We often run into people who have left the Catholic Church. One popular excuse involves the recent scandals. “I simply cannot go to a Church that allowed such awful things to occur.”
The American Medical Association has child molesters within its ranks. The same people who leave the Roman Catholic Church over this issue, without a single moral qualm will go to a doctor to fix their bodies. They will go to lawyers, some of whom are corrupt, to handle legal problems. They will send children and grandchildren to public schools, despite the child molesters in Public Education, with nary a word, or thought, of protest.
There are criminals of all sorts in every occupation. Yet, only The Church is abandoned because a tiny percentage of its employees have engaged in perverted practices.
Catholic Fundamentalists tend to look on the bright side. We believe there is, hidden in the heartache and grief, something beneficial in The Church’s recent scandals.
Sin among the clergy gives the self-righteous a marvelous excuse get out of going to Church. On the way out, you can hear them say, self-righteously, “Yes, I do realize that, just as a cracked pitcher can still pour water, a sinful priest’s Sacraments are still valid. Still, The Church is no longer good enough for me.”
Catholic Fundamentalists understand that the occasional sinful clergyman is merely a tool. With that tool, God weeds His garden of countless thousands whose souls have grown out of control; twisted with vanity, swollen with pride, sagging with laziness.
Is there a more efficient way than the occasional clergy scandal for God to rid Himself of multitudes of proud, vain, and lazy souls? Trying to find an easier way helps us understand how brilliant He is. He doesn’t even have to spend time or energy getting rid of the weeds. They pull themselves up and throw themselves into the fire, even as they proudly proclaim to themselves and to all who will listen the lunacy that “I am basically a good person.”
What a crock! In their pride, they forget Original Sin, and slide ever farther toward perdition after that.
God would rather hear, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” than the insanity of “I am basically a good person.” He prefers that we be obedient to Him, rather than not.
We should quake in terror at the thought that we may let our own self-righteousness lead us away from God and His Church.
