A group of orthodox Catholic women in the Diocese of Arlington, Va., called Les Femmes, the Women of Truth has noted that Bishop Paul Loverde is holding a mandatory meeting this week of all his priests at which they will be subjected to the distorted sex theories of Fr. Stephen Rosetti. Rosetti is the director of the St. Luke’s Institute, where so many molesting priests were sent for treatment, given a clean bill of health, and sent back into the field where they were allowed to molest again.
Ya know – a heck of lot of people today (including kids my children know – and presumably their parents) associate the Catholic Church with sexual perversity and depravity. And the only true thing you can say to them is – you’re right. The Pope, or someone he delegates, should end this sickening display of evil – which ends up harming children, preying on them and leading Christ’s sheep to sin. – Like Boston’s Shanley going around promoting man/boy sex – this kind of stuff will likely be allowed to fester for years. Our Church has a sickening disease, and there are festering sores all over the place – oozing openly. This needs cauterization, and fast. But sadly, there is no one willing to do it.
I would make the distinction between the Church, the Bride of Christ, and the Church composed of fallible sinful people. The Church herself is not sexual depravity and evil. But many of her members, very many even, have descended into it.
I’m not saying your wrong, but overgeneralizing and over simplification could cause people to miss your point and dismiss it.
Sure, Mr. Bettenelli – what I said was that many people associate the Catholic Church with sexual perversity and depravity. Yes, the Church Church is the Bride of Christ. But the association is now commonplace and widespread and common even among teens and children. (Sick sexual priest jokes are commonplace at my son’s CATHOLIC high school, in my kids’ Boy Scout troop, and amongst non-Catholics I know…) That is a stunning development in my lifetime. And sure, people can dismiss it. But sadly, in my experience, it’s true.
What is hard for me to fathom is that not only is there a huge percentage of priests who 1) do not believe in Christian and Catholic sexual morality; and 2) are unwilling to teach it to our youth and laity; and 3) don’t even understand it – but also a huge cohort that ACTUALLY ENCOUARGES AND PROMOTES SEXUAL SIN. We Catholic have been mightily betrayed by the powers-that-be in this Church on the question of sexual morality. And we have to fight like tigers to get our local Church and schools to teach it to our kids.
#8220;I would make the distinction between the Church, the Bride of Christ, and the Church composed of fallible sinful people. The Church herself is not sexual depravity and evil. But many of her members, very many even, have descended into it. “
Sigh. I wish more people could recognize this distinction.
“Sigh. I wish more people could recognize this distinction. “
It’s hard for many people to understand, Mr. Barrister – to know that there is a good and holy Church which endures all assaults against it, protected by the Holy Spirit, but which can spout conflagrations of evil within it – particularly when such evil has preyed viciously on children. We are frequently asked by Catholics we know why we continue to attend Mass. We answer, of course, that the Church is good and holy and again, protected by the Holy Spirit – but that there is obviously an infestation of evil within it – which we pray will be routed – and also, of course, that we are called and required to attend Mass (and Confession). But there are a lot of hurting and distrustful and angry Catholics now who feel really really burnt by what’s happened – and who also are afraid for their kids…
The must be historical precedents for the situation that affects the Church today. Perhaps the late Roman Empire? The times of Benedict and the Fathers of the Desert? And just as wave after wave of “barbarians” were to pounce on Rome, so we have waiting now for the opportunity to strike here and in that cesspool of Western Europe others who may not have our sohpistication and technology, but have the spirit and the will—as horrible as it is.
How, Sinner, could the Church remain truthful in a society where truth is relative to what will spark my sexual interest or ease my boredom for the moment?
It was and it is, after all, comprised of some very flawed people. Many of whom occupy prelatures throughout our sad country.
The Church as the Body of Christ will survive. I am reminded that the the Christians of Nagasaki went for perhaps centuries without a priest even and remained faithful.
“Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
But keep us the good work, Sinner, the Lord has need of thee.
Hi John Hetman – Thanks for the kind words (though of course, the Lord has need of thee and thee and thee equally as well!). I do not doubt the survival of the Church – for Christ promised us that the gates of Hell would not prevail against her. But it is abundantly clear that the Church is being assaulted by hellish forces – to the extent where those who represent the Church are afraid to proclaim God’s truth, and to the extent that truly vicious and Satanic forces have penetrated the inner workings of the Church. And of course – you’re right in that it has been far worse in the past in some places, and it may get far, far worse here (for Christ also warned us of the Great Tribulation…). And so we have no choice but to fight this evil with knowledge and love of God’s goodness, His purity, His light, His truth and His grace. My most abiding sadness is what my children have had to and will have to endure from the representatives of our Church.