What are problems that the church face today?

Answer 1

Corruption was the main problem in the Medieval Roman Catholic Church. Even though priests, monks and nuns took vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty, they were sometimes not kept. Priests (and even some popes) had children, for example.

Corruption also extended to government power. One of the reason the United States of America advocates the separation of Church & State [i.e. the government] is that the Catholic Church sometimes worked with kings to help them get their way. The Church sometimes also had the power of excommunication and final pronouncement on many issues with huge ramifications, such as the divorce petition of Henry VIII vs. Catherine; it was one of the spurs for Henry VIII to break away from the Church and create his own, the Church of England.

As stated above, Church authorities (cardinals, bishops, archbishops and the pope) often meddled in secular politics to get a result most favorable for the Church.

The Catholic Church was also very wealthy. The land and wealth of people who died without heirs sometimes went to the Church. When rich people did bad things, they were sometimes asked to donate land to the Church and build a cathedral, monastery or abbey on it. People left land and material goods to the Church to have [what they thought was] a better chance of getting into Heaven.

The Church also made a great deal of money selling things, as well as scam artists in the name of the Church. Saints' bones, hair, clothing, etc. was sold (and was rarely real) to help bless the person who possessed it. Divine intercession could be bought; if you or a loved one had lived a sinful life, you could buy "leftover good" (left over from Jesus and the different saints when they were alive on Earth) to guarantee entrance for your family into Heaven.

Medieval life in Europe was centered around the Church. Peasants and serfs were promised an amazing afterlife if they respected their betters and lived a good life on Earth. This helped alleviate the discontent of extreme poverty and no control over their own lives.

People like Martin Luther (a Catholic monk who later founded Lutheranism) were offended by the corruption of the Catholic Church and created their own religions based on Catholicism, but with less corruption.

Answer 2

Since the reformation and the rise of Martin Luther the Catholic Church, like many organizations has struggled with the changing times.

The first issue it would appear is the transition from national identity (The Holy Roman Empire) is still progressing. The loss of a nation, an empire, takes a lot of time and they are trying to chart a new direction ever since.

The second is due to the fundamental structure of the Church they are slow to adapt to change. The whole point of the Catholic Church is to preserve tradition rather then rewrite it. So they are losing members to more nimble and quick to adapt churches.

Third is the general decline of formal, organized religion in general. Non-denominational churches thrive as Christianity is more and more decoupled from the formal church structure.

Fouth, since the ban on clerigy getting married the enrollment of priests in the late 20th century has dropped.

Fifth, due to need for priests background checks have been lax and predators looking for prey found the church an easy target to infiltrate in search of prey. Few organization outside of schools and churches have such easy access to vulnerable people. With more and more abuse scandles rocking religions and schools in the late 20th century the church has been slow to react. The open door policy that Christianity demands of itself makes it hard to keep track of who is involved with the chruch and if they pose a risk to members.

Sixth, the Papal Infallability concept has turned many away from the Church since it's inception. Like all organizations, corruption is a constant threat and to provide the pope Infallability was a slap in the face to many who had seeen mob connections, embezzlement, indulgences, even hidden gender and pregnancy.

Seventh, the non-interventionist nature of the Church has given them a black eye on several occasions including WW2

Eigth. the backdoor tolerance of anti-semitism. It is common still to this day to find Sunday school texts still positioning Jews as the killers of Christ (rather then say the Romans who actually did the crucifixion.) While it would more be appropriate to indicate that the population at large sided with the releast of Brutus rather then risk a perceived uprising and subsequent smackdown by Roman authorities.

There are plenty of difficulties ahead for the Church going into the 21st century and the question they struggle with is how to move forward without tossing out the traditional values they have chosen to protect.

An outsider's perspectiveI've studied Roman Catholicism thoroughly; even considered joining BUT there are problems--

1) Institutional discrimination against women and gays

2) Ban on Birth Control

3) The prohibition on marriage for the people who make laws and rules for all Catholics

4) Institutional protection for child molesters

5) Intolerance of diversity and lack of respect for other faiths (Judaism in particular)

To be modern, these must change. The above five points are a major issue with those leaving the Catholic Church.

Answer 3

The biggest problem in the Catholic Church today is a lack of education and knowledge, a free-for-all theology and many people insisting that they are Catholic while ignoring and doing exactly the opposite of what the Church actually teaches and believes. This gross ignorance is having many terrible results such as falling attendance, a gross disrespect for the Church in society, and most importantly, a loss of souls going to heaven. As for the later, many of them might well have ended up damned to hell anyway, but they should at least have the courtesy of actually being taught the faith and then they can reject it. So many people attending Mass today are just there out of habit and have never been catechized.

Answer 4

some I know:: break up, unsaved pastors, Rock Music (contemporary), divorce, unmodest clothing, preaching without the Bible, and people that think they can earn salvation