While the Church provides a religious belief, it also provides structure and a family center, a sense of
camaraderie, education, and care for the poor and
infirm. The Church, in it's self proclaimed role as intermediary to G-d,
holds itself up to a higher set of standards, and asks it's followers
to obey the strict rules of the dogma.
The Church fails when it does not obey the most basic forms of
decency. The church fails when it does not tell it's followers not to
pray to G-d for frivolous everyday happenings. The Church fails when it
does not tell its followers that G-d is not responsible for all the bad
things that happen to us, small or terrible.
All civilizations have their natural occupations and their manufactured ones. In Jesus day you could either be a merchant or a farmer, a fisherman or a soldier, a craftsman or a scientist.. Some great minds could make a living as authors or intellectuals and some were politicians.
Then there were the Priests. This is the most manufactured of all the occupations, since the only way that we know that we need them is because they tell us it is so.
There is no doubting the honest intentions and beliefs of many that
chose the Church as a calling, just as there is no doubt that many went into the Priesthood to gain lifetime security, room, board and a place in society.
Throughout history the ideals of what the Christian religion was meant to be and the reality of the Roman Catholic Church, have been two very different things. For all the good that the Christian Church has done, there is no doubt the devastation and harm in the name of the Church and carried out by the Church itself, are far the weightier.
A notable stroke of irony is that the Crucifixion took place during a time of extended peace. The Pax Romana,(27 B.D-180 A.D.) is considered the greatest stretch of peace the world has known. There were no major invasions or substantial conflicts within the two million square mile area of the Roman Empire. Roman Law united the Provinces.
You could think that G-d would choose a time of strife and moral decay to sacrifice his only son on the cross so that the world would be a better place and us, better people. It sure hasn't worked very well. You would be hard pressed to say that the world is in better shape since
the Crucifixion.
From the end of the 1rst century A.D. Christians and the Christian Church were increasingly persecuted. Seen as a threat to those who still had allegiance to a pagan system of ideology. Then in the first part of the 4th century A.D., the Church's fortunes and reach were greatly expanded, but not without a price.
Constantine, after becoming Caesar, embraced Christianity and saw it as a way of uniting his empire. He proclaimed himself the Bishop of Constantinople (although having his Baptism would not take place for many years, as he laid on his death bed). From that time on the Church served the State and the Emperor. So the Roman Catholic Church was saved and strengthened, but became a much more political entity than it was intended to be.
Obviously everyone would like to put the pedophile plague in the rear view mirror, but this has to placed in context . As the church became more interwoven into our lives, the more wealth it amassed and the more power it yielded, the pedophile and priest abuses were able to survive simultaneously with the teachings of the Church, although they are in exact opposition to each other.
While protecting itself, the Church protected the pedophile Priests. This has gone on for many decades.
Pope Francis has seized the moment. He would not do business as usual. After his election, he chose a two room suite in preference to the grand 12 room apartment his predecessors had occupied. He dines in a communal setting and frequently goes into crowds to be with the people. He dresses in a simpler, less grand style, reflecting what he believes is more in line with the duties of a Priest. He has set an example and has attempted to change the tone of the hierarchy, by performing duties performed by his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.
How long these changes will last and what other changes will take place we will see, but at least he has shown an understanding that religion is something that needs to be performed on the ground as well as in the ivory towers of the Vatican.