TotusTuusMaria Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 All of this is so incrediably sad. As a young person who watched him and liked seeing him on ewtn, I am disappointed and just... sad. We have to continue to pray for him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior1027 Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 [quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1673090' date='Oct 8 2008, 11:20 PM']It is a very serious thing. He has publicly stated in his letter from EWTN that he is aware of the magnitude and seriousness of his situation. And I understand why a lot of people are upset. It is a very upsetting thing to happen in this day and age when we need so many good priests. But the way some people have been conducting themselves about this has been unreal. It's not as much on here as much as what I've seen in comments on the blogs. Up until now, people have been gossiping, speculating, or passing along information that they had no business passing along -- at the same time, completely shredding this man to pieces instead of worrying about their own souls. Father Benedict Groeschel addressed this incident specifically on EWTN some time ago and warned people not to engage in the mortal sin of detraction. All that has been disclosed publicly is that he has fathered a child and left EWTN. We do not know the nature of his private life otherwise, such as the status of his laicization and current relationship with the child's mother. His reasons for leaving the priesthood could be a lot more complicated than we know. How he chooses to publicly address his situation in the future is up to him. And as Seven77 said, God only knows the whole story. At the end of the day, we have our vocations and our callings. The priesthood, like marriage, is supposed to be an unbreakable vow before God. But we are all sinners and many do fail their vocations -- both marriage and priesthood. Fortunately we have God in his mercy there to forgive us when we do fail. There is no question that even though we are forgiven when we sin, the consequences of that sin can still remain. Many viewers, including younger ones, looked up to him as a priest. Dave Stone is still in a very delicate situation given his public nature in his priestly vocation, he must be very careful about how he chooses to publicly conduct himself in the future. So we should keep in him our prayers, but at the same time be vigilant about our own shortcomings and honestly question what we have to gain by tearing down someone else like people are. I've been holding back on this for quite some time and I think we should be careful about how much and what kind of attention we are giving this -- myself included. So I'll get off my soapbox now. It's time for less time talking, more time praying.[/quote] A very good and right post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 For every minute you think of this situation, you should spend an equal amount of time on your knees praying for all our priests, and yourself. NONE of us is guarenteed to make it to whenever our lives end without committing some major sins, and doing things we never thought we would do. I am sure when he made his vows, he too thought it would last a lifetime. The best priest I ever knew left the priesthood in the same way. I did not judge him and we will not judge this man either. Its between him and God. I wish him well in life and will keep him in my prayers. There but for the grace of God, go I. The end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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