re: #920 AndyMacOP

Reading and trying to make theological and ecclesiastical sense out of many of the posts on this thread is like trying to get actual scientific facts from the Discovery Institute.

Andy -
I’m glad to see you here.
But you aren’t seeing theological experts here.
You’re just seeing plain old regular people. The many Catholics are are just regular folks, trying to live good and faithful lives and do right.

And when our Church’s leaders act (or in the case of some priests, fail to act) in such a way that it seems that there are no consequences for some people, depending on who they are, for what appear to be egregious violations of doctrine, then that makes it really almost impossible for us to explain to our children the value of living right and doing right.

If the Church is quiet when Nancy Pelosi or Mary Landrieu promote abortion, it is very very difficult to explain to a teenager why it is wrong, and why they should have any respect for the Church and her leaders who remain silent.

When a man who has been excommunicated is reinstated and then is allowed to portray himself as a Bishop of the Catholic Church, and speaks out in interviews promoting anti-semitic views, his words carry weight with those who listen to him, and yet the Church remains silent.

We believe the Church needs to be aware of how its silence in the face of these things has a negative effect on our ability to instill in our children a sense of what is right and what is wrong, and a sense of trust and respect for the Church. We believe that at least some of the men in charge have lost touch with the reality of life as a regular every-day Catholic. It is a daily struggle to try to maintain an appropriate sense of pride and joy in our Catholic faith.