Gee, you guys are really active today. This must be about the third time a thread on this has been posted.
One thing that really surprised and depressed me when I started to read FR was to learn how much Protestants hate Catholics.
Our country is going down the drain and what inspires some here? It’s telling, isn’t it?
***This must be about the third time a thread on this has been posted.***
If Priests would stay away from children we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?
***One thing that really surprised and depressed me when I started to read FR was to learn how much Protestants hate Catholics.***
What in the world does this have to do with “hating Catholics?”
Priests molest children.
The church ignores the fact that priests are are molesting children.
You feelings of martyrdom at the hands of FR Protestants are misplaced.
Just out of curiosity, how much of the money you gave to your local parish went to clean us this mess?
I have discovered that, unofficially, that about a fourth of Protestants are Protestants specifically for their hatred of Catholics. Love of Jesus comes a distant second to these types.
To the credit of the other 3/4 of Protestants, they'd like people like Gamecock to shut their piehole and focus on the enemy (atheists, radical muslims, liberal secularists, etc) rather than allies.
When I first joined FR, over ten years ago, there were a few blatant KKK types that I had booted off of this site. I haven't seen it in quite some time...I think they've learned what lines can not be crossed and what is tolerated. Unfortunately Catholic bashing won't get you banned on this site.
I believe it truly shows that Satan is terrified of the Catholic Church.
“One thing that really surprised and depressed me when I started to read FR was to learn how much Protestants hate Catholics.”
I have had the exact same experience and reaction.
Much of it is beyond “debate” and “discussion” and has become an agenda.
Same here.
I suppose the main element of surprise comes from the fact that we don't harbor these feelings toward Protestants. Certainly, growing up, the attitude was "They're decent people, certainly fellow Christians, though they have a few things wrong with their theology." There was definitely a sense that we're all in together, viz., the effort of living out the Gospel in our own lives, and bringing it to others.
Generally speaking, when the masses get into hysterics about something, it's a good sign they're wrong. Global warming Climate change, for example. Turning off that noise and assessing the situation calmly and rationally is the cure for this. The same is true for these trumped-up scandals. Having to go back 20, 30, 40 years to dig up cases ought to raise a red flag. In most of those cases, the accused is long dead and so cannot defend himself. But all that business about the right of the accused to face his accuser is just for whiny civil libertarians, I suppose. Suspending statutes of limitations, which are in place because memories fade and evidence disappears over time, is fair game, but only if Catholics are targeted. In New Hampshire, they tried to introduce legislation to force priests to break the seal of the confessional, first amendment rights be damned.
If the bishops had insisted that each and every one of these accusations be subject to the standards of a court of law, almost none of the claimants would have a case. In fact, the John Jay study shows a significant drop-off in accusations (not all of which are likely to be true) after the mid 1980's. But the mission of the Church extends beyond civil justice to moral justice, and if an internal investigation suggested a case had merit, the bishops settled them instead of spending the money on court fees and attorney fees. It's the honorable thing to do, but the Church will not be given credit for that. The pay-outs do not come from the tax payers, nor from the personal wealth of the clergy, which is minimal, but from parish funds, which means, ultimately, from the parishioners and their ancestors who donated the money to establish their parishes. Their reward is bankrupt dioceses and closed churches.
Now, you might think that on a conservative site, dedicated to Constitutional restoration, our separated brethren would have enough presence of mind to see that Catholics' rights are jeopardized by these actions. You'd think that they'd realize that if our rights are in danger, so might theirs be in the days to come. You'd think they'd notice the timing of these media events, and realize that they are staged to discredit the Catholic Church, which has been most vocal in its defense of the unborn, of traditional marriage, of the integrity of the family, and of subsidiarity (essentially states' rights in the US). You'd think they'd realize that destroying all these things is the agenda of the Leftists here in the US and in the EU, and that if the Church is weakened the Left is strengthened. You'd think they'd understand that jumping on this politicized bandwagon is injurious to their own cause.
You'd think that, but if you did, apparently you would be wrong. The irrational hatred for the Church on the part of certain people on FR trumps everything else. It's sick, and it's sad, and it's not going to stop.
As our republic continues to degenerate into socialism and fascism, we can either stop slinging mud at each other and join forces against the decline, or we can sit back and watch it fail.
While some Protestants may hate Catholics, not all do. This is an issue that crosses the different denominations of Christianity.
Within the Protestant community there are roughly as many paedofiles as in the RCC (Roman Catholic Church - just a standard abreviation, no lessening or insult intended). However, having pointed out the parity in numbers, there is another problem that the RCC has that isn’t shared by Protestants and that is the Bishops. For most Protestant ministers there is no worldly authority above them and the sin is with them alone. In the RCC where a Bishop is aware of the problem with a priest then the Bishop will share in sin if he does nothing to stop it. The Bishop commits other sins when he covers it up (essentially conspiracy).
For too long the Bishops hid things and denied justice to the victims. Also it appears that quite often the Bishops worked together to hide things. The extremes of this conspiracy is what makes it stand out so much more than similar situations in other churches. To many it seems the Pope[s] have been aware for a very long time and chose to do nothing, which brings the whole church into question. This is just too big for any decent person to ignore and titillating enough to ensure that people pay attention.
Now let’s be fair. This problem isn’t limited to the RCC. It is a cancer inflicting itself upon all of Christianity [however, I do believe it is worse in the RCC]. The teachings of the RCC absolutely condemn such behaviour. The design of Pope - Cardinal - Bishop - Priest (yes I skipped a few) does not cause this behaviour, and should actually help keep it from occurring.
What can be done to keep this from happening? I honestly don’t know. This type of sickness is in the individuals. Only by making the RCC a place that won’t work for their desires we might have success. However, please remember that there is probably a significant number of Bishops that have this problem as well and how to deal with them is another problem all together.
I truly believe the unmarried clergy has given freaks a respectable place to hide among decent young men who seek to do God’s work. Perhaps this should be reviewed as this is a choice of the RCC. Eastern Catholics and Orthodox have a married clergy, but unmarried Bishops (and the unmarried Bishops are a source of embarrassment for these faiths, but a needed step to avoid nepotism)
The seminaries need to be cleaned out. The priesthood is for those that wish to be married to the church (or see paragraph above). Sexual deviancy should have immediate dismissal.
The parishes need to be cleaned out (although I do believe this is already being done). No mistresses, gay lovers or children.
Bishops need to be held accountable. If they faced jail time instead of recall to Rome, they might think about their actions ahead of time.
Please feel free to add to this list, especially those of the RCC as you suffer most when your church commits evil.
More and more, I wish FR had a “place this user on your ignore list” filter.
WRONG.
Some of us hate blasphemy, idolatry and outrageous heresies
Well, if you stick to your own, you never really know WHAT people think, or are saying. It's very uncommon for Protestants among Protestants to express hatred for Catholics, just as it's very unusual for Catholics among Catholics to express hatred for Protestants.
Both of my parents have brothers who converted to Catholicism to marry Catholics, so all of my cousins are Catholic. I married a Catholic, and go to a Catholic church every Sunday. I have been board chairman of a mixed Protestant-Catholic Christian school.
Let me tell you, there's enough hatred on both sides to curl your hair, if you go looking for it. The good news is that it's less than when I was a kid.
The bad news is that most Christians still are not paying attention to Mark 9:38.
No we don’t hate Catholics. We feel the Church has led you astray with its extra-biblical nonsense.