Patty’s Ponderings-Catholicism and Me, Part Deux

I’ve already established that I have issues with the religion I was raised in. Now there is some new thought to add fuel to the philosophical fire.

Bill Keller is a columnist for The New York Times and recently wrote an op-ed piece titled, “Catholicism Inc.” His advice to the College of Cardinals, who will soon be electing a new pope, is that they begin treating the Catholic Church like a business--because, after all, the church owns a ton of real estate and serves over a million “customers”.

But the church isn’t just any business, but- -

“a global business in distress, suffering from poor management and a lack of modernization, not to mention a few scandals. What it needs is a CEO who can tweak its marketing, straighten out its finances, up its recruiting game, and repair its battered brand.”

Mr. Keller asked professional business consultants how they would advise the church on a business level. Their responses included everything from; electing a younger, more charismatic pope, to purging the church of predatory priests and fessing up to the church’s  scandals, to making reforms and publicizing them, figuring out what direction the church will take in the future and then a complete modernization.

Lots of great advice; but will the Catholic Church and its clergy take it? My faith in that particular miracle is nearly non-existent.