In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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Be Proud of Being Catholic
(Excerpts of an article written by Sam Miller,
prominent Cleveland Jewish businessman - NOT Catholic) Submitted
by Dee Lynd
Some corrections of erroneous facts have been made. GS 150805
Why would newspapers carry on a vendetta
on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the
United States, namely the Catholic Church?
Do you know - the Catholic Church
educates 2.6 million students everyday at the cost to the Church of
10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American
taxpayer of 18 billion dollars. ?
Your graduates
go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%, all at a cost to you.
To the rest of the Americans, it's free.
The Church has 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with
an enrolment of 700,000 students. The Catholic Church has
a non-profit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account
for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people - not just Catholics -
in the United States today.
But the press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every
way the Catholic Church in this country. They have blamed the disease
of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as
blaming adultery on the institution of marriage.
Let me give you some figures that you as Catholics should know
and remember. For example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed
admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate
sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8 % of
clergy women reported unwanted sexual behaviour; 17% of laywomen have been
sexually harassed.
Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty
of pedophilia. Protestant denominations and churches number in the tens of
thousands, so it is not so easy to establish a percentage of Protestant
ministers who have been found guilty of pedophilia. One thing seems clear,
however, and that is that this is not a Catholic Problem. A study
of American priests showed that most are happy in the priesthood and
find it even better than they had expected, and that most, if given the
choice, would choose to be priests again in face of all this
obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.
The Catholic Church is bleeding in part from self-inflicted wounds, given
that some Catholics – both clergy and lay – have been guilty of abuse and that
their victims have suffered. Actions are being taken at varied speeds in
different places to protect the innocent and arrest the guilty. It can be said
that the Church has been hurt by a small number of wayward priests and that
there is hope to bring abuse to an end.
Walk with your shoulders high and you
head higher. Be a proud member of the most important non-governmental
agency in the United States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: "Stand by
the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way
is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls". Be proud to speak
up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does
for all other religions. Be proud that you're a Catholic.
Reprinted excerpts with permission of the Buckeye Bulletin -
courtesy of Brookside Council #3297, Cleveland Diocese
In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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