• 9 articles

Proud Flesh and the Scars of Priesthood

It’s late afternoon. Canted light sweeps across a rolling plain bunched with junipers. Their branches, like the arms and shoulders of swimmers, stroke against waves of scented wind, the whoosh and warp of the sound as soft as chant inside a chapel. We pull up our horses and gaze across the cedar sea. In the distance, Permian cliffs, smooth and s...

05 02 2019

Why I Still Want to Be a Priest After 2018

As 2018 came to an end, and we begin 2019, it was not a glamorous year for the priesthood. In fact, it was one of the most devastating, humiliating, and repulsive years for priests. Through the heinous and unconscionable actions of some clerics, simply wearing a Roman collar in public often gets stares as if I were an accomplice to a network of mon...

02 25 2019

Staying Through Scandal

By: Jack McCarthy Over the last three to four months, an evil has been revealed inside The Holy Mother Church, it is vast, it is powerful, and those who serve it are intelligent. This evil that I am speaking of is the evil of Homosexual and Pedophilia-based clerical abuse. I don't rightfully know where to begin, it has been very frightening f...

12 29 2018

How Gethsemane Sheds Light on the Scandals in the Church

“Just as in the garden of Gethsemane when the apostles were sleeping so now in the Church today our leaders seem to be sleeping.” When I heard this in a homily two weeks ago I didn’t think Getsemane was a good comparison to all the scandals and lack of resolution in the Church today, but then I read Matthew 26. I was wrong. The best thing wo...

12 08 2018

Are You Scandalized?

First there were resignations by the Chilean bishops. Then there was Cardinal McCarrick and the revelation of the Pennsylvania grand jury report. And now we have allegations by Archbishop Vigano about Pope Francis. God’s People have been abused. We feel betrayed. The Body of Christ is hurting. Catholics are asking themselves many questions. Ho...

10 09 2018

Novena for the Abuse Crisis

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father in Heaven, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Holy Spirit, comfort us, give us clarity, and bring light to this darkness and evil. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God re...

08 23 2018

The Sad Day a Priest Mentor Became One of the “Accused”

Yesterday as I sat in our normal pew with my wife and eldest daughter beside me and my two sons and youngest daughter serving at the altar our priest (a man I love and respect) read a statement from our Most Reverend Bishop acknowledging and apologizing for sexual abuse or misconduct by some of the priests and former priests of our diocese, many d...

08 17 2018

Celibacy Does Not Cause Clergy Scandals

When I converted to Catholicism from Protestantism, one of the main reasons was Apostolic Authority. For a Protestant this is a bigger concession than a cradle Catholic might realize.  Protestantism, despite claims to the contrary, is a radically individualist approach to faith.  The two pillars of the Protestant Revolt were “Scripture Alone”...

06 27 2018

When a Priest Struggles: Obstacles to Getting Help

This article is for all the priests who regularly visit ThoseCatholicMen.com and for their family and friends.  Internet pornography addiction is an epidemic in America, and priests are not immune to it.  This article is designed to help priests overcome the obstacle to getting the help they need and deserve. As with all addictions, getting he...

03 07 2018

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