Here is a text back and forth that says an awful lot about what pew sitters and former pew sitters think is important:

J. Pew sitter-I have been trying, slowly, to get a fallen away Catholic I work with back in the Church. The latest revelations from Baltimore just destroyed everything. Do these people ever stop? What is it going to take to throw these abusers out of the priesthood? What is the problem?

Me-Tell the fallen away Catholic that it’s not God it’s men. God gave us rules to live by, rules that beget happiness. The priests and bishops involved in this diabolical filth are in no way living lives that God approves of or beget happiness.

J. Pew sitter-Honestly people are tired of hearing that.

Me-But it’s the truth.

J. Pew sitter-I told him that and he said, “I’m tired of hearing that, It’s been 25 years since we found out what they did an they are still doing it.” And then it came up about the pope protecting Fr. Rupnick.

Me-Well short of becoming an international serial killer to take out all the bad actors there isn’t anything he can do. I tried.

And going to hell because of all the bad actors involved is stupid. Tell him to put on his big boy pants, pray and get back to the God’s Sacraments.

J. Pew sitter-John step back and look at what you wrote. You want me to tell a man Who rightly has been scandalized RIGHTLY by the filthy criminal behavior of priests and bishops worldwide that’s been going on and is still going on to put on his big boy pants. You think God will condemn people who were driven out of the Church by perverted clergy. You really believe that?

Me-Yes, he needs to put on his big boy pants. God has been quite clear about not putting faith in men and not God. God takes us where we are but does not want us to stay there.

I have some authority in this. Yes it makes me angry too but since it is beyond what I can fix I need trust in God. We see how man screwed this up.

J. Pew sitter– People can only be betrayed for so long before they walk away. The Church has failed to impart the Faith for the last 60 years. No Catholic alive today was taught anything about suffering and carrying the Cross. So putting on big boy pants is not going to work. People are leaving by untold numbers. Until real change is made…

Me-Still, Jesus said to the people to do what the Pharisees say not what they do. I agree it is bad and people haven’t been taught the faith. It is the faith that matters not what Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Blase J. Cupich or John Lunness say it is what God says. The priests and bishops that did this to kids in no way represent God. They will pay and eventually we will see it.

How horrible for them to not only be guilty of crimes against children and the coverup of those crimes but also causing people to be scandalized and leave what leads to heaven. Being petulant and putting the blame on God when blame lies squarely on man is dumb. One of the things I had to do was put on my big boy pants in order to move forward. I learned that there was nothing I could do to fix this situation so I had to try to fix myself. Men are passing. God is eternal. Our focus needs to be on eternity.

J. Pew sitter-I hear you. But regular everyday Catholics don’t. The Church has no moral authority left. People think the Church is a worldwide pedophile ring. I don’t know how to fix it. But just the fact that the Church folded when the governments of the world said stop the Mass and the Sacraments says a lot. The Church abandoned us when we needed her the most. I could go to Walmart but not to Mass. And the bishops didn’t bother to fight it at all. They left the dead unburied. Until the Church is reformed people will continue to leave.

Me-Agreed.

You can’t fix it. I can’t fix it. It seems that a majority of bishops don’t want to fix it and that includes the Bishop of Rome. The only thing I can say is God will fix it. I truly believe that. Personally I’d like sooner rather than later…but since God does not exist in time we could be dead…that would be okay too.