Moving Forward

The Church needs to move forward by getting out of bankruptcy.  While it is true that many of the parish and school properties will be taken to pay out the alleged victims, it is important to get out of bankruptcy so we can move forward and rebuild our Church.  And when we are finally out of bankruptcy, the Archdiocese can proceed to protect the rest of the parish and school properties.  Of course, many innocent people will be hurt as they either lose the properties or make sacrifices to try and purchase back the properties so the parishes and schools can function.  

However, there will be properties we cannot take back.  For example, the Creditors are interested in obtaining the soup kitchen.  So, who suffers when the soup kitchen is taken away?  It will mainly be the homeless and the poor who depend on the soup kitchen for food.  These are some of the innocent victims impacted by the law initiated and passed by the JungleWatch Nation and our local secular government. The Church is simply going to have to find another way to feed the homeless and the poor.  

As I have previously said so many times on my blog, the law initiated and passed by the JungleWatch Nation is an unjust law because it aims to punish only innocent people.  Bishop Anthony Apuron will not be paying anything out of his pocket, and he still retains his title as “Bishop.”  The dead priests whom many of the alleged victims are blaming for their alleged sexual abuse are also not going to pay anything out of their own pockets. They are dead!  The only ones suffering are innocent people such as the parishioners who will have to pay out of their own wallets to buy back their parish properties.  The homeless and poor will also suffer with the closure of the soup kitchen, Kamalen Karidot.  As Archbishop Michael stated in his letter:

I acknowledge the many intense emotions of our Catholic Faithful during this journey of atonement, reparation and reorganization. You are angry, saddened, frustrated and bewildered.  It is understandable.  Many of you have toiled, sacrificed and contributed to building and sustaining our schools and parishes in numerous ways that span generations.

These people who expressed anger, deep sorrow, frustration, and bewilderment at the meetings are innocent people.  They are now the victims along with the homeless and the poor.  These are the innocent people victimized by the JungleWatch Nation who initiated and worked for the passage of a law that will deprive innocent people of property and food. If this law had not been passed, we would not be where we are today.

Nevertheless, I see a great lesson to be learned from all this.  A new Church must be built from all this destruction wrought by fellow Catholics.  We need to rebuild our Church…..a Church where the flock will look more toward the riches and rewards of Heaven rather than to the treasures of this world….a Church that will know the true meaning of forgiveness.

I have heard many Catholics say, “I forgive you, but I will never forget what you did.”  This is not true forgiveness.  When God forgives, He forgets all our past sins and starts with a clean slate with us.  We know that there are Catholics who say, “I forgive you, but I want compensation for the wrongs or sins you caused against me.”  This is also not true forgiveness. Christ was falsely accused and wrongly executed, but He never asked any compensation from us for nailing Him to the cross. We need to give proper catechesis so our Catholic brothers can understand that healing comes only from Jesus Christ, not from money or the treasures of this earth.