Catholic Church Incorporated.

Now, I was more or less raised as a Catholic (I realize that this statement alone really says to you Catholic devotees, I am not a Catholic) - and here's the basic message they conveyed intentionally;

Be nice to others, do not judge others, love your fellow man, treat people with respect, avoid sinful behavior, you're not perfect, but that's ok, and, if you screw up, you're going to Hell.

Of course, they also sent another message (that I received as a child);

This is a really secret place, you can't possibly understand all of this, just believe me or else.

In all of this, piety and altruism seemed to be involved - even if the message was less than ideal. However, since they have been under the gun recently with many cases of abusive priests, we get to see the real principles in play.

And it really looks awful. In lawsuits, where priests have been acknowledged to have ruined the lives of children, now adults, the church has abandoned the people - to hide their wealth using every trick in the book - ones that would put many CEO's to shame. Sheltering the money in non-liquid assets, compartmentalizing the organization, so that the Boston Archdiocese is a wholly contained unit that is completely responsible for the financial burdens incurred - sheltering the higher organization from these financial obligations. Closing churches in poor areas, while maintaining "active" (read as well off, richer parishes) churches.

In many of these cases, they are within legal bounds to pull these shenanigans, but aren't they supposed to take the higher moral and ethical ground? They aren't supposed to operate like a business in terms of accounting trickery to protect themselves, and, under law, do get special treatment due to the very nature of their organization - they pay no taxes, in effect, get subsidized housing, etc - because of the supposed principles of their operation.

Through the centuries, they have always been accused of operating as a kind of franchise operation, marketing God to the masses, building huge wealth all the while - and now, it seems, these principles are laid bare.

One wonders at how anyone can continue to contribute money to this sham any longer. Or, believe unquestioningly the stuff they are peddling. Trust and faith given by people but cannot be taken for granted.