The Pillar is taking some hits over violating the privacy of Monsignor Burrill, the gay bar cruising General Secretary of the USCCB. Darwin Catholic dispatches this absurd argument:
I’m really kind of shocked by some of these takes. I would have thought that after the McCarrick report, in which it was utterly clear that many, many people knew that McCarrick was constantly breaking his vows, but they all remained quiet about it because they didn’t want the negative publicity and didn’t know with certainty yet that he had done something which was technically illegal according to civil law — I would have thought we as a Church were done with this conspiracy of silence.
It would sadden but not at all shock me if it turned out that some prominent Catholic priest or bishop who’s speaking or writing I like was living a double life. I am under no illusion that sin and deception are an issue only with “progressive” clergy. And indeed, I have no idea what the politics or liturgical preferences of the former general secretary are.
I do not understand the attitude of someone who would argue that Catholics should knowingly keep this kind of thing under wraps. If (as some progressive Catholics seem to imply) it is impossible to populate the Church’s leadership positions with people who do not flagrantly violate their vows by leading double lives, then frankly it is time that we all learned this is true. Throw the windows open. Let the air flow in. For too many years the Church has tried to live on a foundation of comfortable lies.
The problem is not that “everyone is a sinner”. Of course everyone is a sinner. The problem is that when we have a Church that makes a habit of covering up for people who have a deeply ingrained habit of leading double lives, no one tells what they know. Everyone believes everything is just a little bit fake. No one knows who to trust. And because everyone is covering up for everyone else’s secrets, no one puts all the pieces together.
Go here to read the rest. Exposing a cleric who holds high office as a whited sepulcher has good precedent in the history of the Church.
Can’t have the laity holding clerics to account.
It’s un-Roman, you mean-spirited detractors!
“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness: rather, expose them.” -Eph. 5:11
There is another possible side to the story. Upworthy.com, a site that describes itself as “a social impact (read: “woke”) company,” immediately identified Monsignor Burrell as one of those with the USCCB “who supported denying communion to (vomit bag alert) ‘devout Catholic’ Joe Biden.”
The shadow company that gave the tracking information on Burrill to The Pillar may have been conducting a hi-tech tracking search on all the USCCB—the bishops, administrative staff, everyone—-to retaliate for that move and as a warning against any further uncooperative behavior. So far, it appears their dragnet only turned up the dirt on Burrill.
For quite some time now–with regards to homosexual clergy–the story of God granting Israel a king comes to mind: Israel wanted a king, God wasn’t happy about it; Samuel told the people having a king really wasn’t going to go well, but they still wanted a king, and so God said “Fine, have it your way…” (1 Samuel 8)
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The laity wanted contraception. I know this from my brief work promoting NFP. Older women, the ones who had “10 kids in 12 yeas” would comment that they were so happy their daughters and granddaughters had the choice to limit (with contraception) family size.
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Men who live quite happy lives without any sexual activity probably aren’t going to be too impressed in the Confessional listening to just how gosh dang hard it is to abstain from sex when a baby isn’t, um, desired.
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Sexually active clergy on the other hand can probably be a safe bet not to even discuss any matters relating to inappropriate sexual behavior. The laity are outraged their priests are behaving inappropriately, but a huge portion of even the weekly Mass-attendiing (child-bearing age) Catholics are in some way involved in “instrinsically evil and viscious” acts.
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I hate to say this, but I rather assume most priests, even the new young ones, at least flirt with homosexual tendencies. Maybe it is just the area I live in.
DJH,
The Laity have never really understood that there’s nothing wrong with birth control, babies and control (not no babies and no control). And that the ends do not justify the means. (One ought not contra-cept and act-against the beginning.)
Nor have they understood that it is possible to know with 99% certainty when a woman is fertile and when she is not. Nor have they understood the marital benefits of NFP in general. Nor have they understood that abortion follows logically from abortion (act-against what has begun). Nor have they understood that Sodomy follows logically from sex without any procreative meaning. Nor have they understood that sex is about BOTH babies and bonding, and if you attack the former you attack the latter.
The major cause is a church filled with celibate clergy who could not bring themselves to speak of not full but periodic abstinence. (“think” about that, I hope we can all laugh about that someday… )
And this weakened everything as there are more demons in a seminary than anywhere else. No one needed believe in the Church Teaching anymore… Homosexual priests infiltrated and those who are not homosexual were not allowed in if they were masculine. Limp wristed priests, homosexual or not, are so common that it is difficulty to find one who is not.
I heard people say they were shocked at the scandals, the depth, the gravity. I was not. The scandals have not shaken my faith. Other things have, but not the scandals, they were plain as day on the blackboard.
I see and read so much cynicism that I find it increasingly difficult to perceive reality.
I’ve started praying the Rosary silently before the Tabernacle daily.
(If I don’t have time to finish there, I finish later in the day.)
It’s the lack of leadership which gets to me. The rules say that our priests are to lead the congregation so when they are doing a poor job at it It’s anxiety inducing.
And by the way, this article proved the point made on a previous post about this priest. If he was cruising gay bars and prostituting himself to other men and at the same time bring in agreement with the cohort that was voting for denying pro-abort politician he knew exactly, exactly what he was doing. Holding a holy almighty exterior to keep people off his back so he could continue his behaviour. If he had nothing to hide, having his data “tracked” would not have been a problem. Infact if the Church is full of his type then track them with satellite radar precision. The good priest wouldn’t care.