How do we continue our Faith Practice?

[Ladylothian]

After all the abuses perpetrated by Priests in the US, how can we continue to support the Institution of the Catholic Church. I am spiritual and pray daily but, since both my mother and only sister were taken by God in a very short time, a brother is dying from ALS, and my family’s Priest for many years was found to have fathered a child to a married woman, I’m lost.

 

[ColorMomma]

My sincere condolences on your profound losses. That is a lot to bear. It may be difficult, but it may help you to try to stop thinking of these things as being God’s fault. God does not always prevent bad things from happening, and this is a hard thing to accept. A priest explained to me once that all things of this world pass away. Our time on this earth is short in comparison to the world to come. God’s time is infinite.

Scandal, infidelity, and corruption are indeed disheartening. I think we all struggle with these issues, I know I certainly do. I keep reminding myself that these are human failings. Jesus promised us that the gates of hell would not prevail against The Church. There has always been corruption and there likely always will be. We have to focus on the Gospel. On the organizations and people doing good things for the world. Focus on the people building God’s church on earth, not the ones trying to destroy it.

Pray, look for God’s miracles in your life. Look for the joy and I believe it will show itself.

Prayers and blessings to you in the new year. I hope you have a rebirth of faith.

 

[TheLittleLady]

We don’t leave Jesus because of Judas.

 

[Lee1]

I can understand your doubting, and offer my condolences.

Reading your post it occurred to me that though these experiences are yours specifically imagine all the things that have happened over thousands of years. Billions of deaths, some tragic. Billions of accidents, a lot maybe also tragic. The list of awful things is seemingly endless and yet…God exists. God is real.

The reason why I believe is not due to the wonderful things that have happened over millennia but simply because God is real and everything that implies and everything that Jesus told us is true. Isn’t that amazing!

Life can be hard, testing, even torturous but our prayers are heard and Our Father waits to welcome us home in the fullness of time, all will be well.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

In so sorry for all you’ve had to endure. It can be hard to hold on through a crisis like you’re having. Being angry at God and the Church are understandable.

And I understand why you might want to separate from the Church over the scandals. I’ve had a hard time holding on myself.

The thing that has kept me going is first, to recognize that the Church has a human side and, unfortunately that human side is very prone to failure. We’ve seen way too much of it. But the human side is also the way God touches us in our lives. When I’m tempted to say “all priests are corrupt” I have to add “except Fr. X who is my spiritual director” or “except Fr. Y who was so understanding when I went to confession” or “except Fr. Z who recommended I join a small Christian community and made sure I got settled in with them.” And there are a whole lot of other initials and ways they’ve cared about me or nurtured my faith.

It is hard to be disillusioned by people you want to look up to, but there are really good, dedicated, holy people in the Church as well. Don’t forget them.

I’ll keep you in my prayers. Please pray for me as well.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

After all the abuses perpetrated by Priests in the US, how can we continue to support the Institution of the Catholic Church. I am spiritual and pray daily but, since both my mother and only sister were taken by God in a very short time, a brother is dying from ALS, and my family’s Priest for many years was found to have fathered a child to a married woman, I’m lost.

I know it can be really tough to lose loved ones. Without going into details, let’s just say I’ve had a whole bunch of deaths in my family in recent years. You have a lot weighing on your mind already, and having a familiar priest turn out to be a big sinner probably just feels like the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I would suggest that you remind yourself of the following:

1. You are in grief and under great stress. Your judgment during this time is probably not going to be the greatest. Keep praying for Jesus to help you because it is the only way we get through.
2. We are all sinners. Many people’s sins just do not become public, unlike the sin of your priest, which has become known. I have committed sins myself that are every bit as bad as your priest’s except that I didn’t conceive any children and the sins didn’t become public. Therefore, I’m not in a position to point fingers at someone else’s sin. Really, none of us are, because even if we haven’t committed sexual sins, we’ve probably done something else just as bad in God’s sight. We should pray that the people involved with this repent and sin no more and also be glad that they did not compound the sin by aborting the child in hopes of hiding the sin.
3. This is one priest you have mentioned. There are many other priests out there who do not get into trouble with their personal lives or cause public scandals in this way, although since everyone is a sinner they may have to fight temptation on some other front (such as controlling a bad temper, or dealing with a tendency towards addiction or materialism, etc.). Perhaps seek out another priest to help you see that they are not all bad.
4. Finally, if this priest helped your family spiritually, then that help and those good things he did for you are still good even if he sinned in some other way. People are a mixture of good and bad. Nobody is 100 percent good (except Jesus and Mary) and nobody is 100 percent bad. Try to think of the good things the priest did and be kind and like I said above, pray for him.

Also remember that you will not find more “perfect” clergy or people in any other church. The Catholic Church is not unique in having humans running it, who sin and sometimes sin big, publicly, and disgracefully.
The Church revolves around Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and not around any fallible human clergy or religious. The Eucharist is why we continue to be part of the Church. It has nothing to do with whether individual priests are sinning or not.
As always, we don’t leave Jesus because of Judas.

I hope this helps.
God bless, I will pray for you in your tough time.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

When I’m tempted to say “all priests are corrupt” I have to add “except Fr. X who is my spiritual director” or “except Fr. Y who was so understanding when I went to confession” or “except Fr. Z who recommended I join a small Christian community and made sure I got settled in with them.” And there are a whole lot of other initials and ways they’ve cared about me or nurtured my faith.

Even the “corrupt” priests often do some good things as well. I have seen articles and obituaries of priests convicted of, or very credibly accused of, some bad things. Invariably there will be people posting about how the priest did something kind for them or was very understanding during a crucial time in their life, such as their wedding, a funeral of a loved one, a time of spiritual formation. As much as people would like to just throw these bad priests in the garbage can along with Hitler and write them off as so much bad rubbish, it’s obviously much more complex than that. The priests do good things even while they are also doing bad things. It’s very hard for humans to get their mind around that, to accept that their own personal experience of Fr. A, whether it was good or bad, does not sum up everything Fr. A did in his life and he may have acted in the opposite way to someone else.

God can use even sinful people as his instruments to bring about good, as shown throughout the Bible.

 

[1ke]

After all the abuses perpetrated by Priests in the US, how can we continue to support the Institution of the Catholic Church.

How can we not?

The number of priests involved, most in the distant past, are so infinitesimal compared to the Church as a whole. The Church will always have sinners in it. Certain roles in the Church will always attract predators. The people in the church are much better equipped to deal with this reality now.

It’s not a new phenomenon-- sin is sin in every age. People sin.

my family’s Priest for many years was found to have fathered a child to a married woman, I’m lost.

Priests are human, and subject to the same temptations and sins as anyone else. Yes, it is disappointing when someone we look up to sins in a public way such as this case. But we have to adjust our own reaction-- we must not place priests on a pedestal so that if they sin our own faith is shattered. Most priests are holy and do not fall in this way, a few do. Some have alcohol problems. Some have gambling problems. Some have anger problems. Some have depressions. Because they are PEOPLE.

Pray for this priest. He needs them.

 

[Ladylothian]

I can’t thank enough all those who replied.