Catholic Church, Mass Attendance

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 9:58am

maestroamado wrote: »

Your language tells me all i need know about you...

english?

maestroamado · 01-05-2020 10:08am

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

english?

I do not want to talk to people like you goodbye...

carq · 01-05-2020 10:17am

I dont know how many people have visited the vatican but the sheer number of priceless art works and sculptures they have are incredible.
They have more than they know what to do with and these are only the fraction they put on public display.

The fact they are still shaking down pensioners for their pension money every week with their various contribution envelopes is mind boggling given the wealth of the organisation, their land holdings and how few priests there actually are now.

Also the practise of publishing how much each person gives weekly to guilt people into giving more money is evil.

touts · 01-05-2020 10:22am

12 months of no more than 10 at a wedding or funeral or baptism and no first communions or confirmations at all and the church will be finished. People only use it for those events because it is socially expected. Once that expectation is broken it will never come back.

Marhay70 · 01-05-2020 10:31am

carq wrote: »

I dont know how many people have visited the vatican but the sheer number of priceless art works and sculptures they have are incredible.
They have more than they know what to do with and these are only the fraction they put on public display.

The fact they are still shaking down pensioners for their pension money every week with their various contribution envelopes is mind boggling given the wealth of the organisation, their land holdings and how few priests there actually are now.

Also the practise of publishing how much each person gives weekly to guilt people into giving more money is evil.

Far be it from me to be defending the RCC but the same is true of most religions. It stems from a time where people thought that Gods lived in certain places and so brought them all their most precious possessions in an effort to get a favourable response whether it be a good harvest or a victory in battle etc. etc. In fact Christianity only became the main religion in the Western world because the Emperor Constantine thought that the Christian God helped him in a critical battle.

01-05-2020 10:47am

carq wrote: »

I dont know how many people have visited the vatican but the sheer number of priceless art works and sculptures they have are incredible.
They have more than they know what to do with and these are only the fraction they put on public display.

The fact they are still shaking down pensioners for their pension money every week with their various contribution envelopes is mind boggling given the wealth of the organisation, their land holdings and how few priests there actually are now.

Also the practise of publishing how much each person gives weekly to guilt people into giving more money is evil.

I don’t think you understand at all how the church works based on your post. The church in Ireland has to be self sufficient and gets little or no money from the Vatican, why would it?

Also I have no idea where you get the idea that the church publishes what each person gives, that is total fiction. Some churches give the full amount collected in the previous weeks collection that’s it.

touts wrote: »

12 months of no more than 10 at a wedding or funeral or baptism and no first communions or confirmations at all and the church will be finished. People only use it for those events because it is socially expected. Once that expectation is broken it will never come back.

Rubbish.

maestroamado · 01-05-2020 11:14am

touts wrote: »

12 months of no more than 10 at a wedding or funeral or baptism and no first communions or confirmations at all and the church will be finished. People only use it for those events because it is socially expected. Once that expectation is broken it will never come back.

Your point about the big day is correct, i do not really blame the church as that's us as a people and has become.
To me the church should be more modest, the last local PP where i live changed his car every two years which is fine, it was merc or high end bmw.
I do not think the church will die but the big weddings and funerals will be trimmed i think.

El_Duderino 09 · 01-05-2020 12:06pm

carq wrote: »

I dont know how many people have visited the vatican but the sheer number of priceless art works and sculptures they have are incredible.
They have more than they know what to do with and these are only the fraction they put on public display.

The fact they are still shaking down pensioners for their pension money every week with their various contribution envelopes is mind boggling given the wealth of the organisation, their land holdings and how few priests there actually are now.

Also the practise of publishing how much each person gives weekly to guilt people into giving more money is evil.

Why would it be surprising that they continue to charge their members? Think about it from the perspective of: what are their goals?

It appears one of their goals is to accumulate ever more wealth. If it wasn't one of their objectives then why do they continue to do it? Does anyone think there's a limit at which the Catholics will stop trying to accumulate more wealth?

Of course not. It's just another corporation, accumulating wealth through selling their product. It's not complicated once you remove the advertising slogans and promises.

El_Duderino 09 · 01-05-2020 12:28pm

Jermaine Careful Schoolteacher wrote: »

Rubbish.

It's not total rubbish. A lot of people in Ireland go along with the Catholic rituals out of little more than habit and the fact that other people do it. The notion that all the people in mass or a wedding or first communion, is obviously not true.

The more people stop going along with it, the more other people stop going along with it. The Catholics are diminishing in Ireland and something like the lockdown is exactly the kind of thing that will break the habit and accelerate the decline in participation

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 12:31pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

It's not total rubbish. A lot of people in Ireland go along with the Catholic rituals out of little more than habit and the fact that other people do it. The notion that all the people in mass or a wedding or first communion, is obviously not true.

The more people stop going along with it, the more other people stop going along with it. The Catholics are diminishing in Ireland and something like the lockdown is exactly the kind of thing that will break the habit and accelerate the decline in participation

I cant remember the last wedding, christening, communion where the people involved actually wanted to be there. it was jut expected so they went through the motions

01-05-2020 12:33pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Why would it be surprising that they continue to charge their members? Think about it from the perspective of: what are their goals?

It appears one of their goals is to accumulate ever more wealth. If it wasn't one of their objectives then why do they continue to do it? Does anyone think there's a limit at which the Catholics will stop trying to accumulate more wealth?

Of course not. It's just another corporation, accumulating wealth through selling their product. It's not complicated once you remove the advertising slogans and promises.

If you think any wealth is being accumulated by churches in Ireland you are very mistaken. The collection is needed to keep the doors open and the lights on, pay the priests their modest income etc. Even something small like repairs need an additional collection to cover them.

You can see your parish churches accounts every year if you don't believe it.

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

The Catholics are diminishing in Ireland and something like the lockdown is exactly the kind of thing that will break the habit and accelerate the decline in participation

Or the lockdown will make people realise that they maybe need to reassess things and look at things like more prayer and returning to mass etc.

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I cant remember the last wedding, christening, communion where the people involved actually wanted to be there. it was jut expected so they went through the motions

Honestly I don't know how people can come out with this sort of nonsense, you cant really believe what you just wrote? I cant remember any wedding, christening or communion where people didnt want to be there. Its the same nonsense over on the wedding thread saying no one wants to be there, my experience is the majority really look forward to these events and thoroughly enjoy them.

LuasSimon · 01-05-2020 12:37pm

I attend mass every week with my family and it doesn’t do me any harm , I may not be listening to the gospel or sermon word for word but 40 minutes in my local church gives me a bit of mindfulness and get to say hello to some neighbours etc .

Maybe I have been fortunate but any interactions I had with priests were good , other priests helped relations who fell on hard times abroad etc and others were great to get local hall upgraded etc .

It seems the cool thing to be doing to demonise anyone who says a few prayers but I and plenty others are happy to go. Some people seem to be obsessed with their hatred of Catholics , do they hate protestants or Muslims or any other religion as much, if people are not interested in religion thats fine but its a free society , people can say a few prayers if they want .

Marhay70 · 01-05-2020 12:55pm

LuasSimon wrote: »

I attend mass every week with my family and it doesn’t do me any harm , I may not be listening to the gospel or sermon word for word but 40 minutes in my local church gives me a bit of mindfulness and get to say hello to some neighbours etc .

Maybe I have been fortunate but any interactions I had with priests were good , other priests helped relations who fell on hard times abroad etc and others were great to get local hall upgraded etc .

It seems the cool thing to be doing to demonise anyone who says a few prayers but I and plenty others are happy to go. Some people seem to be obsessed with their hatred of Catholics , do they hate protestants or Muslims or any other religion as much, if people are not interested in religion thats fine but its a free society , people can say a few prayers if they want .

If you are not listening to the Gospel or sermon then it just proves you are just doing it from force of habit. Most people will get a sense of well being from just sitting in a quiet spot and thinking about basically nothing.
Personally, I treat all organised religion in the same way, in my mind religion just removes peoples' ability to think for themselves, it's just that the RCC has been the dominant force in Ireland since the formation of the State.
As the saying goes "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" and people are reacting to that.

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 12:57pm

Jermaine Careful Schoolteacher wrote: »

Honestly I don't know how people can come out with this sort of nonsense, you cant really believe what you just wrote? I cant remember any wedding, christening or communion where people didnt want to be there. Its the same nonsense over on the wedding thread saying no one wants to be there, my experience is the majority really look forward to these events and thoroughly enjoy them.

so because your experience is different to mine that means my experience is nonsense?

pearcider · 01-05-2020 1:03pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

so because your experience is different to mine that means my experience is nonsense?

Sounds like you associate with very shallow people anyway.

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 1:18pm

pearcider wrote: »

Sounds like you associate with very shallow people anyway.

mainly non-religious people certainly though i am no sure what is so deep about supporting an organisation that aided and abetted child abuse on a massive scale.

El_Duderino 09 · 01-05-2020 1:22pm

Jermaine Careful Schoolteacher wrote: »

If you think any wealth is being accumulated by churches in Ireland you are very mistaken. The collection is needed to keep the doors open and the lights on, pay the priests their modest income etc. Even something small like repairs need an additional collection to cover them.

You can see your parish churches accounts every year if you don't believe it.

Or the lockdown will make people realise that they maybe need to reassess things and look at things like more prayer and returning to mass etc.

Honestly I don't know how people can come out with this sort of nonsense, you cant really believe what you just wrote? I cant remember any wedding, christening or communion where people didnt want to be there. Its the same nonsense over on the wedding thread saying no one wants to be there, my experience is the majority really look forward to these events and thoroughly enjoy them.

Of course the local branches of the Catholic corporation, aren't flush. They need to keep squeezing the membership to repair the roof and whatever else. Meanwhile, the parent company back in the Vatican is rolling in wealth. Why would they spend their own wealth when they could get the membership to donate theirs instead?

Yeah you might wish the lockdown will reverse the trend of the last decades and cause more people to take Catholicism seriously. I doubt it.

And I rally must say the people at any church weddings I go to are generally young and have no time for religious nonsense. But it is a hug part of the culture. Some people thing the legal part is when the priest casts the spells. They don't realise they legal part is when the couple sign the contract and has nothing to do with the chruch service.

My mrs was in a conversation about baptisms and mentioned we wouldn't baptise a child and her colleague looked confused and said "but who will give the child it's name if it's not christened?". It genuinely never occurred to her that the Catholics aren't needed to give a child it's name.

Some people don't have a clue how unnecessary the church is apart from a social club.

El_Duderino 09 · 01-05-2020 1:24pm

pearcider wrote: »

Sounds like you associate with very shallow people anyway.

Why would they be shallow because they have no interest in a religion?

c0w3jz6eia8h9n · 01-05-2020 1:25pm

Jermaine Careful Schoolteacher wrote: »

Or the lockdown will make people realise that they maybe need to reassess things and look at things like more prayer and returning to mass etc.

Btw, you have still to answer my previous questions.

For such a devote Catholic as you like to state here on boards do you adhere to all of their teachings:
- Have you had sex before marriage?
- Have you used contraception?
- Do you read the bible?
- Do you regularly go to confession and tell the priest your actual sins?

pearcider · 01-05-2020 1:29pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

mainly non-religious people certainly though i am no sure what is so deep about supporting an organisation that aided and abetted child abuse on a massive scale.

If your friends didn’t want to be there then why go. It would be more accurate to say you associate with hypocrites then. My apologies.

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 1:33pm

pearcider wrote: »

If your friends didn’t want to be there then why go. It would be more accurate to say you associate with hypocrites then. My apologies.

social expectations. that has been explained many times already on the thread. try to keep up. I admit that i like your christian attitude to other posters. turn the other cheek and all that.

mikhail · 01-05-2020 1:38pm

pearcider wrote: »

If your friends didn’t want to be there then why go. It would be more accurate to say you associate with hypocrites then. My apologies.

Plenty of people attend those ceremonies for the benefit of their relatives and friends. Certainly, I have plenty of friends who find the religious ceremonies tedious but don't want to cause offence, and they've all been far more delicate about it than some religious folks I've known to spend a civil wedding bitching about it not being a real wedding.

forgottenhills · 01-05-2020 1:39pm

The way that I think that this whole religion/atheism/agnosticism thing has, does and will, work is like this:

1. A certain religion gets to be the big cheese in a particular country and over time gets adopted by the majority and develops its institutions and indeed fashions society in its image.

2. Many become true believers but the majority of church goers are either fairly mindless sheeple and follow anything that has become the established dogma or else people with no particular views who go along with the majority anyway for a quiet life.

3. Only a small number of people initially are independent-thinking enough to realise that religion is a recurring human invention and are strong enough to openly call it that.

4, Over time greater education swells the number of these people and eventually the numbers that are openly agnostic/atheist swell

5. Eventually the sheeple element see the trend and they also declare they are committed atheists and are among the most enthusiastic in saying stupid or insulting stuff about religious people. The previously dominant religion wanes.

6. Some new religion or religion equivalent comes along, rinse and repeat.

pearcider · 01-05-2020 1:44pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

social expectations. that has been explained many times already on the thread. try to keep up. I admit that i like your christian attitude to other posters. turn the other cheek and all that.

Hypocrisy to me. Just go to the afters rather than moan about it.

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 1:46pm

pearcider wrote: »

Hypocrisy to me. Just go to the afters rather than moan about it.

a supporter of the catholic church complaining about hypocrisy. my irony meter has just exploded

pearcider · 01-05-2020 1:48pm

mikhail wrote: »

Plenty of people attend those ceremonies for the benefit of their relatives and friends. Certainly, I have plenty of friends who find the religious ceremonies tedious but don't want to cause offence, and they've all been far more delicate about it than some religious folks I've known to spend a civil wedding bitching about it not being a real wedding.

You hang around with clowns too then.

pearcider · 01-05-2020 1:49pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

a supporter of the catholic church complaining about hypocrisy. my irony meter has just exploded

That’s a witty comment. You must be a real laugh at weddings.

Marhay70 · 01-05-2020 1:55pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

social expectations. that has been explained many times already on the thread. try to keep up. I admit that i like your christian attitude to other posters. turn the other cheek and all that.

In my experience people who hold strong religious views, and I make the distinction between religious views and Christian views, are often intolerant of people who hold opposing views.

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 1:57pm

Marhay70 wrote: »

In my experience people who hold strong religious views, and I make the distinction between religious views and Christian views, are often intolerant of people who hold opposing views.

aint that the truth.

El_Duderino 09 · 01-05-2020 2:06pm

pearcider wrote: »

Hypocrisy to me. Just go to the afters rather than moan about it.

That would be making a stand on someone else's wedding and could be out of order.

It's much simpler to just go along with the wishes of the person who invites you to their wedding. I wouldn't be upset if someone declined an invitation to my wedding but I know other people can be more sensitive about these things.

It's what most people, who go and sit through the chants and spells, do. A lot of the time people put on entertainment (music for example) during the service to break up the boredom.

beauf · 01-05-2020 2:16pm

Marhay70 wrote: »

In my experience people who hold strong religious views, and I make the distinction between religious views and Christian views, are often intolerant of people who hold opposing views.

Certain irony there considering thread is hardly a shining example of tolerance to religious views that people don't agree with.

Its really got nothing to do with mass attendance, its just another rant about the RC and a bunch of personal attacks.

But its after hours so

...

After hours is the place to come on boards where general discussion can be light-hearted. The aim here is to have a bit of a laugh and not to piss anybody off while doing so.

This forum has been variously described as a refuge for idiots, the dregs of boards.ie, ...

... who really cares. No idea why people get so worked up. This forum is meant to be a bit of laugh.

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 2:24pm

beauf wrote: »

Certain irony there considering thread is hardly a shining example of tolerance to religious views that people don't agree with.

Its really got nothing to do with mass attendance, its just another rant about the RC and a bunch of personal attacks.

But its after hours so

... who really cares. No idea why people get so worked up. This forum is meant to be a bit of laugh.

the post you quoted was posted in response to personal comments made by church supporters. if you are not religious you are either shallow or a hypocrite. tolerance indeed.

Marhay70 · 01-05-2020 2:27pm

beauf wrote: »

Certain irony there considering thread is hardly a shining example of tolerance to religious views that people don't agree with.

Its really got nothing to do with mass attendance, its just another rant about the RC and a bunch of personal attacks.

But its after hours so

... .

The biggest irony is that those whose religion supposedly teaches them to be tolerant of others no matter how intolerant those others are of them, have proven to be the most intolerant.
Any thread about Mass attendance is bound, by natural progression, to explore reasons why that might be changing.

AndrewJRenko · 01-05-2020 2:51pm

LuasSimon wrote: »

I attend mass every week with my family and it doesn’t do me any harm , I may not be listening to the gospel or sermon word for word but 40 minutes in my local church gives me a bit of mindfulness and get to say hello to some neighbours etc .

Jermaine Careful Schoolteacher wrote: »

Or the lockdown will make people realise that they maybe need to reassess things and look at things like more prayer and returning to mass etc.

Would you gents or any other believers have any thoughts on why your supreme being allowed this Covid 19 crisis to happen?

Or why childhood cancer exists?

Or why mental health conditions leading to suicide exist?

beauf · 01-05-2020 2:57pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

the post you quoted was posted in response to personal comments made by church supporters. if you are not religious you are either shallow or a hypocrite. tolerance indeed.

Straight to the personal attack nice.

(... if I'm not religious)

I'm not on either side. Its just an observation, that both sides are doing exactly what they are accusing the other side of doing. But can't see thats what they are doing. Funny. Its like the Apple vs Microsoft arguments, cyclists vs Motorists. Round and round.

Marhay70 wrote: »

The biggest irony is that those whose religion supposedly teaches them to be tolerant of others no matter how intolerant those others are of them, have proven to be the most intolerant.
Any thread about Mass attendance is bound, by natural progression, to explore reasons why that might be changing.

Lots of Irony on both sides. Looking from the outside in on these rants.

There's a pattern to these threads. Some vague title, thats almost never mentioned in the thread that follows. But then thats par for the course for after hours. You don't have serious threads in this forum. That's the point of it.

Mass attendance has been declining for a very long time, its been in decline for over half a century in Ireland. Get over it.

Silentcorner · 01-05-2020 3:04pm

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Would you gents or any other believers have any thoughts on why your supreme being allowed this Covid 19 crisis to happen?

Or why childhood cancer exists?

Or why mental health conditions leading to suicide exist?

Profound stuff there....

Perhaps the comfort people's faith in religion allows them deal with personal tragedy in their own dignified way, the illness of a child is a very tough burden.

Can you show me evidence that religious people are more likely to commit suicide or have mental health conditions please.

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 3:06pm

beauf wrote: »

Straight to the personal attack nice. (... if I'm not religious)

you completely misunderstand. shallow and/or hypocrites is how non-religious people were described by one of the religious people posting earlier today.

Marhay70 · 01-05-2020 3:08pm

beauf wrote: »

Straight to the personal attack nice. (... if I'm not religious)

I'm not on either side. Its just an observation, that both sides are doing exactly what they are accusing the other side of doing. But can't see thats what they are doing. Funny. Its like the Apple vs Microsoft arguments, cyclists vs Motorists. Round and round.

Lots of Irony on both sides. Looking from the outside in on these rants.

There's a pattern to these threads. Some vague title, thats almost never mentioned in the thread that follows. But then thats par for the course for after hours. You don't have serious threads in this forum. That's the point of it.

Mass attendance has been declining for a very long time, its been in decline for over half a century in Ireland. Get over it.

"Get over it" is probably the most dismissive and insulting throwaway remark in the English language today. If it's OK with you I'll choose when and how I'll "Get over it", I won't need nor take direction from anybody.

LuasSimon · 01-05-2020 3:08pm

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Would you gents or any other believers have any thoughts on why your supreme being allowed this Covid 19 crisis to happen?

Or why childhood cancer exists?

Or why mental health conditions leading to suicide exist?

Why are you worried about other people going to church ?
You hate Catholics that’s fine , go do what you want to do .lots of people get comfort from daily life , illness , death by saying a few prayers , no one asking you to do anything !

El_Duderino 09 · 01-05-2020 3:11pm

LuasSimon wrote: »

Why are you worried about other people going to church ?
You hate Catholics that’s fine , go do what you want to do .lots of people get comfort from daily life , illness , death by saying a few prayers , no one asking you to do anything !

Where did you get the idea that the poster hates Catholics?

beauf · 01-05-2020 3:21pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

It's already gone, I haven't known of anyone going to mass in probably 20 years, and that would have been my Grandmother.
It usually takes a while for rural Ireland to catch up on these things, but you'll see the light eventually.

On the very rare occasions I've been near a mass, those in rural areas, were way ahead in terms of decline than those I've seen in Dublin. (I'm excluding weddings, funerals etc.)

beauf · 01-05-2020 3:26pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

you completely misunderstand. shallow and/or hypocrites is how non-religious people were described by one of the religious people posting earlier today.

I included them in what I said.

There is an interesting discussion to be had about the decline on the RC and in Ireland. But its not possible to have it on Boards, never mind after hours.

beauf · 01-05-2020 3:32pm

Canis Lupus wrote: »

And yet the churches are still full of baptisms, 1st communions, confirmations and marriage and a good solid chunk of those people don't even believe but attend just because it's the done thing or because it gets their kids into the 'right' school.

Catholicism is a long way off dying although it's taken a good hit. Will be at least another couple of generations for Ireland to be solidly free of the nonsense.

It will never be "free" it will fall to a level like it is in England or similar.

But its interesting how the hierarchy of the church is so out of touch, so dated in its mindset, so ingrained and so obsolete that every decision it makes only accelerates its decline.

mikhail · 01-05-2020 3:37pm

LuasSimon wrote: »

Why are you worried about other people going to church ?

This thread is about Catholicism. It's called mass, not church. Someone's been reading too many US religious discussions.

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 3:38pm

beauf wrote: »

I included them in what I said.

There is an interesting discussion to be had about the decline on the RC and in Ireland. But its not possible to have it on Boards, never mind after hours.

if you did understand then perhaps you can clarify as to what personal attacs of mine you were referring to?

ohnonotgmail · 01-05-2020 3:39pm

mikhail wrote: »

This thread is about Catholicism. It's called mass, not church. Someone's been reading too many US religious discussions.

or maybe they are *makes sign of the cross* protestants.

Electric Sheep · 01-05-2020 3:44pm

maestroamado wrote: »

Your point about the big day is correct, i do not really blame the church as that's us as a people and has become.
To me the church should be more modest, the last local PP where i live changed his car every two years which is fine, it was merc or high end bmw.
I do not think the church will die but the big weddings and funerals will be trimmed i think.

Interesting that you actually take note of how often your priest changes his car, and for what model. Still the valley of the squinting windows.

El_Duderino 09 · 01-05-2020 3:45pm

beauf wrote: »

It will never be "free" it will fall to a level like it is in England or similar.

But its interesting how the hierarchy of the church is so out of touch, so dated in its mindset, so ingrained and so obsolete that every decision it makes only accelerates its decline.

It depends on what you mean by "completely free".

I would consider ireland free from the Catholics when, for example, they don't automatically get a seat in the debates on laws of the land. They had absolutely no reason to get a seat on TV debates about abortion or gay marriage.

Anyone who is part of the Catholic club knows they're against abortions an gay rights. They have absolutely no place trying to tell the nation what laws it can have. Those positions of privilege are he kind of thing the Catholics take for granted and I'm sure they will see it as an attack when they aren't invited to give their corporate line on decisions in the future.

El_Duderino 09 · 01-05-2020 3:48pm

beauf wrote: »

I included them in what I said.

There is an interesting discussion to be had about the decline on the RC and in Ireland. But its not possible to have it on Boards, never mind after hours.

Is there really an Interesting discussion to be had? Is seems pretty clear cut. People are Increasingly choosing to not be Catholics. The religion has a strong foothold from early indoctrination but even that isn't enough to stop it's gate receipts falling.

What more is there to say?

AndrewJRenko · 01-05-2020 3:49pm

LuasSimon wrote: »

Why are you worried about other people going to church ?
You hate Catholics that’s fine , go do what you want to do .lots of people get comfort from daily life , illness , death by saying a few prayers , no one asking you to do anything !

Silentcorner wrote: »

Profound stuff there....

Perhaps the comfort people's faith in religion allows them deal with personal tragedy in their own dignified way, the illness of a child is a very tough burden.

Can you show me evidence that religious people are more likely to commit suicide or have mental health conditions please.

So no answers to the actual question then?

For the record, I don't hate Catholics. I didn't suggest that religious people are more likely to commit suicide or have mental health conditions.

I just asked about why an all-powerful, supposedly loving supreme being would allow childhood cancer to exist.

Catholic Church, Mass Attendance

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