Sure, I'll go there. Jesus is everywhere. Whether or not the monster listens to His whispers or his commands is THE issue in all of this debate.
Every sin ranging from the abhorrent like priests molesting little boys, taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit, televangelists using God as a way of gaining financially, politicians helping themselves to the detriment of those they are supposed to represent, to the small like eating your brother's Halloween candy and lying that you didn't have a beer last night, emanates from a conscious turning away from our Lord. Flip Wilson may have said "The devil made me do it" but we all understand who controls one's own hands, and that freewill is a gift.
When Obama was President, many of us fully understood that the guy running the Executive Branch doesn't ipso facto stand for us or our values or our traditions. He is a man who bleeds red like me and you, and is susceptible to error and good old fashioned stupidity.
Any and every Catholic has the same grounded understanding about the Church, from the Pope all the way down to the choir director. There is a right way and a wrong way. Man has proven himself capable of error, and man will twist The Word to make himself happy...but you cannot ignore the Truth.
When Obama was president for eight years, I didn't move to Canada or Switzerland and revoke my citizenship. I'm an American. Similarly, I am a Catholic regardless of who the Cardinals elected as the Pope or who is serving Mass down the Street. Why? Because my salvation is not negotiable or subject to the whims of this or that guy saying that Global Warming is as important an issue as sin and abortion, or that horribly sinful actions on the part of priests is due to clericalism.
Sure, some people will happily follow any leader, be they Catholic, Protestant, or Druid. But there IS a yuge difference between following the intent of the Constitution and using the Commerce Clause to regulate local matters. Similarly, to assume every Catholic gives a cheery two-thumbs up to error is akin to saying that everyone on FR was perfectly peachy with Obama.
Thanks for listening.
I didn’t say what you posted at the beginning of your article, the article did. But, I know it is true because I worked at the Seattle Law Firm that handled the defense of the Catholic priests who were accused of doing this to the boys in Seattle. The evidence showed they were guilty as SIN!!! But, in the end, they settled the cases. The families got some money, but the boys were left to suffer the remainder of their lives. Most times mom and dad pocket the cash and rarely get the kids help. They are left to deal with it theirselves, told to suck it up and “be a man.” Then mom and dad buy that new car and tell him to enjoy riding around in it. I always believed the money should be placed in an account and given to the boys when they were of legal age. I saw WAY to many cases where mom and dad were pocketing the cash and the kids got nothing. Same with Hollyweird young children stars where mom and dad made a living off the kids money. The parents think the kid should support them instead of the other way around.
That may be a comforting conception but it is simply specious, as a even examination of RCs posts from the divisions of RCs over the years or less on FR would attest. The class that rejects Francis as being a valid pope is so "vocal" that the last I saw the RM considered posts about the popes as being about a non-Catholic and thus a disqualification from using the Catholic Caucus thread label.