Emily Stimpson has quoted the same reader as I have (he must have emailed all of the Catholic blogs he could find) and has written a number of entries that follow along the same theme. While I admire the motivation behind her point–that the Church is the Body of Christ, I think she is missing the point… in the same way that she feels my wife Amy is missing the point.
What bothers most people about this issue is that this surgery on the Body of Christ has yet to be done.
Granted patience is necessary, but there comes a point where some still are way too “proud,” even though they have sanctioned and facilitated certian members of the clergy in their commission of the most unspeakable acts. God speaks to us in the Holy Scriptures about what is necessary.
Good people are people of prayer. They do not need to be called to prayer and repentance–they already are praying. I attend Mass daily, recite the rosary daily, pray the liturgy of the hours daily and do spiritual reading daily.
The man is Jesus Christ–the TRUTH, and you can replace the “Roman” with the “press or media.” A day of prayer of healing for all those who have suffered at the hands of evil men is a good idea, after the evil men have been excised from the Body of Christ–let them retire to a monastery, let them join the faithful in prayer but not as leaders but as penitents.
I’d like to make a suggestion, though I have no forum for doing so: We should have a national collection to pay monetary restitution for the claims that have and will arise from the current scandal. For if we don’t, how many fine institutions will be hurt? The money has to come from somewhere – do we want to see schools close, programs be cut back, already-strained retirement funds tapped?
Sell all the Catholic Hospitals in the United States. They are no longer “Catholic,” they no longer serve the poor, and they perform medical procedures that are at odds with the teaching of the Church. Remove the name of whatever saint is associated with the hospital and let them continue to exist as private hospitals for the wealthy. The religious orders who run them now, can be freed from the responsibility and use the money to take care of their elderly sisters or brothers.
Sell all Cardinal’s residences. Let the Cardinals live in public housing if they do not want to live in a rectory like other priests. All the proceeds from the sale of these mansions should go to victims of abuse. Along with the sale of these mansions, should be the selling of anything of wealth that the Cardinals have personally acquired over the years. We need leaders who resemble Christ not Queen Elizabeth.
All Archbishops and Bishops should hold a convocation in their dioceses of victims where victims are allowed to voice their concerns publicly to the bishops who will adopt a penitential stance toward this. I’m not advocating a public stoning, but I am advocating a public humiliation of the bishops hearing a list of the abuse that people have suffered because they have not acted in their role as shepherds who should protect their charges from wolves, rather than moving the wolves around to prey on more sheep.
What about the rest of us? Should we finance abuse settlements?
Let the riches of the Church be sold, they are a scandal in and of themselves. Let bishop’s divest themselves of mitres and vestments that separate that are holdovers from the days when princes occupied episcopal sees…let us return to the Church where the Church imitates it’s founder and the simple Galilean fishermen who were the first bishops!
Michael S. Rose has created a new site CRUX NEWS.COM. Currently the site has a variety of posts related to current scandals in the Church. The site which is free now has information saying that it won’t debut until August and then will be a pay site.
“Persons with a homosexual inclination should not be admitted to the seminary,” Archbishop Bertone said.
In 1961, a Vatican document on the selection of candidates to the priesthood said much the same thing. The instruction was issued by the then-Sacred Congregation for Religious and concerned those entering religious orders.
“Those affected by the perverse inclination to homosexuality or pederasty should be excluded from religious vows and ordination,” it said. It said the community life and priestly ministry would constitute a “grave danger” or temptation for these people.
The 1961 document has never been abrogated, so is still technically valid, officials said. But now, the Vatican is considering a reformulation of these principles, so that the message gets through more clearly to local churches.
If you read between the lines, and read what I was told below, I think you’ll see that action is being taken on the seminary front already. Now whether the real problem is being addressed or exactly how it is going to be addressed is another issue entirely.
The cardinals return to the United States with plans for Catholic leaders to immediately begin visiting seminaries to assess the suitability of priests-in-training.
The cardinals’ final communique from the summit called for Vatican representatives to conduct special reviews of U.S. seminaries immediately. They are to assess whether Catholic teachings and principles, such as celibacy, are strictly followed. And they will review the criteria for judging candidates for the priesthood.
Plus they make you fat, but you knew that already! I wonder if cartons of french fries will soon carry the surgeon general’s warning on them. From the Tampa Tribune:A new Swedish study announced Wednesday claims french fries, potato chips, bread, rice and other fried or baked high-carbohydrate foods may cause cancer.
The culprit may be acrylamide, “a probable human carcinogen” formed when potatoes are fried and breads are baked, according to Sweden’s National Food Administration, which did the preliminary research.