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Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis QUOTES

Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis QUOTES

1 " The Emperor Napoleon is said to have confronted Cardinal Consalvi, the secretary of state to Pope Pius VII, saying that he, Napoleon, would destroy the Church—to which the Cardinal deftly responded, “Oh my little man, you think you’re going to succeed in accomplishing what centuries of priests and bishops have tried and failed to do? "

― Robert Barron , Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis

2 " But above all, fight by your very holiness of life; fight by becoming the saint that God wants you to be; fight by encouraging a decent young man to become a priest; fight by doing a Holy Hour every day for the sanctification of the Church; fight by coming to Mass regularly; fight by evangelizing; fight by doing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. "

― Robert Barron , Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis

3 " In the end, we are not Catholics because our leaders are flawless, but because we find the claims of Catholicism both compelling and beautiful. We are Catholics because the Church speaks of the Trinitarian God whose very nature is love; of Jesus the Lord, crucified and risen from the dead; of the Holy Spirit, who inspires the followers of Christ up and down the ages; of the sacraments, which convey the Christ-life to us; and of the saints, who are our friends in the spiritual order. This is the treasure; this is why we stay. "

― Robert Barron , Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis

4 " seems so thoroughly thought through, so comprehensively intentional. Certainly, "

― Robert Barron , Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis

5 " In their bitter words and their even more bitter tears, I would sense both a deep love for the Church and a practically bottomless disillusionment with it. "

― Robert Barron , Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis

6 " clear implication is that the failure to accept, protect, and love a child—or, what is worse, the active harming of a child—would preclude real contact with Jesus. "

― Robert Barron , Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis

7 " The central tragedy of the sexual abuse scandal is that those who were ordained to act in the very person of Christ became, in the most dramatic way, obstacles to Christ. "

― Robert Barron , Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis