INTRODUCTION

1. The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided.(1) Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.

It is a backwards method to disparage our priests, assuming as it were that a celibate man would apparently not have the courage to resond to such an aggressive threat, regardless of its falseness.

It disrespects our bishops, insinuating they can not be trusted to look into the objective truth of allegations of misconduct against priests.

But “claptrap” works for me too.

“Question I would pose for the bishops is this: Is it SIN for a Catholic to knowingly vote for a candidate who openly supports a woman’s right to kill her unborn child? If so, SAY IT IS SO.”

How can a bishop tell his flock that voting for a pro-abort is a sin when he has his hand in the pocket of people who are monetarily supporting a pro-abort candidate? Is it any wonder his silence on abortion is deafening?

This cannot be the last comment on this article. As Jackster said, there has to be a confession for the priest to keep the seal of the confessional. In your hypothetical, there wasn’t one. And that gives the priest the freedom on the very next Sunday to expose the threat to his entire congregation without ever exposing the person who made the threat. He could very easily in a homily make it clear that the seal of the confessional does not cover threats, that he will not cower to threats made there or anywhere else and then talk about the subject matter over which the threat was made.

At the same time, I still say this is nothing but claptrap.

It is not the telling that is the problem. The problem is the priest is alone with the woman and it is her word against his, and we all know were that leads.

The priest is deflocked.

Whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

Bingo. And that is precisely because of the reasons you mention. Question I would pose for the bishops is this: Is it SIN for a Catholic to knowingly vote for a candidate who openly supports a woman’s right to kill her unborn child? If so, SAY IT IS SO.

Millions of people who claim the name Christ (Catholic and otherwise) are going to vote for Obama, who has a 100% approval rating from Planned Parenthood. It is a scandal that Catholics and young Evangelical Protestants will be most responsible for Obama’s election should he win.

Speaking the truth in love is not disrespectful.

In the Archdiocese where I live, we have a courageous bishop who has made himself vulnerable to attack from the culture of death by speaking very publicly on the subject. He is providing an example for both the priests in our Archdiocese and parishioners as well.

Not every bishop has the same courage. Many do, but some do not.

My larger point is that too many bishops and priests make the mistake of assuming that the vast majority of parishioners in their flocks are pro-life on abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, when they’re not. They too often address the issue as if they were preaching to the choir, when the choir isn’t listening. They simply don’t make the case for life very well. Praise God for Priests for Life who can help them do it better.

But Don, threatening a priest in the confessional? Oh my!

Father Milquetoaste should just go along and agree with the scary, bad threatening woman. He should say, “Please, please don’t make up any bad stories about me! I won’t speak out about “the woman issues” I promise! I won’t say one single word about my support of women’s ordination. On my honor!”

That red herring scenario smacks of disrespect for our priests, as some earlier posts are pretty disrespectful of our bishops.

Sure things look bleak. they have since that night in the garden. But there’s no reason to get uncharitable. Ours is a Church of hope! Let’s show a little more faith in the Church and in her divine Bridegroom.

“Some people become fearless through madness, but Christians are different. They become fearless through habit.” ~ Epictetus, Stoic philosopher