Dear Family,
We had our annual retreat last month. During this retreat, one day Fr. Xavier Khaan was speaking about The Church and the Priests. There was a simple example.. Imagine a football match. Before a football match starts, usually each team sit together and make some plans. They will definitely make some arrangements to defend the most active player / the one who would probably score the maximum number of goals. If there is any one in the team who is weak and not in form, the opposite team would not even wastes time thinking about this player. In the same way, the evil ones get together to plan about how to go ahead with the attacks on human beings. They are sure that, if they are going to attack an individual or a family, only that family or maximum two or three families, could be put into trouble. BUT if the attack is on a priest or a Bishop, ahh.... so many in a parish or a state or even more could seriously be put into trouble in their faith. Priests are human beings and can have different characters. So if we are waiting to find the full Church to be holy and perfect and then start to love The Church, we may never do it..... I feel, in one of the Joynet prayer days-we are having every month, we should pray for the Church and its leaders, the Priests.. Sijo Mooken Abu Dhabi ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph lonth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 9:59 PM Subject: [JOYnet] Priests & Chastity > Dear Friends, > The statistics quoted by Bensilal is a dangerous one. The Catholic Church > has over 500,000 dedicated priests around the world. Owing to the wide > publicity and pressure from different quarters around 400 priests in the US > have been brought to stand trial for sexual abuses some dating back to 1960s. > While my aim is not to support those who are guilty or expose them this > number constitutes only 0.08 per cent of the clergy. When we point fingers > to this minute section we conveniently forget or refuse to appreciate or > thank the dedicated services rendered by 99.02 per cent of the priests. > A large majority of the orphans are the result of illicit relations of > married people like you and I. How many married couples are abusing their > own children, or orphans under their charge? How many have been accused and > brought to justice? > True, priests have made a commitment to God to remain chaste and a few, > very few, have not been able to stay faithful. Are they not our brothers or > children born and grown up like us? Do they not desire/deserve the mercy > and compassion we often clamour for? > Come on let us share. Share the burden too. > With love and prayers > Joseph Lonth > Dubai, UAE > > > At 11:11 PM 4/3/03 -0600, you wrote: > >Dear Friends, > > > >Since 1965, more than 80,000 priests have been laicized according to Fr. > >Florencio Testera, former dean of cannon law. In the USA, more than 2500 > >priests since 1982 have sexually molested children. Many bishops were > >forced to resign from their offices after newspapers had exposed their > >sexual scandals. > > > > After having found several orphanages worldwide a certain priest, > > devoted all his time to his apostolate, which soon turned into a purely > > humanitarian activity. Because he was too busy, he found less time for > > prayer. Though he continued to celebrate mass, he neglected his > > meditation, Rosary, Confession and Holy Hours. > > > > Soon, he began to drink. When wine no longer satisfied him, he was > > driven to sexual fantacies. But he was well known as a priest, so he > > could not be in sexual relationship with a women. He thought he should > > release his sexual urges either alone or with the children in the orphanage. > > > > One victim followed another. It all become so obvious that the New > > York Times exposed his sexual abuses and accused him of pedophilia. His > > donors were shocked, the staff was appalled forcing the hierarchy to > > remove him from the orphanage he had supported for forty years. Truly, > > without Chastity, all good works come to an end. > > > > Yet the opposite is also true. St. John Bosco established many > > orphanages- more than this priest in New York ever did. The big > > difference is Don Bosco remained chaste and holy. His life was a life of > > intense prayer. He would meditate from 1:00 am to 5:00 am daily; heard > > confession ten hours a day; celebrated Mass with great reverence as if > > each Mass was his last; and he would pray at least three Rosaries > > everyday and the Stations of the Cross. His chastity and sanctity brought > > many orphans to love God and the Virgin Mary. It was no surprise then > > that saints were nurtured in his orphanages. Even Virgin Mary would > > physically visit some of them. Don Boscos work has brought the Church > > many young saints such as St. Dominic Savio, Blessed Laura Vicuna, and > > hundreds of others. > > > > "True imitation of Jesus Christ is to remain chaste, poor and > > obedient. Moreover the problem of unchastity among clerics cannot be > > solved by simply allowing priests to marry. St. Paul tells us in > > Corinthians 7:14, that there are those who are called to be virgins. Let > > them who can remain virgins remain as such, for it is written (Rev 14:4): > > " The virgins follow the Lamp wherever He goes" "(Fr. Bing Arellano) > > > > > > > >Bensilal Chacko,DE,USA. =============================================================================== This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. 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