Comments on: 11 Million Irish Americans leave the Catholic Church

By: RonTheNewJew

RonTheNewJew — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:33:15 +0000

As an obviously non-Catholic Judeo-Christian, I think the real reason that so many Catholic Church members leave the Catholic denomination, is that they have access to the internet, and can study the religion that Jesus observed, along with the weekly and annual special holy times each year, for themselves. They can study early Christian Church hstory, and discover that the early Christians worshipped alongside religious Jews in the synagogues each Shabbat, and kept the annual, God-appointed holy convocations as instructed by God, but the Christians did it without animal sacrifices and Temple services that went along with the sacrifices. The Christians kept the same days, but with Jesus at the center of those special times. Many Christians are now examining their Judaic roots and discovering that the God of the Old Covenant of man’s promises, and the New Covenant of Jesus’s promises to us, is the same God known to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. We, as Christians, were thjrough Christ, grafted into the religion He gave to Moses. Not the other way around, as many replacement theologians think today.

By: richard

richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:38:49 +0000

hello bluepanjeet: off topic: There are 195 catholic dioceses and arch-dioceses in the USA. Sexual predator priests have been caught in all 195 dioceses in the USA, this is a known fact. One can google and find that information. The John Jay report from 2004 indicated that up until 2003 over 4,3,00 confirmed priests have been accused or charged with sexual crimes in the USA out of 109,000 priests from 1950 until 2003. These numbers do not include priests who never got caught which I am sure there are many and does not include the explosive numbers now still coming in today from the USA, Canada, Ireland and Italy just to name a few countries. I believe it would be more fair to say the contributors, volunteers, and parishioners of the catholic churches are the ones who should get credit for charity works and donations. The catholic church is just the organization that distributes the money they collect. The hard work is done by the followers not the church itself. The face of the catholic church is changing quickly. Many western european (background) catholics have moved away from the belief in recent years, especially the younger generations coming up. Recent information indicates that 1 out of every 3 american catholics are Latinos, and within 20 years will be more then half of all catholics in america. There are many good catholic priests and sisters, I do feel sorry for them that have got caught up in the sexual abuse scandals and now the 2 investigations of the nuns in america. Growing up in the catholic church in the 50s and early 60s catholics never heard of investigations, or allegations against church leaders..... ever. Times are a changing.

By: bluepanjeet

bluepanjeet — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:44:56 +0000

Hello Richard.

Yes I share my tithe. But what I’m saying is that Church funds does not only comes from tithes. Some of the diocese are self supporting and are subsidized. Like here in our Country, some of the diocese have schools, printing press, radio and tv stations etc…

The church fund does not only go to litigation cases like what you are implying. Remember that the Catholic church has the biggest charitable institutions in the world. Most of the funds you are talking about also goes to charities.

So saying that tithes are only going to sex abuse cases is a sweeping generalization. Not all diocese and parishes have sex abuse cases. so I think making general statements like what you said in your comments is a bit unfair. There are more Priests and Nuns who are faithful to their vows. If there are abusive priests and nuns, its a small portion when you compare it to the total population of religious all over the world.

Peace!

By: richard

richard — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:33:36 +0000

Bluepanjeet: I call them as I see them. The church requests that catholics tithe. 10% of your take home pay. Its not mandatory, but the church often requests it. thats how they keep the institutional wheels greased and turning. Tithing is also in the bible. Don’t want to upset the bible writers. Being a conservative catholic, who wouldn’t want to do his/her fair share in giving.? Give 10% of your take home pay. I am sure if the catholic church is the most important thing in your life then 10-20% of your pay (doing your part) would be a nice amount to put on the collection plate at every sunday mass. Now I am sure Bluepanjeet that you know that a portion of your offering goes to pay for the sex abuse scandal lawsuits that continue to this day, and the $1.1 million dollar investigations of our nuns in the USA will also come from the collection plates.
Those
that belong to the 7 dioceses in the USA that have recently filed for bankruptcy, (more bankrupcies coming) big changes will be coming soon. Church properties, assets and buildings will have to be sold to make good on outstanding debts and I am sure more money will be requested …….again on the collection plate. I am sure Bluepanjeet you tithe.

By: bluepanjeet

bluepanjeet — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:05:20 +0000

Your money they want, but you are

I think this is a very unfair statement.

By: richard

richard — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:16:01 +0000

The vatican has every right to enforce all the rules/regulations of the catholic church. The last 5-10 years the church has been in chaos and a tremendous split between conservative/liberal catholics, especially in the USA. Its time for the vatican to dump all the fence sitters and cafeteria type catholics and focus on core believers. The sex abuse epedemic is a worldwide problem for the church. Now the vatican has two investigations ongoing involving the liberal nuns of america. The nuns will have to decide whether their in or out. Cardinals in each of the 195 dioceses should send letters/questionaires to all catholics. What are your beliefs? …….birth control, divorce, same sex marriage, gays, abortion, celebacy, mass attendance etc….. Liberal catholics should heed the call and exit the church. Picking and choosing what you want to believe is not really in the churches best interest. 20 years ago I left the church. I was not a conservative catholic and felt I did not fit in with what my beliefs were but only because I was indoctrinated into the faith by my family like most catholics through generations of hand me down catholicism. I am a better person for leaving. I am now classified as ” NON RELIGIOUS” and according to statistics the fastest growing group in america. I left behind all the guilt, shame, & fear baggage the church instills in you. So if you are a liberal catholic and can’t decide what to believe in the church its time for you to go as well. Its time to move on, let the church make its rules and have those that are committed continue on with their belief. Over 64 million catholics in the USA and more then half don’t follow most of the rules regulations regarding birth control, same sex marriage, abortion, gays, celebacy optional, mass attendance etc. If you are in the group that I just mentioned then break the chains and LEAVE THE CHURCH. Your money they want, but you are not wanted.

By: bluepanjeet

bluepanjeet — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:55:47 +0000

Doc, thanks for the link. I read the article and indeed the writer i mentioned above may have overlooked the fact that the Irish who migrated the US were mostly Protestants.

By: tioedong

tioedong — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:04:29 +0000

The writer made a mistake that many unfamiliar with America make: He assumes that those who call themselves “Irish” are the Irish Catholics who came over after the potato famine.

He ignores the 5.6 million of “Irish” (AKA Scots Irish) who live in the southern US but call themselves Irish. They often are unchurched.
http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/rac.2006.16.1.25?cookieSet=1&journalCode=rac
Priest sociologist Andrew Greeley often points out this fallacy in his books and newspaper columns.

What is going on in Ireland is that the “elites” have long decided that the only way to make Ireland “modern” is to destroy the credibility of the Catholic church there, which they have done via the various scandals. This allows them to become modern, enter the European Union, and eventually allow divorce, abortion, infanticide and euthanasia of the culture of death that the EUnion will undoubtably impose via their courts and bureaucracy in the near future.

Most of the elites are Anglo Irish, who are trained in the UK. The UK is rabidly anti Irish and Anti Catholic, although this bigotry has decreased in recent years thanks to the anti Muslim bigotry that has replaced it.