1. Vatican magazine denounces sexual abuse of nuns by priests [1]
2. Texas Dioceses Release Names of Almost 300 Clergy Members Accused of Abuse [2]
3. Top US cardinal let priest accused of sexual abuse lead Mass [3]
Why is this blogger still going to Church? Today is the first Friday of the month and there was Eucharistic Adoration. When he arrived at the cathedral, the parking lot was full, with cars double parked. He thought to himself -- there are a lot of very devoted Catholics attending the noon Mass and spending time before the Blessed Sacrament -- and was heartened by it. He left and returned later in the afternoon. There were still quite a lot of cars but also some empty spaces. He parked and entered the cathedral. The pews were empty. There were two (2) people sitting in chairs before the Blessed Sacrament located on the left side of the altar.
After saying the rosary before the Blessed Sacrament, he walked into the gift shop downstairs and asked about the cars in the parking lot. The lady said there was some kind of fair the floor below. He went there, walked around and saw tables that were empty and not many people. It was probably some kind of commercial fair that has ended that had nothing to do with recruiting men and women to become monks and nuns. He also noticed some tables that were set up for coffee and refreshments, including large plates with signs that indicated there was food there. One of the signs read "turkey." Today is Friday, and this blogger had made it his practice not eat meat on Fridays, to remind him of Good Friday. Yet, this Catholic Church, a cathedral no less, was having a commercial fair on the first Friday of the month reserved for Eucharistic Adoration and was serving meat. There are only 12 first Fridays in the year and the church had to pick a first Friday for this function.
This same cathedral also wanted to have a second collection for new vestments. Do vestments become worn or become fashionably outdated that new ones had to be purchased? Is it a sin to dry clean them? Is the need for new vestments a exercise in vanity, or a rejection of the vow of poverty?
This blogger is a sinner and he sins. He goes to Church to seek forgiveness and what he is now realizing is that he is walking into a building run by clerics that are not all that holy.
Where is a church that is in the middle of nowhere that needs repair? That is the church this blogger wants to go to, especially if it is abandoned, because Christ will be there.
This idea is not original. It came from Saint Francis of Assisi. Quoted below is a brief introduction [4]:
Where is a church that is in the middle of nowhere that needs repair? That is the church this blogger wants to go to, especially if it is abandoned, because Christ will be there.
This idea is not original. It came from Saint Francis of Assisi. Quoted below is a brief introduction [4]:
The San Damiano Cross is known as the “Crucifix that spoke to St. Francis” in 1205 CE in Assisi, Italy.
The Cross was hung in the little church of San Damiano that was outside the walls of Assisi. When Francis stopped by the church to pray, he found the church to be “collapsing from old age…No one went down the worn staircase into the church: But Francis did, and with that act, the Franciscan Order was born.”
As Francis knelt in prayer before the painted Byzantine Cross, “Suddenly it seemed to him that Jesus’ gaze was fixed upon him…They were speaking and expressing a burning passion…Francis distinctly heard his name being called…‘Francis, go repair my house, which, as you see, is falling into ruin.'”
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