I wrote this for my AP Language and Composition class... thought you all might like to read it as well...

           Voltaire’s “Crush the Infamous Thing” still resounds through the centuries as a portent of animosity toward organized religion. The Catholic Church has done itself no favors in refuting Voltaire’s assertion. Her tumultuous history ranging from the crusades in the thirteen hundreds to the modern day sex scandals make it easy to forget the true meaning of the Catholic Church.  In fact, most people, including some Catholics, tend to overlook both the infallibility of the institution, and the good its people have wrought. There is no doubt in my mind that the Church, as instituted by Jesus Christ, is infallible. Any organization, no matter its purpose, is run by humans and therefore susceptible to mistakes; it is not the greater organization making these mistakes, but rather the people inside it that falter and fail. It is the same way with the Catholic Church. The Church has not failed; the men inside it sinned against what they swore to uphold. But even with these occurrences, the beauty of the Church’s mission has not faded, but rather grown more mature and prominent in spite of these atrocities.

            One of the most tangible factors of the Church’s influence is its insistence on education. There are 223 Catholic Colleges in the United States alone, 8,102 Catholic schools, nearly seven thousand of which are focused on grades K-8. These schools not only give excellent education, but they also instill moral values and tendencies necessary in both a good Catholic and a good citizen of the United States (Center of Education Reform. K-12 Stats)

The Church’s focus on education is not a recent development. Before the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century, the ruling class saw no need for an educated peasantry. Because of this, only the Church offered any form of education at all. Saints like Thomas Aquinas and Ignatius of Loyola transformed Church thought, and St. Ignatius also founded the Jesuit order, instrumental in the Counter-Reformation and is now prominent in education as well.

More than half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world’s population are Catholic. As a universalizing religion (global, appealing to all people), combined with technological advances and continuing globalization, it has become easier for the Church to spread to wide areas while in contact with all regions. The Vatican has ensured that all churches read the same readings and perform the same Mass each day. This is a major unification point within the Church. The ability for a person to comprehend what is going on during the mass, no matter what language, brings the entire faith together into one unified being.

World Youth Day also signifies a gathering of the church family. Thousands of young Catholics from all over the world travel to a specific destination every three years to both celebrate and learn the faith, and to “build bridges of friendship and hope between continents, peoples and cultures.” We are the future, and as the body of Christ, we need to learn to work in harmonious unison to better serve God and the world. (WYD FAQS)

 The Catechism of the Catholic Church, sponsored and promulgated by Pope John II as one concise guide to major Church doctrine, states that the Church is “in her very nature missionary, sent by Christ to all the nations… especially to the poor.” Mother Teresa manifests herself in this quote. Her drive was to serve the poorest of the poor, the starving dying in the streets, lepers lying abandoned in alleyways—this was her life, her calling, and she spread it all over the world. She was quoted saying “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.” This is a happy miracle indeed, as her Missionaries of Charity have spread to more than 100 cities throughout the world. (CCC 767, 886)

            Catholic Charities is another institution representing the Church’s willingness to help those who cannot help themselves. Located in the USA, CC is dedicated to “eliminating poverty, supporting families, and empowering communities,” and they gave aid to more than 12.5 million causes in 2005 alone. As a non-profit organization, more than 90% of all donations go to serving others, making it one of the most efficient charities in the country. (Catholic Charities USA)

            Despite the fallacies of the past, the Church is now larger than it has ever been. Even in the United States, the percent growth is astounding—16 percent from 1990 to today. Bishop Fulton Sheen, a prominent Catholic evangelist, once stated, “Not 100 in the United States hate the Roman Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think the Roman Catholic Church is.” Catholics have been working to change that viewpoint, and although there have been pitfalls, the Church has made many advances and helped so many lives that the negatives are little more than small pebbles scattered throughout thousands of grains of sand.

yeah... needs some work... but i'm lazy.....