I am not defending the deeds, but “hand=picked”? Catholic priests in this country have never been part of the social elite, the way that Episcopal priests once were. More often than not, they were kids from large, devout working class, middle-class families. Not terribly different from the kind of kid who went to the service academies. Not very different from the kids who went to a Southern Baptist seminary. By 1970, they were probably less well-educated than their parishioners. Which is one reason why Catholic families stopped sending their kids oft to seminary. Before, it was like a Jewish merchant sending off his kid to be a doctor. Now, not so much. Which is how the Church got into this fix, maybe. After Vatican II, lots of good kids dropped out of seminary. These started taking in the culls as well as the good kids. You have heard of the “Hollow”Military of the ‘;70s? We have been living with the hollow priesthood of Post Vatican II.
LOL, you need a chat buddy, this talking about everything but the thread subject is bizarre, and boring.