Desperate Catholics Find "Rent-A-Priests" Online

Unfaithful Catholics across America are reaching out to unfaithful priests who abandoned their vocation to celibacy.

Here's the story: Desperate Catholics find "rent-a-priests" online

Some quotes:

Some are Catholics who see their church as stuck in the past. Others are believers who happen to be divorced, pregnant before marriage or gay. A few just can't find a priest when they need one.

Roman Catholics shunned by the official church are "renting" married priests in times of crisis and celebration.

They turn to http://www.rentapriest.com, a Web site with 2,500 Catholic priests in a national database known as "God's Yellow Pages."

Virtually all the priests in the database have left their official clerical ministries due to the Roman Catholic Church's mandatory celibacy rule, but they continue to conduct weddings, usually for a fee, while performing baptisms, last rites and funerals for free, in keeping with the practice of officially recognized priests.

Instead of Rent-A-Priest, they should call it Rent-A-Sacrilege.

Why bother pretending to practice the Catholic faith if you've already decided that Church disciplines are arbitrary or if your lifestyle choices are contrary to the Catholic faith?

What do you think?

Comments

[carolg]

I’ve got to say I think what these priests are doing is downright destructive. My brother was married in March of 2001 by a “rent-a-sacrilege” priest in a hotel lobby atrium - because they didn’t want to wait for his new wife’s annulment from her last marriage. (Red Flag! Red Flag!) As if that isn’t distressing enough, they are now divorced with a small child.
I told my brother to get an annulment or apply for one but the diocese doesn’t know what to do with these situations. They don’t know how to annul something they didn’t have anything to do with in the first place.
I love my niece and I’m glad she’s here but I don’t think they ever should have got married. People can say what they want about Church teaching, but they must admit, if you follow Church teaching you avoid all sorts of disasters.

[Mario Mirarchi]

Isn't what they are doing simony?

[Billy D]

Why don't they just become Anglicans? Heck, Gene Robinson would marry anyone to anything, I'm sure.

[Zarba]

That poor baby will probably be brought up thinking he or she was baptized into the Catholic Church.

"...a few just can't find a priest when they need one."

Ummm, I've never had difficulty finding a priest.

Oh yeah, I actually go to Mass regularly and they know my family. That could explain it.

All these *priests* should be publicly laicized and excommunicated.

[Hammerbrecher]

They are already excommunicated ipso facto.

[Dude]

3 points:

1) What these priests are doing is wrong, obviously. They are ourside of the church ipso facto, but the church needs to make a public declaration as such. So far to date, nobody is under the impression the church even has an opinion on it, or is too weak to take a stand.

2) I am now, officially for the discipline of compulsory celibacy to be relaxed, in order to combat our current heresy/scandal of the overwhelming gay priests and bishops. When, or if this is over (long after I am dead) the church can take another look at celibacy. Ultimately, it should be an option. Those who have read my posts over the past several weeks will know my opinion, and reasoning...in short.

3) The church will never get over the gay problem until this discipline is relaxed. Gays are still entering the seminaries, and many gays (closeted) are being touted as "Orthodox." I have seen many ordained who would never, ever pass the gadar test.

[Susan Teissere]

It is not hard to figure out that many bishops in this country approve of rent a priest, because they have the same beliefs as rent a priest, "They hate the Catholic Church and Her Teachings." The Bishops stay in The Church because they have security finacially,nice homes with cooks and maids, fancy vacations, golfing, etc.. Why should they leave, they got it made! They fool the laity and have there secrete double lives. Now Iam not saying all Bishops are doing this , but Iam sure many are, just look at the state of the Church especially in California. Corrupt! with all the fancy trimmings for Bishop Brown and Cardinal Mahony. I will say it again" Pray, Fast, and speak out publically against this corruption, which in these forumns may subject you to being ridiculed, by the fooled laity.

[Paul]

This is just ghastly.

[Loyolalaw98]

The crux of this phenomena goes far deeper than what is being discussed here.

I agree with many of the previous posts that find the notion of lax catholics finding lax priests to perform sacraments distasteful.

What is being missed, is that these may be VALID sacraments.

Normally, the whole distinction between a valid sacrament(s) and an illicit sacrament is one heard in a conversation about the SSPX, or some other schismatic group - on the trad side.

We now are faced with the same occurrence coming from the radical left!

Once a priest, always a priest. "You are a priest forever, according to the Order of Melchizadek." Ordination, like baptism, is one of the three "unrepeatable" sacraments because it leaves an indelible mark on the soul.

To the extent that these priests were validly ordained, and to the extent that in confecting the sacrament they intend to do what the Church intends done, these are valid sacraments.

This sacramental validity makes their crime in confecting such sacraments all the more heinous.

They obviously can't see it - much like "a baby playing with razor blades."

Imagine showing up at the judgement seat with that "on your ticket."

[TM Lutas]

It seems to me that this is very much a puff piece, almost an advertisement for the service. As such, I wouldn't put much faith in its claims. However, I understand that, in emergencies, any believer may baptise. I think that even a faithless priest may do it so that little child that Zarba mentions above is baptized in the Catholic Church. Proving that fact may be difficult, though.

[Some Day]

2) I am now, officially for the discipline of compulsory celibacy to be relaxed, in order to combat our current heresy/scandal of the overwhelming gay priests and bishops

That isn't the problem. The candidates are the problem, and those whose calling it is to weed them out.

[Dude]

Some day: I do not pretend this is the only problem, but is is certainly a large portion of it.

To deny that is is not part of the problem, is to deny reality.

I challenge you, or anybody to read my numberous posts on the current articles linked over the past days, and give a logical, thought-out refutation. Just saying it aint so does not mean it aint so.

[Jeff Miller]

The media keeps hyping this organization. I can't remember how many times over the last four years or so that I have seen yet another article on them. They don't need a PR budget concidering all of the helpful media.

A priest in my diocese recently joined rent-a-priest, and my Bishop excommunicated him.

The canon law they state on their site is just totally wacky and just not a valid intepretation in any way. Lying is just not a problem for them.

[A Simple Sinner]

People that "rent priests" and priests that are "rentable" are neither victims nor unable to avail themselves of the sacraments at a local Catholic Church.

People that "rent priests" and priests that are "rentable" in fact are choosing NOT to take the steps necesarry to make the sacraments available: namely leading a life in accordance to Catholic teaching which includes obedience to the Catholic Faith. Kinda a big thing....!

But in the same way some folks like to use fetishes and other religous symbols to decorate, so to is it the case that they like to hire a rent boy... er rent-a-priest to come in and act out a ceremony. A nice thing to do like landscaping a Zen garden and plopping down a Buddha. It is a nice thing to have a guy once in good standing with Christ’s Church standing around looking sympathetic and offical as you marry a man or a woman who has already stood before Christ’s altar taking vows to love honor and obey, till death do us part, someone ELSE who has not yet been parted.

And what of these rent-priests? I mean they opted NOT to do one of two things that would keep them in ministry: (1) refrain from leaving (2) join an Orthodox or Anglican Church. But I suspect the very VAST majority of the misguided men on the rolls at RAP would not be welcome in the Orthodox Churches or the Anglican communion. (Liberals, child molestors, etc….) and/or they would NOT welcome episcopal oversight. Still, a wee bit of sacrament-selling on the side might help to pay for that Jamaican cruise next year…

Certainly most any and all persons approaching a RAP could simply go down to the local Episcopal, ELCA Lutheran congregation and get married or baptized or buried. Surely the type that would take this indulgent step would not also be the type that would be concearned over Anglican orders per Leo XIII’s Apostolicae Curae.

So why rent a priest rather than rectify the situation in one's life that is impeding the free reception of sacraments? Well that might mean turning away from things that, when push comes to shove, a priest-renter just would NOT be interested in turning away from!

Why not go down to the local Episcopal parish? Well that would require a bit too much effort from folks who would ask damn near no effort to begin with. Simply put, it really does not MATTER that much to a priest renter…

Now for YEARS I have heard about this service in newspaper articles. But I have yet to meet or deal with anyone who has rented a priest! (Of course I do not live in California…) Still, I can’t help but wonder if this service isn’t a lot like Ms. Francis Kissling’s “Catholics for a Free Choice” a memberless organization run by a woman who gave up going to Mass years ago, funded by the Playboy foundation that mostly is used for the media to have a “pro-choice Catholic” to quote in articles that arise from time to time. The news articles I have read about RAP seem to always be written from the perspective or idea that this group is a much-used resource for millions of Catholics left “out in the cold.”

Sadly for me, if I want to rent a priest to marry one of my dogs, I cannot locate one in my city – the largest city in Ohio, the 11th largest in the nation. Guess I will just have to go to the local ECUSA parish.

[Kevin in Dallas]

Dude: Celibacy is not the problem. If that were true, then the Greek Orthodox Church would be over-flowing with priest. The reality is that their shortage is much more accute than that of the of Roman Church.

I think that there are many issues that feed the lack of priests in the Catholic Church: 1. Lack of discipline in the seminaries; 2. Lack of discipline by Bishops toward offending priest;
3. Oprah-like homilies from the pulpit;
4. Lack of recruiting by the priests themselves; and
5. Parish priests preparing thier parishioners for the day when they won't have a priest (self-fulfilling prophecy).

I'm know that there are other issues also involved, but to place celibacy as the sole or main reason for the "crisis in the priesthood" is naive and short-sighted.

[A Simple Sinner]

When it comes to the issue of married priests, I am a radical moderate once again.

It is not panacea as Greek Catholics and Greek Orthodox can tell you - along with married priests come priests wives, priests kids, and a lot of distraction and room for more (though likely different) scandals.

In fact since the lifting of sactions AGAINST married priests in the Eastern Churches over 7 years ago, not more than 10 married men have come forward to recieve ordination. A total of one man to date has been ordained in the Byzantine Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburg for the Eparchy (Diocese) of Parma.

So here is my proposal:
1) Retain celibacy in the Latin rite. PERHAPS consider allowing married priests to vest as deacons and still assist at Mass in a diaconal function.

2) Allow Easterh Catholic particular churches which function in western countries greater latitude in ordination of married men. (In fact the ban on married priests in US jurisdictions of the Eastern Catholic churches HAS been lifted, but pressure is on for a more case-by-case analysis of each candidate presenting himself for ordination.) Allow Latin Catholic married men willing to adopt the liturgy and life of the Eastern churches greater latitude in seeking ordination therein.

The Greek Catholic communities have a tradition of married priests that Rome attempted to suppress in the West. Sadly, even in Italy itself there are married clergy ministering to the Italo-Albanian Greek Catholics, the Italian bishops conference has asked the Ukrainians and other Greek Catholics NOT to allow married priests to minister to the faithful working there. IT makes no sense and is offensive especially to the Orthodox.

But in the end, I do not believe that celibacy is the issue. I believe 2 things need to happen for more celibate men to consider vocations:

1) Bishops need to do more!
2) Bishops need to do less!

On the first point, bishops need to seek vocation directors whose very priesthood is at the center of his spirituality - men whose very understanding of the nature of their lives as a sacrament lead them to joy in their lives as priests... When they are out visiting parishes and schools and meet young Catholic men they should do the following: Invite them to consider the priesthood.

I think that is what has happend here:

US dioceses with the highest ratio of seminarians to Catholics in 2004 were, in order:
1) Lincoln, Nebraska
2) Yakima, Washington
3) Savannah, Georgia
4) Cheyenne, Wyoming
5) Rapid City, South Dakota
6) Wichita, Kansas
7) Tulsa, Oklahoma
8) Alexandria, Louisiana
9) Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida
10) Steubenville, Ohio
11) Spokane, Washington
12) Bismarck, North Dakota.

Arlington, VA did NOT make that list... but they do have a "Vocations crunch" too... They have 60 parishes... "Of those 60 parishes, only 42 are now staffed by diocesan priests. "We'll ordain 22 men in the next 14 months," Father Gould pointed out. "The real problem will be finding 22 beds for them."

On the second point, bishops who do not wish to develop and foster diocesan vocations might do just as well to step aside and at least allow the orders and monsatic groups that are growing around the world to work in their own diocese. Rather than impede or deny this orders and institutions, if they would simply do LESS and not oppose them, well see what kind of vocations would arise.

What do I mean? Well take the Legion of Christ, the Norbertines, FSSP, Institute of Christ the King, Miles Jesu, Heralds of the Gospel and the like.... if bishops would simply ALLOW these folks to come in....

† The Fraternity of St. Peter is double-bunking seminarians in rooms designed for single senior seminarians

† In Rome Miles Jesu is sticking extra beds where they can for their new members

† In less time than the most orders have been around Bl. Theresa of Calcutta's Missionaries of Charity have grown to over 4,500 nuns and is active in 133 countries. The numbers of the priests and brothers are ALSO growing.

† A lay association called the Heralds of the Gospel... "Comprised mainly of young people, this Association is established in 57 countries. Its members practice celibacy, and are entirely dedicated to apostolate, living in separate houses designated for young men and young women. " When JPII blessed their formation and gave his approval, over 1,000 YOUNG members gathered in Rome to celebrate.

Here is a list of orders that are growing and that celebrate the Tridentine Mass (a rite the most of the bishops in dying diocese would likely cross the street to avoid!):
* Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
* Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem
* Canons Regular of the Mother of God
* Religious Institute of the Holy Cross of Riaumont
* Benedictines - Triors
* Benedictines - St. Pierre de Clairac
* Benedictines - Randol
* Benedictines - Le Barroux
* Benedictines - Gaussan
* Benedictines - Fontgombault
* Benedictines - Clear Creek
* Institute of St. Philip Neri
* Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer
* Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
* Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
* Apostolic Adminstration of St. John Mary Vianney

Oh yea... all of them are GROWING. Certain of these groups have been given parishes that otherwise would have been closed... and are now building SCHOOLS. Invite any of those orders into your diocese, give them the most run down parish in the worst neighborhood and see what they do with it in three years.

† The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration have no more rooms and are recommending young women to other houses. Any bishop that invited these gals to take up residence in one of the many empty convents or rectories that dot the landscape would be lucky to have them.

† The Nashville Dominicans report they have more Sisters than ever in their 142-year history - median age is 36. Invite these gals to come teach in some of your schools or work in your diocese and see what character they would bring.

† Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist haven’t finished building their new motherhouse yet and are already almost out of room. Offer THEM a building and see what will happen.

† The Legion of Christ has suffered from scandal that has lead to the retirement of its founder. Time will tell what the effects of that scandal - and weather it is true or not…. But here is the thing about that conservative order so fiercely loyal to the Holy Father: “the Legion's nine seminaries have turned out 650 ordained priests. That is up from 210 priests in 1990. The Legion's ranks also include about 2,500 seminarians studying to be priests.

In the past thirty years there have been more than 1,000 converts to Catholocism from the ranks of Evangeical, Protestant, and Anglican clergy. Many of them have become priests and deacons. Bishops willing to work under the Pastoral Provision who let it be known they are willing to help some of these men become priests or work as deacons would reap a WINDFALL of orthodoxy. Many of them are very active in lay ministries and apostolates. More than a few of them have brought converts with them.

I guess my three point plan in simple:

1) Allow sui juris Catholic Churches that have always ordained married men, to do just that...

2) Look to diocese that DO attract healthy orthodox candidates to the priesthood and send your vocations director to theirs for a few weeks to take notes...

3) Allow the growing orders and groups that CAN attract vocations to function freely in more places.

[Rita]

To A Simple Sinner et,al, AMEN!!!

[Some Day]

Simply go back and do what the Church always did, but with new, but ever holy methods in line with todays broken society. Saintly, yet new methods are neccesary to do apostolate. And show them the Truth. Guitars and PS2 are not completely Catholic things.
The Church herself enthuses. Show them the Church. Show them the heroism with in it.
Vocations exist. Only the ones who shepeard them have forgotten to care for them.

[Dude]

Simple Sinner: Excellent reply/post!
I have been writing for several weeks of my opinion that we need to currently relax the discipline, in order to recover from the rampant outwardly gay, and closeted homosexual clergy problem we have.
I have read your posts for some time, and know a bit of your story. First and formost, kudos to you for at least seeing my point, rather than taking offense, and hopping the politically correct route, like so many do.

Yours is the first cogent reply I have seen. I am happy to get any replies, but the repetitious mantra chanting gets old. You at least went for it.

Many points are great. But in response to those who always come back to "The Orthodox allow married priests, and look at their shortage..." I say no dice. I would say, look at their church in general. Given areas of high population, and relatively no growth all around. The Eastern Orthodox, while in most ways brothers, have been plagued with many problems and differences which are not applicable to us. When it came to worldwide evangelization, the ball was dropped heavily. They are primarily a local-color version of Catholicism. Simply stating that we will have the same vocation problems because they have them is simply untrue. We do have a different situation. Here is my main contention which debunks this matter: Many orthodox Catholics in this country love their church, they know it is in trouble, and would rise to the occasion and challenge to pick up the yoke...and their families would be right there to support them. I am possibly one of those. I know in my heart this would happen. I bet if this were relaxed, within 5 years you would see an increase of 15,000 vocations across this country. Sounds pretty wild? - I suspect it could happen.

My problem with Catholics who deny this is they seem to be parroting what others seem to be parroting. Simple Sinner, your attempt to lay out the course is very good, and challenging to my idea (far from mine originally). However, hopefully you have read some of my other posts on this matter, which are a bit more in-depth. Part of my belief is that under the guise of orthodoxy, we still have a largely homosexual priesthood. Up until the 60's, they flew under the radar of orthdodoxy, but then in the age of aquarius, they no longer had to, and the Vatican was too weak to keep them there. We can find the homosexual abuse problems going way back prior to this problem. Of course not all are gay or even homosexual, but I do believe most are. Please read my posts on why I think people who are homosexuals should not be in the clergy, period. It is most logical. Also, please understand I am for the most fair treatment of people who suffer from homosexuality, but a line must be drawn, at things like the priesthood and the boyscouts...as it will lead to all kinds of problems later on. Also, as previously stated, it is very difficult for a homosexual to crack down on, and teach a moral gospel against that which they are...and this is where the crack of dissent is opened, naturally.

I will point to the many orthodox orders and bet I can walk through most of them, and find still many, many homosexuals in them. You listed a fine, fine example...the Legionaires of Christ. BTW, if people are still attempting to state that Fr. Marciel was "allegedly" molesting boys, I say, check your sanity. I went through the same thing in my archdiocese with fellow orthodox catholics who tried to tell me Fr. Ryan Erickson of Hudson, WI was not molesting boys, and did not murder the father of one in a coverup, before hanging himself "because he was not guilty." The only reason our orthodox folks said he was not guilty, is because..."he was orthodox."

Finally: Excellent that so many vocations are coming to fruition out of so many great groups. I still have yet to see a good answer to my one other question. Since travelling priests are no longer necessary, like in apostolic times...why not married priests?

I guess I do have one other question: Is there some sort of mandate that says if a priest is at best asexual (or a "eunoch for the kingdom") that they can confect the sacraments better than one who is masculine, in a genuine sort of way. I have found 1 or 2 priests in my life of whom I would say to my young son, there is a man you can look up to...but then again, after so much of these trustworthy men...can I ever really? What is so scary about a straight, married man at the head of a local parish?

[A Simple Sinner]

Dude,

It is not that I have not been thinking of posting.. it is more a matter of finding the time to really give a well thought out and well reasoned response to some of the issues that you address.

I agree that there has been more than one homosexual/alterior-motive-minded person that has sang a good song and danced a good dance to garner support from the orthodox.

I can also imagine a point where the sexual free-for-all/free-fall in the west could lead to an approach or solution as you proopose. Another few decades of the homo-sexualization, "metero-sexualization", hyper-sexualization and all their ramifications... we made get to a point where we become a catacombs church again... where bishops trust best those married stable men with loving families.

What I do not know is how well opening the doors to married priesthood would do in the Roman Church... Consider if you will what lousy celibate candidates some bishops attract... that consider what NON-numbers others have. One wonders if those same hierarchs would not pick out ultra-liberal married types and/or turn away folks like yourself. I think the answer is clear.

So I guess I will stick to my guns on my radical moderate suggestion:

Retain/Restore/Relax:

1) RETAIN western celibacy while really re-examing and looking at our married diaconate to really fully utilize the great gifts these men have to offer.

2) RESTORE eastern married presbyterate where it has been impeded. (The idea that Latin Catholics would be scandalized in the US because there were a handfull of Ukranian or Maronite or Ruthenain Parishes with married priests... well The Latins have far more married clergy in the diaconate and former Anglicans than the Greek Catholics in America EVER did)

Just curious Dude, have you considered the diaconate yourself?

3) RELAX impediments that prevent and preclude married Latins with an inclination from seeking ordination and service to the Eastern Catholic Churches. Right now the Orthodox look on the Eastern Catholic communities and see them as Romans in Greek Robes. One of the sources of scandal they have is not only is are the traditions of the of ancient communities percieved to be suppressed, but the interaction between Latins and Orthodox that have entered into full Union with Rome seem rather subdued and suppressed. Want to prove we mean business about healing the schism? Allow a greater flow and interaction between the east and west (without the dillution of either) and the message will be sent.

On a personal note (kinda): Dude, have you considered the diaconate?

[Dude]

Simple Sinner: I have considered the diaconate. If I make it through the next 1.5 years with my mind intact, I have thought of looking at it in depth. I am also going to need to work on my prayer life better, in order to discern such a thing. Currently I am running two jobs with a third project, which will last until late spring, all in order to be able to go down to one job. At that point, perhaps...

[Dr. Doolittle]

Wow. you people need to lighten up, I went to a Roman Catholic private school, and was lead to believe that they were really very open minded. Now after reading some of these responses I find that maybe my church was very liberal. I can appreciate that you guys are so firm in your beliefs, but it is not for us to judge what is good and bad. That is for Him in his infinite wisdom to do for us. I think that you should let people make decide things for themselves. You can help them, and try to steer them in the right direction, but in the end, if they want to do bad, there is nothing you can do about it. Even if they never act on their terrible impulses, they still think that way, and sooner or later, will start to act that way. You can't control what people do, you can only guide them, and that is what I try to do, maybe we should take a less active role about these issues.

[Thomistic]

Dr. Doolittle,

It has been my experience that people who talk as you do here don't seem to take Christ seriously.

Would you advocate taking "a less active role" in warning people not to drink poison, or educating them about the dangers of sexually transmitted disease, or explaining why they shouldn't drink and drive?

The people you have told to "lighten up" take the teachings of Christ seriously and they especially believe His constant reminders about the threat of Hell.

Jesus founded a Church and promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church He founded:

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)

He warned people repeatedly that they must listen to the authority of the Church He founded:

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the Church; and if he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18:16-18)

The Lord also said:

""He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent me." (Luke 10:16)

"And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

""Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15-16)

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20:21-23)

Jesus repeatedly told people that the apostles (the first bishops who were to lead the Church He founded) and especially the pope (Peter being the first) had His authority, and He repeatedly warned of what would happen to those who rejected His authority:

He said therefore, "A nobleman went into a far country to receive a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to them, `Trade with these till I come.' But his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him, saying, `We do not want this man to reign over us.' When he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading. The first came before him, saying, `Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more.' And he said to him, `Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.' And the second came, saying, `Lord, your pound has made five pounds.' And he said to him, `And you are to be over five cities.' Then another came, saying, `Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, `I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest?' And he said to those who stood by, `Take the pound from him, and give it to him who has the ten pounds.' (And they said to him, `Lord, he has ten pounds!') `I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.'" (Luke 19:12-27)

I think that people who don't take the Lord seriously and don't warn their fellow man that they are on the road to perdition can't seriously claim to love their neighbor when they stand before God in judgment at the end of their lives.

Pax,

Thomistic