An urgent plea to my Catholic friends

Brother Curtis,

I hope that every guilty priest, deacon, bishop, and layperson receives the penalty that is due them according to the law.

I pray that everyone who is guilty would admit their faults and face the consequences, especially to the Lord our God and beg for His forgiveness.

It saddens me greatly that men have abused the gift of ministry that the Lord has placed in their hands and has scarred the image of love and of the Gospel that he placed in their hands to deliver to the faithful.

And I don't think that any Catholic disagrees with that. I think the only point different than this that we have made is that people have painted Catholics with a brush that "See, you guys don't have the Gospel" based on these individuals, or that we will never recover.

Because despite the image that the few gives the many, that does not incriminate the many good people (or should not), and through this time of crisis, renewal of faith will spring forward.

I'm not sure what more you want from us, honestly.

 

I think the report is going to be very painful for the whole church, and will delight anti-Catholics initially. I also believe that this will put pressure on non-Catholic churches to come clean. The Catholic Church is leading the way by its housecleaning. The churches that don't deal with this openly will suffer in the long run. Big churches are more accountable and legally and financially liable than flyby night churches that the pastor can disappear into the night and start up in another town. All churches should come clean and re-build the trust. Those who deny their own problem and insist it is a Catholic problem need to start looking at their own responsibilities.

God Bless

 

Kathryn --

I have a bit of a different take on what is happening in the Church unfortunately. Perhaps it is because I am a bit of a proactive person (like Moby Dick is a bit of a fish!), but I don't see a lot of housekeeping happening yet. I still see waffling, excuse making, and a host of other problems plaguing the need for the Church to not only come clean, but to make things right.

Yes, there are dioceses where the bishops have taken a strong stand, but they are relatively few compared to the size and scope of the Church.

Brother Curtis, honestly, I don't know WHAT our Latin brothers can do to get the Church moving in the right direction. I think it is going to take a lot of time for this reason -- the hierarchial offices are still INFESTED with liberals, Communists, Illuminati, and assorted other enemies of the Church who infiltrated the Church in the 20th century trying to destroy Her. Thanks to Vatican II they nearly succeeded. What they have done is to make a terrible mess of what should be the most holy and beautiful worship on earth.

As often as I pray I try to remember to ask the Lord and our Blessed Lady, Queen of the Priesthood, to remove all the enemies from the Church and cleanse it. I don't care how the Lord does it, that is entirely up to His mercy, justice, and sovereignty. But nonetheless, I am not naive enough to believe that these enemies are not still in the Church and don't still wish Her destuction.

Keep that in mind, Brother Curtis -- the Church has enemies, and they are within the gates and in the chairs of high places. That is why it is going to take some time to get this mess straightened out.

What can we do -- just keep obeyin' and prayin'. Jesus is our hope in this whole mess, not mere human and morally fallible men.

Brother Ed

 

How in the world did you derive this from my statements?

 

Catholic Convert,

You said, ' . . . the hierarchial offices are still INFESTED with liberals, Communists, Illuminati, and assorted other enemies of the Church who infiltrated the Church in the 20th century trying to destroy Her.'

Ray is saying, 'What you said is kind of scary. I wish that this would not be the case. I guess, like you said, all we can do is pray that our Lord will deal with these bad men. No Christian churches need to be defiled by these subvertive secular people. I will pray for your church as the Spirit prompts me.

 

How in the world did you derive this from my statements? </font>[/QUOTE]Not just your statements, Grant. I don't want to get flingin' mud on this thread. It's just my opinion. </font>[/QUOTE]Brother, my intention was not to mud-sling; but that comment also seemed to be aimed at me (and if not me, then all Catholics or Catholics on this board, both groups of which you cannot say what you said). I was very pleased with the rest of you post; however, this last remark is out of place and uncalled for.

Seriously, no mud-slinging; I simply think its uncalled for and unbased.

 

Curtis,

Any of these men who have sinned will be held accountable to God for those sins, lest they confess them. If I had intimate knowledge of who is guilty and needs to come clean (apart from obvious media bias), I would gladly write a letter of concern for the Truth and accountability.

However, the guilty parties are well aware of their own guilt, and if they do not wish to come clean, sadly, they will not. Do I hold them accountable? Of course! And I hope the rotten fruit is exposed and removed! And it seems that this report will do this. That doesn't mean that I can make them do it early, which is what it seems you want.

I think that the best thing we can do is pray that they see the errors of their ways and repent, if they have not already. Nothing pleases the Lord more than the return of a lost sheep.