For Catholics, A Clarifying Scandal

My faith has never been in any bishop or priest, but in Christ Jesus, and He still reigns.

By Jennifer Hartline Published on August 13, 2018

Scandal has a way of clarifying things.

It cuts right through both the fluff and the dross and reduces things down to their essence.

The Catholic Church is currently mired in the most revolting filth. It’s hard to find words to express how much grief, discouragement and rage this is causing among the faithful. I know I’ve never felt such sorrow in my heart for my Church.

There’s no sugar-coating this. It’s perverted, disgusting and vile. Hell is having a heyday. And so far, the bishops still do not get it. They’re issuing lawyer-approved statements that waste a lot of pixels saying just about nothing that means anything. It reads like an awful lot of CYA.

Cardinal Wuerl recently had a bizarre interview with Fr. Rosica in which they were both rather light-hearted about the whole thing, calling it a time of “new beginnings.” Then Wuerl began talking about how well the 2002 Dallas Charter has worked, in his estimation. Why? Because any allegations you hear about these days happened decades ago, so clearly the bishops’ “strong stand” has been effective.

Uh huh. The “strong stand” from which they conveniently exempted themselves.

So now Wuerl says all we need is a mechanism by which people can report a complaint against a bishop. In a staggeringly euphemistic turn of phrase, he said this mechanism he’s proposing would help “when a bishop isn’t as faithful as he needs to be.”

Isn’t as faithful as he needs to be? When he’s preying on seminarians or altar boys, or ruining the lives of faithful priests who dared confront him with the sexual sin being enabled right under his nose? That’s just “not being as faithful as he needs to be”?

With one or two worthy exceptions, the statements I’ve read from those bishops who have offered one have been pathetically lacking in courage, integrity and comprehension. These men are blind, either willfully or stupidly.

It’s the Sin, Stupid

The faithful are justifiably furious and disgusted by the perversion and lies. The sense of betrayal runs bone-deep. It’s the realization of a child who finally sees he’s been had by his own father. We’ve been made a chump. Abused and lied to by smiling wolves in white collars.

That is what our bishops still fail to understand. They want us to be soothed by platitudes about policies and reforms, and the faithful are bleeding from the wounds of sin. Sin that our prelates still won’t even name or confess. It’s pure evil, yet they will not call it evil. Truly, there seems to be little or no fear of hell.

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Their remorse seems to be only for the suffering they are now going through because their filthy scandal is public and they cannot hide from it. Their sorrow seems more for the cover they have lost, not for the violence their sin has caused the Body of Christ or the souls they have endangered.

If and when they finally start publicly acknowledging the truth that the Lavender Mafia has thoroughly infested and taken over the Church at the highest levels, and then publicly repent of that sexual sin and their own complicity, and then actively work to dismantle the homosexual networks, then perhaps some credibility will begin to be restored. Unless and until they do that, all their words are utterly wasted.

They must get it through their heads that trust is gone. Totally shattered. They’ve given the faithful no reason whatsoever to take them seriously. Indeed, we’d be the most laughable fools at this point to think that our prelates merit any confidence at all.

I Still Love the Church

I’m a daughter of the Church. I’m Catholic, and I’m not going anywhere. As I said, scandal has a way of clarifying things. My faith has never been in any bishop or priest, but in Christ Jesus, and He still reigns. My love for the Church has grown, not lessened, as I witness how She has been sullied and betrayed.

It brings into sharp relief how absolutely, unalterably true are the teachings of the Church regarding the human person, human sexuality, marriage, chastity and holiness, because we have all around us the smoldering wreckage from those who have violated those teachings.

This mess isn’t the result of Catholic clergy doing Catholicism badly, but of clergy not being Catholic at all.

The Church is bound up in filthy chains today not because Church teaching is unrealistic or unkind or irrelevant, but because too many have traded in that sound teaching for the ear-tickling lies of the world.

There are still many good and holy priests and bishops in the Church. We need them more than ever. I thank God for them, and they have my unwavering support. I am angry on their behalf as well, for they will suffer because of the sins of their brother priests.

Nothing less than a complete purging of the homosexual networks from every diocese, every chancery, every seminary, every parish and every ministry will suffice. Cardinals and bishops who enable the sexual corruption should not rest easy any longer.

That’s called zero-tolerance, guys.

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