trillian

The Catholic Church is a crock of S%&@, as was told to me by my own Jesuit instructors at Loyola Marymount University (in confidence of course so they could continue their laissez faire lifestyle). I wish more Catholics were like the Jesuits!! Not that I needed their word for it, as I was already an agnostic.

I think the church knows already that their numbers are crumbling and their only hope is to preach to impoverished, uneducated peoples in other countries to gain membership.

(As an aside, I don't believe that claims of "elitism" as the OP is stating are very Christ-like in the modern sense. Of course, claims of slavery and discrimination against Women, along with a dose of racism, would be very much Christ-like in Biblical terms!)

Ask any Jesuit how many letters Paul actually wrote, and how many were written as a fraud under his name. Just ask. I dare ya. Jesuits are a fearless bunch.
(I concede, that Catholics, to their benefit, don't claim inerrancy or literalism like some Bible freakazoids.)

Trillian -still learning and refuting after 17 years of a somewhat good Catholic education.

Eudaimonist

Gemma, when will you learn that a claim must be accompanied by an argument to be taken seriously? The quote above is just a bald claim. What is it that we might "plainly see"? In what way does it "transcend" other institutions? And if it does, what do you conclude from this?

Proxima Centauri

Well I think there's more democracy in the world than Roman Catholicism. Then democracy is better than Roman Catholicism.

Bree

Gemma, if you'd like to begin a discussion based on a quote, please make sure you include your own verbage in the OP. Otherwise it looks like you're spamming the board - there's no direction for the discussion.

Since nothing is being accomplished here, I'm moving the thread to Elsewhere.

Paul2

The catholic church that i used to go to, and that my parents still go to, is doing nothing but flurishing. Maybe i'm just biased, as i was raised a catholic, but i prefer catholicism to any other sect of christianity.

Monkeybot

So what? Nobody said this alleged "trancending" was a good thing.

Godless Dave

So we've established that the Catholic Church is a powerful international organization. I don't think anyone here disputes that. In fact I see it as part of the problem.

WWSD

Jimmy the Weasel

Clarice

Well, there is no real argument to refute, as this seems to be a pseudo-philosophical "My dad can beat up your dad."

However, it is somewhat internally inconsistent. The Catholic Church is itself a major human political, economic, and cultural institution, and is certainly severely limited by its self-imposed constraints, such as a rigid hierarchy and the doctrine of papal infallibility.

As far as the worthiness of its alleged transcendence, it took me about half a second to think of a far worthier organization that transcends such limitations, and does at least as much good and, more to the point, far less harm to the world: Médecins Sans Frontières.

Aravnah Ornan

It proves that you can't explain the relevance of your own post. If you could, why didn't you?