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“Do you really think Jesus would set up his church here on earth and then just let it run itself.”

You are correct, Jesus did not do that. Before He left, He said “I send you another Comforter”, and after He assended into the Father’s presence, He kept that promise, on the Day of Pentacost, when He sent the Holy Spirit to be the direct voice of God to each of us who are a part of the church, the holy catholic church, and the Holy Spirit is the One who oversees the direction for the Church. The church is not about Peter or any of the other Apostles, it is about those who worship in spirit and in truth. It is about us, not about hierarchy. Hierarchy is manmade, in all Christian religious communities.

You are right, it is about us and our journey to heaven or hell. But we do need the hierarchy of the church to guide us in the truth. There is only one Holy Spirit and only one truth. Look at the 25,000 other denominations who believe they have the truth because they are following the spirit, it just makes you wonder what spirit it is and where does it come from. There is only one true God and God can not contradict Himself. It is not possible. We need to know what we believe is the truth otherwise there is no reason to believe.

The hierarchy will be judged the same as you and I on how they followed the responsibilities that have been ordained on them. I suspect only harsher, that is why we need to pray for our priests that they teach and remain faithful to the truth. Who else can give us the sacraments?

Don't turn away from the authority of the church, it is the only thing keeping us on the true path to God. If Satan can make you disbelieve your priest, your bishop and the pope, who else can we turn to in matters of faith? Satan would like nothing better. There are some bad priests out there who seem to turn our faith on its head, but they are not the church, they are men, that is why we must educate ourselves as to what the church says because the church is now and forever will be the truth of Jesus Christ. Satan will not prevail!