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I think your article is profound and inspiring, but let us not forget that evangelization is not always performed through words spoken aloud or written. Sometimes silent evangelization is the most effective evangelization. Show people that God is alive and well through your daily life and interactions with those Christ brings across your path and above all the most powerful thing we can do is pray, pray, pray. This more than anything will change the course of our future.

Before we can positively influence the world for Christ, we need to root out the evil that is in the church, bringing it to light, rejecting it (rather than denying its existence) and removing it. Over 4,000 priests (the official and accurate number to date can be attained through public record) in our country alone have been accused of child rape, many bishops have conspired to cover up the crimes and the hierarchy of bishops in the U.S.--not to mention in Rome--have been very unhelpful and unsupportive of either the parishoners who are asking important questions or the families and victims whose lives have been destroyed by this evil. My non-catholic Christian friends suggest that the big "right-to-life" movement push is just a smokescreen for the despicable scandal and cover-up that seem to be growing every day. Indeed, our reputation gives us no credibility, and it is not uncommon to hear pedophile priest jokes on all the major talk shows and see episodes on tv dramas in which corrupt church officials are questioned by police on sexual abuse matters. I'm afraid that people see us catholics--even though we may not be directly responsible for the crimes--either as co-conspiritors or as people in denial who chose to believe either that it never happened or that it was "just a few wayward priests." How can we effectively evangelize at this point until we reform the church itself and rebuild a reputation for truth and purity? I also agree with Maria's comment about actions speeking loudly . . . Isn't it time we take some positive action and look closely at this institution that is the church?

I agree with Jose. Whether the number is 300 or
4000 there is SIN in the leadership of the the
RCC. Commissions are fine if there is action.
Are the Pastors and Bishops still protecting these pediphile priests ..? These priests
serve MASS and distribute the Eucharist ...
What do you think GOD thinks about this...

What do you think Peter or Paul or James would do
about this problem ??? I don't think they would
have a commission on this SIN... They would deal
with it and swiftly. Have you not heard a little
leaven effects the whole loaf..

I realize that Priests are human and men and sinners like the rest of us... But I believe
scripture holds teachers and leaders to a higher
standard...

You say that your doctrines are infallible and
that the RCC is the One True Church of Christ.

Guilty priests should be removed from any contact
with Children and barred from serving Mass. Studies say that pediphillia can not be cured..

If they have committed the crime then they should do the time ... There are consequences to
SIN..

I am sure this SIN grieves the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit deeply..

What is the Pope and the bishops doing to correct
this sin ? They have to be as visable with this issues as they are on Pro-Life. They have to be
as zealous about removing an prosecuting priests
as they have been with fighting abortion.

If they are not then they dimminish the the
message they were commissioned to spread..

You can not have it both ways.. If the RCC wants
respect then it should show respect for the victoms and remove these priests and prosecute
them if they are guilty.

In Search of His Truth

Clem

Good grief, guys.

First, I haven't seen any studies suggesting anywhere near 4,000 priests have been "accused of child rape" as you claim - this is simply a lie. Real statistics point at less than 300 priests (out of more than 50,000). As I've pointed out before, this is lower than the rate cited for protestant pastors molesting children.

Also, Jose, you should actually look into the problem before spouting off - "child rape" isn't what's happening here: homosexual deviance is what's happening. Please study the problem so you can understand it.

Clem, these priests are being removed, obviously. I don't understand most of your comments - basically you're just spouting off a bunch of gibberish like normal. Please provide a list of the Catholic priests who have been convicted of molestation and still "distribute the Eucharist." I'll wait to hear back from you.

God bless,
Jay

Jay, may I suggest that the decline in the Church's influence in the public arena is less a result of "Catholic apathy" (though you are right in encouraging do-nothing Catholics to live out their baptismal callings) and a result instead of adopting tactics which are ultimately doomed to failure.

In the past decades, many Catholics and Protestants alike have vigorously and prayerfully fought to keep prayer in schools, to keep abortion illegal, to keep homosexual education out of schools, to keep p0rnography out of the hands of minors, to preserve the traditional definition of marriage.

Why do I say their tactics were doomed to failure? Their "social conservatism" consisted merely of preserving the Status Quo. They fought many battles, lost some, and won some. When they won, nothing changed. When they lost, they drew a new line in the sand accepted the new Status Quo. In short, either nothing changed or things changed for the worse. On each battle, they had everything to lose and nothing to gain. Their actions were limited to reactions, they had no goals beyond keeping things the same, and never took control over what topics entered the public sphere.

Our enemies, on the other hand, enjoyed the luxury being the only ones to control which issues received public attention, and enjoyed the luxury of fighting only on enemy territory. In every battle, they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Every time they won a victory, they never had to defend their ill-gotten gains as we let them change the subject and fought a different battle in which could only win or fail to win while we could only lose or avoid loss.

The most obvious response to apathy is activism and that has failed. The most obvious response to liberalism is social conservatism. This too is doomed to failure. How blessed we are to have a Pope who recognizes this and calls the laity not to activism or conservatism, but to the more difficult but more effective way of evangelization.

I have come to realize that in order to influence our society for the better, we as Catholics must do more than rise above our apathy - we must evangelize. I'd like to close with a quote from St. Francis: "Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary".

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