And this is the one reason that so many hate the Catholic Church.......the one Church that has stood steady and firm throughout history.
(Yes, I know there have been some mistakes, but all in all, the Catholic Church is the mainstay of morals.)
Well, I'm not exactly Catholic (but I'm not exactly Protestant either... Christian, yes; not sure about denomination), but I certainly don't hate Catholicism. My grandparents, as well as my mother's sister and her family, are all Catholic, and from what I can see, they appear to love God more than anything else and genuinely desire to be like Christ (and I can say the same thing about the Pope), and that's what's important.
For me, the problem isn't Catholics so much as the way the Church seems to have allowed itself to kind of... melt since Vatican II. Some would argue (and I would agree) they made necessary reforms at that council, but from that point on, I've encountered a LOT of cases where the Church doesn't stress the importance of CONTINUALLY living for God; not just remembering him once a week at the Eucharist or while doing sacraments. Now, this certainly doesn't describe ALL of the Churches or congregations; in fact, I attend the Catholic Church on my college campus, and I have met many people there who are genuinely devoted to God. And it happens in a number of Protestant churches as well.
But--and this is just my opinion; someone may have had a different experience than me--on the whole, I see a far bigger problem of "nominal Christianity" in the Catholic Church than I do in most Protestant churches. It seems (to me) that too many people practice a form of Catholicism which is devoid of actual Christian substance, and it appears to me that the clergy isn't always doing all that it should to rectify this.
Hoo... I'm done ranting. Again, it's nothing against Catholics; I know many Catholics who genuinely follow the example of Christ. Just a concern I have for the Church. I do worry about it sometimes... guess I'd be better off praying, huh?