People are scared of Mother Church and Her priests

[TrueRomanCatholic]

I’m so upset by this! Over the years, acquaintances, family, friends, parishioners, etc.

1. Have voiced worry about having their children as altar servers.
2. Walked with their children quickly past Mother Church’s buildings, fiercely holding their hands.
3. Made snide comments about not trusting priests or Mother Church’s heirarchy.
4. Stopped tithing
5. Stopped attending Mass.

I’m bringing this up because I’m beginning to have these underlying worries and thoughts about Her heirarchy as well. It’s disturbing!

How can I help maintain my faith in Mother Churchs’ priests if I can’t even trust that they are being held accountable for their sins?

Five priests cycled through my church in several years. Four of which were accused of molestation…it’s disgusting!

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Five priests cycled through my church in several years. Four of which were accused of molestation…it’s disgusting!

This would scare a lot of people. We’ve discussed before that certain parishes unfortunately seem to have been magnets for this, probably because whoever was in charge of the parish was part of the problem. In the dioceses where I’ve lived, I’ve noticed that there are many parishes with few or no accusations and then you’ll hit a parish that had like three or four accused priests in a row.

Perhaps you want to suggest that these folks who are avoiding priests research parishes and attend another one that has not had multiple scandals. Unless you live in some area with only a few parishes covering a huge geographical area, I’m sure there are other parish options.

 

[farronwolf]

There is plenty of room for concern regarding these issues. Yes there are good men who are in the priesthood.

However there has been a systematic cover up of wrongdoings by priest for decades. This can not be blamed on the parish. The parish falls under the bishops control, and it was the bishops who moved priests around after accusations. It was the bishops and the people in charge of the Church herself who worked to “protect” the institution instead of doing what was right and protecting the lives of people who make up the Church.

People can try to sugar coat things all they want, but these feelings people have about the Church are well warranted, and are reflected in the pews.

Yes this happens in all religions and in all institutions, but that is no excuse. Judgement will be made in the end as to why people let this take place, looked the other way, covered it up, did not report to authorities and all the other various schemes that were tried to protect the institution.

Doing what is right is always the answer.

 

[Justin_Mary]

How can I help maintain my faith in Mother Churchs’ priests if I can’t even trust that they are being held accountable for their sins?

Pray.

You have every right to be concerned. You have every right to protect your children.

At the same time we must realize Our God governs the nations. We may not understand, I don’t, but God knows what He is doing.

In times of old the chosen would hear God & respond by turning their whole hearts back to Him in fasting & prayer.

By no means do I intend to minimize what is going on. My point is now is not the time to abandon Mother Church, but to run to her aid.

 

[YourNameHere]

It is sad that everyone gets painted by the same brush.
There are good people and bad people in all walks of life.

 

[JohnStrachan]

It is sad that everyone gets painted by the same brush.
There are good people and bad people in all walks of life.

It is sad that it is only a fraction of the clergy are guilty of horrendous behaviour toward minors. Most clergy are honourable and committed to living their vows/promises faithfully. However, the church as a “business” has failed miserably to safeguard, protect and accept responsibility for the actions of a few.

 

[IdaCatholic]

I fall into the category of 1, 3, and 4. And 1 and 4 may be the appropriate things to do.

 

[Crusader13]

who did not commit abuse
[/quote]

I think the problem has to do with the silence and the cover up of the abuse. So in your example, it would be similar if the superintendent and/or principal knew about the abuse and did nothing. And maybe some of your fellow teachers knew or had heard of it, but kept silent because the accused was great at fundraising or was well liked by the entire staff.

I think what people want is for the good men of the clergy to stand up and stand together in denouncing the men who did this. I think it’s easier to denounce the actions, but very few have actually denounced a person by name. Instead what we got were members of the clergy distancing themselves from the accused and making statements that either downplayed the crisis or implied that they knew nothing of what transpired.

In my opinion, that’s why the public is scared of the church. Not because they think all are bad, but sadly you don’t know who to trust. You cant tell the sheep from the wolves anymore.

 

[BT3241]

Child molesters are employed everywhere - police , teachers , daycare workers , Baptist ministers , protestant ministers , catholic priests and anywhere else you can think of and somehow people think it’s only a catholic problem. If your scared of the church you should be afraid of everyone. You never know what’s in a person they may seem perfectly fine but have evil sexual desires. The church has strict guide lines now on who can be a parish priest although there is always a chance one could slip through but in today’s world it would be harder to do so with the young educated on this and if you haven’t explained ed this to you children then they are in danger of being a victim and you should get on it.

 

[tonyh12]

I don’t have family but if Ii was blessed with children and was scared I wouldn’t leave the church I would keep an eye on them as I would in any public space I would also be looking to the saints and teaching my children to do the same, there is much goodness in the spotless bride of Christ.