Posted on 01/27/2002 8:52:51 PM PST by churchillbuff
Nation: Parishioners in Boston divided over Cardinal's apology
Copyright © 2002 AP Online
BOSTON (January 27, 2002 8:09 p.m. EST) - Lori Sciurca said she regularly attends Sunday Mass but her faith has been tested by reports that church leaders repeatedly reassigned a priest accused of sexually molesting children.
"I think the apologies have gotten awfully old. There's a lot of singing and dancing and sidestepping," the 41-year-old social worker said before morning Mass at the Arch Street Chapel. "But, I also think there are many good priests in the archdiocese."
Similar conflicting sentiments were expressed by many Catholics on Sunday as Cardinal Bernard Law issued a letter apologizing for reassigning the former Rev. John J. Geoghan to a new parish in 1984, although he knew Geoghan had been removed from two parishes for molesting children ....
There is a move to destroy Christendom by men and women,elitists,who think they know how to establish Utopia on earth. In order to accomplish this they must destroy any organized religion which is in a position to inform and commit man to God. Consequently the Church,who has thwarted their efforts over the past 400 years has not been destroyed from the outside so they infiltrated it,and are seeking to destroy it from within.
Too many Catholics are not aware of the battle going on and are happy with the externals that seem to make us more with it,and attractive to those outside the Church. Of course each of these worldly adaptations to conform to pleasing and elevating man reduces God. God, of course, cannot be reduced but can become obscured by the noise and the focus placed on the material world and the energies used to create a desire for those things of the world.
I know I am rattling on but let me conclude with my original thought and request of you. Please post the comment I am responding to on every thread on the subject. Loosening our disciplines now is a action with terrifying consequences.
I see the command to ordain pastors and elders in every city, with ONE wife a piece as a primary qualification, but ZERO priests. Except for the "thou has made us unto God a kingdom of priests" spoken by all the saints of the New Testament era in the Book of Revelation, I see no reference to the office or station of priest.
Don't worry though, you will soon be branded an heretic by someone who "knows" their Church is the only one who is "right" and that all "questioners" concerning such matters originate from the damned, the heretics and the offal of Satan's seed.
Regardless, in my copy of the New Testament, most men who serve God are required to be married for all but the eunichs of Christ. Still, "eunichs for christ" were not listed as one of the five-fold ministries orginally listed as being "for the perfecting of the saints." per se.
It's not that singleness is sin, it's just that the unmarried are ill equipped to fully understand experientially the rigors of FAMILY and SEXUAL life within a marriage. They can spout platitudes regarding behaviors in marriage, but have very little "internalized" connections to comprehend that advice, emotionally, spiritually or familial wise.
I think "priests" should be married. Makes for better equipped servants of God, if they be so.
You can't find it. The Apostle Paul said it was better not to get married if God grants them the gift of celebacy. Using scriptural ratios of which apostles were unmarried for the gospel's sake, this gift is very, very rare. Paul is the only one I can name who was unmarried. Even Peter was married. Also, all the priests of the Levite tribe were married with childred. This is how the priesthood continued - if no Levites had children - the priesthood would have ended in 1 generation.
Also, I think I remember that a married priest in these bodies can never be a bishop.
The Byzantines recognize the Roman Pope as primate while the Orthodox do not.
. Sorry, but I know many married men who are Pastors of churches, and they have no problem taking care of church business and their families at the same time.
Besides, if they are too busy, that's what Deacons are for, they are to be servants of the church, too, they have responsibilites to help the local church.
Or as the rather large amount of Catholic priests, brothers, nuns, and consecrated persons who live out this calling in a loving manner show in a very clear form- it is not so incredibly rare or impossible.
Also, all the priests of the Levite tribe were married with childred. This is how the priesthood continued - if no Levites had children - the priesthood would have ended in 1 generation.
However, there was a change of priesthood with a change of covenants. Christ is the new model for the priesthood- and Christ did not marry. He furthermore encouraged 'eunuchs for the kingdom.'
Married persons can already serve as a deacon or in a lay capacity. If necessary they can become priests- however I would argue that:
1)A predominantly celibate clergy is vital to the life of the Church. A people who cannot produce men and women willing to give everything to Christ- are evidencing a lack of faith. God does not stop calling- it is we who stop responding.
2)Abolishing the requirements for celibacy would not decrease sexual offenses in the clergy- it would increase them.
3)To let the media dictate Church policy- would be a fatal error. The Church needs to clean up her own act- all precautions to prevent such disgraceful events from happening should be taken. But to cater to a media who is often openly hostile to the Church would be a great error.
That's why statistics are kept on such matters. And it turns out, married protestant ministers "bugger" little boys at the same rate as unmarried priests.
A lot of this reaction to pedophile clergy quickly perverts itself into an assault on chastity - which is an ancient tradition of the Christian Church from the time of Paul, who was himself an unmarried, chaste man. It is part and parcel of medern degeneracy to assume humans are too weak to live holy lives without having sex.
Every ay when I wake up I am reminded of the joy my family give me, they have made me a better person and more understanding of the world.
I truly believe a married priest would have so much more to offer to a community.
As for unmarried men make better priests because they can devote themselves 100% to their calling without family obligations.
It is a case as in the army of finding the right wife, with the right wife beside you, you can do so much more with life.
Cheers Tony
I don't doubt it. Whether is called to serve in a married capacity or a celibate one is up to them. No one is saying that clergy cannot be married. The fact that are there are a small minority of Catholic priests speaks of this fact. However, the argument is that celibacy is a calling that has a unique role in the life of the Church. I would maintain that the celibate calling is a higher one- not by any merit of those God- but by a gift of God's grace.
Besides, if they are too busy, that's what Deacons are for, they are to be servants of the church, too, they have responsibilites to help the local church.
It is not just an issue of how busy they would be (although that is an issue.) The issue is one of devotion. One who has the ability to lovingly give everything to Christ (including the joy of marriage) has the abilility to serve in a spectatular single-minded fashion.
The fact that this is your calling does not mean this is everybody's calling. Would you argue that a Mother Theresa or John Paul II were not called to be celibate? Would you argue that all the many faithful celibates in the Church would have been better off getting married?
It is a case as in the army of finding the right wife, with the right wife beside you, you can do so much more with life.
The Church is not the army. The army serves a strictly utilitarian purpose- no one wants to be in the military. No one was born to fight wars- we do so out of necessity. However, the Church exists for the love of God. At its fundamental and deepest level it does not exist for anything exist except to love and praise God. This is a calling worthy of everything.
I am not saying that those who wish to be celibate or feel that is how god wishes them to serve him are wrong.
I feel that it should not be a defining point on whether you should become a priest or not.
I believe a married father can serve and love god as much as a calibrate priest.
And you are wrong I chose to be a soldier at a very young age, you could say it was a calling, and it takes a special women to be a army wife.
Cheers Tony
One can serve in many capacities- everyone need not be a priest. To say I am not called to the priesthood is not to say I am not called to serve God in a ministerial fashion- the Church has many opportunities to do so. Would you not agree that celibates can commit themselves to a unique degree to service of the kingdom? St. Paul believed so.
I believe a married father can serve and love god as much as a calibrate priest.
Of course they can- the celibate calling is not on account of any merit of the one called. It is a gift of God. One who is called to be married is living out their vocation every bit as fruitfully- but they are nevertheless different callings.
You are right to say that some are called to serve others in the military. BUT, there are 2 senses in which one is called.
One, a calling in view of a specific practical situation- your calling to the military.
Two, your ultimate calling. You were not created by God to be a soldier. You were created by God to love Him and to love others. At the very core of your being you are not a soldier- you are a child of God.
The expansion of the bureaucracy also sucked in feminists who feel it is their mission to
excise masculinity in all its forms from the Church and replace G_d with Mother Gaia.
The womanists moved in because men tend to be in the world of material production and
"churchwork" has always attracted women. The greatly enlarged bureaucracy made them
into the movers and shakers of policy in many dioceses and the feminists flooded in to take advantage of the situation.
POINT OF THE DAY by Mfkmmof4. Excellent. The priests who do these things would only manifest their illness somewhere else were they not to become priests.
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