Its Hard Being A Catholic These Days. Time To Get Back To Basics.

It is hard being a Catholic these days. Every day, I am assaulted by new reports of sexual abuse by priests, and new allegations of the Church hierarchy trying to cover it up. Worse still, are the Church’s defensive reactions to the media, which only serve to make the Church look even more dreadful. But is times like this which remind us of what God is actually calling us to do.

The daily news continues to be depressing. Every day there is new news about fresh allegations of abuse across the globe, new allegations of cover-ups by the institutional Church, or new resignations as a result of the allegations.

For the record: I do not excuse any of the behavior and we, the Church, deserve everything we get. We let this happen. We did not ask questions. We decided the institution was more important than children. We decided to protect the Church’s image, rather than the most vulnerable.

To be clear: By “we” I mean the whole Church, the institutional Church, the Faithful and the theologians/scholars. While I realize that the modern Church is not a democracy, we, the faithful, did not hold our leaders accountable. In this instance, the civic world is doing it for us. We have abrogated our duty.

1973's Roe v Wade was simultaneous with the rise of the Protestant Religious Right Evangelicals kidnapping Catholics, convincing them abortion takes priority over Social Justice and charity - the fundamental common denominator between Caths and Dems.

This is the reason JFK was Cath Dem, as the Cath Dems before him. See also Pelosi, Colbert, Alec Baldwin, current Director of the Health and Human Services pro life Alexia Kelly, current Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, and US founding father Charles Carroll. The Right pursues abortion as a political issue, not for abortion's sake. It creates the argument that allows Protestants to pull Caths to the Right away from the Left and the fundamental priority of Charity (not Protest Sola Fide - the individual - pride - ego -self- "Leave me alone!" cries the Republican).

Abortion, as intended, then successfully becomes the manipulative wedge issue we see today (politically - regardless of one's personal belief) to throw Catholics off their historical, fundamental track.

Many WASP Reps do not genuinely care about abortion as an issue - they just don't want to miss out those Catholic votes - 26% of the voting population. Protestantism (Faith ALONE = heaven vs Cath's Faith + CHARITY = grace to heaven) and Republicanism go perfectly hand in hand - humanized Christianity focusing on self/the individual, celebrating/justifying the greatest mortal sin of Pride, that gets angels thrown out of heaven.

Martin Luther suffered from Depression and had problems with authority due to unresolved father issues = misdirected anger. He enacted his secession from the Church at the lowest, most corrupt point of the Church chronologically = opportunist to justify acting on his personal issues, transference from father onto the Church/authority. Many depressed rebels identify (then and now) with him and broke away, set the tone for the current >23k sects of Christianity in existence today. As Jack Donaghy said, "'Working outside the box' is a phrase for people not smart enough to work within the system."... and that is St Francis. Patiently and persistently worked with the Popes of the Cath Church's worst time to negotiate the change contributing to where we are today. Cath Church is always slow to make required change. At least in this slow moving way, it has been meticulously thought out rather than rushed/not thorough.

Protestants complain the Cath Church lost its way over time from what the Church intended originally in 33 AD... true... back then in 1517 AD's Reformation But today? Vatican II brought the Church full circle. No other church of Christianity is closer to the original 33 AD intended Church than the current Cath Church. Lesson: Persistence and prayer. Check your motivations that you're not driven by misdirected anger from unresolved childhood trauma. Rather than quitting, manifest from PRIDE and mental illness.

"You see that a person is justified by what he DOES and NOT BY faith alone. You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by WHAT HE DID." - James 2:22, 24

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself THROUGH LOVE." - Gal 5:6

He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not DO for one of the least of these, you did not DO for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." - Matt 25:45-46

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of WORKS, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for GOOD WORKS, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." - Eph 2:8-10

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_right#Timeline

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_fide

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=wfjB9Blnk8kC&dq=50+psychology+classics&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=v_inS5W3HYyqtgOBxbS0DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=martin%20luther&f=false

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/president-obama-appoints-antiabortion-pro-obama-catholic-to-senior-health-position-causing-controversy.html

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