While you are changing the title to blame the catholic church, why not blame TBN too? 

This is something that the Church universal needs to own up to.  The Catholics, the Mainline denoms, the evangelical crowd, everyone of us, and we need to own it now.  For too long we have allowed crap like this to ruin people, whether it be sexual abuse, abuse of authority, theft, or other abuses that the church has decided it was more politically expedient to remain silent.

This is too important for us to be pointing fingers at one another, we need to step up, repent, and make sure that we deal with this well in the years to come.

So, are you saying that this is a Roman Catholic church problem only?

I spent eight years as a youth pastor, in that time I personally met three people that have done prison time for inappropriate relationships with students, and have heard stories of countless others.  It has nothing to do with whether you are married or not, it happens, and happens far more often that we would like to admit. 

As I read the article I got the distinct impression that it was not the fact that priests were abusers, but it was more the shadowy side of church interactions that caused him to lose faith.  Decisions being made based on political expediency and public relations spin, rather than pursuing Christ, and living in a Christ-like manner. 

I would suggest that you check out http://lettersfromleavers.com, it is a site dedicated to giving people who have left the church, or completely bagged out on faith.  Read the letters, I believe your perspective might be changed, and you may just realize how this is not just a Catholic problem, but a problem that the entire church needs to take notice of, and deal with now…

CK writes [I really think that is due to priest not being allowed to have a wife.] A great many people who are sex offenders are married and have families. This statement, which comes up from time to time, doesn’t hold water. It may be true that the priesthood has, for one reason or another, become a place that people who might commit these crimes are attracted to, but I think you will find there is not a direct correlation.

This is sad what happened to this man, but I wonder about a great many things about him that might have contributed to his losing faith besides his job. It seems a mistake to expect the heart of man to be your strongest evidence for trusting Christ. Scripture certainly would suggest that’s not the plaace to put your faith.

CK also writes [However… I can’t blame the church as a whole for the content of that article.  For every bad church there are many good ones.] AMEN!

Okay, I have a completely different slant on this. I don’t care to get into the issues of the Catholic abuse scandals or any of the other stuff.

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I only have two questions...First, why did nobody challenge his ecumenical views in light of his personal faith? He didn’t seem to realize that there are massive differences in the belief systems mentioned in the article. Apparently, nobody told him he didn’t need to follow a tradition or need an earthly representative of Christ, but rather that he IS Christ’s earthly representative, and there is no mediator between man and God, save Christ Himself! Had someone properly discipled him and mentored him spiritually in the beginning, this whole thing would have gone a different way. Yes, it would have caused strife in his home, but not the spiritual crisis he went through. Sorry to say, they really missed it with the discipleship, at least in his case.

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Second question...does this lack of historical knowledge and biblical literacy speak to a much larger and potentially catastrophic issue in the church? From my experience in ministry, YES! We’re so afraid of losing people we don’t say that Catholics believe something completely different, and the modern definition of “Christianity”, as used by the media, lumps in a lot of sects that hold to doctrines completely foreign to biblical, post-reformation Christianity. Isn’t it about time that we were intellectually honest with the masses that there are differences, and that if they’re not willing to change their belief systems to correspond with the Bible and with faith in Christ alone, they have no part of heaven? Sure, this kind of preaching isn’t going to put a lot of butts in seats, but it will equip the body and avoid situations such as this.

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Nobody wants to say this because it is an unpopular position in our ultra-compassionate, ultra-acceptance driven church age, and please understand, you’re hearing the words of someone who really loves people. I’m not an angry person, and I don’t desire to be portrayed that way. When I read this article, I get weepy for the church folks who spend every weekend in the pews, pay their tithes, and mostly have no clue what they really believe aside from “Warm fuzzy Jesus and me:-)”. I think this article should snap us all back to reality in three ways. First, it should make us question what we accept as Christianity(What do Catholics, Mormons, and others really believe and practice?), it should make us question our historical perspective(have we forgotten the reasons for the reformation?), and it should make us question our own Biblical literacy(what do I accept as “good” doctrine that are purely manufactured out of our social church culture?)

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Alright, flame on!

My thoughts are similar to John Morris’.

There is a WORLD of difference between the beliefs of evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics. That the writer had no problem switching to Catholicism tells me that his understanding of the very heart of the gospel was missing. The real tragedy is not that he was turned off by the behavior of abusers or scam artists, or that his questions about how a loving God can allow pain were unanswered, it is that he confused an emotional experience with a lifetime of getting to know Christ through prayer, fellowship, and perhaps most of all, reading and studying the Bible to understand who God really is. The saddest thing is that he thinks he has “been there, done that” and is likely closed to any further exploration of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

C K, I think you’re way off base blaming this man’s loss of faith on just the Catholic Church scandal.  He covered a wide variety of issues at various denominations and I think it was a combination of all the corruption, both political corruption and corruption of the soul, that led to his crisis of faith. 

Also, you say “… how many pedophile cases do you hear of outside of the priest hood?  In my life.. 1. “

I think you’ve had your head in the sand.  The SBC has been taking flak over this issue lately and there is even an organization and website dedicated to bringing the issue to light.  See: http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_letters/2006_letters/092606_southern_baptist.htm

Insurance companies for churches report they receive about 260 reports of sexual abuse from protestant churches (this is the most reliable figure I’ve seen since most churches and denominations won’t talk about the issue) and the Catholic Church has reported about 13,00 “credible accusations” since1950 or about 228 per year.

Todd’s posted an article on the issue:  Protestant Church Staff Sex Abuse:  Over 250 Reported Cases a Year

Periodically thru out my life I have heard of these scandals; growing up my grandmother was a devotee of Billy James Hargis and his scandal hurt her and tested her faith right at the end of her life.  The names Jack Law, Fonville Gandy, Gerald Patrick Thomas Jr., and Bob Gray, also come to mind to name a few.

It’s not just a Catholic thing. And in this man’s case I don’t think it was just the child abuse scandals, but the whole picture he saw painted.

It was not only the pedophiliac priests in the catholic Church that disgust me (as much as they did). Rather I felt the leaders of the church thought more of protecting the church than protecting the people. Setting those wolves over the flocks of sheep was abominable. Yes there is sexual misconduct on the protestant churches, mainline, pentecostal, evangelical, and any other tradition you can think of. People will sin. That doesn’t excuse it, but it does explain it. But what do you do with the sin when it is uncovered? Do you deal with it openly (as it appears the leaders at Ted Haggard’s church did) or do you hide it? That is what makes people question organized Christianity, if not God himself.

As for TBN and the many other Prosperity Gospel promoters, it is right to call all people associated with them to distance themselves. I, myself, will watch certain of their programs as I come across them while channel surfing - Billy Graham, biblical movies, Kirk Cameron, etc. Should I stop doing that? I certainly don’t support TBN with any donations (Sorry, but if I see Jan Crouch’s 23 pounds of pink hair again, I think I will bust a gut). Christian leaders have a responsibility to denounce heresy and blasphemy just as Paul did in the Gospel.

I enjoy Strang Communications’ Charisma magazine and applaud Lee Grady’s editorials about the abuses in some charismatic churches, but then I turn the page and see a full page ad for some “Name it and claim it” seminar.

If we continue to turn our backs and ignore these actions, then we also are guilty.

As for the reporter, I can’t see evidence of a deep faith in him. It appears his faith was shallow. His conversion experience was pushed by emotionalism and it does not appear that he was discipled on his way to become a more mature Christian. Sometimes we care more about people before they accept Christ than we do afterwards.

This writer and I are in the same place spiritually.  I was a member of a SBC church.  There was no pedophilia or any other such scandals just alot of passive aggressive behavior.  I saw behaviors that caused me to question whether a faith in Christ really changes anyone.  I saw some good things but I just wondered if wasn’t just due to a committed lifestyle choice rather than any kind of true spiritual salvation.  What’s worse, if you ask these hard questions, you are ridiculed and pushed away because you are not mature.  I agree with the post that said sometimes we are more concerned about those outside of Christ than those who have accepted.  I’ve been a Christian for 13 years and I’m questioning it more than ever.

It is not just the Catholic Church; it is all churches. We have all failed at times to live out the gospel we proclaim. And institutions are especially likely to behave badly. it is, in part, because of the concept that corporations (even nonprofit, religious corporations) are amoral entities not held to any moral standards. That concept has become so pervasive in America today that it leads to this kind of disaster. We need to actively work to hold congregations and religious organizations to a higher standard. The organizations need to be held to a higher standard than individual believers. The collective sin of bad corporate body language preaches more effectively than anything we can say, write or broadcast. This reporter’s story clearly documents that fact. Lawyers, insurance people, etc., who work for churches and religious organizations need to be firmly told that they are incompetent to make decisions about corporate body language and the mission of the church. Those decisions need to be made by religious leaders based on simple, straight-forward Scripture and prayer. We are doing more damage than good in the world right now. We are increasing the number of unbelievers at a greater pace than we are bringing people to Jesus, and it is because of the greed, defensiveness, dishonesty and “accepted ways of doing business” that pastors, bishops and denominational executives engage in. This is the most serious missional problem in America today!

I think a reality check here is to go back to what Jesus himself said about this exact problem in his day. In Mat. 13:1-9, Jesus told about a farmer sowing seed’s, and what happened to those seed’s. Was Jesus talking about this very thing? Yes, emphatically yes.

Jesus said that:
“Some fell along the path”, these are those who hear the word, but do nothing about it.
“Some fell on rocky places”, where their faith was shallow.
“Some seed fell among thorns”, They want to be a Christian, but it is more important to them to be like the other people in the world. 
“Still other seed fell on good soil”, these are the true Christians, those who love the Church and God.

This was the lesson our kids had this last week at our yearly Centrifuge youth camp, at Jenness Park in California. They spent a lot of time examining this in their own lives, and most did not like what they saw in themselves and their friends. A lot of them repented from the same attitudes that our reporter friend, William Lobdell was suffering from.

I agree with the one who said, “that the ones who brought him to Christ should have mentored him more”, however this ultimately rest’s with the individual. We are responsible for our relationship with Christ, not the world, not a priest, not a pastor, not a spouse, just us, we are after all a priesthood of believers. As a pastor and a worker with our youth, I often tell our kids, “Do not put your faith in me, I am a sinful human and will let you down, sometimes at the exact time when you will need me the most. Instead put you faith in Jesus alone”.

If we give Jesus the true importance that He deserves in our lives, we may have crises of faith, and sometimes waiver, but we will always come back to where the true comfort is, Jesus The Christ.

As I told one of our people just recently, God is good,,,,,, All the time,,,,, Him, and Him alone, Amen!