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Hi, Michelle —
Thanks for the question.
Like Mary Ann, I too, am sorry for the abuse of your brother by a priest, and the abuse of altar boys by the head altar boy, but I don't understand why you would keep details of sexual abuse confidential. If your accusations are justified, you could be putting other Catholic youth in danger as well.
If you have a true claim of sexual abuse, this should be immediately brought to your local bishop!
Not to act is a sin of omission.
You said:
- How do you keep the faith in such an unstable Church?
By taking action on abuse you see and reporting it to the local bishop. Also, by being faithful and keeping in mind that everyone in, or outside the Church, will struggle with sin until their particular judgment.
The Key: Separating Judas behavior by Catholics, whether they:
- have been seduced by our sex-saturated culture, or
- have been seduced intellectually — e.g. they are for abortion and so-called "gay marriage"
from the official divine teachings of the Jesus and His Church that can never change, despite scandalous behavior among its members.
I've been asked this question in different forms in the past. It's not a new problem. Read the
Old Testament and note the numerous times the chosen people left or disobeyed God's commands.
What was just as scandalous then, is just as scandalous now.
We can't stop other people from doing dumb things with their free will, because it's their free will, not ours. In addition, many times in the Church, it's not directly their fault because many have been poorly catechized in the Catholic faith. This still doesn't mean they are not at fault, as all of the Christifideles, or faithful in Christ, have a obligation to learn what they were never taught as Catholic Christians.
To say, at ones particular judgment, you're just going to blame it all on the Church, is to ignore the God-given ability each member has to do, what the Church should have done — learn what it means to be a practicing Catholic Christian. The Catechism is great place to start.
What we can do is built the Church and sanctify with holiness by (in my opinion):
- living a prayerful, sacramental life
- praying the Rosary on a daily basis, and
- asking the Holy Family for their help and assistance in your areas of concern.
Hope this helps,
Mike
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