Bree, you have a duty in this one life you have to live to try and make the Kingdom of Heaven here in the imperfect world that we have. Christians like us are an Easter people living in a Good Friday world. I find your acceptance and resignation towards such priestly abuses, the hiring of whores, to say nothing of the abuses against children disturbing. It breaks the rules Catholics set for themselves and you're seemingly OK with it. If I was a Jew, I would not want to learn from a rabbi who regularly enjoys cheeseburgers; if I was a Catholic, I would not want to learn from a papacy that tactitly condones the sins it proclaims its own congregation to avoid.
The Kingdom of God lies ahead of us (
CCC 2816) we must bear good fruit in anticipation of the fullness of it in Christ Jesus' Glorious return.
If it didn't break the rules it wouldn't be sin, we'd have a completely different situation, like Islamic child brides, by following the "perfect example" or whatever they call their false prophet they claim it's "fine" and even "good" for the groom to abuse in their wicked system. By acknowledging the offenders are disobeying Catholic teaching you are in effect admitting they are traitors to their solemn vows, even the baptismal vows to reject the devil and all his works.
Recognizing the tragedy of sin, even the most serious sins within our Churches (and schools etc.) and that serious errors were made is not the same thing as saying was OK, or is all OK now, or nothing can or must be done to stop it. I neither accept those horrific priestly sins in the discussed abuses nor resign to them just being bad eggs.
I call for all accused, including any office holder in the Church, to be investigated properly and lessons learned, even if it's from apparently false allegations (e.g. don't be alone with a child, always have the parents or other responsible adults around them, ideally more than one). The innocent deserve our pity for being wrongly accused, many of the guilty deserve prison or death (for the most serious abuses like rape, murder etc.) or better to be imprisoned for their entire lives without possibility of release unless found to be falsely convicted.
It was not just to sound nice that our Lord directed us to forgive those who wrong us. It even made it into the Lord's prayer. If I seem OK with it then I apologize for not being clearer. I forgive them as is appropriate for me to forgive, as I explained, and see it as a mostly historic issue, but perhaps I am mistaken. Allegations by themselves will probably not help win my heart, knowing the devil is the father of lies and will do all in his power to weaken and shame the Church.
Just because we enjoy salvation by grace does not imply you can just do whatever you want and get absolution. By no means. And I think it follows one should hold their own priesthood to a higher standard... surely you're not doing what they have been shown to have done. But you'll accept this heinous conduct from the people who are supposed to each you and lead you? These are the people to whom you'd confess your own perfidy and seek reparation? How can a system so busted help you without meaningful reform?
I think Pope Francis is OK; I think, unlike Benedict 16th (who's implicated in all this shit), he wants reform, but his unpopularity within the higher ranks of the church shows that he's the exception to the rule, and that rule is corruption, hiring whoreboys from the Middle East at the Termini Station, and running a distintictively anti-gay and celibate church whilst indulging in gay sex and straight sex behind the curtains.
There is no sin I can commit that God will forgive me of if I repent and turn back to him fully (with the Sacraments). There is no wound I can give myself that it is beyond the power of the Lord to heal, even death by atomization. I agree though a time will come if we wander far, our last window for repentance may close without us realizing it, and without a supernatural grace at the moment of death or other great pouring out of the Lords mercy, we are headed to just one destination: the lake of fire.
I do not know my Pope Francis personally, nor did I know the late Pope Benedict XVI. Both have been accused of all sorts of things from within and without the church. I must not judge them in bitterness, but with charity, in hope, patiently waiting for credible evidence before taking allegations seriously, then discerning what is true, wary of judging things beyond my right to judge.
You don't have to see it in the economic terms I do; history substantiates my claim. The Catholic Church, to give it its due, was a powerhouse mentor of arts, music, architecture, etc. because it owned a lot of land that stayed within the church and couldn't be transferred to the progeny of the priests (if they broke their vows, those kids are illegitimate and cannot inherit.) Hard work on the part of monks isn't the same as owning a shit ton of land, my man. Lots of 2nd and 3rd sons of nobles were transferred to priesthood, and with them, bits of land. This was investment in the Catholic portfolio of assets, and it could never be reclaimed because those persons would be at least nominally celibate.
I disagree that married priests are somehow distracted with their work or that spouses take away from their focus. Much the opposide: there are too many demonimations denominations of faith, Christian and non-christian, where the spouse of the priest is practically an assistant to the priest themselves. In my church, the priest's spouse does the A/V work to livestream our services and co-ordinates the tech committee. In Orthodox Jewish congregations, the wife of the rabbi is called "rebbetzin", and she handles inquiries from women that they may not wish to share with a man. She's a watchdog for spousal abuse, as well. Being the spouse of a priest is practically an unpaid job from how I see it.
There is evidence that may be viewed in that light. Certainly there were abuses of wealth and influence, not least in Rome, and by ignoring the merciful words of the Lord, that man cannot serve both God and Mammon, many souls were endangered by the acts of weak and corrupt Catholics.
Do you see the logic of my work/life balance remark? how married priests have different responsibilities, especially if they have young children or a sick wife or child? I definitely see the potential benefits, as you mentioned the support a spouse can give, and the gifts they might bring to the work of the priest. I am very much in favor of married priests, when and where the Church in her wisdom permits it. Due to the serious shortage of vocations in much of the world for celibate lives I would not be shocked to see many changes, including relaxing the discipline, if the priests they have actively serving are spread thinner and thinner and it seems less and less possible to not try it. It's just a guess though.
