The Crisis of the Cloth

It dawned on me shortly after answering a Yahoo question about the "Fall of the Catholic Church" to express my feelings about the current perception of Catholic Priests.

I have been a member of the Roman Catholic Church since the day I was born. I have celebrated Mass in many Cathedrals, was an alter boy for several years and have spoken with a great many Priests. I have never once been in a position where I felt even a little uncomfortable, barring my few experiences cutting school (I went to Catholic School most of my life).

The vast majority of Catholic Priests are devoted and exceptionally dedicated professionals. The same professional dedication applies also to Doctors, Lawyers, Businessmen, Military men etc. The fact remains however, that these professionals are human and they will commit sins.

Child molestation is a horrific word. I feel uncomfortable saying it because it is quite possibly the worst crime there is.

From my experience, I find it very difficult to believe a Priest is capable of this crime. I just think that there is more to these stories, and we owe it to the Church to really find out exactly what these accusations amount to.

Below is a list of relevant news stories of exonerated Priests. Unfortunately the mainstream news seems quick to persecute a Catholic Priest, but is much less interested in Priests actually found not guilty. It's really too bad. Even if the Church forgives an innocent man of the cloth, his reputation will most likely be completely destroyed.

Below are the Priests cleared of any wrong doing in a criminal court. Not just the Vatican:

http://www.technocatholic.com/?p=27

http://www.catholiccincinnati.org/tct/feb2208/022208larger.html

http://veronews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7408:counselor-exonerated-on-child-porn-charges-qi-feel-emancipatedq&catid=36&Itemid=41

http://www.opusbonosacerdotii.org/news/accusedchargedexonerated.html

http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/extras/foster_archive.htm


Here is an article in Time Magazine stating that now it is easier than ever to lie about a priest and/or blackmail them with criminal accusations:

http://www.beliefnet.com/News/2002/09/Accused-Catholic-Priests-Fight-Back.aspx


I want to note that I am not 100% confident to state there wasn't one Priest who committed a crime in the history of the Catholic Church. If there was a true victim of molestation by a Priest I will shamefully bow my head to that person, and keep my mouth shut.

The problem is: look at the list above of all the Priests who have been accused but not found guilty!

Is this a witch hunt? Why are we not looking into these stories more deeply? The Crisis of the Cloth is that we may lose trust in the priesthood. Please help to make sure that the leaders of our faith don't fall to what may ultimately be gossip.

The Healthcare Bill

I'm not huge in politics but I tend to lean toward the Republican side. The core principle of Republicans seems to be "smaller government", where the Democrats seem to be "larger government".

The Healthcare bill seems to be a government takeover of healthcare.

I have mixed feelings about this bill.

I realize that there are many people without health insurance, and the premiums for health insurance keeps rising. This needs to be addressed, but why is the bill over 1,000 pages? Can't we just set up something that covers the uninsured? With all that unspent stimulus money it seems like this could be done.

The largest book beside the Bible I have read was The Stand and it was nearly 1,000 pages. It took me about 3 months to finish and it was an easy read. How can we expect our political leaders to read this 1,200 page bill in one sitting?

I can't imagine how many things are in that bill. It makes me a little nervous to think about it.

Why is every single Republican voting against it?

Why are the Democrats doing these "sweetheart deals" and trying to pass the bill with loopholes?

It seems we are a little in the dark about this healthcare bill. How much is this bill going to cost? How much money does the United States have? Are we printing more money and making the dollar worth less? Why are all these states underbudget all of the time?

I guess I am asking too many questions for one blog post. I am very concerned about our country, and it seems like we are spending way too much money.

Let me know your thoughts and thank you for your time. God bless you.

About the Author 2

I left my previous post stating that I thought it a bit strange to reveal more about myself to readers I don't know. It seems nowadays that this is not considered a privacy issue. Millions of people blog and tell everyone more about themselves without any concern. I guess it is time I joined the bandwagon!

In saying that, let me share more about myself.

Ever since I could remember I was an entrepreneur. Whether it was yard sales, lemonade sales or drumming up business raking leaves, shoveling snow etc. It seems to be what I was born to do because I enjoy it so much.

I am also Catholic, raised in an Irish meat and potatoes home, Baptised, given First Communion and Confirmed. It seems that offering unique, handcrafted Catholic gifts at excellent prices was the right niche for my life as an entrepreneur.

I have a deep love and admiration for Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mother. I also really enjoy working on apostle.com, and have put in countless hours in designing the site. I am very much interested in making the site more user friendly and unique. I would love to hear your thoughts on the site, and if you have any prayers or Catholic writings it would be my pleasure to display your poetic artwork.

About the Author

Hi. My name is Patrick and I am the author of apostle.com.

I started this blog as an informational site about Catholic Saints.

I slowly realized a few things:

Apostle.com already has lots of information about Catholic Saints, and someone can go anywhere online to find out more.

Also, in order to get more readers I need more unique content. The question in my mind was: What could be more unique than talking about myself? I got this idea from watching an episode of House. The patient was a blogger and all she wrote about was herself, and all of the things she did on a daily basis. People seemed to really respond to it!

On that note, it would seem to be a little strange to put myself out there to lots of people I don't know, but I guess this is what is known as truly unique content.

More on that later. I have to go to bed and I don't want to erase a post. Again..