Re: [JOYnet] Priests Chastity
May the grace of the Lord with you all. Dear friends, Priests are also like us. They also have all the feelings and desires as what we possess. The only difference is that they made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. But, many of them deviate from their chosen path after few years. Is it is solely their responsibly or do we share some? Is it is only because of their lack of personal prayers or ours as well? I think we are also responsible for that. Our prayer, support and respect are inevitable for priesthood as we are all the members of the same family. Our moral support and doings are also important for them. How many of us are praying and fasting for our Church and priests, but there are a lot to accuse them. Let us remember that our strength is the strength of our Church. Pope says young people and families with a group effort, stressing unity and communion: it is ever-more necessary 'to make the Church a home and a school of communion: this is the great challenge that awaits us in the new millennium VIS 20030327 (330). Let me just share an incident. Today morning while I was attending morning Mass, the priest who was saying that Mass yawned during the first reading. The moment I saw that I closed my eyes and prayed for that priest to strengthen him. The least thing I could do, but it is a great prayer in heaven. Mother Mary repeatedly said to us to pray for our Church and Priests. Friends, let us pray hundredfolds more for our Church and Priests. Let us ask our Jesus to cover our Church with His most precious blood. Let us cast priests to the immaculate heart of Mother Mary. Let us pray Lord, save your church from all her enemies with lots of love and prayers Wilson Thomas (Singapore) - Original Message - From: Bensi Chacko [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 1:11 PM Subject: [JOYnet] Priests Chastity 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. _ High ISD bills? Get a phone card. http://www.msn.co.in/webtelephony Call US for just Rs. 5 === This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. For more info on the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet To unsubscribe from the list send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet/join In case of any issue
Re: [JOYnet] Priests Chastity
Dear buddies True imitation of Jesus Christ is to remain chaste, poor and obedient. I just picked up something that i think is not very clear. From what i've quoted Bensi (above in bold) are you saying that that only applies to priests? As children of God we are all brothers and sisters of Christ, and imitating Christ is what God wants from all of us and not just priests. so in this case, i think chaste should not mean remaining virgins your whole life, but it should be within the context of marriage and as God willed it to be (morality, fidelity etc). 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): I agree that that verse is from the bible and very relevant. But i feel that the call to remain a virgin is a personal one that God will give to the person. i odn't think it should be general as in, all priests Should be virgins, kind of thing. but i guess that's where alot of people will disagree with me, and ure welcome to tell me why. please don't bomb me guys!! :) I agree totally with someone who mailed saying that we should be praying for priests and those in leadership. we have that responsiblity, definitely. but i personally don't agree wtih the rule that priests should be virgins. i think that should be a personal decision made on the basis of their call from God. Youre welcome to correct me. love in Jesus Sheril Daniel Grahamstown, South Africa Bensi Chacko [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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. _ High ISD bills? Get a phone card. http://www.msn.co.in/webtelephony Call US for just Rs. 5 === This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. For more info on the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet To unsubscribe from the list send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet/join In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] === - Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more === This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. For more info
