I am a Catholic and deep in my heart and mind I know the Lord is with you at this time. I join you in prayer for your success. We as Catholics are not to condemn others, that right belongs to God alone for He unlike us is true justice and He alone can look into our hearts. God has no motive to prove Himself and Christ directed each of us to love one another as He loves us…… to me this means we must love the person who appears different to us. As humans we have free will and at times this gift can cloud our sight and cause us to do things that go against God’s will; there are many examples where the faithful lost their way such as the Inquisition, the house arrest of Galileo for his statement that the earth revolves around the sun, and many other examples.

We’re all children of God and I believe Christ died for all of us. In Luke 6:41-42 our Lord tells us, “And why seest thou the mote in thy brother’s eye: but the beam that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? Or how canst thou say to thy brother: Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye, when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye? Hypocrite, cast first the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother’s eye.”

I’m truly sorry the Pope feels that your group is not doing their part, someone has to be there to help the broken hearted and heal the wounds that afflict God‘s people. Someone has to be there to remind all of us that Christ loves us beyond our understanding and I believe your group has been chosen for this task.

“Neither do I condemn you,” these words are precious to me because I feel the unconditional love Jesus has for each of us. He is always ready to heal, to forgive, to welcome us. This is the example I wish our church would follow, the path of unconditional love because in truth we are all sinners of one sort or another.

Again, my prayers are with your group.

Rosa,
SSF, CA