Don't you think that rules that are not enforced are a mockery? I see the Catholic Church having some good rules, but I don't see any consequences for breaking them. On another thread a mother who died during a late term abortion is buried with a Catholic ceremony with her child that she murdered. If she had repented then that information should be made public so as to let the world know that she wasn't given a Catholic burial with her murdered baby without repentance. The Catholic Church lets sins abound in their Congress people without any kind of chastisement. These people who support abortion, sodomy and many other sins with their votes and support tell the whole world that it is OK to do the things they do because they still get communion and are not excommunicated. The list of people who do public sins without any kind of reprimands from the CC goes on and on and on. Catholic Priests who committed sodomy on children were protected and even passed onto other unsuspecting Churches by the authorities. Catholic Universities teach and put up with all kinds of terrible things. Catholic University Notre Dame invites obama to speak. Georgetown University invites obama, who is abominable as far as morality is concerned, to speak to their young and impressionable students, and cover up Christ's Name just because he requests for them to do so. This is unfathomable to me.
It is easy to talk the talk, but I see a whole lot of not walking the walk. The Catholic Church can have it both ways. They have a double message. For those who are moral they talk about morality, but for those who are vastly immoral they are included nicely also. You feel good about your Church because you are a moral person and like to hear the good talk. Well people like Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and many, many other sinful people feel fine and good about being Catholics too. Without discipline they also feel like everything with thier spirituality is OK. Have you ever really looked at that? They will without repentance go to hell forever, and they have never been made to see that what they are doing is terribly wrong.
The Pope, according to CC doctrine, has the sole responsibility over discipline in the CC. The buck is suppose to stop with him. To give speeches all about what morality is suppose to be is easy, the hard part is backing it up with actions. I see speeches from some CC leaders, but not that much action as far as discipline. This causes the world to not understand how terribly wrong sin is. It is a grievous failure on the part of the CC.
I am not saying that many other Churches are doing better, but it is not a reason to think that the CC excels. I am not out to bash the CC, but sincerely wish and long for it to follow the morality that it often can speak about with glowing words. I honestly grieve because the CC lets so much sin go on and doesn't deal with it. It is very harmful for the whole world. If the CC would start actually disciplining it's grievous sinners then many people in the world could have a chance at believing that morality is important, and just might have a better understanding of their own need of repentance.
Their are Catholic Priests and also a good amount of lay people that really care about morality. You will see them at abortion clinics reaching out to mothers, trying to help them stop from murdering their babies. I just wish that the leadership was half a diligent as many lay Catholics are in their fight against evil.
Alas, the Catholic Church is not the authoritarian body many around here might occasionally wish it were. Pope Paul VI issued “Humane Vitae,” and most North American and European bishops simply ignored him. So, rather than see all of Europe and North America go into formal schism, the Vatican launched a mission of re-evangelization. And, I would argue, it’s been rather successful.
The Pope has singular authority to discern a theological consensus, and thereby declare a doctrine infallible. That’s about it, and that’s a power used very rarely: a couple dozen times when an “ecumenical council” was held, and a handful of times without such a council.
The Pope has does not have disciplinary authority over the entire Catholic Church, merely the Roman Patriarchate, which the vast majority of Americans, Latin Americans and Western Europeans belong to. There are numerous other patriarchs, who have their own disciplinary authority, and who have established other disciplines with regards to fasts, married priests, etc.
The Pope has doctrinal authority over the entire Catholic Church, but each bishop is, himself, endowed with apostolic authority over his own diocese for the implementation of Catholic doctrine. Most dissident bishops are crafty enough to allow heresy to thrive in their diocese without themselves formally proclaiming that heresy. Unless a bishop willingly resigns, it is very difficult to depose him, and will probably retire before the process is finished. A very rare exception was the bishop of Toowomba, Australia, who was finallly deposed after five-year process.