www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Fr Richard Neuhaus on the scandal in the Church

Fr Richard Neuhaus on the scandal in the Church:

http://www.petersnet.net/research/retrieve.cfm?RecNum=4305

One of the many key passages to this very insightful article is:

"The point is that this is a crisis, and this crisis must be permitted to do its work. That work involves scrupulous self-examination, candid confession, firm contrition, and believable amendment of life. And the doing of that hard work is chiefly up to the bishops. They are the ones who got us into this mess and, given what we believe is the divinely constituted structure of the Church, they are the ones who have to lead in getting us out. Faithful Catholics owe it to the Church and owe it to their bishops not to let them off the hook. In this instance, the virtue of docility includes a respect for bishops that requires recalling them to the duty and the dignity to which they were ordained. Too many of them have neglected that duty and debased that dignity."

The bishops, for whatever reason, have betrayed the Church. They are the ones who must be held accountable. All must repent and "do works meet for repentance". Some must resign. Some may need some jail time.

The icon of the Church that matters most is the icon of the bishop with his people. We must now call our bishops back to the holiness of the Church so they can once again be with the people.

Dan Lauffer

Dave, Don, and all,

The Neuhaus piece is excellent (and a few others by him as well). I've had that piece linked for a good while along with a good number of other articles on "the Crisis" on a special page dedicated to "Scandal and Hope". Perhaps you may find something of value on it at:

http://praiseofglory.com/scandalhope.htm

Gerard

A Catholic Page for Lovers [praiseofglory.com]
A Catholic Blog for Lovers [blogforlovers.blogspot.com]

Let me say that I agree 100% with Dan's post.

Axios

Thanks, Gerard, for the links! Some very interesting reading there! I particularly enjoyed Michael Novak's "The Fall of the Progressive Church."

Dave Ignatius DTBrown@aol.com

Let us pray that our bishops will have the courage to fight the lavender mafia, remove those priests who live lives of homosexual or heterosexual sex against the teaching of Christ and get the appropriate help for these people. True Christian love means acceptance of the sinner and rejection of the sin. We do no favors to these people by telling them that something that is morally wrong now morally acceptable.

Let us pray that all bishops find the courage to stand up against violence, discrimination, slander and unfjust acts against gay people. Let us pray that those who have moral reservations against homosexuality can still see gay people as God's children, full of the human dignity and right to life all humanity possession, and that the great injustices done to gay people in the past, often with the support or silence of Church leaders, may cease.

To Christ, through Mary, we pray. Amen

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Axios:
[QB]>>>Let us pray that all bishops find the courage to stand up against violence, discrimination, slander and unfjust acts against gay people. Let us pray that those who have moral reservations against homosexuality can still see gay people as God's children, full of the human dignity and right to life all humanity possession, and that the great injustices done to gay people in the past, often with the support or silence of Church leaders, may cease.<<<

I see nobody advocating violence. I see nobody advocating excommunication. I do see a certain dumbing down of the universal witness of the Church with regard to ALL forms of sexual relations outside of marriage, and of relations between persons of the same sex in particular.

Toleration is not, and cannot mean "acceptance" of a sinful and deviant behavior, for it harms the individual as well as the entire Body of Christ. It does mean respecting the integrity of each person, but that respect does not have to extend to "validating their lifestyle choices". Against those lifestyle choices we must be steadfast in our opposition, while at the same time affirming our love for those who choose them, and praying and exhorting them, with charity, to "metanoite te". There is no other proper position for Christians to hold. We must love them, but we don't have to like, or approve, of what they do.

Axios,

It is not unjust to pray that homosexuals will acknowledge their sinfulness and embrace Christ, since He alone can heal. Change is possible. Hope is available. Christ is in the business of healing.

There two very good Christian organizations that are doing wonderful work in caring and helping homosexuals to follow Christ and choose either celibacy or heterosexuality:

Exodus International North America
www.exodusnorthamerica.org [exodusnorthamerica.org]

National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)
www.narth.org [narth.org]

Let us pray that our bishops will love homosexuals enough to stand up against violence against all people - including homosexuals. Let us pray that they will love homosexuals enough to call them out of their chosen state, proclaim the wrongness of the choice to engage in homosexual acts and to embrace Christ. Let us pray that Christ will touch the heart of every homosexual and lead them back to Himself and His church.

Please see my post in the other thread regarding the teaching of the church - both the Catholic Church and your Orthodox Church on homosexuality. The Scriptures are not optional. They are true.

Your loving brother in Christ,

Steve

I heard something a while back on TV, that caused me to understand why the RC bishops have handled the sex scandal so poorly. Bishops are often chosen because they have not offended anyone nor said nor done anything controversial. They have left no "paper trail" that can be used against them. In short, many bishops are bureaucrats. After working 25 years in federal agencies, I know a few things about bureaucrats. When hit with a crisis, they duck and run rather than handle it. Or if they handle it at all, they look for consensus to spread the blame around to minimize individual risk. Since Vatican II, it seems Roman Catholic bishops behave more like corporation vice presidents, than successors to the apostles. Perhaps one of the underlying problems in the U.S. scandal is that the men chosen for the job of bishop are often not up to the task.