Newark Archdiocese leader resigns amid sex scandal (NJ)

Associated Press ^ | May 25, 2013 1:46 PM EDT

[Olog-hai]

The second-highest official in the Archdiocese of Newark is stepping down in the wake of a sex scandal involving a former priest accused of violating an agreement with law enforcement barring him from working with children.

Church officials say Monsignor John Doran resigned Friday as vicar general and will no longer hold a leadership position with the archdiocese. Doran signed the agreement the former priest had reached with prosecutors in 2007. …

[RobbyS]

Whatever you may feel, the Scripture is hardly clear about that. Our Lord led a celibate life, as did John the Baptist. If women played a role in his earthly mission, they were generally thrust into the background. Paul lived a celibate life and so did the other apostles, so far as we know. Virginity was highly respected state of life in the Christian community ,it can be inferred that the early Church expected an early coming family life did not play the role it played in the Jewish community as whole.

[allendale]

Once heard a sermon from an elderly priest. He said the Catholic Church has faced a major crisis that could have shattered it about every 500 years. The first was the barbarian sack of Rome in ~476 when Church records, infrastructure were destroyed and many of its leaders killed. The second was the great schism with Eastern orthodoxy ~1000 AD. The third of course was the Reformation. He stated that today’s crisis with sexual molestations by the clergy was equally significant and threatening. The faithful believe that the Holy Spirit will always be present in the Church and ultimately the right corrective decisions will be made. It will take strong and wise leaders to do what is necessary.

[WVKayaker]

Whatever you may feel ...

...Our Lord led a celibate life

Feelings don't matter at all!

Jesus role was a little different from the church. He is the Cornerstone. His role was foretold throughout the Old Testament, and confirmed in the New. He does have a "bride", if you understand Scripture. He has had "children" all through the ages.

As for John the Baptist, we do not know if he was married or not. The Scripture does not say, and historians have not categorized him either way. That is merely an assumption, not a fact.

...If women played a role in his earthly mission, they were generally thrust into the background.

... Nowhere in John does Jesus explicitly teach about the roles and nature of women. Rather, we are left with an implicit commentary by John, who portrays women as active, innovative ministers of the Kingdom. We are given only indirectly Jesus’ attitude toward women, as revealed by his words and actions: the Johannine Jesus affirms them in roles that were unusual and often unacceptable within that culture. Jesus’ approach to women was in such contrast to that of his culture that we can assume a deliberate modelling of a new way of relating to women. Surely such modelling is as valid as explicit teaching.

John’s story reveals a certain sensitivity and a deep respect for women which is evident in his selection and portrayal of incidents in Jesus’ life. The Johannine Jesus is not presented as seeking to modify the feminine role prevalent within Judaism; rather, Jesus seems to ignore it altogether as he calls women to public ministry and affirms them in the face of male opposition. ...Direction Journal

I won't bother to address the rest of your specious arguments as they hold no validity within Scripture. The Scriptures that I quoted are to the point! Peter was married (Mark 1:30 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever..." See also: Matthew 8:14; Luke 4:38; 1 Corinthians 9:5)

1 Timothy 4:1-3 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."

...and I will add one more note about asceticism:

Colossians 2:18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

[RobbyS]

As I see it, you start from the Lutheran objection to monasticism, that this is the basis for your rejection of celibacy. But Where is there in the early Christian tradition the same emphasis on blood ties that we find in the orthodox Jewish tradition? I am not a Christian because I had a Christian Mother.

[Clemenza]

Most of us trust nothing the Catholic Church says about the scandals either.

[WVKayaker]

... But Where is there in the early Christian tradition the same emphasis on blood ties

You may not have a complete understanding of New Testament Theology. Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 17). It is only the Roman Catholic "traditions" that are in question, not the Holy Scriptures. Traditions of Roman Catholicism are man-made, whereas Scripture is from God (2 Tim 3). Your post is just another attempt to divert/deflect and does nothing to defend against the truths I have posted!

2 Timothy 3: 15 ... how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

[presidio9]

Most of us trust nothing the Catholic Church says about the scandals either.

Who is the "us" you are referring to?

[Clemenza]

The ex and non-Catholic majority of this country, kemosabe.