BishopAccountability.org
	Top 10 Reasons Why People Stay in the Roman Catholic Church By Frank Douglas Voice from the Desert May 29, 2011 http://reform-network.net/ 10. They want their kids enrolled in the parish Catholic school 9. They want to have a Catholic funeral and be buried in consecrated ground 8. They stay in the hope that a new pope will change things 7. They like the "smells and bells" (e.g., Midnight Mass at Christmas, stained-glass windows, statues), their parish church, their pastor, and they don't or can't envision a true religious/spiritual experience without these essentials 6. The sexual abuse scandal, the treatment of women and gays, and other hot-button issues (e.g., abortion, homosexuality) don't rank high on their religious/ethical priority list 5. They believe that if they leave the Catholic Church their family, friends, and/or neighbors will ostracize them 4. Leaving (changing) is not an acceptable option: "I was born a Catholic, and I'll die a Catholic." (The thought of leaving fills them with uncontrollable fear) 3. They get all their news about the church from the pulpit in their parish, the parish weekly bulletin, and the bishop's diocesan newspaper. They do not get or seek out contrary opinion (e.g., CNN, the New York Times, National Catholic Reporter, Kathy Griffin, Stephen Colbert) 2. The Catholic Church, not Jesus Christ, not the Bible, not God, is the main source of their religious/spiritual identity 1. They believe everything, or almost everything, the pope and the bishops teach or proclaim (e.g., there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, the Real Presence, the Infallibility of the Pope, the sexual abuse scandal was caused by the sexual revolution of the 1960s). In other words, they are comfortable proclaiming themselves to be Roman Catholic, believing what the pope, the bishops, and their pastor tell them what they must believe, and behaving how these men of religion tell them how to behave
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