Posted on 03/12/2005 5:50:29 PM PST by vox_freedom
It is extremely hard to root out such corruption once it is fully accepted within the structure of such a church.
It will cave under its own weight and take with it huge numbers of innocent, godly people, as sexual and financial victims.
This is not how God's House should be run. And it does not appear to be stoppable.
How long before they start preaching homosexual marriage. I have always been pretty sure that would be the last straw in losing me.
Let the present abuse crisis focus all the more attention on the issue and I hope the financial implications will also inform people as to the cause. Let the bright light of Truth force a revolution to force the hierarchy to recognize the problem and the evil it represents.
I do not understand how it can be fixed with what I understand to be the legal structure of the church, from the diocese on up to the top.
There are "physical" separations that leave control of assets in more local hands. This is, in part, how a diocese can go bankrupt and not be allowed to touch the finances of the church in Rome. However, I'm not a Catholic and my understanding may not be complete.
If so, then the "cleanup" will be left to those who are already corrupt and in control of these localized regions.
I don't see it happening.
God is mysterious, and His was are not our ways. I believe he had a plan to correct the church when it has become corrupted. Anyone who wants to read a very accurate account of the muck, mire, and corruption of this problem needs to read the book "Vows of Silence"
It is the best definitive read on this problem, and it highlights the heroic stand of one priest, Father Tom Doyle.
That is so true. And it never seemed to register in the heirarchical brain just what a devastating blow this pederasty was, just what an abomination it really was.
They immediately became entrenched. I understand why, the Church needed to protect herself too, in case there were any situations where Priests were being accused who were not actually guilty. Carte blance wasn't an option, but they didn't have a clue that convening a conference on deciding about zero tolerance months after the scandals broke, one after another, was tantamount to the Church shrugging its shoulders. It was an astounding thing to witness.
Perhaps they were shellshocked, but that's hard to believe of people so sophisticated.
And the bleeding continues. Thursday a local priest was placed under house arrest for having child porn on his computer. He was so complacent and sure of himself that he took the computer in to be repaired, leaving that stuff on there. That's how little he felt he had to fear. And now the song and dance regarding his situation is just beginning. You should have seen the look on the face of one of the parishoners that was interviewed, it spoke a thousand words.
excellent post.
Catholics need to starve these guys into resignation.
Would you please add this to the Religion forum, since it seems to be wayward... :-)
Now the priesthood has come to be considered the primary “gay profession
Now the priesthood has come to be considered the primary “gay profession
Now the priesthood has come to be considered the primary “gay profession
Now the priesthood has come to be considered the primary “gay profession
Now the priesthood has come to be considered the primary “gay profession
Now the priesthood has come to be considered the primary “gay profession
How true. It's almost as difficult to root it out in universities, news rooms, ballet classes, and florist shops.
"The truth is, a few money-grubbing lawyers have done more to keep our children safe than the entire NCCB and
all its committees! People simply don’t want to believe!"
Appalling but true!
Maria Esperanza, the seer of Betania, before her death said that Jesus was coming to shepherd His flock...I think it was her way of saying that God will clean His house soon due to the failure of the church shepherds here.
As a young man applying for acceptance in the local seminary, I have to say that the seminarians I have encountered have been nothing if not orthodox and devout. I think there is great hope in the new crop of priests. They will reform the Church. We have seen firsthand the abuses of power, especially as they have been manifested in the liturgy. We want to bring authentic reform and true devotion. The phenomenon of an increasingly orthodox youth in the Church is well-documented and real. I think that several bishops are at the forefront of attracting these holy young men to priestly vocations, especially Bishop Robert Morlino and Archbishop Timothy Dolan. May they and their seminarians receive the benefit of our prayers.
May all of the Saints in Heaven Pray for you and watch over you. May Our Lady of the Way be at your side and Saint Joseph be your mentor.
'bout time someone spoke like this.
Something else needs to be said. I posted an article by Michael Davies yesterday on the abuse of ecclesiastical power on the part of Catholic auhorities. For some reason the article was pulled. But its main thrust needs to be mentioned over and over because too many Catholics have been trained from childhood--all too falsely--to be obedient to church superiors even when to do so would be morally culpable and offensive to the faith. It is one thing to be obedient, but it is another to enable evil men to continue to do evil. And it is important to be informed enough to tell the difference.
Here is what Michael Davies said in part:
The Abuse of Ecclesiastical Power
According to Catholic theologians and canon lawyers, a prelate can abuse his position in a number of ways, which include the imposition of unjust laws or failure to guard and transmit the deposit of Faith, either by remaining silent in the face of heresy or even by teaching heresy himself. A Catholic has the right to refuse obedience in the first case and a duty to oppose the prelate in the second. Their consensus regarding law in general is that the legislator should not simply refrain from demanding something that his subjects would find impossible to carry out, but that laws should not be too difficult or distressing for those subjected to them. St. Thomas explains that, for a law to be just, it must conform to the demands of reason and have an effect which is both good and for the benefit of those for whom it is intended. A law can cease to bind without revocation on the part of the legislator when it is clearly harmful, impossible, or irrational.1 This is particularly true if a prelate commands anything contrary to divine precept. (Praelato non est obediendum contra praeceptum divinum.) In support of this teaching St. Thomas cites Acts 5:29: "We ought to obey God rather than men." He teaches that not only would the prelate err in giving such an order but that anyone obeying him would sin just as certainly as if he disobeyed a divine command. ("...ipse peccaret praecipiens, et ei obediens, quasi contra praeceptum Domini agens...").2
Dealing with the question as to whether subjects are bound to obey their superiors in all things he explains that: "Now sometimes the things commanded by a superior are against God. Therefore superiors are not to be obeyed in all things."3
Where a matter of faith is involved, resistance is not a right but a duty for the faithful Catholic...To sum up what has been demonstrated so far, normally subjects must be obedient to lawful authority in Church and State but they have the right to resist harsh and harmful laws which do not contribute to the common good. They must never compromise the Faith under the pretext of obedience. "When the shepherd becomes the wolf the flock must defend itself."
Few Catholics concerned to uphold orthodoxy within the Church during these troubled times would dispute this. Catholics in English-speaking countries do not normally have to contend with shepherds who have actually become wolves but with shepherds who permit wolves to ravage their flocks, shepherds who condemn any of the sheep who have the temerity to complain. Such bishops are not the exception, they have become the norm. Dietrich von Hildebrand denounces them with the burning indignation of an Old Testatment prophet:
"They either close their eyes and try, ostrich-style, to ignore the grievous abuses as well as appeals to their duty to intervene, or they fear to be attacked by the press or the mass-media and defamed as reactionary, narrow-minded, or medieval. They fear men more than God. The words of St. John Bosco apply to them: "The power of evil men lives on in the cowardice of the good."...One is forced to think of the hireling who abandons his flocks to the wolves when one reflects on the lethargy of so many bishops and superiors who, though still orthodox themselves, do not have the courage to intervene against the most flagrant heresies and abuses of all kinds in their dioceses or in their orders."4
Dr. von Hilderbrand is in perfect conformity with the authorities who have already been cited when he denies that the faithful have the duty of automatic obedience to their bishops in the present state of the Church. He shows with admirable clarity that the mark of a truly faithful Catholic can be a refusal to submit to heretical or compromising bishops.
"Should the faithful at the time of the Arian heresy, for instance, in which the majority of the bishops were Arians, have limited themselves to being nice and obedient to the ordinances of these bishops, instead of battling heresy? Is not fidelity to the true teaching of the Church to be given priority over submission to the bishop? Is it not precisely by virtue of their obedience to the revealed truths which they received from the Magisterium of the Church, that the faithful offer resistance?...
"The drivel of the heretics, both priests and laymen, is tolerated; the bishops tacitly acquiesce to the poisoning of the faithful. But they want to silence the faithful believers who take up the cause of orthodoxy, the very people who should by all rights be the joy of the bishops' hearts, their consolation, a source of strength for overcoming their own lethargy. Instead, these people are regarded as disturbers of the peace."5
"Is not fidelity to the true teaching of the Church to be given priority over submission to the bishop?" asks Dr. von Hildebrand. "Yes, it is," replies St. Thomas Aquinas together with every reputable theologian who has examined the subject. There can be very few faithful Catholics who would refuse to align themselves with St. Thomas and Dietrich von Hildebrand on this point - with one reservation. Many, if not most, would add the proviso: "Unless the bishop in question is the Bishop of Rome." Some are quite unwilling to admit, even to themselves, that an occasion could ever arise when a Catholic should justifiably refuse obedience to the Sovereign Pontiff. However sincere such people may be, they display a lamentable ignorance of Church history and Catholic theology.
Professor Marcel de Corte of the University of Liège can be ranked with Dr. von Hildebrand as one of the outstanding Catholic philosophers of our time. He has noted that the attitude of these Catholics towards the Pope is tantamount to the claim that he is inerrant, that his every decision, his every word, is divinely inspired, that he is, in fact, a divine oracle. Writing in the March 1977 issue of the Courrier de Rome he remarked:
"For them it is as if the person of the Pope were, as such, infallible, and as if all his words, all his directives, all his judgments in all matters, even those foreign to religion, could never be subject to error, though the whole history of the Church protests against that conviction which is close to idolatry.
"There have been Popes whose doctrine was near-heresy, Honorius and Liberius for example. There were others whose faith, hope and charity could hardly be perceived behind the disorders of their conduct. And there were some whose faults, stupidity, blunders, extravagances, and weaknesses in the government and administration of the Church were such that the divine organism entrusted to their care was more than once shaken. It is enough to read the twenty or so volumes of Ludwig von Pastor's History of the Popes to be convinced of that."
God bless you!
And be assured of our prayers and support. Nothing could help our Church more than new vocations plus devout and holy priests. Thank you for your willingness and sacrifices to serve God.
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