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To: netmilsmom
Is that what you think we do? Get on the Popephone to talk to God?

Not really; I just find it laughable that you need to confess your sins to a priest when the rest of us have a direct line to God.

When Catholics screw up they always have a way to get out of it--buy your way out. Annulment = divorce There is as much or more hypocrisy in the Catholic church as any other.P>

102 posted on 07/10/2007 9:01:26 AM PDT by lonestar
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To: lonestar
Not really; I just find it laughable that you need to confess your sins to a priest when the rest of us have a direct line to God.

Hardly. Catholics can indeed ask God directly for forgiveness; in a case of immanent death, when a priest is not available, Catholics (and everyone else) should ask God directly for forgiveness. That said, the normative means for the forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism is through the Sacrament of Penance. For everyone, whether they care to believe it or not. The lack of a valid minister for the Sacrament is one of the reasons that the Protestant ecclesiastical communities are not churches in the proper sense.

Annulment = divorce

The frequency of annulments bothers some Catholics as well. That it has become what many consider to be "Catholic divorce" demonstrates that the situation has become ridiculous

107 posted on 07/10/2007 9:12:45 AM PDT by GCC Catholic (Sour grapes make terrible whine.)
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To: lonestar
When Catholics screw up they always have a way to get out of it--buy your way out. Annulment = divorce There is as much or more hypocrisy in the Catholic church as any other.

Have you ever read the story of the vineyard owner who forgave his servant's massive debt, but the servant refused to forgive the trifling debt of his fellow servants? If Catholics "screw up" and "always have a way to get out of it", how is that in any way contrary to Scripture which teaches that no less than God expects man to be lenient to his fellow man in his transgressions? If you have a problem with the abundance of mercy in our faith, perhaps you expect God to be as unforgiving towards you?

Additionally, no one "buys" their way into an annulment. Can you describe the process for us? What are the steps? Who is involved? Who pays for the tribunal that has to spend time reviewing and researching the claims? Ironic, though, that Protestant balk at a stipend for annulment proceedings in the Catholic Church, but pay their pastors a king's ransom to be the intermediary to Christ that they profess no man can rightfully be. Where's the hypocrisy, again?

109 posted on 07/10/2007 9:46:40 AM PDT by Rutles4Ever (Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia, et ubi ecclesia vita eterna)
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To: lonestar
Not really; I just find it laughable that you need to confess your sins to a priest when the rest of us have a direct line to God.

Verizon?

Is there anything about YOUR religion we'd find laughable?

111 posted on 07/10/2007 9:57:16 AM PDT by blu (All grammar and punctuation rules are *OFF* for the "24" thread.)
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