Father Brian O'Toole and the lack of the passion of anger

La Salette Journey ^ | March 8, 2015 | Paul Melanson

[cleghornboy]

In a past post, I noted how it is possible to "be angry and sin not" (Ephesians 4: 26), something which Father Brian O'Toole, "pastor" of the failing Sacred Heart Parish in Gardner, apparently does not understand. And he is not alone.

Writing for Touchstone Magazine, Dr. Leon J. Podles explains that, "..many Christians have a false understanding of the nature and role of anger. It is seen as something negative, something that a Christian should not feel.

In the sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church, those who dealt with the bishops have consistently remarked that the bishops never expressed outrage or righteous anger, even at the most horrendous cases of abuse and sacrilege. Bishops seem to think that anger at sin is un-Christian. Gilbert Kilman, a child psychiatrist, commented, 'What amazes me is the lack of outrage the church feels when its good work is being harmed. So, if there is anything the church needs to know, it needs to know how to be outraged.'

Mark Serrano confronted Bishop Frank Rodimer, asking why he had let his priest-friend Peter Osinski sleep with boys at Rodimer’s beach house while Rodimer was in the next bedroom: 'Where is your moral indignation?' Rodimer’s answer was, 'Then I don’t get it. What do you want?' What Serrano wanted Rodimer to do was to behave like a man with a heart, a heart that is outraged by evil.

[Prospero]

How does this harmonize with Psalm 37, contextually, and with Psalm 37:8 in particular.

[CyberAnt]

“... Lack of the passion of anger ...”

Hmmmmm ..?? I guess Father O’Toole has never been on the FR website before .. ROTFLOL

[STJPII]

Thanks. It’s been said many times here: all that’s necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing

[attiladhun2]

I got tired of being outraged. My outrage did nothing to improve the world, it has only grew more evil the more outraged I became. I am abdicating my outrage to others, and will spend my remaining days trying to serve God as best I can and to enjoy what remains of my life.

[LadyDoc]

Podles has a book on sexual abuse of children in the church, and also one about the feminization of Christianity in the west. Website here: link.

and if I remember correctly, not only did Jesus say those who harmed kids should be thrown in a lake with a millstone to make sure they didn't float, but he whipped the hell out of the crooked businessmen in the temple (who were not only overpricing but probably paying kickbacks to the temple priests).

WWJD?

[LadyDoc]

feeling outrage does nothing.

But becoming angry at evil makes one want to stop it.

Join the military, help at the church food bank, teach Sunday school to kids who are never taught right and wrong in school, start a business to hire people so they can support their families, or maybe just love your spouse and children so that your home is a place of refuge in the chaotic world.

And for those of us who can’t do the above, maybe just pray a bit, both in reparation for these sins, and that the sinner repents.

[cleghornboy]

Well said LadyDoc. And I would add, channel the energy you use to fight fellow Christians in a better direction: toward those who are committed to destroying our Church and our culture.

[LadyDoc]

channel the energy you use to fight fellow Christians in a better direction: toward those who are committed to destroying our Church and our culture.

nah, it's more fun to ridicule bigots, who are holier than thou and are one of the reasons that many people refuse to go to church. Even Jesus couldn't resist the temptation to ridicule these types (Luke 18: 9-14)