rrestivo:
I pray that through faith you gain the strength to pick up your rock & slingshot & see how an unconditional love of God will allow you to KILL the giant named DECEPTION that is attacking you! :tiphat:
GOD BLESS!
Dear rrestivo,
I join you in prayer, but I have a few comments to the way we have gone about dealing with this person. They are not directed at you personally, but all of us as a whole.
If a person is deceived, and she cannot get help for it here, then what good are we? Are we here only to bicker, to posture ourselves above others who aren’t as happy with the Church right now as we are, and of course to have goofy fun off-topic?
This person is not in here impugning other posters, and has had some bad experiences. We find some things in what we say to be problematic, so instead of helping sort it out we tend to take sides. In this case it’s OP v Church and the OP makes one false move and DING! The Church wins, OP step aside.
Not everything that has been claimed here is a sign of deception. I think we may be able to help sort it out, such that we can be part of that “rock and slingshot.”
All male heirarchy being less than optimal? Arguable by honest Catholics, but not changeable. Therefore it is something to “get over” rather than something to sound off.
Embarrassing situation with moving the altar? Clearly the meeting which was poorly planned, and might have caused embarrassment. Also something to get over. Was the AB more abrupt, angry, of condescending than necessary? We don’t know but that’s something we need to get over. Was it an embarrassement to the people involved? Maybe so but I strongly object to our assumptions that they were “disrespectful” by setting it up that way.
“Disrespect” connotes that they knew what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway, and we have zero evidence of that other than some poster’s thoughts that they “should have known.” This is a particular sore spot with me, because for many years I have gotten blamed for doing what I was supposed to do, only later to be told that I “should have known” they wanted it different when they did not say so – and therefore ignorance on my part became punished as if it were defiance. This was the case all through grade school – not much in public high school or private college – but happens all the time at work and at church. If a person doesn’t know their action is wrong and they are doing what they think they were told by proper authority, then they are innocent and the “sin” is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe they make a mistake; further maybe they are upset about it because nobody’s ever apologized for misleading them or had anybody credible to talk to. We are here to help them through it, and to help them understand – not to use it as a reason to disnmiss a person’s honest issues.
Many places where Mass is said don’t even have a permanent altar. Especially if it had been done that way in previous years, how are the “little ones” supposed to know that it’s some big sacrilege to move the altar?
Arrogance, abuses and lack of accountability? Hardly any honest Catholic would doubt this charge. The diocese of Spokane sits in danger of having all its assets sold off and we can blame the victims or the government all we want, but the problem which might have begun as individual priests sinning, was perpuated and enabled for years by Those In Power, acting in their Official Duties, and protecting the “Church” rather than the people – then look what happens.
If we think salival or whoever we’re talking about is deceived, then let’s her sort it our rather than take the rantings of an upset person, find fault with it, then dismiss the person and the rantings as deception.
How many of us, when very upset by something, tend to “lump in” things that aren’t really problems with problems? One great example is this thread. We hear a mixture of truth and deception coming from the mouth of an upset sister. We listen to hear for that part we can label as “deception,” and neatly dispose of this argument by writing off the sister since she is obviously off base. Then we all feel better because we can “notch on up” in our belt that we have protected the Church yet again from one of her sheep who has felt pain at the hands of the worldly shepherds.
Maybe we need a rule: if you’re ever upset, or if you have been a victim, then unless every single thing you say is objectively True to Church Teachings within our ability to detect it, then you are the problem.
Alan
I will pray for you that you may come to fully understand the Hope that we have in Christ. May The Lord Bless you and Increase you in knowledge!
