Drawing Bright Lines, by David Carlin

By David Carlin, The Catholic Thing, Nov. 14, 2019

Note: David Carlin underscores a hard truth today for many in the Church. Going along with our decadent culture is not going to win friends and influence people. Let alone convert them. The culture is already quite content with its anti-Christian stance, never more so than when it presents itself as more Christian than Christians. In these circumstances, only sharp distinctions and the willingness to live with the consequences can make any real difference. We’ve been at that task here at The Catholic Thing for over a decade and have held the line and even – it’s fair to say – done our part to move the ball. So can you do your part? This Fall campaign needs to succeed if TCT is going to continue and do even more – much more we hope – as the challenges around us grow. Click the button. You’ll be happy you did. – Robert Royal

By David Carlin, The Catholic Thing, Nov. 14, 2019

I’m an old man, and though I hope, and on certain days even go so far as to expect, that the Catholic Church in America will eventually recover from the very bad slump it has been in for the past few decades, I fear that I won’t live long enough to see this recovery.

When I’m on my deathbed (a piece of furniture I hope to avoid for at least a few more years), in order that I may die with a smile on my face, I will ask my grandchildren to bring me news of any signs of Catholic recovery.  “Report to me,” I’ll ask them, “any bishop who has been brave enough to excommunicate a Catholic pro-abortion politician.  And tell me about any diocese in which it has been discovered that there is not a single example of a homosexual priest.”

Just to make sure they understand the nature of this latter request, I will make it clear that I’m not interested in learning about a diocese in which all priests have abstained from the crime of sexually molesting underage boys.  I’m always happy, of course, to learn that priests are not committing sexual crimes, just as I’m happy to learn that they are not committing crimes of embezzlement and bank robbery.  But abstention from sexual crimes, while in itself a good thing, is hardly proof that we have a generally chaste priesthood.  Perhaps the opposite.

When Church authorities focus on the prevention of sexual abuse, I suspect they are doing this, at least in part, to draw attention away from the homosexual rot that is ruining the Church.  It’s as if they are saying, “We are absolutely determined that our priests will never again be guilty of sexual abuse – but we’re not really troubled if they happen to have consensual relationships with adult men.”   ….

Read more at  https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2019/11/14/drawing-bright-lines/