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OR...they could conduct a modern day rendition of the Inquisitions and find the public guilty.
But the public now know they do not have the power to enforce this. They can only use the excommunication stick and they must know that only makes them look as reprehensibly medieval as muslims cutting a hand off.
If this occured then over 20% of the US hospitals, which are non-profit Catholic hospitals, would have to close or find new sources of income to pay these new taxes and this could possibly mean that many people would go without medical treatment. In addition, the Catholic school system (excluding universities) educates almost 800,000 students K-12 (of which 92% go on to attend college) and these students would need to find new schools or the schools would need new sources of income to pay taxes. I think the estimated cost impact of just the education portion would be over 18 billion dollars per yer. It sounds easy to just say take away the tax exempt status of the Catholic church but the impact would be hugh and would touch all people...Catholic or otherwise.
Surely you are not saying that, if the churches had to pay tax like everyone else, they's just run out of money or close their hospitals and schools in a fit of the sulks? And surely the money paid in taxes could be used to run these establishments. Why should we effectively have a little private state with its own financial collection and payments scheme?
I saw some catholic tosser on a news programme recently say that the catholic church has to contine or civilization would collapse or some such view. This is cobblers. There would need to be some readjustment, true and it's something that has to happen gradually rather than an icon - smashing reformation, but the world won't collapse in chaos.
Perhaps you are focused too much on Europe and the U.S. Catholicism's biggest growth is elsewhere.
Well sure if you care about things like facts Mostly though this is the Internet and on Internet English-language sites "outside Europe and the US/Canada" is poorly understood. Or at least this is what I recall in my capacity as a Wikipedian.
There are roughly 446 million Mass attending Catholics. Catholic population has grown both nationally and internationally since 1975. Although as a percentage of world population it declined from 18% to 17% in the period 1985-1995. So maybe you could argue from that it would reach 0% by 2165, but that would probably be a misunderstanding of statistics.
In number terms of population the Church's if there's been declining rate of growth it's likely due to a weak amount of evangelism, I'm not evangelical, and using birth control despite the faith's teaching. Although I'm not sure a large population is necessary and there might be restrictions to how much further evangelism could go. Most of the world is now aware of Catholicism and has decided whether or not they want to join it. Although that might be less true in the Muslim nations and more isolated Buddhist places like Burma or Bhutan.
Interestingly American Catholics born after 1981 seem to be less likely to "rarely or never" attend Mass than baby-boomers. This might partly be due to younger Catholics being more Hispanic. Still even the "Generation X" Catholics seem a bit more faithful than the baby-boomers. However "once a week or more" is more common for those born from 1943-60 than those born after that.
With the growing problems in the Catholic Church, will it exist much longer?
I think you asked the wrong question.
Unfortunately, the catholic church will exist for quite some time, however, the Vatican may not.
If you can find it, an interesting read is The Final Conclave, by Father Malachi Martin (who was often a guest on the Art Bell Show).
It's fictional account a pope dying, a conclave is held to elect a new pope, but no pope is elected, and that's the end of the Vatican.
Anyway, it's possible, even more than likely, that the Vatican will self-destruct, but not catholicism itself.
There's no requirement to recognize the Vatican as an independent state, so all it would take is for one country to deny visas for passports issued by the Vatican and demand that those persons get a passport issued by the Italian government.
If you're into the prophecy thing, there are several prophecies that suggest that this pope, or the next, will be the last popes ever.
i am a catholic and i stopped going to church for several yrs now. i dont know if i will ever be a church goer again but as i am writing this i am saying i wont be going to church anymore. i will always believe in God though. it does not help that the new pope is not as charismatic as pope paul II. i also will call myself catholic in my deathbed. right now my faith is between me and God no more church in between.
who knows if science really convince me that we ACTUALLY evolved then may be i will declare there really was no Creator after all.. as im writing this though... their discoveries just does not convince me. their evolution theory is all illustrations and scientific jargon that only people with science degree can understand. if only all scientists are as hot as emily deschanel who plays a scientist in bones tv series. she always speaks scientific terms and for once, even if i dont have any idea what she is talking about, i actually find it... VERY cool! and not boring like many posters here who use scientific terms.
I'm sorry if science doesn't appeal. I have to admit that I boggle at some of the more erudite stuff posted and, certainly, if it doesn't gell in head straight away there is tendency to switch off.
That said I applaud your desire to do what you feel to be the right thing rather than what you are told to do, just on someone's opinion.
God's ability to forgive is greater than any sin. The Catholic Church has been here for almost 2000 years through upheavals that the world has never seen before or since. If the Reformation didn't kill mother Church, what makes you think the current situation is going to kill her. Jesus will protect His Church as He promised.
of course it will not the 1st reformation. but the cover ups need to stop. and declaring bankrupsy and stiffing people on their retirement pension is shameless.
Why I wonder is even Pope Benedict is now in the crossfire of the sex abuse scandals involving priests and the coverups of same.
Especially factoring in that the Episcopal Church is quite similar in many regards to the Catholic Church............I wonder if there will be a mass exodus from the latter to the former.
A mass exodus....amazing that I can see two puns in one phrase...
(Please note that I say the following with the greatest respect; it is not my intent to be sacreligious or blaspheme the Catholic Church in any way)
The Catholic Church as we know it is dying....and I think it needs to die.
You see, Catholicism, and Christianity as a whoie, has become bloated. Power structures that were relevant five hundred or a thousand years ago are no longer relevant today, and the old methods of control and accountability no longer function.
The Church is so firmly entrenched in its own interests and well-being that it is, in my opinion, 'using' the faithful by saying 'this is how to be pious' and then barricading themselves behind a locked door. Meanwhile, they commit horrendous acts, and shuffle those responsible around hoping that nobody will notice, while hiding 'out-of-sight' in a nigh-untouchable fortress of righteousness.
In order to survive, the Church needs to die; moreover, it needs to be reborn. The old, entrenched power structures must give way to new blood, and a 'new' Church -- one that is better adapted to the flexibility of the modern world -- must rise from the ashes of the old one.
The faithful must stand up and demand better of its leadership, or the mistakes of its past will continue to be committed, through simple apathy and ignorance.
Given what it has both caused and been subjected to in the past but yet survived, it will go on a long time still. It could drop a nuke bomb on a city of orphanages and it would still survive. There will always be followers and 'true believers.'
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Mostly though this is the Internet and on Internet English-language sites "outside Europe and the US/Canada" is poorly understood. Or at least this is what I recall in my capacity as a Wikipedian. 
