Saints Say That Road to Hell is Paved with Skulls of Bishops and Priests

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I re-read what you were saying.

There is intent behind the discussion. An abject Catholic may look at a person like Marx and say, “He’s right! Why can’t a Protestant receive the Eucharist just like us? This is an outrage!”.

That behavior/intent multiplies and thus St. John Chrysostom was correct.
 
Lord Jesus Christ . . . Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood may be ever more conformed to you, the divine Master. May they preach the Gospel with pure heart and clear conscience. . . . Through the prayers of the blessed Virgin Mary, your Mother and ours, draw all priests and the flocks entrusted to their care to the fullness of eternal life, where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
 
Literally, there is no physical road to Hell, unless you are talking about Hell, Michigan.

In the sense you are thinking of it, a symbolic or metaphorical way, the idea may be that there have been unholy priests and bishops who have mislead people to engage in evil, and have opened themselves to condemnation in the final judgment.

You would have to re-read the article to understand what the author(s) are referring to.
 
The quote means exactly what it looks like it means. It isn’t suppose to make you feel comfortable.

We always reserve judgment to God, but just look at the # of people in recent decades that have committed sexual abuse in positions of authority. How many could have carried such secrets to their grave? God knows.
 
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Married Protestant clergy already come through an ecclesial back door known as the Chair of Peter which ordains married Protestant Clergy as Catholic Priests. (You may look this up).
 
Maybe because they, of all people, should know better. In other words, those to whom much is given should be expected to behave in a morally correct manner and abide by the faith.
 
Spider-Man!

Sorry, couldn’t help the thought crossing my mind…I agree. If we can’t hold Preists, Rabbis and Imams to a bit higher morality than us, then what is their purpose? Just teachers and coaches?

I don’t expect them to be perfect but I do expect them to be good examples.
 
Why would you want to hold them to standards you would never follow yourself?
 
I’m not holding them to perfection but as spiritual leaders I expect them to be closer to the ideal than I am. If we give someone authority we expect more from them. How can I not?
 
By being patient and realistic with them and knowing that the 'some" that misbehave are not the "all: and that they are as human as you are. Also by treating them with respect…
 
I don’t know that I have ever treated any authority with disrespect nor have I encouraged it unless that respect was abused. I have also, multiple times, pointed out that I don’t hold the Church or Preists in general as anything other than worthy of respect nor do I condemn all for the bad actions of the few.

Where did I give the impression that I blame all of them?
 
I remember hearing a teaching from the EO Church that priests are responsible for the salvation of their flock so that if the flock gets condemned, the priest bears spiritual responsibility. I don’t have a citation for this though, so I could be wrong about it. I don’t know if there is anything like that in the Catholic Church.
 
It’s from the homily of St. John Chrysostom cited earlier (see below). I don’t think the Catholic Church teaches that if a soul is lost it is automatically the bishop’s fault, but only if he did not do his due diligence–if he was negligent in his duties. I think ultimately that is what St. John Chrysostom intended as well (note his analogy with one causing another’s death). The Lord Himself may not save all.
Do you not see what a number of qualifications the Bishop must have? To be apt to teach, patient, holding fast the faithful word in doctrine. What trouble and pains does this require! And then, others do wrong, and he bears all the blame. To pass over every thing else: if one soul depart unbaptized, does not this subvert all his own prospect of salvation? The loss of one soul carries with it a penalty which no language can represent. For if the salvation of that soul was of such value, that the Son of God became man, and suffered so much, think how sore a punishment must the losing of it bring! And if in this present life he who is cause of another’s destruction is worthy of death, much more in the next world. Do not tell me, that the presbyter is in fault, or the deacon. The guilt of all these comes perforce upon the head of those who ordained them.
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http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210103.htm
 
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SteelArchangel said:
That’s an ultra rare occurrence.
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There are, however, more married RC priests in the US from these paths than married EC priests in the US . . . (although that is likely to change fairly soon, fas the EC churches recover from the abuses of the last century . . . my church [Pittsburgh metropolia] has imported multiple priests from an eastern European seminary, all of whom are married, and also has several in the pipeline. The sole barrier at this point is the cost of supporting families. I’m sure that the Melkites are way ahead of us [but much smaller–but they started in the 70s, iirc], and the Ukrainians are certainly moving and larger than us)
 
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