Pope laments bad reputation had by "the church"

[Liberal_in_LA]

Pope: Bad seeds in priesthood can't obscure good

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday lamented that the clerical abuse scandals were eclipsing the Catholic church's reputation as a place of hope, but insisted that bad seeds in the priesthood cannot eliminate the good the church does.


Benedict cited the Gospel parable about a sower and his seed, recalling the question to the Lord about why weeds sprang up among the grain even though good seed had been sown in the field.


"In these last months we have had to repeatedly confront news that aims to take away the joy in the church, to obscure it as a place of hope," Benedict said in a message to an ecumenical church meeting in Munich, in his German homeland.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/05/15/international/i100358D77.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0o1zvDUTH

[Skidmore]

1. When exactly in history has it had a good reputation?

From corrupt priests selling indulgences and buying offices to family intrigues over the papacy to illegitimate children and lovers to using the poor to amass wealth. You tell me when this political institution acutally did what it was initially set up to do. What it has had is power and wealth.

[monmouth]

2. Denial comes in many shades, doesn't it?....sigh..n/t

[Bluebear]

3. He's right. One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch. But they keep hiding the bad apples.

Rearranging the bushel and placing the bad apples at the bottom unpunished is what is causing the "weeds".

[Iggo]

6. oops

didn't realize we were agreeing

:hi:

[markpkessinger]

4. He still doesn't get it...

Pope Benedict is quoted:

"In these last months we have had to repeatedly confront news that aims to take away the joy in the church, to obscure it as a place of hope."

Well, sorry Mr. Ratzinger, you still haven't come anywhere near the kind of spiritual awareness of this crisis that would be required in order for you to regain an ounce of credibility. You see, the problem isn't some nefarious thing out there called "news" that is willfully trying to do something or take away something from your institution. And the problem isn't merely one of "bad seeds" -- there are "bad seeds" in any organization. The problem is that men such as yourself have, for many decades and perhaps for centuries, placed a priority on institutional self-preservation and the protection and further enabling of criminal abusers. As the "Vicar of Christ," surely you are familiar with Luke 9:24: "For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." The Roman Catholic Church has certainly made its first priority saving its own life. And until you come to grips with that central hypocrisy that lies at the center of this crisis, then neither you nor your church will ever be able to move beyond it.

[Kerrytravelers]

5. Coming from a bad apple.

In the Catholic heirachy, one need not be a pedophile to be bad apple. There are so many other terrible things (oppression of women, opposition to birth control, hatred of LGBTQ people, I could go on and on...) that could be relieved if those in touch with the people would be in control and not this rat bastard. There are some wonderful people within the Catholic church, but they will never seize the reigns of power.