[metmom]

Well, let’s look at the typical reaction on the part of Catholics to men like Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and Ted Haggard.

They’re castigated and their ministries are discredited and sometimes, there’s jail involved.

Yet when a Catholic priest molests boys, he’s still allowed to perform mass, as long as his intent is pure. After all, he’s just human like the rest of us, nobody is perfect, and once a priest, always a priest.

The RCC hierarchy went out of its way to protect many or most of those molesters, shifting them from congregation to congregation.

Kind of a double standard, there, when Catholics excuse sin in their midst and damn others for it.

[papertyger]

Well, let’s look at the typical reaction on the part of Catholics to men like Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and Ted Haggard. They’re castigated and their ministries are discredited and sometimes, there’s jail involved. Yet when a Catholic priest molests boys, he’s still allowed to perform mass, as long as his intent is pure. After all, he’s just human like the rest of us, nobody is perfect, and once a priest, always a priest.

Excuse us for borrowing the same standard of discrediting the institution that Protestants so joyfully proclaim.

[miss marmelstein]

St. Augustine: “It is not the merits of the consecrator that the sacrament is wrought, but by the Creator’s word and power of the Holy Spirit.” I would judge that the most important thing in Catholicism is the receiving of the Communion - while in a state of grace, of course.