becoming catholic

Interestingly, I received a phone call from a gentleman who listened to the show on October 24th. He was not a very happy man. He took offense with some of the comments about the teaching of the Catholic Church. Correct me if I am wrong, but if you are a Catholic priest, then you would be expected to teach and explain the teachings of our faith, including the church's stance on artificial birth control, celibacy for priests, and the male only priesthood. He took offense with all three of these teachings, and he added the teaching on infallibility. Basically, as far as I understood what he was trying to say, he was arguing that the church needed to be more openminded and that if priests were married and were both male and female, then the scandals would not have occurred. I agreed with him that there were some people in the church, including bishops and priests, that had failed and were guilty of unspeakable crimes against children. You can argue that the system of a celibate male priesthood infected certain prelates and helped to foster an attitude that these celibate men knew better that the parents of those who were abused. But this attitude is also prevalent in all other walks of life and other denominations and other religious traditions. Children were abused before the time of Jesus Christ. Celibacy does not lead to sexual abuse. And for someone to think that abuse would disappear if women were ordained and held high positions in Rome is also highly mistaken. I agreed with this gentleman that those priests who were found guilty should have been held accountable and not only incarcerated but stripped of their priestly state. We kept going back and forth, but I think the biggest offense he took from my show was that I had said that I wish all people in Boston would be Catholic. Of course, I also mentioned that I have many Protestant friends and some non-Christian friends, and they are wonderful people and probably even more loving and merciful than some of my Catholic friends. It was a simple offhand remark of how much I love my Catholic faith and how I think that if it is lived properly, it can transform you into a new creation andfree you from a life of sin. If I did not believe that, then why would I be a Catholic, let alone a Catholic priest. We agreed to disagree, but I stand by what I said.