Oy.

I just read that a priest and six lay directors of a church in St. Louis have been excommunicated by the St. Louis archbishop. Why? Because they wouldn't surrender the parish's property and assets to the archdiocese.

It's hard to even know where to begin with the sins of the Catholic Church. Systematically sheltering abusers of children. Attacking the victims who tried to bring charges. Playing shell games with property and assets, then pleading poverty in attempts to avoid paying settlements. Anti-homosexual witch hunts.

And that's just in my memory. The history of the Church spreads back centuries.

And now this.

I feel sorry for catholics. This is clearly an abusive relationship, when your sacred rites are denied to you on the whim of the Church. (I'm also thinking of the bishops who denied Communion to politicians who didn't agree with the Church's position on abortion.)

If there is a Devil, he's laughing long and hard.