Frustrated With Imperfect Church

[Uriah_Betrayed]

I would like to know why I should put any faith or love in the Catholic Church when all I ever hear about it is sex abuse scandals and cover ups?! Why should I believe that Priests become “In Christ” when the priesthood offers no protection against humanity, and they all end up being the same as every other human on this planet, spineless, sinning animals!

It infuriates me, and makes me wish the Inquisition still had teeth so that they could drag these priests that pour waste on the reputation of the Church and hang them on a RACK!

I put my faith in Priests, when I was younger I looked up to them in awe. Now I simply hate them for failing to surpass this flaw that is being human. hate hate hate!

 

[tskrobacz]

Put you faith in God alone. The Church exists in 2 forms…the institutional church which is imperfect and in that imperfection teaches us how all of creation must be loved as it is, warts and all. The Church also exists as the mystical body of Christ…the teachings of the institutional church simply point us to that which is beyond our understanding…one God, variously understood.

If you stop trying to put your faith in the institutional church you will find peace. Just love it for what it is and for what it isn’t…it has, by it’s teaching, led many in history to become saints.

 

[cessnawag]

The church is perfect. Priests are human so they are effected by sin.

 

[Skygor]

Apparently you want God to remove who these men are completely so that they completely copy Him. (I won’t dare say perfect, since Perfection has a very distinct, and different definition for Catholicism.) That basically sounds like possession, which would be a great violation of Charity and Free Will.

 

[Stylites]

I would like to know why I should put any faith or love in the Catholic Church when all I ever hear about it is sex abuse scandals and cover ups?! Why should I believe that Priests become “In Christ” when the priesthood offers no protection against humanity, **and they all end up being the same **as every other human on this planet, spineless, sinning animals!

It infuriates me, and makes me wish the Inquisition still had teeth so that they could drag these priests that pour waste on the reputation of the Church and hang them on a RACK!

I put my faith in Priests, when I was younger I looked up to them in awe. Now I simply hate them for failing to surpass this flaw that is being human. hate hate hate!

Try to listen to God a little more, and to the power-hungry secular media, ideologues and politicians a little less.

 

[Scoobyshme]

I would like to know why I should put any faith or love in the Catholic Church when all I ever hear about it is sex abuse scandals and cover ups?! Why should I believe that Priests become “In Christ” when the priesthood offers no protection against humanity, and they all end up being the same as every other human on this planet, spineless, sinning animals!

It infuriates me, and makes me wish the Inquisition still had teeth so that they could drag these priests that pour waste on the reputation of the Church and hang them on a RACK!

I put my faith in Priests, when I was younger I looked up to them in awe. Now I simply hate them for failing to surpass this flaw that is being human. hate hate hate!

Uriah, don’t allow your views and values to be dictated by the secular media, who hate the Catholic Church, Christ, and everything good.

The Church has ALWAYS had sinners among it’s hierarchy, beginning with the Apostles, who were chosen by Jesus Christ, Himself. Judas Iscariot betrayed Him. St. Peter, the one He chose to first lead His Church, denied Him three times. The rest, except for St. John, deserted Him in His hour of need like cowards. Yet, Jesus knew they were weak men. That’s why He picked them. That way, they could never truthfully say they were effective in ministry because of their own, personal power. It HAD to be because of Jesus.

With regard to the sex scandal, the Catholic Church is probably one of the safest places in the world for a child. Studies have shown that approximately 70% of child sex abuse takes place in the family. Protestant denominations, in general, have a slightly higher percentage of sex abuse. And a child has a 100 times greater chance of being abused in a school than by a priest. So, I would ask, where’s the media in all those other places of abuse? If the media were truly interested in stopping child sex abuse, they would be ranting and railing against all these other cases of sex abuse, not just the Catholic Church!

 

[Kasama]

I would like to know why I should put any faith or love in the Catholic Church when all I ever hear about it is sex abuse scandals and cover ups?! Why should I believe that Priests become “In Christ” when the priesthood offers no protection against humanity, and they all end up being the same as every other human on this planet, spineless, sinning animals!

It infuriates me, and makes me wish the Inquisition still had teeth so that they could drag these priests that pour waste on the reputation of the Church and hang them on a RACK!

I put my faith in Priests, when I was younger I looked up to them in awe. Now I simply hate them for failing to surpass this flaw that is being human. hate hate hate!

Please don’t hate. You can’t base the whole Catholic Church on a handful of Priests who don’t know what it is to be a Priest. This article may be helpful in understanding how this horrible thing happened:

AdvancedChristianity.com/Pages/CBS/CBS.htm

 

[Ophelia23]

I too am disgusted by Church leaders who have abused the innocent. I am also disgusted by school leaders who have abused the innocent. Camp directors, boyscout leaders, girlscout leaders, sports coaches, Protestant church leaders…

The Church is a Divine institution put in place by God, but entrusted to Man. Man is fallen. We are not perfect, and sin dwells in every one of us. How it manifests itself may vary, but it is there. Priests are people, imperfect and bombarded with temptations; even more so than the average person. The Enemy wants to corrupt what is good. He wants to destroy what leads others to Christ.

Any priest who has abused the innocent deserves punishment. Period. It is disgusting. But to allow individuals’ misdeeds and horrific sins to push you to commit spiritual suicide is hardly the answer. You can be stronger than that. Ask yourself, where are your roots to be planted? In rock? In weeds and thorns? Or in rich fertile soil? :console:

 

[Aelred_Minor]

I would like to know why I should put any faith or love in the Catholic Church when all I ever hear about it is sex abuse scandals and cover ups?! Why should I believe that Priests become “In Christ” when the priesthood offers no protection against humanity, and they all end up being the same as every other human on this planet, spineless, sinning animals!

If this is all you hear about the Church, then you need to take a look at where you are getting your information.

It infuriates me, and makes me wish the Inquisition still had teeth so that they could drag these priests that pour waste on the reputation of the Church and hang them on a RACK!

You aren’t the only one who feels that way. There have been times I’ve wanted Pope Benedict stand up and say “if anyone sexually abuses children or covers it up, you better pray to God the police find you before the Church does.” Ultimately though the Church’s mission is more spiritual than all that, and anyway of course no doubt some kind of order of ninja templars sent out to catch and punish sinners would end up creating an even worse scandal.

We should expose child abusers and take measures to prevent them having opportunities, but it’s the State that ultimately has the responsibility to handle them once they’ve been exposed. Although I do seriously think our criminal justice system is way too lenient on abusers. If someone convicted of child abuse is released from prison before they are, say, 90 years old (and even that may be too soon for some of them) then it seems to me a gross injustice has been perpetrated on the public by that system (unless it’s been revealed they were falsely convicted, of course).

I put my faith in Priests, when I was younger I looked up to them in awe. Now I simply hate them for failing to surpass this flaw that is being human. hate hate hate!

From the way you phrase this, I think you are quite aware that your attitude is wrong.

 

[cradlecatholic5]

The Church is a Divine institution put in place by God, but entrusted to Man. Man is fallen.

:thumbsup:

Took me many years to recognize this. When I did, I was better.

 

[DCNBILL]

Welcome to the way that Christ Himself said it would be.

[BIBLEDRB]Matthew 13:24-30[/BIBLEDRB]

 

[tskrobacz]

The church is perfect. Priests are human so they are effected by sin.

The institutional church is NOT perfect…the mystical Church (which includes all faith traditions) includes all imperfections is therefor perfect. One God, variously understood.

 

[rickAnthony]

I just got here and there seem to’ve been a bunch of posts replying to this – but, still, the two things that stand out about your question are: (1) Your dissatisfaction with the imperfections of the Church Militant, and (2) “I put my faith in priests”.
Now, I think your statement (2, above) must be a mistake – or else you say it that way for the sake of hyperbole. I choose to presume that latter: I do not see how any Catholic who has paid attention to his/her catechesis, or was ever enthusiastic about being Catholic, can make that statement and mean it. So, I presume it was your deliberate overstatement, and I reply: Yep, we are all disappointed in some of our priests. IMHO, the trouble seems mostly (not exclusively) confined to those whose priestly formation was post-Vatican2 – ie: their earliest, childhood, formation was likely to have bee the soft-pedaled and excusing “McBride”-version of catechesis that a lot of parishes and inexperienced DREs fell back on. The older priests, formed pre-V2, generally don’t have the problem. And current formation is correcting lots.
As to your dissatisfaction (see 1, above) I have to ask: Are you satisfied with your own imperfections? Or do they infuriate you, as you described? Do you wish the rack was available for yourself to experience? I ask because we humans tend to forget that we see our satisfaction and relationship with God and His Church, by just looking to our relationship with others and with self.

 

[Augustine_M]

It is Christ you are expected to follow no the priest for his own sake. When you look at yourself I would suppose that you do not get surprised that you are not yet the man you want to be. Life and especially Christian life is all about trying to be like our master. When one falls we assist them to get back to their feet but not condemn them. Pray for the Church. Do not waste your faith dear.

 

[in_servitude]

Those looking for the perfection of **God **in the hearts of **men **will **always **be disappointed.

However, when looking at the institution with Christ as its head, one must distinguish the office from the officer. While I might not be in line with some of the decisions made by a priest, I respect what he can do persona christi.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

The church is perfect. Priests are human so they are effected by sin.

I disagree with the notion that the institutional Church is perfect, but there are bad priests.

1.) When a priest does something under cloak of being hidden, that is where the sin is of the priest. He knows he is sinning, knows that anybody who caught him doing it would know it is wrong.

2.) When it is discovered, and brought to the attention of a bishop, and he immorally and illegally transfers that priest to another parish to get him away from scandal here and move it over there, now it has gone beyond personal foul and into institutional foul.

3.) The difference is, the bishop is acting within the authority the Church gives him, to illegally hide the problem and create another inevitable problem with a new set of victims.

So a priest or bishop does something hidden, not the Church’s fault. Priest or bishop uses his professional authority to do a crime, then the Church is also culpable to the extent she knew what was going on. And the Church cannot plead ignorance because I know of priests who personally told the Holy Father what was going on, many years before the scandals started becoming popular in the newspapers. One such priest was my ex-pastor, and he personally knew a man whose actions were hidden and finally was convicted and jailed, only to be killed in prison shortly after that. It was Father Larson here in Wichita. My pastor told the Pope during a personal audience in Rome, about the specific man, who had been his friend during the seminary, AND about the scandal situation in the US in general, long before it became a public focus. For years after that, Larson’s behavior remained covered up and unchecked – it was only the publicity by the media that caused the Church to fess up, and only then after the Church’s lawyers started giving a few bishops, including ours, a reality check.

The institutional church is NOT perfect…the mystical Church (which includes all faith traditions) includes all imperfections is therefor perfect. One God, variously understood.

Exactly. The institutional Church is here to guide us toward right paths in the mystical church. I believe that those whose thinking goes no deeper than being in good standing with the Church and thinking that automatically means they’re in good standing with God, are victims of their own ignorant idolatry.

Alan

 

[InLight247]

I would like to know why I should put any faith or love in the Catholic Church when all I ever hear about it is sex abuse scandals and cover ups?! Why should I believe that Priests become “In Christ” when the priesthood offers no protection against humanity, and they all end up being the same as every other human on this planet, spineless, sinning animals!

It infuriates me, and makes me wish the Inquisition still had teeth so that they could drag these priests that pour waste on the reputation of the Church and hang them on a RACK!

I put my faith in Priests, when I was younger I looked up to them in awe. Now I simply hate them for failing to surpass this flaw that is being human. hate hate hate!

Do you know the “bad” priests are only very very small percentage among the clergy? Do you know many of these abuse cases are being falsely accused? Do you know sex scandals exist even more in other places? Such scandals happen in Protestant churches, in schools, in different camps, etc… The news media likes to single out the Catholic Church because the true Church is the number one enemy of the devil.

That said, it does not mean we should ignore the problem. However, just because there are problems, it does not mean the Church is bad or one should have such an extreme attitude to hate.

Jesus said whoever is sinless can cast the first stone…

 

[kear28]

Do you know the “bad” priests are only very very small percentage among the clergy? Do you know many of these abuse cases are being falsely accused? Do you know sex scandals exist even more in other places? Such scandals happen in Protestant churches, in schools, in different camps, etc… The news media likes to single out the Catholic Church because the true Church is the number one enemy of the devil…

I second this. Actual abuse cases were limited in number but the media blew them out of proportion. Here are some interesting facts www.themediareport.com that will shock you.

 

[PenitentGrace]

Put you faith in God alone. The Church exists in 2 forms…the institutional church which is imperfect and in that imperfection teaches us how all of creation must be loved as it is, warts and all. The Church also exists as the mystical body of Christ…the teachings of the institutional church simply point us to that which is beyond our understanding…one God, variously understood.

If you stop trying to put your faith in the institutional church you will find peace. Just love it for what it is and for what it isn’t…it has, by it’s teaching, led many in history to become saints.

Wow. Thank you that really makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[mcrow]

The Church is perfect, the people in it are not.