Greetings!
We recently heard the awful news that a local pastor has been charged with felony offenses, including child seduction. My range of emotions has been shocked, frustrated, angered, saddened. My heart aches for the young victims and their families. But it also aches for all of us. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” 1 Cor 12:26
Add the news of the pervasive sexual abuse exposed in France and it literally makes me sick. As someone dedicated to inviting others into the goodness I have found in the Catholic Church, I’m tempted to wonder why I bother.
My friends, let me be clear: sin is tearing our human family apart, starting with the victims. The solution is Jesus Christ. Our Lord suffered and died to set us free and draw us together in Him.
When we find ourselves ensnared in sin, we must turn to Him in humble submission and seek the help we need through Confession, therapy, AA, SA, Covenant Eyes, Exodus 90, Kingdom Builders, healing through the Holy Spirit, an accountability partner, or anything else it takes to root it out.
Praying with you and for you,
Abiding Together: This episode of Abiding Together focuses on not only physical poverty, but spiritual poverty as well. Fr. Mark-Mary of the CFRs talks about his love for the sacrament of confession and shares how spiritual poverty makes room for God to be a Father to us and show us His love and providence. We often spend so much energy hiding our weakness, but freedom is to be found when we allow God and others to love us in our littleness.
St. Irenaeus to be Declared Doctor of the Church with Title “Doctor of Unity”
St. Irenaeus was a second-century bishop and writer revered by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians and known for refuting the heresies of Gnosticism with a defense of both Christ’s humanity and divinity: