M
mscibior
Guest
Hello,
In recent years, I was a not only a devout Catholic, but also an apologist. However, the past several months have left me doubting the practices because of the Catholic Church’s transgressions dating back to the 1960s - covering up what they did regarding the pedophilia issue. After doing much research, I find the whole thing truly disturbing and couldn’t leave it alone.
That’s when I asked myself many questions, “What if it was my own child who had such monstrous acts committed against he/she… would I still stay within the church? How would my child view the situation if we did not leave the church? Would he/she feel truly undermined?”
The fact that thousands of priests were simply moved from diocese to diocese, administration to administration over many decades, allowing them to commit these awful acts over and over again without any repercussions makes me ill. And even the Pope was aware at the time. This would seem to test the infallibility of the Pope, based on moral code and “doing the right thing”. I know the Pope is not free of sin, but contributing to this mess goes against his teaching on morality.
With the several misguided issues of the Church over the past several centuries, I’m wondering if the Lord may be telling me something (maybe that this church is not the “True Church”). In my opinion, outside of pedophilia, there isn’t much worse, unfortunately. This church was supposed to be a safe haven, not a hotbed for perverted older men. My main issue is this: I used to hold the Roman Catholic church to a higher standard. Obviously, pedophilia occurs even within families, even in mainstream Protestant churches (probably more so), and at schools. Moreover, it is how the church handled it, which bred more horrible acts.
I am now looking for guidance, but am not sure what to do and would like to put this whole thing to rest, if possible. May someone shed some further light on the situation?
God Bless,
Matt
In recent years, I was a not only a devout Catholic, but also an apologist. However, the past several months have left me doubting the practices because of the Catholic Church’s transgressions dating back to the 1960s - covering up what they did regarding the pedophilia issue. After doing much research, I find the whole thing truly disturbing and couldn’t leave it alone.
That’s when I asked myself many questions, “What if it was my own child who had such monstrous acts committed against he/she… would I still stay within the church? How would my child view the situation if we did not leave the church? Would he/she feel truly undermined?”
The fact that thousands of priests were simply moved from diocese to diocese, administration to administration over many decades, allowing them to commit these awful acts over and over again without any repercussions makes me ill. And even the Pope was aware at the time. This would seem to test the infallibility of the Pope, based on moral code and “doing the right thing”. I know the Pope is not free of sin, but contributing to this mess goes against his teaching on morality.
With the several misguided issues of the Church over the past several centuries, I’m wondering if the Lord may be telling me something (maybe that this church is not the “True Church”). In my opinion, outside of pedophilia, there isn’t much worse, unfortunately. This church was supposed to be a safe haven, not a hotbed for perverted older men. My main issue is this: I used to hold the Roman Catholic church to a higher standard. Obviously, pedophilia occurs even within families, even in mainstream Protestant churches (probably more so), and at schools. Moreover, it is how the church handled it, which bred more horrible acts.
I am now looking for guidance, but am not sure what to do and would like to put this whole thing to rest, if possible. May someone shed some further light on the situation?
God Bless,
Matt