More and More U.S. Catholics Question Their Church Membership

As long time readers know, I left Catholicism even before I came out publicly.  One of the catalysts for me was the sex abuse scandal that exploded on Boston in 2002, which was the focus of the Academy Award winning movie, Spotlight.  That was 17 years ago and in the intervening years no part of the globe has been spared from Catholic clergy sex abuse scandals which as of this week culminated in the 6 year sentence handed down against Cardinal George Pell, the senior cleric in Australia and by some accounts the number three man at the Vatican until now.  Meanwhile, even as my other family members have abandoned the Catholic Church, countless American Catholics have kept their heads in the sand, refusing to admit that the institution they are supporting financially and attending is morally bankrupt and perhaps more akin to a criminal enterprise than a institution dedicated to God.   Now, a new Gallup survey suggest that 37% of American Catholics are belatedly questioning whether or not to remain members of the Catholic Church.  Here are highlight from from Gallup:

As the Catholic church responds to more allegations of sexual abuse of young people by priests, an increasing percentage of Catholics are re-examining their commitment to the religion. Thirty-seven percent of U.S. Catholics, up from 22% in 2002, say news of the abuse has led them to question whether they would remain in the church.

While the polling was being conducted, Pope Francis met with Catholic leaders from around the world at the Vatican to respond to a new wave of sex abuse allegations in numerous countries. The church dealt with a similar crisis in the U.S. in 2002, the last time Gallup polled about this. That polling came after The Boston Globe reported on widespread abuse by Catholic priests in the Boston area and church leaders' efforts to prevent the abuse from becoming public knowledge.

Gallup's latest findings show that the current scandal is affecting U.S. Catholics more than the one in 2002 did, in terms of their feelings about the church.

Substantial minorities of both practicing and nonpracticing Catholics say they are questioning their commitment to the church -- but, as might be expected, those less committed to their religion are more likely to be questioning it. Whereas 46% of Catholics who seldom or never attend church say they have questioned whether they would remain in the faith, 37% of those who attend church on a monthly basis and 22% who attend weekly say the same.

The same pattern existed in 2002, although both practicing and nonpracticing Catholics are more likely now than in 2002 to be questioning their place in the church. Seventeen years ago, only one in eight weekly churchgoers were re-examining their membership, as were 24% of semi-regular churchgoers and 29% of infrequent ones.

Catholics are less confident in priests in the U.S. more generally, and in U.S. bishops and other Catholic leaders. About one in four U.S. Catholics say they have very little or no confidence in those two groups. One in eight have little or no confidence in Pope Francis or their own priests.

While it is uncertain how many of the 37% of U.S. Catholics who say they're questioning remaining in the church will actually leave in response to the latest sex abuse scandal, any loss of adherents is certainly not welcome news -- especially when the church is dealing with larger societal trends moving away from formal religion. A decline in the number of Catholics would seem especially problematic if it were driven by practical matters such as how church leaders responded to a scandal rather than fundamental spiritual matters such as disagreement with church teachings or church members finding their faith to be unfulfilling.

Catholics shaken by the latest scandal could be affected in other ways besides leaving the church, including less frequent church attendance and being less willing to listen to church leaders' teachings on matters of faith.

In my view, the Catholic Church needs a major reformation that includes (i) removal of god knows how many bishops and cardinals involved in sex abuse themselves or in deliberate cover ups, and (ii) a rejection of the Church's idiotic 12th century views on sex and human sexuality and the role of women. If this doesn't happen, expect to see Church membership plummet in developed countries with the Church being destined to be an Africa based church relying on ignorant and uneducated populations to maintain its falling membership. 

Catholic Church: Emmence Wealth But No Cash for Sex Abuse Victims

click image to enlarge

The Royal Commission investigating sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in Australia has identified the true God of the Vatican and the Church hierarchy: money and wealth.  In diocese after diocese one sees claims of poverty as excuses for not paying just compensation to sex abuse victims.  Here in the USA, we see dioceses filing for bankruptcy and disingenuously claiming that parish properties and other diocese assets do not actually belong to the diocese all in order to re-victimize those who have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of clergy, often with the aiding and abetting of members of the Church hierarchy.  The Australian looks at the dishonest and hypocrisy of the Diocese of Sydney.  Here are excerpts:

It was the first time the wealth of the church has been revealed as the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse delved into its finances and examined the church’s response to victims.

The archdiocese’s cash reserves are $321 million and the church has been making a profit of up to $43 million a year through investments since 2001.

But the commission has been told that, instead of settling former altar boy John Ellis’s sexual abuse claim for the $100,000 he asked for, it offered him just $30,000 and then spent $1.5 million fighting him in court. Most claims are settled for between $50,000 and $70,000.

The money maze was unveiled as the archdiocese’s business manager, Danny Casey, gave evidence to the commission yesterday.

The funds are ultimately controlled by the archbishop, who since 2001 has been Cardinal George Pell.

Since then, the church had increased its net asset base by 86 per cent from $103 million to $193 million, the commission was told.  In the same time, just $5.5 million has been paid to victims of sexual abuse by church clerics.

The diocese’s wealth has remained a secret to anyone outside a few within the church hierarchy because it is generally not required to file its affairs with any outside agency such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Mr Casey said that the church’s funds were income tax exempt and capital gains tax free as charities, although it was liable to pay stamp duty on some transactions.

He said that, as at the end of last year, the archdiocese had $810 million in the Catholic Development Fund, which he said operated as an “internal treasury” for the archdiocese.  That included the $321 million cash reserves.

Mr Casey said he believed that the $30,000 the Catholic Church offered to Mr Ellis was entirely and completely inadequate.

Cardinal Pell will return to the witness box today to continue his evidence before he leaves for Rome to take up a senior post in the Vatican.

Note how now that things are heating up in Australia Cardinal Pell will be moved to the Vatican and outside the reach of Australian authorities.  It is the same thing that was done with Cardinal Law of Boston when it became obvious that Law might face criminal prosecution.  For those who want to believe that change is coming under Pope Francis, this is proof that nothing has really changed whatsoever.  Talk is cheap.  It is actions that count, and so far Francis has failed to act in any meaningful manner.

More Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Scandal News

As the disingenuous Pope Benedict XVI feigns sorrow (yet refuses to give a formal apology) for the sexual abuse of children by priests in Australia, the Roman Catholic Church continues to receive deservedly bad news coverage. First, in Denver, Colorado, the Catholic Archdiocese has been hit with yet another lawsuit by the victim of a priest who was to to superiors to be a sexual predatory, but nonetheless allowed to remain a priest and shuffled off to another parish where he molested more children. Then, there are the parents of two Australian girls repeatedly raped by a Catholic priest - one girl later committed suicide - who are questioning the role of Bishop Anthony Fisher as coordinator of World Youth Day since he fails to have any regard for the victims of abuse or their families. Personally, I find the hypocrisy and false piety of Benedict and pretty much all of the Catholic clergy to varying degrees enough to make one vomit and want to become an atheist.

*

One would think some lay Catholics and laity controlled organizations would wake up to the cesspool the Church has become and demand change and that the Pope clean house of the bishops and cardinals who enabled or covered up the sexual abuse of children. Instead, we see the increasingly servile Knights of Columbus worrying about gay marriage and giving $250,000 to support passage of Proposition 8 in California. The Knights are allegedly - and I use the word allegedly deliberately - a fraternal organization with a goal of protecting widows and children. One would think the molestation of children by priests would be a more serious threat to families than gay marriage under the civil laws. Yet now fawning over clergy who enabled and/or covered up the sexual abuse of children has become a "family value" under the lunatic leadership of the Knights. Neither they nor the Church hierarchy give a rat's ass about children or truly protecting families from sexual predators and their enablers. Moral bankruptcy dose not even begin to describe the situation. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

*

DENVER -- A man sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver on Tuesday over sexual abuse after seeing documents released as part of a big settlement last month that name the same priest he says molested him as a teenager. The accuser claims he was abused by the late Harold White, an ex-priest who was named in the bulk of the cases that were settled this month. White was removed from the ministry in 1993 and died in 2006. The lawsuit claims the abuse occurred in 1969 or 1970 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Loveland when the plaintiff was 14.

*

According to the suit, the documents _ posted on the firm's Web site _ show White had admitted in February 1961 to sexually molesting five or six children. That was seven years before he was moved to St. John's. . The archdiocese has settled 43 sex abuse cases since 2005 for a total of $8.2 million. Under the settlement reached this month, the archdiocese agreed to pay $5.5 million. Two other lawsuits besides the new one remain unresolved.

*

Then from the Sydney Morning Herald come these highlights:

*

The father of two girls repeatedly raped by a Melbourne priest has questioned the credibility of Bishop Anthony Fisher and his role in the Catholic church and World Youth Day (WYD). Bishop Fisher, who is WYD coordinator, yesterday said media attention paid to the abuse of sisters Emma and Katherine Foster was detracting from the positivity of the massive Catholic youth festival under way in Sydney.

*

The couple is seeking an audience with Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell to discuss the church's handling of priest Kevin O'Donnell's rape of their daughters when they were in primary school. O'Donnell died in prison about 10 years ago, and the Fosters have accused Dr Pell of stalling their compensation claim. Emma Foster committed suicide this year at the age of 26, while her sister Katherine drank heavily before being left disabled when hit by a drunk driver in 1999.

*

In the statement he prepared for media waiting at the airport, Mr Foster said Bishop Fisher should be ashamed. "I would like to address the outrageous comments and attitude of Bishop Anthony Fisher, which we have found to be endemic to people unaware of the impact of sexual assault," he said in the statement. "The ... 'old wounds' he speaks of, never heal and victims of sexual assault suffer all their life.

*

Truth be told, the Pope and the hierarchy care only about three things: money, power and good PR. The welfare of children and/or their families are nowhere on the radar screen.