Ahh, Buzzfeed. The various videos that cause controversial videos, or just help your procrastinate. But, not today. The video I recently saw from them was more offensive and misleading than anything else. What’s this video, you ask? It’s “I Was Sexually Abused By The Catholic Church.”
Now, my thoughts on this video:
First off, wow. Nothing like a liberal video focused on viewing the Catholic Church and Christianity in a negative light. Something that needs to be understood is that the man and woman in the video speaking about their sexual assault experience was not by the Catholic Church. It was by humans that lacked self-control, and couldn’t control their desires or trusts. Human beings that belong to the Church, do make up the Catholic Church, but they are not the Catholic Church. It was the human beings that sinned, and not the Church instituted by Christ.
This may not sound the best, but I think Buzzfeed and others need to be reminded of something. Sexual assault and abuse does not just happen in the Catholic Church, it also happens in families, schools (public or private), etc. To make this video specified only on the Catholic Church is simply wrong.
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As I was scrolling through the comments, there were a few things I read and wanted to address. One of the things I saw multiple times was about celibacy.
Priestly celibacy is something that people misunderstand a lot when thinking about the priesthood in the Latin Rite. I saw some people who were saying that priests shouldn’t be forced to be celibate. But, let’s delve deeper into why priests are celibate. Being celibate is obviously a huge part of a Roman Catholic priest’s life. It is most likely that all men entering the seminary to become a Roman Catholic priest clearly understands he will remain celibate for the rest of his life. So, to say that Roman Catholic priests are forced to remain celibate seems a little misleading.
As Fatherfan wrote in a brother blog,
“…our priests are central to the life of the Church!”
I entirely agree with this statement he made! The Church needs priests, and to say they’re unnecessary is completely depriving us of receiving the sacraments which are “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ, by which divine life is ‘dispensed’ to us.” (CCC #1131) And in order to receive those sacraments, we need our priests.
These days, it is easy for people to choose to insult the Catholic Church because of the recent scandals that have arisen. The worldly part of Catholic Church has made mistakes in the past, but it was those in the Catholic Church that have made those mistakes, not the sacramental sense of the Catholic Church.
It is hard for Catholics to hear of such scandals, and to still remain firm in their faith while defending the Catholic Church. It is crucial for Catholics to strengthen our faith step by step every day in order to be “firm as a rock” when the time is needed for us to defend our faith courageously.
So please, spend time to pray and defend our Church. And remember the words of Jesus,
“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” -Matthew 16: 18
CALL TO ACTION: I call on all Catholics, to defend the Faith, especially on the internet. Be willing to become a martyr on the internet! All for the greater glory of God!
VibrantCatholic 
Thank you, thank you. This post just made me really happy and a proud Catholic. Very well written, also there is a really great book out there by Fr. Hugo Rahner S.J. entitled “Our Lady and the Church” it’s about how Mary is the model of the Church and how the Bride of Christ resembles many of Mary’s characteristics. It’s a breathe taking read that will bring you to tears of joy. You will never look at the Church or Mary the same way again, which is a good thing especially when you realize that Mary in a sense gave birth to the Church in giving birth to the Head of the Church. It’s a great read.
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Thank you, I’m so glad to hear that, I’m honored the blog post made you feel that way! You should read Fatherfan’s post about this topic if you haven’t, I linked it in this post.
I haven’t heard of that book before, but it seems like a very good read. I’ll have to look for it, thanks for the suggestion! I’m definitely very interested in reading about that, and I’ve been looking for good books to read, so thank you! 🙂
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Really relevant write up. Nice one. It is important also to note that those humans within the church hierarchy such as some bishops did cover up & move abusive priests. This was also a human sin, and yes unfortunately it was done in the name of the church. At the time it was done out of pride and fear to avoid scandal. Unfortunately we all know what goes before a fall – pride. The church has fallen down but not out. We must continue to ‘come home’ & humble ourselves to the ways of Jesus… “Love thy neighbour”
Peace & God Bless
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