Dear AskACatholic,

Hello, my name is Francis Donner.

I am a cradle Catholic who has been enthusiastic about my faith for the better part of my life and I still have great pride in being a Catholic, however, I have recently had, strong faith struggles.

A large spark to this has been the ongoing sex abuse crisis and the great number of other signs of demonic corruption from leaders in the Church. Each credible story, when heard, is difficult to believe. These stories range from:

• persistent financial corruption to
• being in bed financially with liberal governments across the West . . . which in turn gives despot clergy a pass from being prosecuted by state and local governments.
• sexual grooming of young men in the priesthood and of lay boys and men; men who do not consent are failed in the courses required for the priesthood.
• telling a child that his sins won't be forgiven in the Confessional without the proper penance (the rape of the boy)
• satanic masses:
  • where a True Host is desecrated, and
  • where the Church is offered up to satan while raping a young boy, and more.

The story for all of this is that satanic communism had a plan to infiltrate the Church with homosexual priests, which Catholics claim was foretold in the visions of Fatima.

Things have obviously gone gravely wrong and the declining number of Catholics, particularly in western strongholds of Catholicism, shows that. The worst thing about it is that I don't see a way for improvement in the natural sense.

Then I looked to Eastern Orthodoxy. Eastern Orthodox just about fell off the planet with the rise of the Communists, starting with the vicious Jewish-led Bolshevik Revolution. Despite all of this, Eastern Orthodoxy has rebounded. Truth be told, I find our situation much more dire as our faithful have consented to allowing this to happen. With the Soviet Union, there was no consent; it was taken from them.

• I realize that the Catholic response to this Is the recitation of the Rosary as instructed by Our Lady of Fatima, and that this is what saved Russia but they did not become Catholics did they?

This was the expectation (not in the visions) but it was assumed by Catholics.

I was listening to an Eastern Orthodox priest who claimed Rome is the source of division; this is hard to deny. They have had nothing like Protestantism in their history. He claimed the downward spiral for Catholicism started with the filioque issue. This is very complex for me to grasp, and I don't know what to make of it.

On one hand, Jesus talks in John about asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us, on the other hand, Jesus says He (in the form of Jesus) will send the Holy Spirit to us, but He does make clear that He will ask the Father. Now, obviously, they are one in the same God so, on its face, this may seem like I am splitting hairs. Jesus says that I AM before the pharisees rush to kill Him so, clearly, all distinct forms are one in the same God, but Jesus clearly goes out of his way; it seems to say He is asking the Father but he also clearly says that He is sending the Holy Spirit in John (after asking the Father).

Any help or insight you have on these issues would be appreciated.

I am struggling with a lot of things in my life and am wondering where I'm going wrong.

• I lost a job
• I often get angry and frustrated which causes me to alienate friends and loved ones with outbursts of frustration, and
• I have no temperance despite practice and asking for grace.

My state of turmoil is in line with my Church's state of turmoil.

The Eastern Orthodox countries, clearly, would not allow the rampant foolishness that has occurred throughout every major institution in the West, whether it be public or private, spiritual or secular.

Francis