Fallen priests are certainly nothing new and when I hear of such a case it usually reminds me to pray for priests. The tempting of priests surely is a high priority of fallen Angels as much as the destruction of families. Generally this is an issue that makes me sad not mad.
Originally the story of Fr. Cutie from the Archdiocese of Miami was in the sad category for me and while I still continue to pray for him – his actions are becoming even more reprehensible. He has recently come out with a new book attacking the Church and it’s hypocrisy and of course the media is scooping this up as frosting on their Anti-Catholicism.
A priest who found himself attracted to a women and as a result applied for laicization because he felt called to the married life is at least someone I could understand and to some degree respect. A priest who gets caught with a divorcee, subsequently defends his actions on one of the popular Morning show, leaves the Church, becomes Episcopalian, marries the women involved and has a child, and then writes a book attacking the Church is somebody who will get my prayers, but not my sympathy. The media is glad to use such a character since any stick to hit the Church with will do.
Progressives who called for a married priesthood and remain celibate I can appreciate even if I prudently disagree with them on this issue of discipline. A priest that sneaks around apparently committing adultery and then when caught strikes out against the Church is not exactly a reformer that should be listened to. Reformer reform thyself. Fr. Cutie’s outside actions are not only scandalous, but show him digging deeper into sin instead of repentance. Worse is the fact that he is being encouraged in his sin as he becomes a celebrity for his actions.
Contrary to Andy Warhol, it seems the future brought everybody “15 minutes of shame” where what people should be ashamed of they become famous for. Considering original sin this is not very surprising. We all struggle and fall short, but when you call falling short “advancement” you have gone beyond concupiscence to denial and sin. Shame on the media and others for using Fr. Cutie’s case to advance their agenda.
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It was distressing to me to see a man defending the Church knocked down by one of Father Cutie’s supporters. I appreciate the comments in the blog.
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A priest attracted to a woman is not as drool-worthy to the media as a pedophile priest, I fear. They will not be happy until only lesbian lovers are married priests.
So are many of the sexual abuse allegations which have received tens of thousands of dollars from Catholic dioceses all over the world.
Good catch Panda. Approximately 30% of the 3000 priest sex-abuse cases are between priest and post-pubescent female 60% are priest and post-pubescent male. This puts the typical Church-basher in a bind: They can hold to their dogma that fornication and sodomy are great goods but have to reconsider 90% of the weight in their bat for beating the Church, or they can keep them and end up with the suggestion that gee, maybe there is something to these Church teachings on sexual morality.
“Contrary to Andy Warhol, it seems the future brought everybody “15 minutes of shame” where what people should be ashamed of they become famous for.”
“Future” my eye! When the crowd chose to release Barrabas over Our Lord, the notorious criminal was immortalized partly for this *exact* point: the world rewards this stuff. Instead of repenting, Fr. Cutie’ll be a celeb and probably make some money. I hear Ted Haggard has a television show. Of course a fellow has to earn a living, and he’s forgiven if his repentance is sincere: but it’s completely unsurprising that he gets a t.v. show based on the only thing he’s notorious for.
The world rejects sincerity (Christ) and popularizes notoriety (Barrabas). *That* isn’t new.
@ Scott W.
Haha! You would be correct if these folks made decisions based on reasoning instead of knee-jerk emotionalism. Sadly, this stuff is likely not as well thought-out as you make it sound.
@ Scott W: You would be right if the typical Catholic basher were concerned about logical or ethical consistency … a concern remarkable for its absence in most public dialogue, especially among the left.
I was sick to my stomach when I saw someone reading the People magazine article on Cutie in the store check out- I blogged a bit about it here
http://remnantofremnant.blogspot.com/2011/01/good-and-faithful-servant-7-quick-takes.html
No pun intended (OK, maybe), but Fr. Cutie is anything but cute!