Dear Troubled Catholics – a Letter From Ralph Martin About the Current Crisis

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And so, once again because of the pressure of lawsuits and the press, the bishops are talking about “developing new policies” that would apply to bishops. As a colleague at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, has said: “Isn’t it clear enough from the Gospel that covering up immoral behavior is itself wicked? Why do we need new policies when the teaching of Jesus and the apostles is so clear?” Can the words of the Old Testament prophets and Jesus Himself against false shepherds be any clearer or more devastating? (See Jeremiah 23:1-6; Matthew 23, etc.)
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There have been steps taken fairly recently in order to make clear that these cases MUST be reported and reported to both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. I live in the Detroit area archdiocese, and it has been made clear that there is now in place a no-tolerance policy.
 
Metis1 said:
and it has been made clear that there is now in place a no-tolerance policy.
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Now in place. After all that’s happened since the abuse scandals first started being reported. now there’s a no-tolerance policy.

😭
 
Is it crisis of faith, crisis of practicing Catholics, crisis of scandal or sin,

The child abuse issue is not a crisis, it’s a purge. Purging evil from the church.
 
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We should institute policies, which should include everyone, but what bothers me is that no matter what the topic, from the pope down, we do not hear that we should be praying.

We are Catholics!!! We should have been exhorted to get on our knees the moment the news broke out!!–!! We should have been exhorted to pray for our priests all along!!!

Praying is the most important thing we can do on many levels, and yet we hear so little about it. If we haplen to know enough to want to, we have to find our own sources of information.

The whole Church should long ago have been called to pray prayers of repentance and sorrow for these heinous crimes.

And every person involved should have been publically stripped of their signs of office and transferred to a place of penance.
 
St Teresa of Avila wrote(somewhere of which I don’t remember), when the Church is in crisis, our job is to be better Catholics.

Remember, St Teresa lived during the Spanish Inquisition and she herself was brought before the Ecclesiastical Court.

Jim
 
I don’t get how this could be a crisis of faith. Either you believed Christ founded the Church, believes in her teachings and precepts to the core, or you don’t.

I don’t care how many boneheads there are doing evil deeds under the guise of holiness; that doesn’t change the precepts and the origin of the Church. She isn’t a man-centric institution. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t sadden and anger me, or require my deepest prayers, but why would it shake someone’s faith?
 
Dr_Meinheimer said:
I don’t get how this could be a crisis of faith. Either you believed Christ founded the Church, believes in her teachings and precepts to the core, or you don’t.
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I don’t think it’s all that much about it being a ‘crisis of faith’, except for some people who might be a bit shaky in their faith, already. People that are more solid in their faith won’t tend to have such a strong reaction that might make them want to leave the Church. They would tend to be more like St. Peter when the disciples were abandoning Jesus after the Bread of Life discourse, “John 6: [69] And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”

The real crisis is within the hierarchy of the Church, where the problem is more about the Bishops covering for these predatory Priests. It’s been going on for a very long time. They need to step up to the plate and remove them, permanently. Particularly if they have been repeatedly engaging in this aberrant behavior. Then, they might want to follow up the chain of command and also remove their superiors, who allowed all of this to continue for so many years. Especially if they ignored the risks and promoted these men. Or, if they put them in positions that either endangered young children, or opened up the opportunity for them to abuse older students or seminarians, thinking that they had changed their ways. Even if it has to go all the way to the top, it needs to be done.
 
None of this surprises me. Priests are people too. We’re all capable of Great Good and Great Evil.

These are dark times so I’m expecting Trials and Tribulations.
 
This is an excellent article.Thanks for sharing.
Lord Jesus,only begotten son of the living God,have mercy on us…🙏🙏🙏
 
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