Reputation of Catholic Church ‘in tatters’, says priest

[everblooming]

Amy,

I appreciate your feelings. And I ask you to remember that the numbers of abusers are not as large as the media makes it sound. In fact, the number of abusers among Catholic clergy is very small compared to ther segments of society. Why do I post it this way?

One abuse is one too many. I don’t care if it’s by a priest or a next of kin, which is more often the case. That being said, we have to speak about the incredibly large number of religious men and women, priests and deacons, finally bishops, who are good people and are living faithful lives and making great things happen in the Church. All you have to do is turn on EWTN, if you like that station, to see the many great men and women whose lives are deicated to the Church and who are in the priesthood and religious life. Unless we keep this image alive, we can easily fall into the pessimism of the Protestant Reformers of the 1500s. Their weakness was not their concern with errors and abuse in the Church. Their weakness was their inability to see the goodness in the Church and the good people in the Church. As they focussed more and more into the problems, they lost touch with the Church. We can see the result today. They eventually lost touch with the faith and created their own version of the church, with all kinds of errors from which they have been unable to extracate themselves. Instead of a united Christian people, we have multiple Christian communities. But this happens when we do not remember the good.

As I keep saying, we cannot cover the sun with a dime, meaning we cannot cover the truth nor should we try. That being said, the truth is bigger than the abuses. The abuses are part of the truth. There is also goondess and holiness that dominates within the Church. We have to keep that in mind or we become very sour faced saints.

I agree with your pastor about ownership. Ownership implies caring for our Church. That we should all do. It implies making sacrifices and taking some responsibility for our Church. We should all do that too. But you know what, taking ownership means treating the Church as I would my own biological family. I woiuld not present an unbalanced picture of my biological family or tolerate another to do so either.

Finally, as I have told others. If you, the laity, feel badly about this situation, can you imagine what those of us who are priests and religious feel. For me it’s very hard to feel that everyone is going to think that I’m a pervert if I give a kid a hug. It’s very hard when everyone tells us that we can’t be in the parking lot alone with a kid. I’m not talking babies. I’m talkikng high school kids. The situation is such that we are not allowed to be in the parking lot with the teens, even if there is a group of them. There must always be two brothers or a brother and a lay person.

When I go out to do my ministry at the pregnancy centers, I can’t speak to a teenager who is pregnant without another adult in the room. Sometimes these kids do not want to talk in front of an audience. But I’m not allowed to speak to them without another adult, even if the door has a glass. The list of restrictions gets longer by the minute. We can’t even do vocation work with anyone under 18 unless their parent is present.

Many of us religious men and priests feel punished for the sins of the few. In the end, it’s religious men and priests who everyone looks at with disdain. Women religious and deacons don’t get such a bad rap. But we’re being clobbered with bad press and restrictions, while 99% of us are as shocked and helpless as the next guy.

I for one have decided to let it go. Meaning that I can’t change what the media says or what the laity thinks and I’m not leaving religious life because someone else messed up. I’ll have to live with the hard times. Maybe I can offer them up for the life of the unborn, which is my primary ministry.

We have to stick together and pray together. I wish I had a magic wand to make it all go away.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Dear Brother JR,
I wonder if you are a white man and if this is the first time you have lived somewhere where you have experienced discrimination first-hand? It is a different way of interacting with the world. This is why, for example, therapists need to be careful not to overdiagnose paranoid symptoms with African-American people. It’s not paranoia when people really are staring at you like you might commit a crime. It’s not paranoia when people are really out to get you.

May I make a suggestion with the hugging. I worked in a residential setting w/ elementary school aged kids. We were their primary caregivers. We saw the kids daily, unlike most of the parents who either never visited or barely ever visited. When I was new the staff gained up on me and said that I was being inappropriate hugging the kids and that “someday someone will make an accusation and none of us will back you up because we told you not to hug them”. I came up w/ a compromise, a “side hug”. Other affectionate staff would give side hugs too. With a side hug, you stand side-by-side and you hug. BTW, I worked there over 5 years and not a single kid ever made an accusation against me. But if it ever happens, it would be stressful, but I would survive. I believe that Truth usually prevails eventually.

As for me, I will always have an attachment with the Catholic Church. I received Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation; I was raised Catholic and it has had an impact on who I am today. I read and reread Catholic material. I pray all the time. I will pray for you too. Amy

 

[everblooming]

Brother JR,

My letter went through before I was done. Sorry. I began by saying that I pray that something good grows out of this. And I think good will grow from out of it. Crisis creates change. Suffering and discomfort motivates people to make change. “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

I wish you the best. Thank you for being so open and sharing with me.
Sincerely,
Amy

 

[Tigg]

I was a little shocked that these stories did not send people leaving the Catholic Church in droves here in the U.S. Then I realized that many American Catholics don’t look to the Church for moral guidance but rather for a sense of continuity and community more than morality.

I completely disagree. The reason we did not leave the Church when the sex scandal hit here is because of the FAITH. True Catholics realize there has always been both a human and Divine element within this institution. I could no more leave my Church than I could cut off my right arm. The Real Presence of Jesus our Lord on our altars remains with us and the personal sins of the clergy cannot taint that nor invalidate it. That’s the way it has always been and the way it will always be in the future.

Having said that however, I do agree with this priest. This is a bomb that has shattered many many lives and I shudder at the judgment these priests will face. We have so much to pray for…PLEAD His mercy upon us all!

 

[redrosetea]

The first Christians didn’t leave because of Judas …Why should we?

What kind of faith is that?..We have the True Presence in the Blessed Sacrament

Just what we we be leaving for?

Christ asked Peter if he was going to leave and Peter said To whom shall we go?

Christ knew there would be scandals, he says so in the gospels, and He also says woe to those that cause them

 

[Tigg]

Amy,

Finally, as I have told others. If you, the laity, feel badly about this situation, can you imagine what those of us who are priests and religious feel. For me it’s very hard to feel that everyone is going to think that I’m a pervert if I give a kid a hug.

Many of us religious men and priests feel punished for the sins of the few. In the end, it’s religious men and priests who everyone looks at with disdain. Women religious and deacons don’t get such a bad rap. But we’re being clobbered with bad press and restrictions, while 99% of us are as shocked and helpless as the next guy.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Our former pastor, several years ago, told us that he was spat upon while walking through an airport to board a plane. This good and holy priest had tears in his eyes while relating his story, not for himself, but for the display of hatred and unforgiveness that was unjustly leashed upon them all.

Yes, we all suffer the consequences of sin. It is our own private Passion, so to speak.

 

[DOShea]

The only priests who I empathize with are the few who pursued complaints and prosecutions, almost always unsuccessfully, from the 1960s to the 1980s. I hope that someday, after the Catholic Church has made some long overdue changes, that some of these brave priests become canonized into saints.
Amy

Well I suppose this commentary is going to invite all kinds of hellfire, but this is how I feel.

I empathize with all the priests and religious who, like Bro. JR, have to deal with the shadow of this problem falling on them when they’ve not done anything wrong. Equally I empathize with the offending priests responsible for this mess. Not to belittle the harm they have caused their victims nor the harm to the Church and all in it, but merely to say that they, despite their disdainful actions, are souls too.

We read over and over again on this forum of people who go to confession and find every possible nuance with which to doubt the validity of their own forgiveness. How much weight can we imagine must be upon the shoulders of Fr. Guilty who, immersed in this horrible situation he caused, must look to God and ask for forgiveness? One measure of a civilization is how well it treats the least of its citizens; the poor, the disabled, the marginalized. If that be so, how much more does that apply to Christ’s Church in how it treats clergy who have erred in such a horrendous way? I don’t like what they did one bit; I’m also not willing to toss them overboard with the millstone on their neck if they truly seek forgiveness. And who are we to say they don’t?

I don’t know many people who would work in any profession for a lifetime, make a serious error that harms others and their organization as well as every peer, get stripped of any official authority, and have to live out their life getting up every morning knowing they had it and threw it away. Kneeling and praying to God to forgive them sins most men will never forgive them of. I think that would have to be the closest thing to hell on Earth. Every soul they ever helped, every devotion they ever made, every act of charity they ever did over all those years totally ignored only to focus on the hours worth of sin that will mark them forever. Those are the sandals I would not wish to walk in.

Honestly - does anyone else ever pray for them?

 

[Vivemus]

As a catholic and Irish and reading the posts here and in other treads I find myself wondering if people really understand the implication of this report re the church in Ireland and else where. This was not just about a “few bad eggs” as some people like to refer to them or that the numbers where small. On that point the report was on a sample of 48 out of 102 priests that complaints had been made against. That’s just one diocese not the whole country.

The point that has Irish people so angry and hurt is the level of cover up. “FOUR SUCCESSIVE archbishops of Dublin responded to clerical child sexual abuse over a 30-year period in their diocese with “denial, arrogance and cover-up”.

There was no concern for the people of God only for the clergy. Victims who reported the abuse were re abused ( I don’t use that word lightly) by the diocese in the contempt show them and refusal to do anything about it. Not to mention lying about it to victims, media, state. Sitting here writing this I am listening to a survivor of abuse crying on the radio because they feel nothing will change. No one has stood up and said what we did was wrong and I am stepping dow

“The commission investigated the handling of allegations made against a sample out of 46 priests out of 102 against whom complaints were made between 1975 and 2004.
Among its other main findings were:
All archbishops and many of the auxiliary bishops in Dublin handled child sexual abuse complaints badly. None of the four archbishops reported their knowledge of abuse to gardaí “throughout the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s”.
Church authorities used the concept of “mental reservation”, which allows senior clergy to mislead people without being guilty, in the church’s eyes, of lying.
Senior members of the gardaí regarded priests as outside their remit, with some members reporting complaints to the archdiocese instead of investigating them.
It said there were some courageous priests who brought complaints to the attention of their superiors. But in general there was a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.”

irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/1127/1224259548021.html?via=rel

We, as Catholics, believe that our Church exists only because the bishops exist. We who are not bishops, have no authority in this line of succession. We have a right to communnicate our concerns to those who can take over the Church from our bishops, other bishops, not us.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Br JR, this is not meant as an attack on you but the idea of the church only exists because of bishops is I believe part of the reason why this horrendous cover up happened. A Bishop has responsible to the pastoral care of his flock (the people of God which in the church) not the institutions of the church. In this case they failed by protecting the guilty and punishing the innocent. No magic wand is going to make it go away nor should there be. The Hierarchy of the church from the Pope down need to seriously look at themselves and their actions because I do not believe for one moment that Ireland is the only place in the world that abuse was covered up and certainly not without Rome knowing about it.

People really don’t understand the depth of feeling this report has caused here in Ireland.( sickened, betrayal, anger, sadness, just to put names to some of them) At least there is support of the ordinary Priest in the parish but at the moment very little support for the Bishops mention in the report. This was an abuse of people, of power of the highest order by the very people who could have, should have stopped it. Can you not see how much damage that has done and also remember that this only came to light because brave people stood up and refuse to be silenced despite the efforts of the Bishops.

Vivemus

 

[Tigg]

We read over and over again on this forum of people who go to confession and find every possible nuance with which to doubt the validity of their own forgiveness. How much weight can we imagine must be upon the shoulders of Fr. Guilty who, immersed in this horrible situation he caused, must look to God and ask for forgiveness?

Honestly - does anyone else ever pray for them?

You are pre-supposing a conviction of sin and guilt on their behalf. Well, let’s hope they have the courage to look deep within themselves and recognize their sin for what it is, but from what I’ve read, sex abuse is an illness and a compulsion most never recover from. Yes certainly, let’s offer them our prayers and pleas for their salvation, but I suspect you won’t get understanding nor sympathetic overtures from the majority.

 

[Yellow_Belle]

As a catholic and Irish and reading the posts here and in other treads I find myself wondering if people really understand the implication of this report re the church in Ireland and else where. This was not just about a “few bad eggs” as some people like to refer to them or that the numbers where small. On that point the report was on a sample of 48 out of 102 priests that complaints had been made against. That’s just one diocese not the whole country.

The point that has Irish people so angry and hurt is the level of cover up. “FOUR SUCCESSIVE archbishops of Dublin responded to clerical child sexual abuse over a 30-year period in their diocese with “denial, arrogance and cover-up”.

There was no concern for the people of God only for the clergy. Victims who reported the abuse were re abused ( I don’t use that word lightly) by the diocese in the contempt show them and refusal to do anything about it. Not to mention lying about it to victims, media, state. Sitting here writing this I am listening to a survivor of abuse crying on the radio because they feel nothing will change. No one has stood up and said what we did was wrong and I am stepping dow

“The commission investigated the handling of allegations made against a sample out of 46 priests out of 102 against whom complaints were made between 1975 and 2004.
Among its other main findings were:
All archbishops and many of the auxiliary bishops in Dublin handled child sexual abuse complaints badly. None of the four archbishops reported their knowledge of abuse to gardaí “throughout the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s”.
Church authorities used the concept of “mental reservation”, which allows senior clergy to mislead people without being guilty, in the church’s eyes, of lying.
Senior members of the gardaí regarded priests as outside their remit, with some members reporting complaints to the archdiocese instead of investigating them.
It said there were some courageous priests who brought complaints to the attention of their superiors. But in general there was a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.”

irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/1127/1224259548021.html?via=rel

Br JR, this is not meant as an attack on you but the idea of the church only exists because of bishops is I believe part of the reason why this horrendous cover up happened. A Bishop has responsible to the pastoral care of his flock (the people of God which in the church) not the institutions of the church. In this case they failed by protecting the guilty and punishing the innocent. No magic wand is going to make it go away nor should there be. The Hierarchy of the church from the Pope down need to seriously look at themselves and their actions because I do not believe for one moment that Ireland is the only place in the world that abuse was covered up and certainly not without Rome knowing about it.

People really don’t understand the depth of feeling this report has caused here in Ireland.( sickened, betrayal, anger, sadness, just to put names to some of them) At least there is support of the ordinary Priest in the parish but at the moment very little support for the Bishops mention in the report. This was an abuse of people, of power of the highest order by the very people who could have, should have stopped it. Can you not see how much damage that has done and also remember that this only came to light because brave people stood up and refuse to be silenced despite the efforts of the Bishops.

Vivemus

Thank you, Vivemus. You have described the current situation in Ireland with great clarity. The more I read the responses on these threads, the more I realise that no-one outside Ireland has any understanding of the depth of anguish Irish people feel at what has happened in their Church.

 

[thealtonroute]

What future do you think the Catholic Church has in Ireland? Do you think attendance will fall even faster now? I was in Ireland in 2004 and, talking to people at that time, there seemed to be a lot of contempt for the institutional Church even then. Like many Americans of Irish descent, I have watched with dismay as the reputation of the Catholic Church continues to worsen.

 

[redrosetea]

As a catholic and Irish and reading the posts here and in other treads I find myself wondering if people really understand the implication of this report re the church in Ireland and else where. This was not just about a “few bad eggs” as some people like to refer to them or that the numbers where small. On that point the report was on a sample of 48 out of 102 priests that complaints had been made against. That’s just one diocese not the whole country.

The point that has Irish people so angry and hurt is the level of cover up. “FOUR SUCCESSIVE archbishops of Dublin responded to clerical child sexual abuse over a 30-year period in their diocese with “denial, arrogance and cover-up”.

There was no concern for the people of God only for the clergy. Victims who reported the abuse were re abused ( I don’t use that word lightly) by the diocese in the contempt show them and refusal to do anything about it. Not to mention lying about it to victims, media, state. Sitting here writing this I am listening to a survivor of abuse crying on the radio because they feel nothing will change. No one has stood up and said what we did was wrong and I am stepping dow

“The commission investigated the handling of allegations made against a sample out of 46 priests out of 102 against whom complaints were made between 1975 and 2004.
Among its other main findings were:
All archbishops and many of the auxiliary bishops in Dublin handled child sexual abuse complaints badly. None of the four archbishops reported their knowledge of abuse to gardaí “throughout the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s”.
Church authorities used the concept of “mental reservation”, which allows senior clergy to mislead people without being guilty, in the church’s eyes, of lying.
Senior members of the gardaí regarded priests as outside their remit, with some members reporting complaints to the archdiocese instead of investigating them.
It said there were some courageous priests who brought complaints to the attention of their superiors. But in general there was a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.”

irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/1127/1224259548021.html?via=rel

Br JR, this is not meant as an attack on you but the idea of the church only exists because of bishops is I believe part of the reason why this horrendous cover up happened. A Bishop has responsible to the pastoral care of his flock (the people of God which in the church) not the institutions of the church. In this case they failed by protecting the guilty and punishing the innocent. No magic wand is going to make it go away nor should there be. The Hierarchy of the church from the Pope down need to seriously look at themselves and their actions because I do not believe for one moment that Ireland is the only place in the world that abuse was covered up and certainly not without Rome knowing about it.

People really don’t understand the depth of feeling this report has caused here in Ireland.( sickened, betrayal, anger, sadness, just to put names to some of them) At least there is support of the ordinary Priest in the parish but at the moment very little support for the Bishops mention in the report. This was an abuse of people, of power of the highest order by the very people who could have, should have stopped it. Can you not see how much damage that has done and also remember that this only came to light because brave people stood up and refuse to be silenced despite the efforts of the Bishops.

Vivemus

Don’t ever think we haven’t suffered from this… we have and Cardinal Law was involved in covering it up in Boston

 

[marci]

Thank you, Vivemus. You have described the current situation in Ireland with great clarity. The more I read the responses on these threads, the more I realise that no-one outside Ireland has any understanding of the depth of anguish Irish people feel at what has happened in their Church.

Some of us here do understand. Afterall, we have lived through it as well. My brother’s heart has hardened toward the entire church. The Bishops in the US have lost all credibility with many american catholics. I wanted to leave the church at the time of the scandal. I was so angry. The ONLY thing that kept me from abandoning my faith altogether was the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist. I knew that I could find Her and Him in no other church.

I realized something during that struggle. There is the physical church, the cathedrals, the vatican, the USCCB, etc., with all of it’s failings, and humanity. Then there is the spiritual church; Jesus in the Eucharist, the Communion of Saints, the representative as Christ in the confessional, despite his (the priest’s) own sinful nature. I had to remind myself that the faith exists above and beyond the sinful nature of it’s representatives. It still exists in perfection.

Even if there is only one priest left on earth celebrating Mass with only one faithful, the whole of heaven celebrates with them. Christ is still with them. Do not lose hope. Pray the rosary, and remember what Jesus promised, “and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age”.

 

[redrosetea]

From what I understand many Catholics in Irelnad stopped practicing their faith long before this ever came out

My neighbor is from Northern Ireland and she said Ireland has become a secular country like England

It was just as upsetting for the Catholics in this country…Just because it isn’t mainly a Catholic country doesn’t deminish the pain ans suffering people felt

These offending priests were sometimes to moved to completely different states

To deny the suffering of another because you feel your pain must be worse is to deminsh their suffering

We have suffered badly and so has the church

We feel your pain but are still smarting from our own

Will I turn away from the church because of i?t…no I will help her carry her cross

 

[thealtonroute]

Having read the book Ireland’s Holy Wars, I am glad that here in the U.S. the Catholic Church never has had even remotely as much power over the government as it did in Ireland. I think a lot of Americans have no idea how deferential the Irish state was to the Catholic Church. Handing so much power over to the unaccountable Catholic Church was bound to result in a catastrophe.

I agree with an above poster…I have the Catholic faith…I have very little faith in the Catholic Church.

 

[redrosetea]

Then it is up to all of us faithful to Holy Mother Church to rebuild…The Holy Spirit is still here and if we must suffer the disgrace these people have brought on us…We suffer it for the love of God

We can’t change what happened…and it has happened in all faiths…WE can do our best to see it doesn’t again

The church has suffered worse than this…it will survive and if we have to say mea culpa a million times I am willing to do it

You can be part of the problem or the solution the choice is up to you

 

[jay29]

The church has suffered worse than this…

Sure has. The Church has suffered far more during the 1st and 2nd centuries. Was it the first 4 or 5 Successors of Peter that were martyred? Thrown to the lions, Christian TORCHES, and all other manner of horrendous torture at that time???

We will get beyond this.

 

[DOShea]

You are pre-supposing a conviction of sin and guilt on their behalf. Well, let’s hope they have the courage to look deep within themselves and recognize their sin for what it is, but from what I’ve read, sex abuse is an illness and a compulsion most never recover from.

Just going by what I know to be true, that some do regret their actions and repent, just like any other sinner does. A compulsion to sex is not fundamentally different than compulsion to any other vice. Just because one gives in to the temptation of it does not mean they are immune from guilt or desire to repent. No, I can’t say they all did, but I’m not naive enough to believe men who understand better than most the consequences of dying in a state of mortal sin would not ask God to forgive them for what they did. I believe God will do that if asked.

NOTE TO THE IRISH:

It’s decision time for you, my friends. You can wallow in the mud of how bad this is, how your nation is effected more than any other nation, blah, blah, blah, or you can make up your mind right now to survive it. Feel sorry for yourselves if you will, but you are only delaying your own healing.

This is not to diminish the pain and betrayal you feel, which is understandably monumental, but history is a great teacher and those who ignore it get to learn the hard lessons from it all over again. When the scandal hit in this country, there was just as much outrage, there were just as many stories blanketing the news, and the media relished the fact they had something that everyone could hate. It sold a lot of newspapers and magazines.

This is what you can expect your media and press to do for you. They will keep fanning the fires of this until they can elicit reaction from the Church. As you well know, the Church does not knee-jerk reaction to anything, and you better prepare for any kind of satisfactory answer to take time. Your media will not sit still for that, and will gladly whip you all into a frenzy by convincing you the Church isn’t even examining the matter. Then you will have there, like we had here, groups of Catholics who will not sit still for the silence and form their own “victims” groups in their vain attempt to do what one poster mentioned earlier, to “seize control” of the Church. It won’t happen, and as their frustration grows they will get louder and louder and louder.

Rest assured the media is right now pouring over information to map this all out, who did what, to whom, when, etc. etc. Just when you start getting answers and see some action taken, expect it all to be dragged up again, only with more gory details making it look 10 times as bad as you think it is now. Your faith will be tested.

So a word of advice if you’ll hear it - if you love the Church and will stay faithful to it in its time of significant trial, then steady yourselves now and plant your feet firmly because, like an earthquake, the aftershock can damage as much as the first tremor.

You have a proud heritage; many of your kin died for their faith and stood against all odds to throw off the yoke of tyranny. Americans by nature admire any people so strong. As a Catholic of Irish lineage, I need only remember my grandparents and imagine how they would view this to be able to fully appreciate how much your world is tipped upside down right now. But you will get through it, hard as that seems right now. In your churches right this very minute are priests who’ve waited for the moment for this evil to be purged, enormous pain though it would bring. Stick by them! They didn’t do this to you, they only want to help you heal. If you do one thing better than Americans, find the resolve to not pull your trust from your faithful priests. Remember that, were the situation to be reversed, those good priests would never pull their love (or God’s) back from you. Stick by them and help your nation heal.

I will pray for your nation and our Church.

 

[fish90]

I have no problems with the concerns. I do have a concern of my own. When people who do not have authority make statements about “retaking over their church and holding their leaders accountable” it makes it sound as if we have authority over the bishops, which is not true. Therefore, we cannot retake anything. Because without a bishop, we are not Catholic, regardless of what we think.

Our Catholicism does not flow from our faith, but from our apostolic succession, which comes only through our bishops. Therefore, the only ones who can take hold of the Church are those who are already in power, other bishops and the pope. They are the only ones who have valid apostolic succession. The laity does not have such succession. Therefore, the laity has not authority to claim to take control of “their church”. That’s very Protestant language where the laity are in control, because they deny apostolic succession and the validity of Holy Orders and ordination.

We, as Catholics, believe that our Church exists only because the bishops exist. We who are not bishops, have no authority in this line of succession. We have a right to communnicate our concerns to those who can take over the Church from our bishops, other bishops, not us.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

You made a great point as always brother.

 

[JReducation]

Having read the book Ireland’s Holy Wars, I am glad that here in the U.S. the Catholic Church never has had even remotely as much power over the government as it did in Ireland. I think a lot of Americans have no idea how deferential the Irish state was to the Catholic Church. Handing so much power over to the unaccountable Catholic Church was bound to result in a catastrophe.

I agree with an above poster…I have the Catholic faith…I have very little faith in the Catholic Church.

Hold on here. There is one thing that we have to do here. We cannot have a Catholic faith without faith in the Catholic Church. If we do this, then we automatically excommunicate ourselves from the Church. We don’t want to find ourselves in that spiritual danger. We must remember that our Catholic faith requires our faith in the Church.

Yes, there are problems and people get hurt. But we’re not the first generation nor the last to go through this. There has been mismanagement of the problem and as the Church teaches, the laity has the right to communicate their concerns to the bishops and work together to make things right again. Someone posted something from the CCC to that effect.

Allow me for a moment to share my own experience. I’m looking at this whole mess and I’m reminding myself that the Church is holy, she is not sinful, people are. I’m also reminding myself that Christ promised that he would not leave the Church. Therefore, I can’t separate my faith in Catholicism from my faith in the Church, because to do so is to separate from Christ.

Whatever sins bishops, priests, and popes commit, the fact remains the same. Christ speaks to the Church, in an authoritative way, only through them. Therefore, if I want to be Catholic I must bow to their authority and accept that they are the root and souce of the Catholic faith.

Taken in a few simple points:

1. Only the hierarchy can forgive sins and celebrate sacraments.
2. Only when there is a hierarchy of bishops is there a valid church.
3. Only the hieararch can pronounce what we are to believe, no one else.
4. Only the hierarchy can dispense grace, no one else.
5. Only the hierarchy can govern in the Church , no one else.
6. Only through the hierarcy will Christ speak to the Church, no one else.
7. Only the hierarchy can tell us if our faith is right or wrong, no one else.
8. Only the hierarchy has the authority to penalize, no one else.
9. Only the hierarchy has the authority to interpret Christ’s Gospe, no one else.

If we lack faith in any of these points and others that I did not mention, then we have effectively excommunicated outrselves. That’s a fate worse than any sin you can imagine. Once your excommunicate yourself, you receive the Eucharist unworthily and sign your own death sentence every time you try to go to communion.

We have to do as the CCC says, but we msut also keep in mind our allegience and our communion with the hierarchy, despite sin. This is probably what will make many great saints in the midst of this crisis. What is a saint? A person who lives his faith in a heroic manner. We cannot claim to be Catholic and at the same time claim that we have lost faith in the Church. That is not an option for a Catholic. That’s the definition of a Protestant. Be very careful not to let the anger and passion drive you out of communion with the Church and her bishops. Then your problems will only get bigger. You won’t be talking about sexual abuse, but about your personal salvation being at risk. Not a good place to be. Let’s take the example from those great saints who lived during very hard periods in Church history and yet remained in love with the Church and attached to their bishops and popes, even when they knew that they were mistaken on some choices or that they made mistakes in managing situations. The best saint that comes to mind is Catherine of Siena. She never stopped having faith in the Church.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Yellow_Belle]

NOTE TO THE IRISH:

It’s decision time for you, my friends. You can wallow in the mud of how bad this is, how your nation is effected more than any other nation, blah, blah, blah, or you can make up your mind right now to survive it. Feel sorry for yourselves if you will, but you are only delaying your own healing.

This is not to diminish the pain and betrayal you feel, which is understandably monumental, but history is a great teacher and those who ignore it get to learn the hard lessons from it all over again. When the scandal hit in this country, there was just as much outrage, there were just as many stories blanketing the news, and the media relished the fact they had something that everyone could hate. It sold a lot of newspapers and magazines.

This is what you can expect your media and press to do for you. They will keep fanning the fires of this until they can elicit reaction from the Church. As you well know, the Church does not knee-jerk reaction to anything, and you better prepare for any kind of satisfactory answer to take time. Your media will not sit still for that, and will gladly whip you all into a frenzy by convincing you the Church isn’t even examining the matter. Then you will have there, like we had here, groups of Catholics who will not sit still for the silence and form their own “victims” groups in their vain attempt to do what one poster mentioned earlier, to “seize control” of the Church. It won’t happen, and as their frustration grows they will get louder and louder and louder.

Rest assured the media is right now pouring over information to map this all out, who did what, to whom, when, etc. etc. Just when you start getting answers and see some action taken, expect it all to be dragged up again, only with more gory details making it look 10 times as bad as you think it is now. Your faith will be tested.

So a word of advice if you’ll hear it - if you love the Church and will stay faithful to it in its time of significant trial, then steady yourselves now and plant your feet firmly because, like an earthquake, the aftershock can damage as much as the first tremor.

You have a proud heritage; many of your kin died for their faith and stood against all odds to throw off the yoke of tyranny. Americans by nature admire any people so strong. As a Catholic of Irish lineage, I need only remember my grandparents and imagine how they would view this to be able to fully appreciate how much your world is tipped upside down right now. But you will get through it, hard as that seems right now. In your churches right this very minute are priests who’ve waited for the moment for this evil to be purged, enormous pain though it would bring. Stick by them! They didn’t do this to you, they only want to help you heal. If you do one thing better than Americans, find the resolve to not pull your trust from your faithful priests. Remember that, were the situation to be reversed, those good priests would never pull their love (or God’s) back from you. Stick by them and help your nation heal.

I will pray for your nation and our Church.

From what you have written it does not appear that you have the remotest notion of the current situation in Ireland or how Irish people think and feel. Far from being sorry for ourselves we’re mad as hell that the souls of so many Irish children were basically sacrificed to protect the reputation of the Church and to avoid a scandal. As for your little rant about the media in Ireland, do you imagine that we’re all morons who cannot read a report for ourselves or think for ourselves and that we need the media to interpret everything and do our thinking for us?

And all this patronising and lecturing of us as to how we should behave and think and feel, not to mention the moralising about faithful priests (as if we are too stupid to be able to figure that out for ourselves) is frankly insulting.