>> If I found out that some priest served me communion during a time of actively molesting little boys, I’d just want to puke. What defilement. And to hold up a eucharist to sanctify it and make it holy with hands which have done what they did?
It is beyond comprehension that Catholics tolerate it. <<
OK, forget all the sectarian bickering. Let me explain something very plainly to you:
Because you DON’T believe in transubstantiation, you don’t make the linkages some Catholics do. Among the countless Catholic threads, there is a persistent theme of grave concern over the failure to manifest proper reverence due the body of Christ, or the refusal to properly confect the eucharist.
We don’t see these as separate issues. When we see a priest use an improper substance for the eucharist, or wrap himself too much in socialist claptrap, or tolerating showbizzy crap in the context of a mass, or failing to uphold the necessity of confession, we correlate such irreverence for the body of Christ with irreverence for the bodies of children. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that most of the liturgical abuses we’ve seen stem from priests who can’t face the Real Presence of Christ in the eucharist, so distract themselves, or avoid confecting the Real Presence in the first place. Further, I’d suppose that the bishops that can look the other way when politicians promote baby killing are the ones that look the other way when their priests commit other unspeakable acts of destruction. And, looking at the worst offenders largely bears this out: Cardinal Law, Cardinal Mahony, Cardinal Bernadin, Archbishop Weakland, etc., all chummied up with liberal politicians, and all had horrible sexual scandals in their sees.
I can’t do much to prevent the sexual abuse by a preist in Germany. No can I impanel an inquest into the local priests of my diocese. But I can beware of dissidents, heretics, and malefactors.
So, yeah, we care. But we heal the wickedness of such ministers by defending the faith, praying, and struggling to renew a sense of reverence in the world around us, not by from divorcing the Church that we hold Jesus created. And we’re certainly not going to join Protestant churches who we believe lack true doctrine and the ecclesiastical structures needed to win this war.
Not that it would change MY mind, but if you want to impress Catholics, make sure Protestant churches are rid of the sexual abuse, rather than just deflecting back to the Catholic churches. Saying, “it’s different, because we can’t do anything about it!” doesn’t make children any safer. In fact, it proves to us that we need to stay in the episcopal structures which give the Catholic church the responsibility over the priests which you deride as if it were proof that the Catholic church is evil. (And yes, you CAN do something about it.)
Also, win back some of the larger denominations. Why join the OPC, when it’s already showing the liberal rot that turned the PCUSA into a homosexual abuse-approving, abortion-worshiping, anti-semitic, communist pile of refuse? We’re bringing Catholicisim back from the brink of socialism; the Protestants just seem resigned to lose 80% of their congregations to liberalism every other generation.
Any while you’re at it, try to get out in front of the Catholics on moral doctrine once in a while? For a century, the Protestants have been played by the secularists into supporting contraception, masturbation, divorce, abortion, etc., Thank God, Catholics are no longer the only major denomination to oppose abortion. But we could use a little support on issues like contraception, masturbation and divorce. It seems like so many Protestant groups only care about homosexuality, when only a few percent of all Americans struggle with that.
Not that it would change MY mind, but if you want to impress Catholics, make sure Protestant churches are rid of the sexual abuse, rather than just deflecting back to the Catholic churches. Saying, “it’s different, because we can’t do anything about it!” doesn’t make children any safer. In fact, it proves to us that we need to stay in the episcopal structures which give the Catholic church the responsibility over the priests which you deride as if it were proof that the Catholic church is evil. (And yes, you CAN do something about it.)
Also, win back some of the larger denominations. Why join the OPC, when it’s already showing the liberal rot that turned the PCUSA into a homosexual abuse-approving, abortion-worshiping, anti-semitic, communist pile of refuse? We’re bringing Catholicisim back from the brink of socialism; the Protestants just seem resigned to lose 80% of their congregations to liberalism every other generation.
Any while you’re at it, try to get out in front of the Catholics on moral doctrine once in a while? For a century, the Protestants have been played by the secularists into supporting contraception, masturbation, divorce, abortion, etc., Thank God, Catholics are no longer the only major denomination to oppose abortion. But we could use a little support on issues like contraception, masturbation and divorce. It seems like so many Protestant groups only care about homosexuality, when only a few percent of all Americans struggle with that.