Pope comes to America

[ADAM]

Does anyone really care?

I'm friggin' catholic & could give 2 shits less about this.....

[War Wagon]

Time magazine has Benedict XVI on the cover, so apparently they think that some of the approximately 75 million Americans who profess to be Catholic care.

I was raised and schooled as such, but haven't been in a Catholic church in years. I don't have a grudge against them. On the contrary, I have great deal of respect for the institution's they've established in this country. America wouldn't be what it is today without the huge influence of Catholicism.

Unfortunately, about the only thing anyone will want to write about in this topic is snide remarks about pedo priests.

[Wolfman]

Unfortunately, about the only thing anyone will want to write about in this topic is snide remarks about pedo priests.

that's the Catholic bashers mind-set !

[Mike the Lab Rat]

Unfortunately, about the only thing anyone will want to write about in this topic is snide remarks about pedo priests.

that's the Catholic bashers mind-set !

Yep. It's a quick and thought-free kneejerk way to dismiss an entire Church.

I obviously had (and still have) differences of opinion with the Roman Catholic hierarchy and theology - since I made a point of leaving that denomination-, but it still bugs me to see plain old, simple anti-Catholic bigotry drooled out, under the disingenuous guise of "outrage" over the pedophile issue.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

How about the fact that they are a nominally Biblically based fascistic hierarchy with pretensions to political power?
Does that work for you?

[Mike the Lab Rat]

How about the fact that they are a nominally Biblically based fascistic hierarchy with pretensions to political power?
Does that work for you?

Sure. Keep in mind, however, that the description you've given also manages to describe pretty much ALL of the major Christian denominations (plus perhaps a couple non-Christian ones).

[Derron]

Lock up your 8 year old boys..chances are his local priests been pimping for him.

[Wolfman]

wow---about 9 hours for the obligatory pedo-smack--

and-- it's atheistic based regimes that have the worst track record in human rights---
ask the Kulaks (1920's) in the Ukraine. Popes these days really wield a lot of political power ??

[RumpleForeskin]

I'm not Catholic, so I can't even begin to understand why one man is so important to the Catholic masses. I mean, these people do get that the dude is in fact a mortal human being just like everyone else.

Just because he carries a staff and sports a KKK pointed hat doesn't make him an authority on faith and religion. A lot of people claim the highlight of their life was when they met the pope. That is retarded.

My grandparents were heavy Southern Baptists, but they never held Billy Graham in such a high regard as Catholics do for the pope.

Seems silly to me.

[PSUFAN]

I love it when people so readily gussy up the "Catholic bashers!!" rejoinder to the mention of pedophilia.

The organization of the CC has been complicit in the sheltering of known pedophiles. Has that fact ever really sunken in for you people?

Now, I can mention that and still hold a great deal of respect for individual every day catholics...because most of the ones I know actually show a little revulsion at their own organization because of this legacy.

[BSmack]

Unfortunately, about the only thing anyone will want to write about in this topic is snide remarks about pedo priests.

that's the Catholic bashers mind-set !

Yep. It's a quick and thought-free kneejerk way to dismiss an entire Church.

Yet some would dismiss a candidate for President based on far less than a world wide criminal conspiracy to enable and protect pederasts.

[Dinsdale]

Fucking priceless.

So, you folks decrying the catholic-bashing...

You completely withdrew from the church, withheld all donations, and publicly demanded accountability for the sheltering of known pedophiles, right?


Oh, you didn't?


Shut the fuck up. You're part of the conspiracy, and have the blood/shit of young boys on your hands. Sorry if it hurts your feelings, but...


you're guilty. You aided and abetted in the sexual assaults of children, and have earned every last bit of catholic-bashing and more, you sick fucks.

The truth hurts sometimes, doesn't it? Maybe rather than launch into stage-3 denial, next time you'll learn from your mistakes, and make better decisions, and engage in a little better oversight of what's being done with your money in your name.

But more likely, you'll continue to deny your role in such evils.

[War Wagon]

oooh... check out the righteous indignation and faux outrage of the holier than thou folks. What a sight to behold.

[PSUFAN]

it's atheistic based regimes that have the worst track record in human rights

Oh, well...I take it all back, then. Let your cardinals and bishops treat our kids like hot dog buns all you want, Pope...'cuz the world has seen worse human rights abusers. Sorry for overreacting, and everything.

[PSUFAN]

If you have even an inkling of excuse-making ability for a pedo-stained organization, then yes, I'm holier than you.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

Fucking priceless.

So, you folks decrying the catholic-bashing...

You completely withdrew from the church, withheld all donations, and publicly demanded accountability for the sheltering of known pedophiles, right?

Left the RCC years and years ago.

Continue your bigotry and broad-brush accusations...

[War Wagon]

If you have even an inkling of excuse-making ability for a pedo-stained organization, then yes, I'm holier than you.

No excuse making or justification, just not going to lump the entire Church in with the actions of a small percentage of sickos.

I'll leave that to the holier than thou dumbfucks like Dins, mv, yourself, etc....

[BSmack]

No excuse making or justification, just not going to lump the entire Church in with the actions of a small percentage of sickos.

I'll leave that to the holier than thou dumbfucks like Dins, mv, yourself, etc....

In case you missed it, the current Pope is the man who signed off on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of aiding and abetting pedophile clerics.

[War Wagon]

In case you missed it, the current Pope is the man who signed off on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of aiding and abetting pedophile clerics.

Link?

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

No excuse making or justification, just not going to lump the entire Church in with the actions of a small percentage of sickos.

Heads of the church need to be lumped in - every single one of them, so long as they're going to continue covering up for this "small percentage of sickos."

[Mike the Lab Rat]

No excuse making or justification, just not going to lump the entire Church in with the actions of a small percentage of sickos.

I'll leave that to the holier than thou dumbfucks like Dins, mv, yourself, etc....

In case you missed it, the current Pope is the man who signed off on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of aiding and abetting pedophile clerics.

Correct (note to WW: do a google search with "Ratzinger" and "pedophile" for SEVERAL links).

Ratzinger was a freaking stormtrooper for the faith before he was pope, so why anyone would think he'd be an open-minded guy AS pope is mind-boggling.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

^^^^^^^^

Now, see, THAT is a quote worthy of a sig file....

[PSUFAN]

I never cease to be amazed when discussing this issue. Why do common catholics automatically take criticism of the organization as criticism of ALL CATHOLICS?

Heck, I typed it above - most catholics I know shudder in disgust when they consider the CC organization, and some of the things it is responsible for. Most catholics I know are full to the gills with rationalizations as to why they still affiliate themselves with that organization...and most of those are pretty hollow, at the end of the day. It's like the battered wife syndrome - they are suffering in the relationship, but they just can't see how to be released from it. Is there something tattooed on the inner eyelids of some catholics that instructs them not to hold their leadership accountable?

Yes, a lot of catholics are out in the world, doing good deeds. Many fine charitable works have been undertaken...mostly by common folks in the church, be they the flock or the lower-level clergy. That doesn't change the fact that the CC organization has a legacy of sheltering known pedos.

Shit - Catholicism would be great, if they could rid themselves of the vermin that infest the organization that leads that church.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

I never cease to be amazed when discussing this issue. Why do common catholics automatically take criticism of the organization as criticism of ALL CATHOLICS?.

maybe because of idiocy like this:

So, you folks decrying the catholic-bashing...

You completely withdrew from the church, withheld all donations, and publicly demanded accountability for the sheltering of known pedophiles, right?

Oh, you didn't?

Shut the fuck up. You're part of the conspiracy, and have the blood/shit of young boys on your hands. Sorry if it hurts your feelings, but...

you're guilty. You aided and abetted in the sexual assaults of children, and have earned every last bit of catholic-bashing and more, you sick fucks.

As reasonable as you yourself have been, there are far too many idiots like Dinsy who would like to disguise their bigotry as moral indignation.

Non-Catholics (and even some Catholics) don't seem to grasp that RCC policy is not crafted by or influenced by the laity. To argue that merely BEING a Roman Catholic makes one complicit in the coverups of the hierarchy shows a simple-minded and ignorant grasp of that denomination and/or outright bigotry.

You know, considering the atrocities committed by our nation over the last couple of hundred years, you'd think that -in the name of consistency...or at least a lack of hypocrisy- Dinsy would have to withdraw from the country, withdraw his financial support for the U.S., and publicly demanded accountability (other than his rants of this webpage...).

[BSmack]

No excuse making or justification, just not going to lump the entire Church in with the actions of a small percentage of sickos.

I'll leave that to the holier than thou dumbfucks like Dins, mv, yourself, etc....

In case you missed it, the current Pope is the man who signed off on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of aiding and abetting pedophile clerics.

Correct (note to WW: do a google search with "Ratzinger" and "pedophile" for SEVERAL links).

Ratzinger was a freaking stormtrooper for the faith before he was pope, so why anyone would think he'd be an open-minded guy AS pope is mind-boggling.

Or, as Bill Maher called him, John Paul II's Dick Cheney.

BTW: Every time I see the name Ratzinger, for some reason I can't help but think of Dylan's "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll".

"William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll..."

[Mike the Lab Rat]

After I switched from being a "lapsed Roman Catholic" to an active Episcopalian, my younger brother (the Carmelite monk) gave me a "gift subscription" to a magazine called "The Rock." It was a magazine of RCC apologetics and took a hard line on following Church Docrine.

Ratzinger was their posterboy for "how it should be done" and I got to read their breathless accounts of his exploits: how he went after the Roman Catholics in Omaha who were working at Planned Parenthood (with threats of excommunication), how he re-affirmed the prohibition on Roman Catholics joining Masonic lodges, etc.

None of what he did to American RCCers really made a lick of difference to the "cafeteria Catholics" of the U.S. (the bishop of Rochester, e.g., refused to start excommunicating all the Catholic Freemasons), but he got all the conservative RCC folks all excited.

He was a freak then and a freak now, despite people like Michael Novak trying to paint him as some sort of sensitive intellectual soul.

[PSUFAN]

I'm sure the germans would have purged about 40 million undesirable, worthless parasites from our ranks.

You have to admire their efficiency; after all, they booted the likes of your family from the confines of The Reich. Now you're our problem, sucking up entitlements, living like a tick on the necks of Real Americans.

[Mikey]

.

BTW: Every time I see the name Ratzinger, for some reason I can't help but think of Dylan's "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll".

First time I saw his pic I couldn't help thinking he was the Emperor from Star Wars.

BTW, if he ever steps foot into MY church I will fight him. No way are we going back to having mass in Latin with the priest facing away from the congregation.

[Goober McTuber]

I'm friggin' catholic

You’re a lying bag of dickheads that has to shell out $300 just to bust a nut.

[huh?]

If you have even an inkling of excuse-making ability for a pedo-stained organization, then yes, I'm holier than you.

No excuse making or justification, just not going to lump the entire Church in with the actions of a small percentage of sickos.

I'll leave that to the holier than thou dumbfucks like Dins, mv, yourself, etc....

From the outside looking in, the appearance is that those in charge of running the catholic church from the local level up to the very top have known for a very long time what was happening and allowing it to continue unabated for decades (probably longer).

If a bum is in front of a liquor store asking for a dollar, and you give it to him; what do you think he's going to do with it? To Dins' point, every time you drop a buck in the collection plate at mass, you enable this to continue.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

From the outside looking in, the appearance is that those in charge of running the catholic church from the local level up to the very top have known for a very long time what was happening and allowing it to continue unabated for decades (probably longer).

If a bum is in front of a liquor store asking for a dollar, and you give it to him; what do you think he's going to do with it? To Dins' point, every time you drop a buck in the collection plate at mass, you enable this to continue.

That viewpoint, as I stated before, displays a profound ignorance of the relationship between the Catholic laity and the hierarchy. When parishioners drop money into the collection plate, they're actually intending to support the various charitable missions of the Church, the unexciting standard bills that the Church needs to pay, subsidizing their parochial schools, etc. Only the most clueless fucknuts honestly think that Catholic laity can petition the religious hierarchy and demand to allocate the money where they see fit and/or convene some kind of group that is in any way empowered to hire, fire, or censure clergy.

Any and all individuals arguing that a run-of-the-mill parishioner dropping a buck in the collection basket is complicit in pedophilia are absolute frigging morons.

[PSUFAN]

I disagree.

Uncle Sam requires that we pay taxes, or go to jail, ultimately.

There is no such structure governing what we give to organizations like the CC. It is purely voluntary to give money to a church...unless you want to talk about how they are exempt from property tax, and thus a burden to citizens regardless of their denomination, but I digress.

Who's to say where your dollar goes when you hand it over to the CC? You might be paying the electric bill, and you might be paying part of a multi-million pedo settlement...in fact, there's no might about it.

When the CC hierarchy shelters known pedos, you foot the bill for their housing, leather chaps, the whole 9 yards. You also foot the bill for settling their cases.

Here's what I don't understand...there is no lack of opportunity to become involved with charitable works. Why would you contribute to and participate with efforts that, however well-intentioned at the ground level, are subverted by a criminally corrupt institution that is bent on eluding reform and concealing wrongdoing? Why would you allow a parasite to remain, draining your blood?

When you give a buck to a catholic church, you voluntarily fund their efforts, good or dramatically ill.

I think it's very important to "give back" where you can. In my family, we participate in charitable works. Those works and efforts are not siphoned off to house pedos or settle their crimes, and if and when I find out otherwise, I make a goddamn change.

[Adelpiero]

when the pope came to st.louis, i could of made a mint off the thumpers.


i was going to sell some items:

Pope'pourri
Pope on a rope Soap (don't drop the soap kiddies)
Pope Sickles any flavor of the popes noggin, and a carb free version

and for the pot heads:

"i smoked dope, while watching the Pope: st.louis, etc"


those weirdos would of poured out cash for anything. Vendors made a killing!

[BSmack]

Any and all individuals arguing that a run-of-the-mill parishioner dropping a buck in the collection basket is complicit in pedophilia are absolute frigging morons.

The Catholic Church paid out 615 million dollars to settle sex abuse cases in 2007. Where did they get that money?

Bread and fishes man. Bread and fishes. The money just magically appeared from Jesus.

[PSUFAN]

One might argue that the pedo industry is fueled by everyday catholic shareholders. Looks like business is thriving.

[Goober McTuber]

the pedo industry

Where do I sign up?

Sincerely,

Tardowen

[RumpleForeskin]

I think I read or saw a documentary that a midwest Catholic diocese has a $3 billion annuity. I could be wrong on the amount, but it was definitely in the billions.

Fucking incredible.

[PSUFAN]

Those of us who pay property tax are also shareholders, unfortunately.

[Dinsdale]

Any and all individuals arguing that a run-of-the-mill parishioner dropping a buck in the collection basket is complicit in pedophilia are absolute frigging morons.

So, if every last catholic withdrew their support, and quit giving any money while making it clear that tey would find a new church until their demands to weed out every last pedo and make amends with their victims, it wouldn't have any æffect?

You'd be well-advised to be careful tossing that "frigging moron" label around, Glass House.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

So, if every last catholic withdrew their support, and quit giving any money while making it clear that tey would find a new church until their demands to weed out every last pedo and make amends with their victims, it wouldn't have any æffect?

My God but you are a dimwit.

Do you honestly think that getting "every last Catholic" to withdraw their support is POSSIBLE? They're the single largest Christian denomination on Earth - how in the hell are you going to get them all, from North America, Central and South America, Africa, etc. to ALL buy into your dumbass plan?

I realize that spouting off about topics in which you have no knowledge is your thing on this board, but this time you may have topped yourself.

First, you try to argue that each and every Roman Catholic who drops cash into the collection basket is somehow complicit in pedophilia, and now you're putting forth the idea that somehow the worldwide laity can somehow organize itself to boycott the Church and change their policies? Are you fucking deluded? You do realize that you're talking about a Church that refuses to allow its priests to marry or to ordain women despite the huge drop in folks taking holy orders, that STILL persists in outlawing artificial contraception (or artificial conception) despite the refusal of its laity to obey, and that has weathered the bad press of the Reformation, Inquisitions, and Crusades?

Has it occurred to you and PSU that the reason that folks may not ever do the boycott thing is that they honestly believe that it is not their CHURCH that is corrupt, but a few of the men running it? The average Joe or Jane in the pews may be pissed and embarrassed at what is going on, but they somehow believe that a church that has withstood a couple of thousand years of ups and downs will weather this and that the bad folks will be purged by the good. I disagree with them, and it's one of the many reasons I left. Despite no longer being one of 'em, I at least understand how their church is organized, how it runs, and what the laity can and cannot realistically do...which gives me more of a clue than the usual gaggle of messageboard "experts" in this thread.

You'd be well-advised to be careful tossing that "frigging moron" label around, Glass House.

Right, like you're anyone to be dispensing advice to other posters, Dinshypocrite. I do believe that you demanded that Roman Catholics either boycott their Church, leave their Church, or loudly and publicly demand a change in Church policy in order to not be complicit in the Church's crimes.

Well, Dins, considering the laundry list of crimes committed by agents of our nation over the last 200+ years, why don't you put up or shut up? C'mon big man, come out from behind your keyboard and either refuse to pay your taxes, organize huge public protests, or frigging emigrate. Yeah, I know, not paying your taxes could land you in jail, but what's that to a TRUE noble guy of principles like you? Or how about just throwing away your allegiance to this taintedcountry and moving to some country that has an unblemished history (good luck with THAT search, btw...)?

Of course, no one here actually expects you to sack up and practice what you preach. Nope, we all know that you're a huge holier-than-thou, Cliff Claven, end-of-the-bar loudmouth who's big on dispensing judgement on what OTHER folk should be doing, without even thinking about the inconsistencies and hypocrisy of not following your own advice.