Posted on 02/15/2007 11:18:10 PM PST by Gamecock
They bow to them and kiss their rings and robes. They quote them (church fathers) endlessly as if they were Scripture themselves. They kneel to them and ask for their forgiveness. They believe those in power are one giant step above themselves between heaven and earth.
No, they ADORE folks who run stuff.
Took the words right out of my mouth, uh, keyboard...
You know what I mean.
I guess the allure is to rise in rthe heirarchy to where you can look down on others with amusement. And they kowtow to you. Anyway, that's the impression.
Your experience? As an outsider?
We -- by-and-large -- have an aversion to washing our dirty laundry in front of hostile strangers.
We also have an aversion to immoral priests. On the other hand, one might well expect priests to have an aversion to immoral laypeople ... but, then again (remember that total depravity business), is there another kind? And, then again, some priests are better than others, but every one of them is a sinner ... like me.
Do you guys have an aversion to immoral ministers? Do you know of another kind?
"All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
At least, last time I checked. Maybe Protestant clergy are the exception, but I doubt it.
**We -- by-and-large -- have an aversion to washing our dirty laundry in front of hostile stranger**
Which is exactly why there is a, shall we say, large amount of suspicion by the Proddies? What came first, the shuffling of immoral priests or the hostile strangers?"
**Do you guys have an aversion to immoral ministers?**
We have an aversion to someone latently, unrepentant, occupying the pulpit. But our goal is not to hide what he has done and move him to another church, but to restore him.
***remember that total depravity business***
Wait just a minute! Are you a Jansenist?
Just FYI, canon law (canon 537, to be exact) requires a parish to set up a (lay) financial committee, to oversee the finances of the parish in cooperation with the pastor.
Most dioceses (not clear if this is requirement of canon law or not) require periodic (annual, at least) financial reports from each parish.
The priest in question is a thief, and the bishop is falling down on the job. And what of the parish financial committee?
The hostile strangers first appear in the Gospels, I think.
Wait just a minute! Are you a Jansenist?
No, but you're a Calvinist. Don't you believe your own doctrine?
You just did Mother Angelica proud.
My point is that this is without question an area where Rome (yes, big bad Rome, the focus of evil in the post-Reformation world, that Rome) intends and in fact requires laypeople to exercise responsibility and oversight in parishes.
And if they don't, and the bishop doesn't exercise his responsibility either ... the cat ends up in the chickencoop.
"We -- by-and-large -- have an aversion to washing our dirty laundry in front of hostile strangers."
Amen.
Especially hostile strangers who seem strangely uninterested in their own perverted ministers.
"We also have an aversion to immoral priests. On the other hand, one might well expect priests to have an aversion to immoral laypeople ... but, then again (remember that total depravity business), is there another kind? And, then again, some priests are better than others, but every one of them is a sinner ... like me."
Again...amen.
All the catholics I know are outraged at the immorality of the child abusers.
If there is one common complaint I see is that the media seems bent on covering cathoic scandal, but is indifferent to the scandal in the schools.
But whoever said life is fair?
***Especially hostile strangers who seem strangely uninterested in their own perverted ministers.***
Example please.
Imagine for a moment that the Pope, Spurgeon and Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer all went to the marketplace as unknowns to buy apples. All the people would bow down to the pope because of his robes,and the Rabbi and Spurgeon would be treated as everyone else, since they went about dressed as ordinary folks. Fancy robes and titles are the rewards of this lifetime, not in heaven.
So if D. James Kennedy went along, dressed in the usual academic robe he wears when he preaches, would everyone bow down to him, too?
This is just silly.
***would everyone bow down to him, too?***
Nope. And if they did he would pick them up.
Yes they probably would, for that is the purpose of the things.
Kinda blows away the idea that people "bow down" to the Pope because of his clothing, then.
People "bow down" to kings and queens, too, but I guess that must be an exception to the "robes == bowing" rule.
Bowing down to a religious figurehead is wrong on so many levels.
lol, I'm of a different congregation, the only robed figure I've ever been around once was a woman of the Anglicans, who wore a white robe with a spotlight on her. I thought I was getting ready to be beamed up with Aimee Semple McPherson
I love this!
Somebody puts up a thread evidently intended (as subsequent remarks show) to offend Catholics. The remark is made, entirely without foundation in fact as a few minutes research right hereon Free Republic would show (hint: "SSPX" do a search) that Catholics keep on insisting that Rome is perfect. I jocularly point out the FACT of my EXPERIENCE that RCs are always dissing the hierarchy, and you decide i'm talking about you.
Carry on. Don't let reality interfere with your sense of injured innocence. Go ahead and cry. You'll feel better, maybe even well enough to read what I wrote BEFORE you respond to it next time.
Thank you for your opinion, which is all that that is.
2 Samuel 9, verse 6. Recall that David is "a man after God's own heart".
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