MachadoDeAssis

My question is how do you reconcile your faith in God and in the Church while at the same time witnessing all the crimes against children that are so pervasive in the church? Sorry to be blunt with the question, but I guess this is something which you have already thought about before/during becoming a priest right? Is this something that is discussed at all during your formation years in the seminary?

EDIT: to everyone messaging me with the argument that more kids are hurt in schools than in churches, hence the issue with churches is not a big deal - stop. You are just making yourself look stupid.

Thanks for your reply. I was raised Catholic, my parents specially are very devout. And I was raised along with the "new waves" of Catholicism in the south Americas Liberation Theology , where they were heavily involved into lots of actions for the poor, the homeless, children, the disenfranchised, the incarcerated population, etc. I saw first hand what they Church can do when they set their mind on helping the next person, specially those really in need - it was life saving for so many people.

But I was not able to continue Catholic after seeing the apathy that permeated the Church in response to all the scandals. And later, this and other actions by the Church and Christian religions in general simply destroyed whatever faith I had that there is any God or if there is , that he cares at all.

It is interesting to see how much of my core moral compass is in line with this type of Church that I grew in, because it was so action driven and focused on doing real good deeds and dedicated to help the next person, but the core tenants of the Church are things that no longer have a place in my life.

In any case, I think that the Catholic Church, as an organization, will continue existing wherever we want or not, and having good people - like you seem to be, is a step forward. And it's nice that new priests are having this discussion in the seminary and that they are open to talk about it. It is simply a reality that needs to be faced head on, along with many other inadequacies of the Church that in general still acts as if we were in the 1000's, not 2021. I hope that you will help enact some of those changes along with the new generations of religious people.

Thank you for your answer. It was a honest one and shows that we can hope for a better future, if good people are in the right places.