Being a Catholic and a New Mom

Recently another sex scandal has made its way into the media and is shaking the core of the Catholic Church. A culture of lies and cover-ups still plague the Catholic church where it comes to priests and sexual abuse. However, I still consider myself Catholic and I will raise my son in the church.

One might ask, why? Why would I raise my son in a religion full of hypocrites and paedophiles? Because the world is not perfect, priests are men and some are good and some are evil, but God is good. A church is a way of learning about and believing in God. Just like we must outside of the church, we have to teach our children that not all people are good and that nobody has authority over their minds and bodies, other than themselves.

The church hierarchy has some work to do. And believing that this issue will be fixed overnight is insane, but bringing younger people into the church, having them find a love for God, and maybe becoming priests is the way to push these predator priests out of the clergy.

My son will go to mass, and learn his prayers, but he will also learn that priests are men who have chosen to give their lives to God. They are not infallible, they are not perfect, and they also do not have the power to send you to hell. I want my son to love his priest, not fear him. But I also want my son to feel comfortable enough to tell me if something isn’t right.

I know I am many years away from my son having one on one interactions with a priest, but these are the things I think about at 5:44 in the morning.