Sir, or man which ever the case may be, I am one of the abused. It ruined my life, true. It threw me off track from my vocation to the priesthood. It hurt deeply. It still hurts a bit. But I get through it. You have your ideas twisted about infalibility. Heresy has always been around. I read St. Augustine this morning on such things. At one point in the life of the Church Arianism was believed/adopted by 70% of the episcapacy/clergy I’m told. It was fought off.
One of Martin Luther’s reaction was towards clergy living in sin with their women. But later he seemed to forget he made a vow of his own, a promise to celibacy. No one made him do such a thing. He chose it on his own. But when things got tough, he chose a wife.
Also, considering all the abuse cases I know about in my previous Christian faith no one has a leg to stand on here. Sin is everywhere. Go into all the world Christ said. That doesn’t say to hide from the world. Just in the public school arena sin exists far worse than the scandals. However, it was good for the bishops to get punched in the nose in my opinion. Shame on those that hid this sin especially after repeat offenses. That spoken now let’s look at the time period that occurred and the culture and education of the time. The “experts”, psychologists of the time were giving the bishops advice…very poor advice. They truly believed they could “rehabilitate” these men. Little was known about the nature of this evil. My wife’s degree is in criminal justice and law. She taught me the same thing about that time period. I think God sent her to me to help me find my way through this pain. She converted 2 years ago to Catholicism. She also was a victim, but from her church. I know of similar stories of other men, preachers, elders, deacons, etc. It took me years to come to grips with this.
Two years ago I raged at a very gentle priest that freaked me out with his animated surprised ways. He was shocked to hear my story. He even told me he understands why I ran and that he couldn’t blame me for it. However, I realized after several vistits that he was being very sincere and was very embarrassed for his brother’s [fellow priest] poor behavior. I had forgotten just how gentle many priests really are. I had become caloused and indiffent towards anything Catholic. Our elders were “real men” I thought, until I began to realize the major difference, agendas. I rejected Catholicism and tried to get baptized as an adult fearing for my salvation at one point. But realized later that it was in vain and sinful.
All of this is relivant, but too long to get into. So let me challenge you to read threads from authentic Catholic sources to come to a grip with what infalibility really means and how it works. My offender is no longer allowed to act as a priest. In fact he is married now I hear. I know where he’s at now. I even emailed him and I’m sure he’s sweating bullets now because the only way he could get his current job is if this is kept secret. But his name is on a public list online that I won’t speak of now. I am now discerning the diaconate after a 17 year leave of absence so to speak. My wife and I discovered the real teachings of Catholicism and fell deeply in love with it. However, we know that there are still wolves in sheeps clothing out there. But we knew those in our previous faith too. People are people where ever you go.
The priests and deacons I knew were guilty as sin or at least caught are laicized. Bishops also have to treat those sinful priests as children too. They were trying to save the Church a lot of pain and agony in a world that hates Christians and especially if those Christians happen to be from the one holy catholic and apostolic church. And don’t take your anger out on God because of a few bad weeds by not using caps for His Holy Name.
I hope you find peace. I used to be filled with much anger. I’ve found peace after coming home even with all the knuckleheads in here
. I find myself acting kind of dumb too once in a while.
