3 comments on 7 Things A Catholic Priest Should Never Say

1. Diane Thomas says:

   February 15, 2024 at 1:37 am

   At age 8 in the confessional I told a priest that we were in the Sierra on vacation and Dad left with the car on Saturday to go back to work so there was no car and mass was offered at a different place a long way away. He told me I was really bad and that I should have gotten up and started walking and if I got killed on the way (this would have been a steep winding mountain road with lots of curves and many cars actually lost their brakes on the way down) I would have been a martyr, I do not remember more, but the same priest gave my younger brother such a digest that he stopped attending mass for years – still do not know if he ever got confirmed, and the priest along with one nun at the school drove my little sister not only away from the Church, or Christianity but from all religion, and only recently has she deigned to say God in some form exists!
   I would love a discussion of what happens to people particularly Religious who destroy or harm the Faith of anyone, more specifically children

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2. Camille Pimentel says:

   February 21, 2024 at 2:46 pm

   I enjoyed your discussion very much. I am a cradle Catholic. Growing up I attended weekly Mass and went to confession every other week. I was taught to I look up to priests and nuns and respect them.

   When I was in the 9th grade and attending religious classes for the sacrament of Confirmation at my Catholic church in Massachusetts, there was a young priest who was in charge of all the youth events as well as the CYO and religious education programs. He was rather brash and outspoken when he wasn’t saying Mass. When the CYO teams lost their games, he would let loose with all manner of vile swears and distasteful commentary at those poor kids. Telling them they were losers and would never get to heaven if they couldn’t win a game. One afternoon as I was headed into my CCD class, I overheard the priest talking to the mother of one of the students in the Penance classes. Her daughter had been sick for quite a while and the medicine she was prescribed made her gain a lot of weight. As I passed them by, I overheard the priest tell the girl’s mother that her daughter was very fat and God didn’t allow fat people into heaven. He went on to say that her daughter needed to lose weight and stop eating so much food if she wanted to get into heaven and not end up in hell.

   From that day forward I refused to attend any Mass that priest presided over. I had lost all respect for that man. Mind you, back in the 70’s, Catholic churches had 4-5 priests, so there was always someone else to say Mass at my church. 30 yrs later when he retired, the community rallied around him saying he was the best thing that ever happened to their parish. Really? Typing his name in my comments would only lend strength to evil.

   It is unfortunate that in their formative years, children should be subjected to such disregard and disdain by their religious leaders.

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3. RJ Olivera says:

   March 12, 2024 at 10:30 pm

   Hello and blessings to you all. Full disclosure, I am not a full-time listener, but I’ve caught a few of your episodes every now and then. I am Catholic and I’m always looking for opportunities to learn more about my religion which is how I found your podcast and listened to a few episodes. 
    
   A few weeks ago, while browsing around from different podcasts I came across this episode.  I got curious and excited at the same time, so I immediately started to listen to it. It was very nice to hear many of the things you were saying as, at that point, I was agreeing to most. Then at one point, one of you said that a priest should never tell you who to vote for. I swear I almost yelled “Amen!”, because in the past, I’ve heard church clergy tell people who to vote for, which is very wrong, as you have pointed out. I am a firm believer that Church and State ought to be separated, so this was a nice affirmation to hear. However, almost immediately one of you said that “NO Catholic should ever vote for somebody who supports abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cells, human cloning, and same sex marriage”, and then suddenly, I was upset again. Please allow me to explain. 
    
   I am aware that you said to “not vote for a person” that supports any of the issues you mentioned. Your statement didn’t say anything about a particular Party or even made a reference to a Party. Yes, I am aware of that! But in today’s world, if you are not being specific and you leave it for interpretation, people will hear what they want to hear and in that moment I pretty much heard that you said to not ever vote for a Democrat; therefore, suggesting or endorsing the Republican Party. In a few words, you are straight up telling your audience to only vote for Republicans – totally contradicting your initial statement. I’ve been going over this in my head over and over and no matter how many angles I want to consider, it leads me back to you endorsing one of the 2 major parties. The Republican Party is well-known as the Anti-“Abortion/Euthanasia/Embryonic Stem Cells/Human Cloning/Same Sex Marriage” Party across the nation. 
    
   For the record, I don’t want to make the argument in this email on whether any of these issues are right or wrong, but more about the fact that you are subliminally suggesting to people to vote for a particular Party. I get it, yes!, I truly do, that we are to choose life and not play God. These issues that you mentioned are mortal sins, particularly for us Catholics, but isn’t adultery and worshiping other gods mortal sins, too?  If you strongly believe in suggesting people to not vote for someone that supports abortion, or same sex marriage, then why don’t you express the same sentiment towards adulterers and say, “NO Catholic should ever vote for anyone that approves for couples to divorce and remarry, or that has had an extramarital affair”. If you strongly believe in not voting for someone that supports euthanasia, or embryonic stem cells, then why don’t you express the same sentiment towards people from other religions that believe in other gods and say, “NO Catholic should ever vote for anyone that may believe in other gods, or believes in no god at all”. Yes, these are different topics, different sins, nevertheless, mortal sins; and yet when it comes to voting and politics, “abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cells, human cloning, and same sex marriage” seem to be the only topics that that the Catholic Church appears to be interested in, and coincidently, the ones that the Republican Party politicize the most. 
    
   You may want to tell me, “Well heck, if we focus on all mortal sins then we might as well tell you to NOT vote for anyone because we are all sinners” – and you are correct, this is the very reason why it upsets me that the Catholic Church would even say who and who to not vote for. All you need to say is “ GO OUT AND VOTE!” …. And STOP right there. If you then wish to preach about what PEOPLE should or shouldn’t do in according to the Gospel, then preach to the community and evangelize what the Gospel says about such things, but let people decide themselves on whether they do it or not. God gives us that freedom, who are we to think we are better than God? Is it not true that Pope Francis has emphasized a more inclusive and respectful approach to evangelization, urging Catholics to engage in a dialogue that promotes understanding and tolerance rather than attempting to impose beliefs on others?  Let’s evangelize, but let’s NOT proselytize, please. 
    
   Thank you for your time and God Bless. 

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