Medieval Serfdom?

Ok, I know it's a stretch, but this came on the news the other day here in Galicia, and it blew me away. Things like this are part of the reason why youth in Spain reject the Catholic Church so much, making it hard for them to believe in anything. The article's in Spanish so I'll give a synopsis.

A humble elderly couple (89 years old, to be exact) in Portomouro, Galicia had to pay 8,000 kg of corn and 320 kg of beans to the church (that's right, not the government, but...the church) yesterday or they would be evicted from the land they've lived and worked on all their life.

It all dates back to a legal contract made between the family and an Ederly Home run by the church in 1926, stating that the family could live and work on the land but they would have to pay rent, either in the form of money or spices/crops. The family payed diligently each month until the Home closed 35 years ago. For thirty-five years no one has ever demanded the rent until last week when the priest came forward.

The couple chose to pay in the form of crops (abiding by the 80 year old contract), something that the priest thought was "ridiculous" (I'm sure he would have prefered the money). Of course they didn't have 8,000 kg of corn nor 320 kg of beans, so they had to buy it, costing them more than 3,000 Euros. The priest stated that the church was going to sell the crops and give the money to the poor. Ironic.

Many young people in Spain consider themselves either atheist or agnostic, precisely because of what they see in the Catholic Church. And if I didn't know what it means to have a personal relationship with and have freedom in Jesus, I might have been one too.

My intention isn't to bash the Catholic Church or praise the Protestant Church, because niether are perfect. But I think there is something terribly wrong when the Church seeks power over truth. In my opinion, the Catholic Church represents everything that Jesus is not. It's this hipocrisy and hunger for power that has disillusioned many of the Spanish youth. The church shouldn't be a man-made, powerful institution, but a God-made, humble family.

(Courtney jumps down off of her soap box.)