-Why am I still Catholic?
It's one of those things that's ingrained in you from birth, my parents both devout
Catholics.
-It's not the first time I've asked myself that question.
-I'm still Catholic because I still believe in the communion of the saints.
And I still believe in the efficacy of the sacraments.
-I think because my Catholicism, as it is, is not necessarily connected to sort of the
apparatus of the institution.
-Like a lot of cradle Catholics, it's not just a question of my faith, but a question
of my identity.
-I've gotten a lot of comfort from the faith over the years.
But I'm struggling with what it means to be Catholic right now.
-I still believe in what the Church teaches, even if it seems like the people at the highest
ranks of the Church don't.
-I believe in the Church's mission for economic and social justice and peace.
I more want to ask Cardinal Wuerl and McCarrick and Law and Pell,
why are they still Catholics?
-I needed a home for my faith, I think, as an adult.
And I found the Catholic Church to be both beautiful and true.
-There's just something that I find in church, a kind of calmness and a kind of peace, that
I just don't find anywhere else.
-I was very tired and found rest and peace in the Church.
-I was born, born and raised Catholic.
I'm also getting married in a couple of weeks in a Catholic church.
-I have this strange feeling where, a lot of my life,
I've felt guilty for not being a good enough Catholic,
and now I feel guilty somewhat for being a Catholic,
because what does that represent?
The crimes themselves are horrible, but the bloodlessness of the cover-up is incredibly
disturbing.
-I was encouraged by Francis's election as pope, on a number of fronts.
But he's been disappointing on this particular front.
The biggest problem for the Church is that it doesn't hold itself accountable.
-I think the Church needs to act less like this is a PR crisis,
and more like this is what is it is, an actual sin,
shepherds deceiving and terrorizing their flock.
-I think the patriarchal culture of this institution has really contributed to all of this.
Sexual abuse is a crime, and church leaders should not have treated it, ever,
as a church matter.
-I want clergy who have been covering up and shuffling around sexual abusers to be defrocked,
and I want them to be turned over to the secular authorities to be indicted for the crimes
they've committed.
The Church certainly knows that's what the public in general expects.
But they also have to be held accountable by the lay faithful inside the Church.
-I don't know what it would take to make me walk away from the Church.
But I do know that a lot of people are walking away from the Church.
-I do think about what would happen if I left the Church, sometimes.
What would come next?
-I, of course, I have the temptation to just leave.
Nobody wants to be a part of something like that.
But I am not a part of the abuse.
I want to be a part of preventing it.
-I can't say for sure that I would leave the Church.
But I'd like to think that ... that I'd do the right thing.
And it seems like that's probably the right thing to do if things don't change.