Giving scandal: "Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion."
Respect for the souls of others: scandal (read and memorize):
2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.
2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."86 Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.87
2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion. Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to "social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible."88 This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger,89 or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.
2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!" - CCC
Homeschool activity-project:
Discuss and list all the ways people scandalize one another.
Suggested topics:
- promotion of civil unions and same sex marriage
- public parades promoting sinful behavior
- public nudity
- cross-dressing-up for Mass
- improper/immodest fashions
- immoral entertainment
- priests shooting guns in church
- women in pants ;) what?
- public drunkenness while on pilgrimage in Rome
- Catholic politicians endorsing evil
- dirty liturgical dancing
- gluttony and over-eating at adoration
- tight clothing if you are old or fat
- blogging
- talking on the phone in church, texting
- performing on SNL
- laughing at anything on SNL
- priests and religious breaking their vows and destroying marriages
By their fruits...
But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.
ReplyDeleteMatthew 18:6
Catholic teachers and principals cohabitating, committing adultery, contracepting, using ivf, or having a sme sex relationship.
ReplyDeleteWell, one would hope that they are not flaunting their "contracepting," IVF procedures, and their "acts," of adultery in front of the kids! (that would be some wild school!)
ReplyDelete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Terry. For me, one incredible scandal that I haven't been able to shake for years is that someone with a story similar to the one you just posted about the priest and the married woman has achieved great success and won a lot of respect from people who are intelligent, devout, and serious about being good Catholics. And when I blogged about how wrong this seemed to me, I got told off by a priest for taking cheap shots at someone who was doing a lot of good for the Church. Having fans and staunch defenders in the clergy seems to be excellent fruit, don't you think? I confess that whenever one of my friends mentions this success story to me, my first thought is along the lines of: "Why the h*** hasn't God thrown this in his/her face yet?"
Who are you talking about? All the priests I know of who got married have been laicized.
ReplyDeleteThere actually is a cross-dresser at daily Mass. I pray for him that he will be released from whatever demon has hold of him as he wasn't like this when I first encountered him 7 years ago.
ReplyDeleteSorry - sometimes I try to be funny - I just never thought...
DeleteI seem to remember a cross dresser who came to daily Mass at St Olaf Church downtown Minneapolis at 5 pm years ago. I used to pray for him too.
DeleteThat makes me feel bad. God calls every one no matter where they are at.
DeleteI used to love St. Olaf because so many different types were seen there. I love downtown churches.
I'm still shaking my head over a priest from our diocese who ran off with the wife and family of a parishioner, joined the Episcopal Church and was an administrator of one of their parishes and now runs the St. Vincent de Paul Society in a Southern state. The husband tried to get our diocese to do something and they wouldn't. The padre got the wife and kids; the poor hubby got a heart attack.
ReplyDeleteLet the man go run a secular non-profit somewhere; he should never have a job working in the Church. Even if he has repented, it just smells bad like a rotting rat in the walls of the Church.
Was it really scandalous and inappropriate?
ReplyDeleteNo - I'm just mixing in funny stuff with serious stuff. It's a fun interview.
DeleteI took the link down so others will not be confused.
Delete