Posted on 09/06/2013 11:32:01 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said Thursday that one of the biggest problems facing the Roman Catholic Church is the number of people who identify as former Catholics, including many who left because of the 'sinful' behavior of clergy and other Church members.
Dolan, the former Milwaukee archbishop, made the comments during his first appearance in the city since the archdiocese released the personnel files of 42 priests with substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse against them in July.
Dolan didn't explicitly mention abuse, but he acknowledged that some Catholics who left the church because "they have been shocked, saddened and nauseated by the sinful behavior" of some of its members. He said Catholics should not hide from that.
"It's not a bad idea to fess up to the sinful side of the Church," Dolan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
another great problem for the Roman Catholic church (similar for some other churches and synagogues) is the number of people (especially those in public life) who still claim membership or affiliation but whose conduct and advocacy is nevertheless Satanic
I left because of the failure of church leadership to excommunicate the like of Nancy Pelosi.
As long as the church supports politicians who enable abortion, it’s too hypocritical organization for me.
“We admit her flaws and we love her all the more because she is Christ on the cross,” Dolan said.
The Church is Christ on the cross ???
I Left because the RCC does not preach the saving Gospel of Grace by Faith Alone.
“Another great problem for the Roman Catholic church (similar for some other churches and synagogues) is the number of people (especially those in public life) who still claim membership or affiliation but whose conduct and advocacy is nevertheless Satanic.”
So good I had to post it twice.
Start excommunicating public officials that KNOW church law and violate it anyway by creating policy in complete contravention of both Natural Law, and God’s Laws and the Catholic church will start to regain some credibility. Lord knows the Protestants are bleeding credibility by the buckets and are looking for some place to land that has the least bit of moral fortitude.
I agree - that’s the biggest problem.
These SAME folks who left the Roman Catholic Church due to ‘sinful clergy’ etc actually very supportive of homosexual marriage along with ‘women’s reproductive rights’.
These folks are just using the priest scandals as an excuse to protest Doctrine they find too conservative.
Most who left flocked right over to the Unitarians or were charter members of the C&E crowd.
Many faithful Catholics publicly condemned what was going on and literally begged the Archbishop to do something. Archbishop Weakland threatened them with lawsuits for defamation and loss of their jobs in the Archdiocese. Archbishop Weakland also criticized Pope John Paul II and fought all his efforts to instill true Catholic values.
Bishop Dolan was sent to Milwaukee to clean up the mess and was fought at every turn by the homosexual network that was already in place.
The Archdiocese is now bankrupt because of the actions of these homosexual priests and the faithful parishioners are forced to pay for the pro homosexual policies that were previously in effect.
You're right. The problem, at the level of the bishops, may be their formation in ethics, dating from the sixties. Many bishops have bought into the moral equivalency of the "seamless garment" argument.
Simple cowardice is another explanation. Both are possible.
That generation is passing away. I have some hope for the new generation.
There’s also the issued of people who were raised Catholic as children, but who then “left.” I would argue that such people were never actual Catholics, because choosing a religion is an adult act. Catholics disagree, of course. Nevetheless, familiarity with a faith, and parental obedience, is far different from free volitional adult choice. If, therefore, after “leaving” Catholicism after being raised in it, a person then chooses to be Catholic, I would say that they have not “returned,” but actually joined for the first time. And if they stayed away, they are not “former” Catholics, but simply raised in a faith they did not choose for themselves.
IMHO, of course - and I apply these concepts to all faiths and spiritual traditions, not just Catholicism.
How do you know that Faith Alone is sufficient for salvation?
I’m surprised our Jesuit Pope didn’t let the Bishops clean house.
This is the issue. The Bishops will only do what the Papacy will underwrite and support.
Excommunicating Nancy Pelosi would require Papal level involvement, regardless of the discretion her local Bishop has. In fact, the relationship between Bishop and Ruler may be so cozy in most cases that the Pope ends up having to be the heavy.
In other words, Dolan was a failure, and was rewarded by being put in charge of a bigger, more important diocese, so he could fail some more.
John, 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
The Lord indeed commands us to perform works in His name, but a million "works" without belief in the Grace of Jesus Christ, and the soul faces the Judgment of the Father.
I have become very disillusioned with the Catholic Church because I am greatly at odds with many of their political stances (illegal immigration, their warped ideas about “social justice,” and their failure to excommunicate high-profile, influential Catholics who support abortion on demand, to name a few). I cannot remember one sermon in 60 years that emphasized the importance of liberty. Virtue presupposes free will. Helping the less fortunate by choice is a virtue; being forced to help the less fortunate by the government is clearly not a virtue. I have never known the Church to make this point clear to its flock. One can ONLY be virtuous if one if free to be virtuous. The Church has never emphasized how critical liberty is to carrying out the mission of Christ.
The apple rots from the core. Milwaukee's "network" situation is typical.
Me too bro.
Yes.
“For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”
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