal continues. In this paper I hope to look at the actual scandals involving retired priest Paul Shanley and defrocked priest John Geoghan. These two men served as priests in the Boston community for over 20 years under the leadership of three different Cardinals. Throughout their years of service they had sexual relationships with males ranging from the age of 4 to 26. Only within the past year were legal steps taken against them. John Geoghan was tried and convicted and Paul Shanley’s case is still under investigation.
In over a period of years, an increasing amount of attention has been shed to the problem of child sexual abuse in the church. While churches, and other facilities which care for children, have had their experience of this problem, most attention has been brought to the abuse in the Catholic Church. Around the world, case after case has been seen in the press of clergy and members of religious orders being charged with sex offenses against children. Some of these cases go back decades. The issue has certainly brought attention around the world. The reason why, is the question that ponders in everyone mind.
Why is the Catholic Church so corrupt in its teaching? They have found ways to control the knowledge that their followers contemplate on. The control of knowledge and power is the foundation for every successful religious organization. The Catholic Church have acquired this power through strategic control on the mind of its follower. The Catholic Church propagate their ideals as righteous in order to be accepted; for without this acceptance, they are faced with the task of initiating this power through force. So to beguile their followers, they present themselves in “sheep clothing” (KJV, Matt 7:15). They are accepted as blameless, peaceful, loving and harmless but in actuality, “they are ravening wolves” (KJV, Matt. 7:15).
The first and most basic confusion is thinking of priestly celibacy as a dogma or doctrine—a central and irreformable part of the faith, believed by Catholics to come from Jesus and the apostles. Thus some Fundamentalists make a great deal of a biblical reference to Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:30), apparently supposing that, if Catholics only knew that Peter had been married, they would be unable to regard him as the first pope. Again, Fundamentalist time lines of "Catholic inventions" (a popular literary form) assign "mandatory priestly celibacy" to this or that year in Church history, as if prior to this requirement the Church could not have been Catholic.
Christianity most specifically, the Holy Roman Catholic Church has been involved in the world throughout time. Since Christianity, when if first became a major religion in society the involvement of the Roman Catholic Church has affected many areas of history. The Roman Catholic Church has affected the world historically, as demonstrated by it's impact upon the historical figures like Hypatia, Joan of Arc, and Jan Hus, historical events such as the Salem Witch Trials, and many other eras and events. The Roman Catholic Church slowed down scientific advancement during the Middle Ages when they had the greatest control over society, due to their personal beliefs. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church for a time changed the world ethically for women and homosexuals, although this is not inclusive. Without the extreme control the Roman Catholic Church had, the world would be a completely different place to live in. To prove this, topics such as the effect the Roman Catholic Church has had throughout history, how science has been affected by the Roman Catholic Church, and how the Roman Catholic Church has affected society ethically to a small and temporary degree.
...Catholic Church authorities had known about the many abuse cases, but sought to deal with the many problems they presented by moving the
The sociology of knowledge is a practice used by sociologists to study human beliefs within a social framework. The process is used to develop an understanding of the methods society uses to select truths based on the perception of dominant knowledge. Science and religion are two dominant yet distinctly different knowledge systems that are of particular interest to sociologists. Many sociologists believed that as societies advanced, religiosity would decline, yet religion still stands as a powerful social institution in present times. Although the sociology of knowledge is considered an essential process of enquiry in the area of sociology, due to its complex nature, the methods and concepts explored have gained the least amount of recognition