As a Catholic, there has something that has been bugging me (and many other Catholics, I'm sure) for a while now. You are probably aware of all this talk about the "sex abuse scandals". First off, I'm not concerned about when these abuse "events" took place. My main concern is not about this information being hidden from us, either.
My problems don't have anything to do with the political issues, actually.
I'm more sickened by the awful comments that have been directed towards priests and the Catholic Church. I can no longer keep silent about something like this.
In defense of the common comments that all seem to say the same thing "well, maybe if priests could have sex/get married..." You people act as if they are forced to choose the celibate road. They themselves chose the celibate road. No one forced them into it.
Pedophilia is a mental problem. You can't play a race, religion, age, single or taken card on this.
It doesn't matter what type of person they are. It's a mental illness.
There are good priests, but the priests that have gravely sinned, is it right of us to judge and say they are "bad"? No, we don't know what they've been through, what has gone through their minds, and it is not our job to point out their sins. We don't know their soul! To take proper action in a case like this is one thing, but to insult and speak ill of them is another.
It's unfortunate that priests have done this, but they are human just like us.
They can sin, just like us. I don't support the sinful actions, but I will support the work of priests until the day I die, because Christ WORKS through the priests to do His work.
Christ works through the Priests to forgive sins in the sacrament of confession.
Christ works through the Priests to celebrate the Mass- the highest form of prayer!
Christ works through the Priests to give us communion. Body, blood, soul, and DIVINITY of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They bring us into the Church through Baptism.
Because of them, they keep us alive SPIRITUALLY!
We need priests! Good and Holy priests!
And we fail to understand that Satan is working HARD to try to bring the Church down.
And he HATES priests, so he will do anything to get them to fall.
Many priests have it hard. They have to live a Holy life, but they are still part of this world. They are still exposed to all the sin. Is this still any excuse to commit such a sinful act? No, there is never an excuse to sin, but being amongst sin does not make anything easy.
When are WE going to start praying for these Priests?
When are WE going to start defending the Church?
We need to take action. We can't let the enemy win!
I don't care if they did the worst thing in the world. This will be taken up by God in the end.
We all have sinned in some form, so who are we to judge? Pedophilia isn't right, and neither are our sins. What kind of message is being sent out if we just LET people say this kind of stuff about our priests? If people only KNEW and BELIEVED in what the Priests do, they wouldn't be saying anything! But people will never know, and will never believe, if we don't speak up.
To all the Catholics, DEFEND the Church! Defend the PRIESTS! And we MUST defend our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
I'm not asking you to defend the sinful actions, but the sinner.
Don't be the Catholic that just simply attends Mass, and leave it at that.
Be the Catholic that will DEFEND everything about the Faith That LOVES their Faith.
Anne Frank said...
"Despite everything, I still believe people are good at heart."
And that's how I feel. Without priests, I probably wouldn't be here writing. There's a number of writings that have been inspired by their talks. It angers me, and makes me cry when people think they can just rattle off a bunch of offensive comments. The situation is awful, yes, I understand this.
But the abuse and slander doesn't help the abuse that has supposedly already taken place. People are angry about this, which is understandable. I'm angry, too. Our abusive words only proves that there isn't just a loss of good in certain priests, but in mankind. This PROVES that we are no better!
If we're acting this way, then we're broken. And it's GOD that can heal the broken! Trust in Him!
We need to really start forming a relationship with Our Lady.
We need to bring others to her. SHE is the one that will crush the serpent's head.
SHE is the one that will bring us to our Lord and Savior.
I've had dreams of angels and demons fighting. There IS a spiritual battle going on.
It's real, and it's awful. It's going on everywhere--including the Church.
If we don't fight for what's right, then who will?
If Pope John Paul II forgave the man that shot him, then why can't we forgive and pray for the priests that have done wrong?
Is "hate" our answer to everything? How pitiful.
http://www.shjolg.com/page21.html
2 comments:
Many issues you covered and covered brilliantly. First, it is good that you pray for priests, all priests, Holy Mother Church, and the Holy Father. More people should. Divine Mercy Chaplet comes to my mind.
Anger coming from Catholics can come from pride if they see it as an embarrassment to self, or even in setting the bar too high for a human being. Priests are human, too. Pedestals are even set high by non-Catholics. There is an interesting point here...I often tell protestants who are angry at the Catholic Church about such things as Catholic politicians voting for health care to set the bar equally as high in their own denomination.
As the Holy Father called the abuse filth, it is filth and it's ok to say that. Pedophilia is a very bad illness but, you are right, pedophilia doesn't come from not being married.
Many of the abuse cases are not pedophilia but rather homosexuality such as with a 17 year old.
We certainly must judge the actions but of course never the soul. Sick people can also feel horrendous guilt over what they have done.
Equally, we pray for the victims that they will find forgiveness from which their own healing can come.
Satan has taken his gloves off, it would appear, in the last 40 years. Maybe we lay faithful need to let the bishops know how wounded we are out here on the front lines of having to hear about this every single day from hateful people, including fellow Catholics. Maybe they need to hear how much we depend on them to shepherd us, and that we are praying and sacrificing for them, too, in hopes they will stand strong against the forces that are coming at them from all directions right now.
The secular media WANTS to discredit the entire Church. Catholic Church stands strong and won't budge...the liberal media just hates that. Not only that, but the people like Soros believe that if they take down the church, all other denominations will fall. And with 30,000 different denominations, they are probably right. So many already are so liberal there are in heresy.
Know your facts. Have ready information to email from truly reliable Catholic sources. And don't give up. Of course, I know you won't :-)
Just keep praying for all....in the church and outside the church.
God hears your prayers. He hears the groanings of your heart.
For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, have Mercy on us, and on the whole world.
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