How has the Pennsylvania scandal affected you personally?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SacredHeartBassist
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Yeoman said:
On a little known point, Deacons actually serve their Bishops, not the Priests. Deacons are supposed to be the eyes and ears of the Bishop at the Parish level.

As part of that, note that the Deacons in at least the Latin Rite rarely move from Parish to Parish, in contrast to the Priests.
Click to expand...
Yes, the Deacon is in service to the Bishop. I agree with that statement yet the culture is different. A couple years ago, I had an issue with my new pastor insofar as the cleansing of the vessels after communion. Father told the EMHCs that if they were the ‘lead’, they were to purify the vessels after Mass. Because of Catholic Answers, I knew this was incorrect. I asked one of our Deacons if he could broach the subject with Father and his response was " I can not disagree with anything Father does because of my vow of obedience - even if it’s wrong". He was told this during Deaconate formation. ( I also heard Teresa Tomeo saying something very similar about her husband who is a Deacon.) I had to bring all of the evidence to Father and it took another 6-8 months before this was actually addressed and really not to my satisfaction. I am no longer an EMHC nor a lector. I cannot be in a liturgical ministry when the pastor is asking me to go against the rubrics.
 
What the priests chose to do is unconscionable. The cover-up by church leadership that allowed this to perpetuate disgusts me.

How are our tithes handled, as it relates to the abuse and the costs associated with defending those involved and any settlements? Is it pro-rata by parish in a diocese? Is there a mechanism to bankrupt a given diocese (if necessary) without allowing contributions to ‘reach back’ to another diocese?
 
Bankrupting your diocese is cutting off your nose to spite one’s face. Unless, of course, you’re abandoning the Church over this and don’t care how many practicing Catholics you harm.
 
Perfectly put.

In Biblical terms:

Leviticus 18
21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

Matthew 19
14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 7
10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.

The laws are established from Leviticus to Mark. Breaking those laws or being accessory to breaking those laws is a sin. There are no excuses.

I see this snowballing. Statistically, other states and countries must have similar cases. This can’t be a one-off. The UK is currently holding a similar public inquiry.

From what I can tell, this could be the Tribulation. When Pope Francis passes, will there be a blemish-free cardinal left to replace him? Malachy’s prophecy suddenly doesn’t seem so outlandish.
 
Then who pays? Does it reach back to the assets in Rome? Or to the future earnings of existing parishioners?
 
Only in our sue happy culture is the question “who pays”? Shouldn’t the question be “are the perps being brought to justice”?
 
Last edited:
And I’ll ask you again: As a practicing Catholic why would you want to destroy you own diocese?
 
PreviouslyAna said:
Thanks for the link. I’ve been saying for years that the laity needs to be more involved and demand accountability!

Those who have infiltrated our Holy Church are destroying it from within while we wring our hands, make excuses, and look the other way. We have naively believed that the very hierarchy that allowed these crimes to go on for decades should be trusted to resolve the problem. We will all be held accountable.
Click to expand...
I like NCRegister. It’s a solid resource.
 
Definitely agree that those who are guilty should be brought to justice.

Not saying I would want to bankrupt a diocese. I’m trying to learn more and am asking how our collective tithes are allocated.
 
Last edited:
Jezra said:
Priests are considered “divine”. If you can’t trust a priest, who can you trust?
Click to expand...
A priest is a human person who’s an instrument of God. They’re not magically better. I’ve seen them act every bit as petty and annoying as their congregation. I don’t trust them anymore than the average person.

In my opinion, too many people have read Mutter Vogel in the Pieta Prayer Book. It extensively stressed that we should never criticize a Priest and instead should keep our mouths shut.
 
Last edited:
This is what I have been saying. Priests are not God. They are sinners too! Lets not worship them only our lord!❤️
 
There are only two people I put on a pedestal and that’s Jesus and the Blessed Mother.
 
So disturbing the view some people have of priests here.

Do we owe them some respect for their position? Yes. Should we blindly obey all they say? Heck no!!! They are HUMAN. They can ERR. And when they do err, they should be called to task.
 
My whole family altar served and never once was accosted or molested. My parents watched everyone. I was raised knowing that Priests are People too!

People were raised with an unhealthy and improper level of faith in authority figures.
 
I agree 100%. They are not gods. They are not perfection. They are human beings. We should respect their position while remembering their humanity.
 
Oh my, 30 years ago we would have both been considered disrespectful and mouthy parishioners! 😱😛
 
It’s okay. I don’t have any friends in my parish anyway. Despite my best efforts they don’t seem to like me so I may as well be mouthy!
 
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
Tisk Tisk 🙂
 
The use of threats against family is a well-known tactic of abusers to children. I can remember having that discussion with my daughter as well. “don’t believe anyone who tells you not to tell or they will hurt mommy or daddy”. Mommy and Daddy are adults and can take care of these things for you, never be afraid to tell us if someone is threatening you"

I could be wrong, but I’m not sure my parents generations understood how manipulative abusers were being to children, so they couldn’t talk to their kiddos about this sort of stuff. The most I ever got was don’t take candy from strangers…I was born in the 60’s and this stuff wasn’t prevalent in my world during that time. In retrospect, it’s not strangers that should be feared since most abusers are known to kids.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top