Avoiding priests and religious

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LittleFlower said:
I was seeking for advice on how to overcome putting them all in one basket. The parish priest where I am now going is very kind, and a beautiful man. I think it is in my own right to decide whether I want to shake his hand, or receive communion from him.
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But WHY do you refuse to accept communion from him? Do you blame him in some way for the actions of other priests? Or is it a visceral reaction, in which case if you cannot control it and it is effecting the way you live your life, therapy is a valid and smart response.
 
guanophore said:
If your avoidance involves also avoiding the Sacrament, then I do not think it is “ok”. Besides, none of these other personages acts in the person of Christ, so it is a very different relationship.
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It doesn’t as I have mentioned above.

Thank you for your reply and thoughtfulness. 🌷
 
That’s a really good sugesstion, @Lara Thank you, I will try this out over the weekend. 🌷
 
florin1 said:
Prepare yourself to see deep radical changes in the way priests go around children over the next few years. To prevent this, one simple measure is to never allow a child alone with the priest anymore. A child should never be allowed to enter a priest’s small room, and I’d say at least two children should be there when a priest if present.
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No priest with a brain working is ever going to be around kids again without an adult witness and preferably one that is not a priest. I am sure the lawyers for each diocese have gone over this in great detail. Even if a priest is not guilty of anything, he is running a huge liability risk if he does not always have an adult witness.
 
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ktmeyer said:
But WHY do you refuse to accept communion from him? Do you blame him in some way for the actions of other priests? Or is it a visceral reaction, in which case if you cannot control it and it is effecting the way you live your life, therapy is a valid and smart response.
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Because at this stage, I am uncomfortable with religious and priests in general. And that’s okay. I do not blame him for anything. I just am very dismayed in the Church’s past actions —which also includes clergy.

Again, many people have created threads where they only want to receive communion from a priest, and others refuse to join a certain EMHC line because of this person’s past behaviours. What I am going through is, most likely, transient. And therefore, avoiding them—without being rude—is okay.
 
I know that it doesn’t keep you away from Mass, thank God for that, but how do you deal with Confession?
 
I went to confession the other week, at the new parish and the priest was lovely and I was kind and considerate. 🙂 He was great in that moment. @Elf01

I avoid them where possible, I don’t run away screaming at the sight of one.

Like I have been saying, my reaction externally is minimal.
 
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florin1 said:
I also don’t believe most of those priests entered the church to hunt children. They became sexual predators because of the context. Just like the monks, in isolated monasteries, became homosexuals.

The celibate for priests could play a role too, and I expect changes here in the Church coming from pressure from the feminist movement.
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That is ludicrous. You really think that not having sex makes people gay and pedophiles?
 
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Glad you’re still able to receive all the Sacraments. In that case I think it may be a matter of time. You know in your head that not every Priest is responsible for what happened. That just needs to get into your heart.
 
LittleFlower said:
I avoid them where possible, I don’t run away screaming at the sight of one.

Like I have been saying, my reaction externally is minimal.
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I don’t see what avoiding them acomplishes.

If you were actually abused by priests I could understand this reaction. But other than that it seems like an overreaction. There were similar revelations in my country about sexual abuse. But it makes no sense to be afraid of all priests. Especially because any priest ordained in the last 20 years or so could not possibly have been involved in these things.
 
Elf01 said:
That just needs to get into your heart.
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Exactly. When I created this thread, I wanted to hear if others had gone through similar experiences and how they managed them.

I think time will heal it all, as long as I keep engaging in parish life and the faith community—seeing others live out their faith has always helped me.

Thank you for your kind response. 🌷
 
AdamP88 said:
I don’t see what avoiding them acomplishes.
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It’s okay if that’s what you feel. But that’s not what a lot of Australians are going through. If you disagree, you can just go about your business. 🙂

I am asking for help, and not to be told to just get over it. 🤨
 
AdamP88 said:
So what…Austrialians are more sensitive than Irish or Americans to these things?
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Please do not take what I have said out of context.

I said that the community here is reeling, I never make a judgement on other places. If you have nothing to contribute other than flaming or trying to derail the thread, I’d suggest other threads.
 
LittleFlower said:
I am asking for help, and not to be told to just get over it
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If you want help then you should realise that it is less than 1% of priests that were even implicated in this. There is literally no point in lumping priests into this category.

“Get over it” is the best I can come up with.
 
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Please dont compare the USA historic experience with this Australian one. For starters children in these institutions here were abused starting at 6 to 8 yo in many cases. And in Schools or Parish, there is the experience of more than 1 sibling child being abused.

Read the experience here. Its not one bad egg predating, it was an infestation , if you like. This place became a magnet for predators at one point. And we had the worst offending Priest active at the time too.

Its very difficult to sit in Mass at times, knowing what happened , and to who, in that space, How do you think people feel or react, knowing they took communion for years, confession, and were married, had kids baptised, and parents buried by said criminal Priests. Our last suicide was very recent. His mum attends Mass daily.

This isnt a movie plot, its an era little flower and I are living. And people in Ireland 🙏🕊️.

And its not going to end any time soon with Cardinal Pell fronting court in a little over 90 days.

But there is help out there when it hits people.
 
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