Yes, Steve, I can leave the club. The trouble is, the Catholic Church is MY club, part of who I am. I find the Presence of God within that Catholic Church, flawed though that church may be. So, I should leave is simply because you think I should?

And would my leaving the Catholic Church stop certain Catholics from being unjust and obnoxious and molesting children and whatever else you find atrocious? And mind you, I also find those things atrocious.

Do you move out of the neighborhood every time you don't like the neighbors?

But, as we've said in discussing the Edie Brickell song earlier in these threads, "What I am is What I am." I am not your conception of me. I am not your conception of the Catholic Church. My faith is not what you conceive to be faith. And my conception of God, is not your conception of God - in fact, there's a good chance that my conception of God is the exact opposite of what you conceive.

-Joe Offer-