The dangers of becoming a ‘professional’ Catholic

As someone who currently works at a Church and will soon be leaving that line of work forever and never looking back, I have a hard time being against the idea that everyone that works at a Catholic parish should be fired and replaced with volunteers. I have to admit that some of them are great people and do it because they love the Church, but it is hard not to feel like the majority are just in it because they think the work is "easy", a "get into heaven free" card, or a "I'm holier than you" token.

After working in a parish and interacting with workers at a variety of other parishes, I will say that parish offices are some of the most toxic and faith destroying places I have ever been involved with. The workers are nasty gossipers, waste so much time chatting and gossiping and then complain about how busy they are, lie frequently to each other and to me, lose their tempers frequently, have an unhealthy obsession with money that they then proceed to waste, and regularly insult parishioners behind their backs for suggesting changes to certain ministries (some of the changes are ridiculous, yes. But maybe don't start disparaging their very existence for it) You would blush at some of the things I've heard and experienced personally and would absolutely gasp at some of the horror stories I've heard from parishioners.

For example, apparently I'm immoral because the only place I can afford to buy groceries is Wal-Mart but there is nothing wrong with calling a co-worker a stupid slut.

/r/Catholicism Thread Parent Link - americamagazine.org