>>Finally, you mention the Catholic Church's inaction during World War II. This is a dark, dark blot on the history of the Church, and one that Catholics are still attempting to remedy to this day<< And let's not forget the Spanish Catholic Church's role in supporting the Franco dictatorship for almost 40 years, something they (partially) apologised for in the last couple of years, more than 20 years after his death. In fact, the Catholic Church here in Spain is in the news lately because of its involvement in (I stress involvement in, not responsibility for) a financial scandal, but also for its involvement in state educational policies. Spain is obviously a Catholic country although constitutionally it is a non-confessional state. Nevertheless the church has a legal right to decide on which teachers it sees fit to teach religion in the state school system, although the agreement does not include the obligation to pay the teachers. The Church, like any organisation, has a right to set up its private fee-paying schools wherever it wants. I have no objection to this. But we, the taxpayers (including Muslims, Hindus, atheists etcetera), pay the wages of the teachers who teach religion in the public school system (and 'religion' here means the catholic religion) but recently, especially with the coming to government of the right-wing 'Popular Party', the church has sniffed the scent of new times (or maybe it smells like the good old days) and has been flexing its muscles. It recently decided to fire a teacher of religion called Resureccion Garcia because she married a divorced man. In the middle of this matter the church also decided to fire another teacher for going out for a drink with his friends and another for skipping mass a couple of times. The church said in all cases that the teachers should live a catholic, religious life and not just teach it. I think all three teachers are taking the matter to court in order to be reinstated or if not, compensated for losing their job. In the debate around these firings it emerged that the church also takes a 'cut' of each teacher's salary. In justification, the church says the percentage is low, and that it is voluntary. The teachers say it's not so low, it's their money and that 'voluntary' means that paying it is optional but it is clear that those who decide not to pay are frequently out of a job pretty quick. The church automatically takes a cut of tax returns unless the contributor opts out. Of course I'm not saying that all Catholics are bad, or that every priest is evil, or that the work the church does is useless, or worse. NO. The missionaries especially do sterling work and in Spain itself the 'charity' aspects of the church provide much comfort for many distressed people. It's just that I distrust the influence that the Church has in so many aspects of life in Spain. Education, Divorce, Abortion, the list is endless and the influence is frequently hyper-conservative. I don't know about the rest of the world but Opus Dei here is like a secret society reproducing new generations of 'their people' in powerful positions in the church, the military, the law and the government, equivalent, I believe, to the Freemasons in the UK. I won't go on to talk about the COPE, the radio channel owned by the Episcopal Conference and which is one of the big chains here. I think you get the picture. mike in Barcelona PD Hola Ayoze ?dsnde vives?
