Elm11

Interchanging one faith for another is not feasible, for many. Certainly people do convert from various churches to others. But for many faithful Catholics, the notion that they 'could go to another church' is an absurdity. As /u/gkthursday explains, to hold faith in the Church means some level of identification and understanding with its institutions. When those institutions have become so incredibly corrupted and co-opted for the most heinous evils imagineable, many Catholics see it - and I think rightly - as their duty to remain as part of the Church precisely because these people must be brought to justice, these institutions torn down and made new, and that to leave the Church now is to abandon it in its hour of need rather than working to foster change.

But then, my overriding experience with Church institutions is decades of being soaked in shame for being gay, so I'm more disillusioned than most at this point. I'm comfortable in the knowledge that I've got faith and good works down pat, and that God will be hunky dory with me losing faith in an institution dominated by bigoted old men and those who would place their reputations above the lives of children.

I mean, it sounds like human error was also a key component - and I presume that's what you mean as well. The deputy chief engineer's decision to move forward with the tests in the face of a dangerous situation and the decision to disable the reactor's safety systems was incredibly irresponsible. But it was appalling reactor design that made it possible to disable those systems in the first place - among various other design faults you've described.

A major focus of the new testament is the corruption of the Pharisees and Sadducees / the institutions of Judaic faith, absolutely. But theologically, part of the point of Christ as Messiah was to guide a people who had been led astray. The emergence of the Early Church can't be compared to suggesting people break faith with the Catholic Church today for a number of reasons, but first and foremost theologically as /u/gkthursday pointed out: Christ named Peter as the rock upon which His Church would be built. You don't just mulligan the Church by saying 'the Church has lost its way and we just abandon it' precisely because a core part of modern Catholic identity is that unlike the multitudinous protestant faiths, Catholics haven't split from the Faith.

What that means in practice is that Catholics are likely to be that much more determined to reform the Church and its institutions from the inside precisely because they view it as that much more important that they keep the faith and right the ship rather than abandoning it. Christ is the Messiah, this is his Church. Until he rocks up again to put his almighty sandal up the arses of a lot of crotchety old priests, this Church is all we have to work with.

Of course, for many furious, heartbroken, betrayed Catholics, our patience isn't limitless. I am tired of the excuses, the sheltering of abusers, the sheltering of their enablers, the bigotry, and the steadfast insistence on denying the laity a voice in the Church, so I've more or less done as you say and lost faith in the Church as an institution for spreading the Good News. Untold millions of others are doing the same, and untold millions more are denied that faith because of that same evil that's taken hold.

Hi Jane,

Reliable media like the (Australian) ABC and Deutsche Welle have painted a bleak picture of the state of the Iraqi military in light of recent events in Iraq. How would you assess the readiness of the Iraqi Armed Forces, and do you believe they will be capable (in conjunction with the Kurdish Peshmerga) of halting ISIS' advance?

The fall of Mosul on June 9 has displaced upwards of 500,000 people by some accounts¹ . What is the humanitarian situation like at the edge of the ISIS advance?

Many thanks!

1. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27789229

Absolutely it has changed a lot, and for the better - but there is so much further to go. It's a testament to that change that I am an openly gay, engaged man in a Catholic family. I worked in administration for the Church until I moved to Europe a few short months ago, and both the priests I worked under knew I was gay. The former was... grudgingly tolerant of it. The latter, however, was enthusiastically open and welcoming to me. A local bishop preached openly for marriage equality from the pulpit, an act for which he could have been defrocked. But the doctrine to which these priests are bound is still one which denies me dignity, paints me as lesser and spits in the face of my loving relationship.

It will take a long time for that doctrine to shift. It'll happen, but it'll take a long time.