The Catholic Church is and has been a force for good in the world

I would like to start by pointing out that my opponent defines "good" by "doing good". This makes our definition rather problematic since we're using the word to define the word. That's like saying "I define a serpent as a serpent." We still don't have a coherent definition. What I see as "good" may not be what my opponent sees as "good" (and vice versa). I would assert that since my opponent is an atheist, he is unable to offer any kind of objective standard for what is "good". All he can really do is offer his opinion as to what he personally calls "good". He really can't say that what I call good is wrong. He can say it's not for him, but on what authority can he say I am wrong? Appealing to the popularity of something would be a logical fallacy. With this in mind, I could simply declare victory now without making a single argument. But what fun would that be? Having said that, I will now make my case for the Catholic Church being a force for "good" and then rebut my opponent's claims. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS A FORCE FOR GOOD 1. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world. [1] In 2010, the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers said that the Church manages 26% of health care facilities in the world, including hospitals, clinics, orphanages, pharmacies and centres for those with leprosy.[2] 2. The Catholic Church gave the world the university system. The papacy played a central if not exclusive role in the establishment and encouragement of the universities. Naturally, the granting of a charter to a university was one indication of this papal role. Some 81 universities had been established by the time of the Reformation. Of these 33 possessed a papal charter, 15 a royal or imperial one, 20 possessed both, and 13 had none. In addition, it was the accepted view that a university could not award degrees without the approbation of pope, king, or emperor. Pope Innocent IV officially granted this privilege to Oxford University, for example, in 1254. The pope (in fact) and the emperor (in theory) possessed authority over all of Christendom, and for this reason it was to them that a university typically had to turn for the right to issue degrees. Equipped with the approval of one or the other of these universal figures, the university"s degrees would be respected throughout all of Christendom. Degrees awarded only by the approval of national monarchs, on the other hand, were considered valid only in the kingdom in which they were issued.[3] 3. The Catholic Church was a major force for the outlawing of slavery. In his 1839 bull In Supremo Apostolatus, Pope Gregory XVI condemned all forms of slavery; nevertheless some American bishops continued to support slavery for several decades.[4] In this historic Bull, Pope Gregory outlined his summation of the impact of the Church on the ancient institution of slavery, beginning by acknowledging that early Apostles had tolerated slavery but had called on masters to "act well towards their slaves... knowing that the common Master both of themselves and of the slaves is in Heaven, and that with Him there is no distinction of persons". Gregory continued to discuss the involvement of Christians for and against slavery through the ages:[5] "In the process of time, the fog of pagan superstition being more completely dissipated and the manners of barbarous people having been softened, thanks to Faith operating by Charity, it at last comes aboutthat, since several centuries, there are no more slaves in the greater number of Christian nations. But - We say with profound sorrow - there were to be found afterwards among the Faithful men who, shamefully blinded by the desire of sordid gain, in lonely and distant countries, did not hesitate to reduce to slavery Indians, negroes and other wretched peoples, or else, by instituting or developing the trade in those who had been made slaves by others, to favour their unworthy practice. Certainly many Roman Pontiffs of glorious memory, Our Predecessors, did not fail, according to the duties of their charge, to blame severely this way of acting as dangerous for the spiritual welfare of those engaged in the traffic and a shame to the Christian name; they foresaw that as a result of this, the infidel peoples would be more and more strengthened in their hatred of the true Religion. 4. The Catholic Church with leadership of Pope John Paul II helped end totalitarian communism.[9] REBUTTALS A few things to keep in mind while reading my opponent's claims: 1. Individuals, or groups of individuals, are not the Catholic Church. Just because a group of nuns or priests may be doing something doesn't mean it's condoned by the Church at large. 2. Even if a pope does something someone considers evil, it doesn't mean the Catholic Church is evil. For example, even if the President of the United States murdered a baby, we wouldn't by extension assume the entire concept of a representative democracy was an evil form of government. 3. If those people who do what some would consider evil are violating official Church teachings when they do their evil acts, that actually supports MY claim that the Catholic Church is a force for good. At the very least, it doesn't condemn the Church as a whole. For example, the Catholic Church teaches that rape is morally evil [6], so those who engage in such activities are going AGAINST what the Church says. Therefore, you can't blame the Church for the priestly scandal since those priests are acting counter to what the Church teaches. The same can be said for kidnapping and torture.[7] Now for a more specific refutation of my opponent's claims. My opponent's comments will be in quotes. My rebuttals will be preceded by a # "If one is going to defend the proposition then one has to begin by making a great deal of heartfelt apologies and request for contrition. The crimes perpetrated by the Catholic Church against humanity and the offenses against the free intelligence must be pardoned for." #Pure opinion without evidence. "His Holiness begged forgiveness for, among some other things, the inquisition, the crusades, the persecution of the Jewish people, forced conversion of indigenous people in South America and injustice towards women (half the human race)." #This is not accurate. The Pope apologized for the sins ASSOCIATED with those issues, but not the issues themselves. For example, the concept of the inquisition and crusades was a noble one. The inquisition was created to protect the stability of a country, and the crusades were meant to reclaim land that had been stolen. "This was followed by proceeding apologizes that have although already been apologized for in the course of the 20th century, but which he chose to emphasize his regret for in his sermon. These apologizes range from the African slave trade; the fact that Pope Pius XII was silent when the Nazis rounded up the Jews to be deported from Rome " #The claim about Pope Pius XII is ridiculous and wrong. Pope Pius XII saved approximately 860,000 Jews from certain death. [8] "the fact that the very doctrine that said that Jews murdered Christ was said to have ideologically reinforced Nazism and was an official doctrine taught by the Catholic Church until 1964" #No such doctrine ever existed. I challenge my opponent to show otherwise. If his claim is true, it should be easy for him to prove. Simply give us the name of the magisterial document in which the doctrine was defined, the Pope or council that promulgated it, and the year this happened. "the fact that Vatican officials allegedly helped Nazis escape facing trial for what they had done by helping them escape Europe. (1)" # I would like to see evidence of such a claim (besides a Google blog). "And it doesn't end there. There are other albeit less significant admissions of bad conscience. One such admission is of the very fact that rape and torture of orphans have been going on in church-run schools in almost every country on earth. These are serious matters that cannot be brushed aside by referencing to occasional works of Catholic charities or other philanthropically oriented Catholic endeavors." # Remember what I said above about those who violate Church teachings. It actually supports MY claims. The Vatican must be exposed for what it is: a criminal body under international law. In fact, it has been declared as a transnational criminal organization by a verdict of the International Common Law Court of Justice. It declared the Catholic Church and its governing body, the Vatican, is to be considered as a criminal body under international law. It found that the Catholic Church along with its highest officials were guilty of aiding and abetting child trafficking worldwide. "The laws passed in Rome criminalized disclosure of information regarding child abuse (or I should say child rape) and molestation. The new internal church policy threatens members with excommunication were any clergy or employee to utter a single word of any sex abuse in the church to the authorities. The internal policy is called 'Crimine solicitationies' from 1962 that the Vatican sent to every bishop in the world." # This document has nothing to do with the sex scandal. It's about a priest not being allowed to solicit a sinful person to confess their sins. You can see for yourself here [10] "The Catholic Church has over the course of history managed to establish itself as a powerful institution. The church has managed to ingratiate itself in many areas of society in order to consolidate its monetary wealth and power. Not only has it done so in the past long gone but also at times still remembered today." # What's wrong with that? My opponent's claim is without warrant. "The power at the Catholic Church"s disposal has often been abused and deployed in ways that has grossly violated human rights and the freedom of men and women alike, but particularly for women. The Baby Scoop Era was period that lasted somewhere between the end of World War II and approximately between 1970 and 1980s. During this period, religious organizations - primarily the Catholic Church " ran mother care clinics. The most well-known of the religious run institutions was The Magdalene Laundries run by the Catholic Church. What essentially characterized this period was that many women had little to no control over their reproductive lives. Roe vs Wade had not been implemented so abortions were prohibited until 1973 in US, and abortions were not regularly available in most countries until the early-mid 1970"s. This was also the case for birth control which was not readily available until the 1960"s, albeit these were only granted to married couples in the 1960s and was only available for single mother in the 1970s. The situation for unwed single mothers at this time was, thus, that they had few successful ways to prevent pregnancies and/or to end pregnancies. Since the care of pregnant women out of wedlock were handled primarily the Magdalene asylums (a Catholic institution) not only in the US but across Europe, Australia and Canada, these were subject to the care of Catholics, and, in extension, the Catholic Church itself because it supervised these institutions. The Magdalene Laundries operated for more than 200 years. It started like a shelter for prostitutes (hence, referring to the prostitute Magdalene in the bible) seemingly as a place where they could come and go. It started off as a penitential asylums but eventually became a closed off detention facility where these "fallen women" were doing laundry and other types of hard labor works to perhaps your parents and grandparents. However, for some women these were closed communities, essentially detaining centers where women could completely disappear from society. From 1765 until the late 1990, it is estimated that in Ireland alone about 30,000 women were incarcerated in these facilities due to their loss of chastity and, thus, they had fallen from the grace of God. (http://www.the-archer.co.uk......). This was a mischief that was associated with prostitution and was not morally and socially acceptable during these times because of the view that a woman"s sexuality were to be constricted to the status of marriage, under the supervision of an authoritative man. The women were, thus, seen as "fallen", and it was the goal of these institutions to rehabilitate the women to society. However, few women ever returned to society but were instead imprisoned in these facilities in order to work in these facilities and remunerate God, essentially. This included hard labor work such as doing laundry work before the advent of more modern washing machines, boiling coppers and hand wringing devices. (5) In the 1940s and 1950s, the term "illegitimacy" started to be used as a psychological characterization on the part of the mother as essentially an unfit mother. During this time, two diametrically conflicting paradigms faced each other: a more open view on women"s sexuality as contrasted to the traditional view that chastity was a moral virtue and that everything else was regarded as sin. Because of the liberalization of women"s sexual mores coincided with the traditionalists deliberate attempts to thwart this sexual emancipation through restrictions on access to birth control. This, however, lead to an increase in premarital pregnancies. (3)" # Remember what I said about not blaming an entire government just because some of its members did what some would consider evil. My opponent has offered no evidence that the Vatican even knew of this alleged abuse. Also remember what I said about those who violate official Church teachings. The violation supports my claim that the Church is a force for good. "In US alone, from approximately 1940 to 1970 an estimated 4 million mothers in the United States had to relinquish their newborn children for adoption; 2 million of the infants were surrendered in 1960 alone. In contrast, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services estimated that about 14000 of these were "voluntarily" given up for adoption in 2003. (4)" # The source provided for this data doesn't even mention the Catholic Church, so I don't see how it's relevant to this discussion. "In Spain alone it is estimated that over 300,000 babies were trafficked by institution run by the Catholic Church. This lasted from the reign of Franco until early nineties, over a period of five decades. The babies were essentially stolen from their parents (but most often it was single and unwed mothers that were effected) by a secret network of nurses and doctors. The nurses and doctors basically lied and said that the baby had died during or after birth and that the seeing the baby. They then put these infants up for adoption to devout parents that were financially stable, hence seen as "better" parents. Thus, the Catholic Church has made a fortune upon the misery of millions of women and children. (6)" # Again, no evidence is offered claiming the Vatican knew about this. Also again, those who violate Church teachings..... I have addressed/ rebutted all my opponent's claims. I am curios to see how he attempts to claim my contentions aren't evidence for.the Catholic Church being a force for good. Sources: 1. Agnew, John (12 February 2010). "Deus Vult: The Geopolitics of Catholic Church". Geopolitics 15 (1): 39"61. 2. "Catholic hospitals comprise one quarter of world's healthcare, council reports". Catholic News Agency. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2012 3 http://www.catholiceducation.org... 4.Stark, Rodney (2003-07-01). "The Truth About the Catholic Church and Slavery". Christianity Today. 5. http://www.papalencyclicals.net... 6. http://www.scborromeo.org... 7. http://ccc.scborromeo.org.master.com... 8. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org... 9. http://www.washingtonpost.com... 10. http://rcf.org...