Priests and the catholic church

[bloodwater]

I’m watching the media interview these priests and they look really fake. This what i’m thinking about when i watch them and hear some of the teachings of the church. I’m thinking we are the pharisees because we follow the law of the church we aren’t even reading our bibles. We listen to these dictations. What did Jeremiah mean when he said

“The time is coming when i will make a new coventant with the house of israel…i will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” jeremiah 31:31-33

When i watch these priests the child molestation cases are coming up and i’m thinking what Jesus said to the pharasees,

“you are like white washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead man’s bones and everything unclean”

I’m thinking the Pope was just a man like the rest of us. He was a good man but no better then any other man that God made. I’m thinking, we can’t be good or perfect, but i’m glad there is a way out through Jesus Christ ,because he paid for our sins in full. We don’t need to do it.

 

[Genesis315]

bloodwater:

I’m watching the media interview these priests and they look really fake. This what i’m thinking about when i watch them and hear some of the teachings of the church. I’m thinking we are the pharisees because we follow the law of the church we aren’t even reading our bibles.

You say “we.” Are you Catholic? Don’t say “we.” I read the Bible. If you don’t, then say: “I’m not even reading my Bible.”

When i watch these priests the child molestation cases are coming up and i’m thinking what Jesus said to the pharasees,
“you are like white washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead man’s bones and everything unclean”

The vast majority of priests are not child molesters. Are you buddies with Jack Chick?

I’m thinking the Pope was just a man like the rest of us. He was a good man but no better then any other man that God made. I’m thinking, we can’t be good or perfect, but i’m glad there is a way out through Jesus Christ ,because he paid for our sins in full. We don’t need to do it.

Oh, we can be good and perfect, through God’s Grace. It’s possible for all of us, we just fail. Mary submitted completely to God’s Grace and she did it. And she was just another human like the rest of us. Other than that, I agree. I will say, I don’t know about you, but the pope was much holier than me.

 

[Milliardo]

bloodwater:

I’m watching the media interview these priests and they look really fake. This what i’m thinking about when i watch them and hear some of the teachings of the church. I’m thinking we are the pharisees because we follow the law of the church we aren’t even reading our bibles.

I’d really be very surprised of a priest who doesn’t read the Bible. As a matter of fact, he does everyday he says Mass. As for them looking fake–why would they even look so? I watched the Requiem Mass and marvel at the sight of so many priests and bishops, all devoted to Christ and His Church.

“The time is coming when i will make a new coventant with the house of israel…i will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” jeremiah 31:31-33

Has this not time come with Jesus’ coming, and fulfilled in the Church?

When i watch these priests the child molestation cases are coming up

Not even a majority of priests do such things, I can assure you.

 

[john654]

Bloodwater,

I’m thinking the Pope was just a man like the rest of us. He was a good man but no better then any other man that God made. I’m thinking, we can’t be good or perfect, but i’m glad there is a way out through Jesus Christ ,because he paid for our sins in full. We don’t need to do it.

I didn’t know that catholic Answers allowed arrogant, born again, heretics, in this forum.

What sin is it that you won’t give up. Contraception?

No man is JUST a man. You don’t understand the first thing about the Catholic Church. I suggest you get Rosalind Moss’ conversion tape. Start there.

Ask questions, and repent. You are in danger of loosing you immortal soul.

John

 

[Gracie2004]

First of all, I don’t know any Catholics for real who don’t read their Bibles…If you don’t…I would say that’s your own personal problem. Don’t lay it at the doorstep of the Holy Catholic Church.d

Second…the priest scandal has been discussed and discussed and discussed and I would lay something at YOUR doorstep. If you have nothing good to say about someone, then don’t say anything. To do anything different could be leading you into serious sin, bearing false witness.

Third, The Pope most certainly WAS a holy man…Holier than you or I will probably EVER attain in our entire lifetimes. How many times have you been shot and forgiven your attempted murderer? Any? Then don’t give me the whole he’s no different than any of us…because until YOU can show that kind of compassion, love and forgiveness, you, like myself are not worthy to spit shine his shoes.

Just my two cents worth.

Gracie

 

[asquared]

bloodwater:

I’m watching the media interview these priests and they look really fake.

.

which priests? What interviews? what was said that you disagree with? can you give some links or quotes? What gives you the right, or me, to assume that anyone priest or not is unclean? How can I judge any individual, priest or not, and presume to know what is in his heart and on his soul. speculation about the state of another person’s soul is no fit activity for a Christian.

 

[km112482]

bloodwater:

I’m watching the media interview these priests and they look really fake. This what i’m thinking about when i watch them and hear some of the teachings of the church. I’m thinking we are the pharisees because we follow the law of the church we aren’t even reading our bibles. We listen to these dictations. What did Jeremiah mean when he said

“The time is coming when i will make a new coventant with the house of israel…i will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” jeremiah 31:31-33

When i watch these priests the child molestation cases are coming up and i’m thinking what Jesus said to the pharasees,

“you are like white washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead man’s bones and everything unclean”

I’m thinking the Pope was just a man like the rest of us. He was a good man but no better then any other man that God made. I’m thinking, we can’t be good or perfect, but i’m glad there is a way out through Jesus Christ ,because he paid for our sins in full. We don’t need to do it.

I do not think the priest are fake at all. The one’s I saw did not say anything contradictory to the faith. And as for the way you talk about “some of the teachings of the church” must mean you don’t agree with everything the church teaches. What is it that you don’t agree with? What is it that makes these priest look so fake? If they were teachings the ways of the world today would you think they were fake? Probably not cause they would be teaching what you may want to hear. I dont know about you, but I most certainly read my bible. And most people I know do. Every Sunday at Mass Catholics hear the word of God the priest are definitely not makeing up the readings themselves.

Yes there are priest who did molest children. I am not arguing with that, but does that mean that every priest you see did it. We shouldnt judge every priest by a fews mistakes.

To me the Pope was a wonderful example of someone who took up his cross faithfully and followed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I can only pray to be as holy as him one day. He truely was a wonderful example to all of us.

God Bless, Kerri

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Gracie2004:

First of all, I don’t know any Catholics for real who don’t read their Bibles…If you don’t…I would say that’s your own personal problem. Don’t lay it at the doorstep of the Holy Catholic Church.

Dear Gracie,

There are many Catholics who don’t read the Bible. When people in my parents’ generation were young, they were seriously warned against reading the Bible lest they misinterpret it. I went to eight years of Catholic grade school in the late 60s and early 70s and not once did we crack open an actual Bible. We did read some stories out of a children’s Bible, but mostly they were teaching secular diversity politics and anti-drug programming in the name of religion.

I never even felt the need to own a Bible until I was 22 years old, on haitus from the Church, and watching a non-denominational tv preacher named Frederick K. Price. That was the first time I heard anything from the Bible outside the readings on Sundays, and definitely the first time I heard anyone show me how to really apply the Bible to our lives…

The good news is that my own children who are in Catholic schools now, do some of their school work in the Bible both in elementary and high school.

Third, The Pope most certainly WAS a holy man…Holier than you or I will probably EVER attain in our entire lifetimes. How many times have you been shot and forgiven your attempted murderer? Any? Then don’t give me the whole he’s no different than any of us…because until YOU can show that kind of compassion, love and forgiveness, you, like myself are not worthy to spit shine his shoes.

He has been the very model of a Christian, but let us not fall into the trap of thinking he is too good for us to do him a favor. Jesus got down on his knees and washed the feet of people much less holy than Himself. Jesus rebuked John the Baptist when John said he was unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. I think it’s safe to say that if Jesus didn’t want to be idolized with that sort of groveling then neither should we idolize the Pope lest we tempt him to sin.

Alan

 

[stainmyclothes]

I’m bloodwater. If you have noticed, they suspended me for an apologetical question on catholism. Now that my point is made, I’m done with this controling ignorant forum where the administrators would rather supress logic then defend iteself. Read your bibles(if you aren’t already). Worship God with passion instead of stale tradition. This is the way King David did it, and he was called a man after God’s own heart. Tradition is the modern day pharasee.

 

[Catholic_Heart]

Good Grief!

 

[HagiaSophia]

Suspended Is As Suspended Does.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Alan, I’m assuming that you grew up in Wichita. They must have done things very differently there.

I grew up in Philadelphia; graduated from Maternity B.V.M. elementary school in 1970. Unlike you, I and my classmates not only had Bibles (I got mine in at the end of my first year in choir, when I was in the 5th grade), we read them and discussed them.
We wrote our own psalms, we studied church history, and boy did we do a lot of NT reading out loud–the nuns did not want any of us to have broad “Philly” dese-dose accents–and we didn’t! And we were most certainly NOT instructed or admonished or advised NOT to read the Bible.

My mother grew up in Jersey and NYC and she also had her Bible (in her case, given after her first communion), and a missal (French/English) which was to be used in conjunction with her Bible.

Not only that, we had the large Family Bible at home (still have it, with a picture of Pius XII in it).

You are one of only a few Catholics of my approximate age (40s) who said that s/he did NOT read the Bible in school or was advised against or warned not to read it. Of those Catholics, one was from the Missouri area, one from the North Carolina area, and now you, from Wichita. I’m wondering if this was due more to the areas being relatively small in the Catholic population, as opposed to areas like mine (Philly) and my mom’s (NYC), as well as my friends from the Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans areas which have relatively large Catholic populations.

I am so glad that your children have the opportunity that all Catholic children should have, and enjoy, of reading their Bibles and reinforcing their faith.

God bless.

 

[Thal59]

While the bulk of this post has been covered very well, it is the following I would like to expound on…

I’m thinking the Pope was just a man like the rest of us. He was a good man but no better then any other man that God made. I’m thinking, we can’t be good or perfect, but i’m glad there is a way out through Jesus Christ ,because he paid for our sins in full. We don’t need to do it.<<

First there is the complete contradiction of thought and expression. (He was a good man… we can’t be good… Also there is the notion that if the Pope was a good man, but no better than any other man, then no man is worse than the Pope or else that would make the Pope better than him; therefore all men are good! Yet,… we can’t be good…) But there is something more important to be said about this post.

To say that no man is better than any other man is, in essence, blasphemy. It is the same as saying that the efficacy of God’s grace in man is of no avail. How can a man be infused with the grace of God and not become “better” is any sense compared to a man who rejects God’s grace? There are many men in the world who are not as good as I am, because I try harder than they do. There are many men in the world who are better than I am because they try harder than I do. Would one infer that John Paul II was no more “good” than Osama Bin-Laden? To say so is to insult the sanctifying grace of God.

But it is the final statement… **We don’t need to do it, **that almost perfectly defines the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestants do not wish to burden themselves with becoming “better” people, and so, they look for every interpretation possible to excuse themselves of the effort; even if it means denying the efficacy of the grace of God in their lives.

Whereas Catholicism encourages and guides us to take hold of the gift of grace and use it to become better sons and daughters of God and to use our “betterment” via this grace to please and glorify God while, at the same time, being “good” to others through charity and proper Christian example.

Thal59

 

[SusanG]

Tantum ergo:

Alan, I’m assuming that you grew up in Wichita. They must have done things very differently there.

I grew up in Philadelphia; graduated from Maternity B.V.M. elementary school in 1970. Unlike you, I and my classmates not only had Bibles (I got mine in at the end of my first year in choir, when I was in the 5th grade), we read them and discussed them.
We wrote our own psalms, we studied church history, and boy did we do a lot of NT reading out loud–the nuns did not want any of us to have broad “Philly” dese-dose accents–and we didn’t! And we were most certainly NOT instructed or admonished or advised NOT to read the Bible.

My mother grew up in Jersey and NYC and she also had her Bible (in her case, given after her first communion), and a missal (French/English) which was to be used in conjunction with her Bible.

Not only that, we had the large Family Bible at home (still have it, with a picture of Pius XII in it).

You are one of only a few Catholics of my approximate age (40s) who said that s/he did NOT read the Bible in school or was advised against or warned not to read it. .

Gotta agree, I got my first Bible in Catholic school, 1972. We read from it daily! I’m in Canada and wasn’t even Catholic at the time, but I had and read that Bible for many years.

 

[huskerfan]

Just a note…I attended Catholic schools in South Dakota and Nebraska and we never used a Bible. We did study the cathecism though and felt we learned a lot of Bible through that and other ways. I wish the Bible would have been emphasized more though. My daughter attends a Catholic school now and the Bible is a very important part of their education.

 

[Gracie2004]

AlanFromWichita:

Dear Gracie,

There are many Catholics who don’t read the Bible. When people in my parents’ generation were young, they were seriously warned against reading the Bible lest they misinterpret it. I went to eight years of Catholic grade school in the late 60s and early 70s and not once did we crack open an actual Bible. We did read some stories out of a children’s Bible, but mostly they were teaching secular diversity politics and anti-drug programming in the name of religion.

I never even felt the need to own a Bible until I was 22 years old, on haitus from the Church, and watching a non-denominational tv preacher named Frederick K. Price. That was the first time I heard anything from the Bible outside the readings on Sundays, and definitely the first time I heard anyone show me how to really apply the Bible to our lives…

The good news is that my own children who are in Catholic schools now, do some of their school work in the Bible both in elementary and high school.

He has been the very model of a Christian, but let us not fall into the trap of thinking he is too good for us to do him a favor. Jesus got down on his knees and washed the feet of people much less holy than Himself. Jesus rebuked John the Baptist when John said he was unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. I think it’s safe to say that if Jesus didn’t want to be idolized with that sort of groveling then neither should we idolize the Pope lest we tempt him to sin.

Alan

Alan, this may be true in your experience…I also am in the Wichita Diocese and I truly am telling you that I have never met a Catholic who does not read his/her Bible. That is my experience.

Gracie

 

[Gracie2004]

AlanFromWichita:

Dear Gracie,

There are many Catholics who don’t read the Bible. When people in my parents’ generation were young, they were seriously warned against reading the Bible lest they misinterpret it. I went to eight years of Catholic grade school in the late 60s and early 70s and not once did we crack open an actual Bible. We did read some stories out of a children’s Bible, but mostly they were teaching secular diversity politics and anti-drug programming in the name of religion.

I never even felt the need to own a Bible until I was 22 years old, on haitus from the Church, and watching a non-denominational tv preacher named Frederick K. Price. That was the first time I heard anything from the Bible outside the readings on Sundays, and definitely the first time I heard anyone show me how to really apply the Bible to our lives…

The good news is that my own children who are in Catholic schools now, do some of their school work in the Bible both in elementary and high school.

He has been the very model of a Christian, but let us not fall into the trap of thinking he is too good for us to do him a favor. Jesus got down on his knees and washed the feet of people much less holy than Himself. Jesus rebuked John the Baptist when John said he was unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. I think it’s safe to say that if Jesus didn’t want to be idolized with that sort of groveling then neither should we idolize the Pope lest we tempt him to sin.

Alan

Sorry, realized after I had posted the first answer that I needed to go back and post this. First of all…did I say anywhere in my post that I idolized the Pope? You fall into the same error that Protestants accuse us of…idolizing Saints. I never said ANYTHING about idolizing anyone. I do not idolize the Pope…I realize he was a man, just as all of us are, (woman in my case )…and that Christ himself was a man. HOWEVER>…to recgonize his holiness and to realize that I myself may NEVER be able to attain the same spiritual level (you cannot possibly believe that in today’s world, without the 6 or 8 hours a day the Pope dedicated to prayer, that we could possibly get to the same point in our spiritual lives? ), is almost impossible…NOTE…I said almost. I realize that all people are different in their spiritual abilities and lives. Did I anywhere say that NO ONE can be as holy? No, I didn’t, so please do not put words in my mouth, and please do not make the same error of protestantism of assuming we idolize Saints or Holy men and women.

Do I consider myself worthy to spit shine the shoes of the Pope??? Spiritually? No, I do not. Nor do I know anyone else, frankly who I think has attained his level of holiness or spirituality…just as I know no one else who has attained the level of spirituality of say…St. Therese or St. John of the Cross, or St. Catherine…if you DO…then I would say you know a living saint…I know, I know…next you are going to say we are ALL called to be saints…VERY true…but few ever make it. Christ made this clear in the scriptures.

God bless and next time I’ll try to be more explanatory in my posts so that there are no mistaken assumptions.

Gracie

 

[Gracie2004]

Tantum ergo:

Alan, I’m assuming that you grew up in Wichita. They must have done things very differently there.

I am in the Wichita Diocese too and I can assure you, this is not the experience of anyone I know who grew up in the Catholic school system in the Wichita Diocese or outside of the parishes in Wichita. We have been extraordinarily blessed in Wichita to have Bishops who were very good men, who made sure the faith was taught and taught correctly. The Scriptures were studied, from grade school onward.

Gracie