As someone who grew up Catholic, I can certainly appreciate this perspective. It's also important to point out that while the Catholic Church is among the largest monotheistic religions on the face of the planet, and the Vatican is home to a vast store of wealth, the face of the local church is often much different.

Even in large cities, parishes struggle to make ends meet, which is the reason for the collection plate. It's not to pay the priest's salary (his checks are signed by someone higher up in the diocese), but rather for upkeep and maintenance on the property itself. Many Catholic schools are attached to churches of the same name, and the offering may help take care of shortfalls in the educational realm as well, especially if the church and school share space for different things like using the school cafeteria as an after-mass meeting place for coffee and conversation.

In smaller and more rural communities, the problems can be complicated by older members dying and not being replenished from among the younger people, or the youth moving out of town to attend college or find work elsewhere, leaving the struggle to be that much harder. The various scandals through the years, especially involving pedophile priests, have not been kind to the organization either. I attended a Jesuit high school, which provided me with a phenomenal education, and which continues to reach out to alumni not just for donations but also for resources. Several months back, we received an email from the school explaining that a priest who was now on trial for abusing children had served on the staff of our high school for a brief period of time. While his tenure pre-dated my high school years, the school was reaching out to former students and encouraging them to come forward if anything untoward happened to them while they were there, whether it involved that particular man or not. I personally never experienced anything, nor to my knowledge did any of my classmates. Nevertheless, it's refreshing to see them reaching out and saying, "We need to know, and we want to help."

That, I think, says much.

I've drifted away from the Church over the years, but I make it a point and a priority to attend my school's Mass of Remembrance every year, if for no other reason than to stand with a number of other alumni, family, and friends and say, "These people are important, and they will not be forgotten." For me, it's more about community than it is about reciting a specific prayer or hymn, and it's about reminding myself that my time on this Earth is a gift with a limited duration and an unknown expiration date. One day I too will be just another name on the school's website of alumni who've passed on, but it's comforting to think others will still hear my name and remember me even after I'm gone. I know I think of my deceased classmates regularly.

Sorry, this kind of rambled. It's not really about fandom, per se, but your writings always inspire me to share. I guess that's what a good seminarian does though, right? :)