The Catholic Church's Impact:
The Good and Bad
“About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing.”
— St. Joan of Arc (c. 1412–1431)
By the Editorial Staff
Updated 6/2/2023
At a Glance
Let’s take a moment to delve into the Church’s history, warts and all. In the end, why should we trust in the Church as a force for good and a proponent of truth?
The Catholic Church has helped the world in many ways over the centuries, spearheading widespread social acceptance of basic human equality and the sanctity of life. The significant social phenomenon of charity was instigated by the Church in ancient Rome (and, as a practice, it befuddled the Romans). Hospitals began as a Church initiative. Universities in Europe—which propelled and promoted modern science—were pioneered and largely funded by the Church in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Today, the Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental provider of education and medical services in the world, managing over 150,000 schools worldwide and 26% of the world’s healthcare facilities.
Moreover, the Church’s iconography, liturgical objects, and architecture are steeped in beauty and symbolism. Because of its long history and vast membership, the Church is famous for creating or elevating many excellent works of art, music, and philosophy. Examples include the majestic architecture of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral, the heartrending beauty of Michelangelo's Pietà, and the brilliant logic presented in Aquinas’ Summa Theologica.
However, the Church has also gained some disturbing notoriety over certain actions, such as the Medieval Crusades, the exacting Spanish Inquisition, and the more recent scandals surrounding the clerical abuse of minors. These are true, shameful, and tragic things. Nothing excuses them. Sadly, members of many major religions have committed sins instead of acts of good service—often in the name of the very religion they claim to represent.
The Catholic Church claims Jesus Christ as its founder and the pope as the vicar of Christ. However, this institution is composed of human members. A common saying admits that the Church is “not a museum of saints, but a hospital for sinners.” This sentiment reflects Jesus’ defense for keeping company with sinners: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
Even upon its very formation, the Church encountered scandals. Two of the twelve apostles sinned against Jesus Himself. They turned against Him even after walking with Him, hearing His words, and witnessing His wonders. In the end, Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, and Simon Peter, who had been entrusted to lead the fledgling Church, denied Jesus three times. Two thousand years later, the Church’s clergy are still flawed human beings, just like its laypeople. While a great number of Catholics are morally upstanding individuals, some have been guilty of heinous acts. Like any comprehensive, longstanding institution, the Church has its faults.
The opening scene of George Clooney’s 2014 war film The Monuments Men hails Belgium’s Ghent Altarpiece as “the defining monument of the Catholic Church.” In the film, upon learning that the Nazis have bombed Monte Cassino Abbey and stolen several priceless artworks, Professor Stokes (played by Clooney) is concerned that WWII will destroy much more than lives and nations. Seeking to protect and rescue Europe’s art masterpieces, he addresses President Roosevelt: “Now, while we must and we will, sir, win this war, we should also remember the high price that will be paid if the very foundation of modern society is destroyed.”
The Catholic Church was and remains integral to that foundation. While the heinous events must never be repeated, they should not cancel the high achievements and efforts of the Church as a whole.
Where Has the Church Failed?
Before we further discuss the Church’s role in elevating society, let’s first address where it has failed to fulfill its mission. The clerical abuse scandals have branded the Church with a big black mark, particularly around the turn of the century. It is a prominent issue in our current time. Such crimes are indeed a tragedy and a failure of the Church clergy. Tragically, such behavior is not exclusive to the Catholic world. The sad truth of the matter is that the late 20th-century Church scandals in America reflect the appalling problem of child sexual abuse in American society at large.
Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, estimates the rate of sexual abuse among the general American male population to be around one in 10. Margaret Leland Smith, a researcher at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, estimates the rate to be closer to one in five American males. The conclusions regarding child abuse’s prevalence are disputable; however, experts agree that the lack of data is lamentable. Newsweek contributor Pat Wingert surprisingly reports that, “no formal comparative study has ever broken down child sexual abuse by denomination, and only the Catholic Church has released detailed data about its own.”
Through much study of cases within religious settings, Allen states that the Catholic Church is not “a hotbed of [abuse] or a place that has a bigger problem than anyone else […] I can tell you without hesitation that we have seen cases in many religious settings, from traveling evangelists to mainstream ministers to rabbis and others.” Here, he refers to studies of abuse within religious denominations, Christian or otherwise. Meanwhile, John Jay College’s study of Catholic priests, limited to plausible accusations made between 1950 and 2010, reported that about 4% of the more than 100,000 priests active during those 60 years had been accused of sexual misconduct involving children. According to Psychology Today, “No empirical data exists that suggests that Catholic clerics sexually abuse minors at a level higher than clerics from other religious traditions or from other groups of men who have ready access and power over children (e.g., school teachers, coaches).”
Insurance companies offering sexual misconduct coverage have also determined that Catholic churches are not at higher risk than other congregations. Because of this lack of difference, GuideOne Center for Risk Management, which insures 40,000 church clients, does not charge higher premiums for Catholic churches. The heartbreaking reality is that “[child sexual abuse] is pretty even across the denominations,” according to Sarah Buckley, assistant vice president of GuideOne Center’s corporate communications.
Although we might agree that Catholics have a problem no larger than that of other denominations, any incidence of child abuse is reprehensible and must be addressed. What has the Church done to remedy the situation? Once the child sex abuse issue came to light, several measures were put in place to put American clerics through extensive training and screening to prevent further abuse. Since 2002, the incidents of clerical abuse of minors have tapered down to a trickle. According to the 2021 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops annual report, 235 allegations of sexual misconduct by priests involving minors were deemed to be credible during its fiscal year 2021. Only 6 of those allegations (3%) reported abuse that occurred after 2000.
Regarding the cases still coming forth, several involve international priests or visiting clergy who have not undergone the same rigorous training as American clerics. All dioceses and religious orders now have lay review boards that include judges, lawyers, psychologists, social workers, law enforcement officers, and others reviewing all cases of reported inappropriate clerical behavior. Every church worker, from the parish monsignor to the lay youth retreat volunteer, must participate in safe environment training, which details policies for protecting children and reporting any misconduct toward youth. A zero-tolerance policy is in effect, ensuring that any offending party credibly accused of abuse never returns to ministry again.
While the Catholic Church has provided the most transparency among religious institutions in the abuse cases, and the number of abuse cases has plummeted over the last several decades, the Church has plenty of work remaining to vigilantly eradicate child sexual abuse among its members and in general society. As Pope Benedict XVI stated in 2010, “The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice.”
The Church has not shied away from self-examination and reform. When German friar Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 decrying the Church’s sale of indulgences, the Church responded by calling the Council of Trent, which sparked internal reform that led to the elimination of the sale of indulgences and other corrupt clerical practices.
When approaching the great Jubilee year of 2000, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter seeking forgiveness for all the Church’s wrongdoings committed in the name of God, including the Crusades and the Inquisition:
Yet the consideration of mitigating factors does not exonerate the Church from the obligation to express profound regret for the weaknesses of so many of her sons and daughters who sullied her face, preventing her from fully mirroring the image of her crucified Lord, the supreme witness of patient love and of humble meekness.
— Pope John Paul II, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, no. 35
Western Civilization is Rooted in Catholicism
Despite the Church’s imperfect past, overall it has recognized many seeds of truth and beauty and nurtured them to full bloom. Many people outside the Church have recognized this. For example, Robert Wilson, an atheist businessman who donated $22.5 million to Catholic education in New York, argued that “without the Roman Catholic Church, there would be no Western civilization.” Note that Wilson referenced the Church itself, not merely its members.
Catholics have played an important role in society for the last two thousand years. We have spent an entire chapter discussing the innumerable contributions of Catholic scientists to modern scientific knowledge. In addition to the scientific contributions, Catholics have been fundamental contributors in fields such as language, music, and art. Catholics such as Cyril and Methodius developed entire alphabets. Catholic composers such as Mozart and Beethoven bestowed magnificent symphonies to the world of music. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Bernini were all incredibly skilled Catholic artists whose works we still esteem today.
You might be tempted to argue that these societal contributions from Catholics are no remarkable coincidence since the general Western world was Catholic in past ages, whether devout or not. While that may be true, the Catholic Church as a whole has been integral to founding and promoting various aspects of civilization, not just some of its members.
The Catholic mindset—centering on the idea that God is a God of reason and love—has formed Western society in many valuable ways. Catholicism noted the benefits of philosophy and applied that reasoning to the supernatural realm to form the field of theology. The Church also applied philosophy to law, eventually producing the first complete systematic body of law, in which all parts interact to form a whole. In its appreciation for order and beauty, the Church furthered music and architecture, developing Gregorian chant, the hymn, the oratorio, and the opera, as well as entire genres of design, such as Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, High Renaissance, and Baroque.
Valuing the person as the pinnacle of God’s creation made in His image, the Church has defended the dignity of the human person. The Catholic community played a pivotal role in thwarting the 20th-century U.S. eugenics movement. In 1927, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Pierce Butler, a devout Catholic, was the sole dissenter in Buck v. Bell, while the other Supreme Court justices upheld compulsory sterilization for people deemed to be unfit to procreate. The Church has also condemned abortion since the 1st century, affirming that “human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.” The Church offers pregnancy counseling, adoption services, baby supplies, basic needs support, and other services for pregnant women, free of charge. Always mindful of the eternal consequences, the Church has maintained an unwavering support for life.
Believing that each person has free will, along with responsibility for their personal actions, the Church has strongly promoted education. Catholic civilization developed grammar schools and, later, the university system, beginning with a law school in Bologna, Italy, in 1088 and followed by schools in Oxford, Cambridge, and many other cities. By the mid-15th century, over 50 universities dotted Europe, fostering higher learning. Today, the Church runs over 150,000 schools worldwide, educating over 50 million students annually. Many of the greatest minds in history have been formed in Catholic schools.
At the end of the day, the Church is more than its scandals, more than its faults, and more than its struggle to reform its sinners. It is also far more than medieval castle ruins and Gothic cathedrals (that accommodate more modern-day tourists than parishioners). The Church affirms that God dispenses His divine life to us through the Sacraments. If this is true, then what else does the Church have to show for it today?
Catholicism's Relevance in Today's World
The Church is a spiritual institution, yet it is also an organization on a mission to do Christ’s works of mercy: feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and comfort the sorrowful. It has indeed sheltered, educated, healed, supported, and generally helped much of mankind throughout the centuries, and continues these pursuits today. These actions stem from the Church’s obedience to Christ’s command, given at the Last Supper, to love one another (see John 13:34-35).
Christ’s example and instruction inspired the formation of early Christian communities, established the Benedictine Rule, and developed the systematic nursing and medical care we enjoy today. Catholic monks preserved not only the Bible and Christian works but also secular Latin literature, including works of Julius Caesar, Cicero, and Virgil.
Later in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church established monasteries and convents, which ultimately became the key medical centers of Europe. Today the Church claims more than one billion members across the globe, and its charitable tradition continues as the Church runs 5,500 hospitals, 18,000 clinics, and 16,000 homes for older people and people with disabilities. Most of these centers are located in underdeveloped and developing countries.
Over 200,000 Catholic parishes serve the needy in communities throughout the world. This charitable work is in addition to the aid provided by religious orders such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Missionaries of Charity, and Opus Dei. Heroic Catholic workers serve abandoned members of society—those who Mother Teresa called “the poorest of the poor”—running 600 leper colonies and 10,000 orphanages. This data does not include the works of lay organizations such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which assists 20 million people through its 150 locations worldwide.
The Catholic Church has been known—and often disparaged—for its teaching that genuine faith is shown through benevolent works. Dr. Jose Mario Bautista Maximiano, author of The Church Can Handle the Truth, spoke accurately of the Church when saying:
Immersed and yet transcendent, rooted on earth and yet yearning for heaven, the Church does not have all the technical solutions to the problems afflicting the world, Benedict XVI admitted in 2009, days after the G8 Summit in Italy, but she remains ‘an expert in humanity’ who proclaims the Gospel of love and justice.
This website has discussed the Eucharist as the literal body of Christ. Metaphorically, too, the body of Christ surrounds us elsewhere. Christians are also referred to as the Body of Christ: His hands and feet that carry out His mission in the world.
