A millstone was a large disk of rock which was used to grind grain into flour. Execution by tying a millstone around a criminal's neck and throwing him into water to drown was practiced by the Greeks, Syrians, and Romans. I just ran across a post where a geology professor calculated that an abandoned millstone he found in the Hudson Valley weighed 3/4 of a ton. The millstone image at the top of this page is from that post.
Imagine that hanging around your neck pulling you down after you were thrown into water!
On reading Matthew 18:6 closely, it's clear Jesus wasn't actually
recommending capital punishment. Jesus was actually saying that a worse
fate was awaiting those who caused a young Christian to sin. (But He
didn't say capital punishment was "inadmissible" either. Ahem.)
He prophesied that a worse kind of punishment is in store for unrepentant predators like Cardinal McCarrick and others, priests, monsignors, bishops, cardinals, and heads of religious orders and seminaries, any cleric who seduced children and young adults who were serving Mass or attending Catholic schools or going to a seminary or were living in vulnerable positions in orphanages or single parent homes. From what the victims said, the abusers often blasphemously told their victims that the sick acts they coerced them to share were holy.
Knowledge of these abuses is almost too much for a Catholic who loves the Church to bear. And the coverups, how in the world can a Catholic deal with the coverups? Along with sorrow for those who were molested by clerics who are supposed to be acting in Christ's name and those who allowed them to continue to abuse is another sadness, that those heinous acts by those wolves in clerical clothing are casting shame on true beliefs and true believers and causing revulsion against the Church in many who do not believe.
There is much more to be said on how to keep your faith when those you trusted have misused your trust and cast shame on the Faith. And more will follow.
But in the meantime, it is of eternal importance not to let these scandals kill your faith and separate you from Christ's Church. Remember this quote from St. Francis de Sales: "While those who give scandal are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take scandal--who allow scandals to destroy their faith--are guilty of spiritual suicide."
He prophesied that a worse kind of punishment is in store for unrepentant predators like Cardinal McCarrick and others, priests, monsignors, bishops, cardinals, and heads of religious orders and seminaries, any cleric who seduced children and young adults who were serving Mass or attending Catholic schools or going to a seminary or were living in vulnerable positions in orphanages or single parent homes. From what the victims said, the abusers often blasphemously told their victims that the sick acts they coerced them to share were holy.
Knowledge of these abuses is almost too much for a Catholic who loves the Church to bear. And the coverups, how in the world can a Catholic deal with the coverups? Along with sorrow for those who were molested by clerics who are supposed to be acting in Christ's name and those who allowed them to continue to abuse is another sadness, that those heinous acts by those wolves in clerical clothing are casting shame on true beliefs and true believers and causing revulsion against the Church in many who do not believe.
There is much more to be said on how to keep your faith when those you trusted have misused your trust and cast shame on the Faith. And more will follow.
But in the meantime, it is of eternal importance not to let these scandals kill your faith and separate you from Christ's Church. Remember this quote from St. Francis de Sales: "While those who give scandal are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take scandal--who allow scandals to destroy their faith--are guilty of spiritual suicide."
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