In Defense of MY Church

The desperate efforts of the Foley team to excuse his long history of abuse of the power bestowed on him by the electorate and his peers, has ignited a firestorm of hate against my Catholic Faith and the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church is the faithful and does not belong to the hierarchy (Bishops, Cardinals, Pope). "WE" are the Church. Those sick priests who abused children should have been dealt with through criminal courts supported by our Church leaders. In the days before there was so much knowledge about the recidivism of these types of sexual offenders, some Church leaders opted to send them for treatment and then return them to service; trying to shield the Church and hoping to solve the problem. Others, lacking courage, transferred the problems to other parishes; trying to shield the Church and abandoning responsibility. "We" the Church are painfully aware that, from the local pastors to the Pope, ALL were wrong; ALL should beg the forgiveness of their God and their victims: ALL should pay for their sins of omission in dealing with these sick priests.

As lawsuits are filed; victims come forth; courts decide guilt and compensation, "We" the Church will pay. Whatever the courts decide, the wealth of our Church must be liquidated to pay; our Sunday collections will pay. Where bogus lawsuits are sought, and we all know there are some, we will have to leave the judgment on the pursuit of those claims to the honesty of attorneys.

Some members of our Church will walk away in disgust and frustration. Others will stay to pray for the victims, their abusers and the enablers; to pay the debt incurred by our hierarchy and continue to finance our support of those in need in our world; to work to open the eyes of the "out-of-touch" in our Church hierarchy and to continue to live our lives as proud American citizens and proud Catholics.

So whether Mr. Foley's accusation of some unnamed priest abuser is true or false, direct your strong hatred at both of them, if you must; attack the hierarchy of our Church, if you must, but know that "We" the Church are not evil but stand strong for the goodness of our Faith.