Fear not, mon freres. No politics today. It is simply that I have been reading in disparate places about the scandals of bad Catholics and bad bishops, and pondering the challenge that these realities pose to the Catholic claims about the sacraments.
In a nutshell, the case is this. Catholics claim that the sacraments--Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation (aka Confession aka Penance, which is all a story in its own right), Eucharist, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Extreme Unction are both external signs and conduits of divine grace. Jesus Christ instituted them during his time on earth, taught them to his apostles, and the apostles in turn passed them on to the Church. Or, as the Baltimore Catechism more succinctly puts it:
Q. What is a sacrament?
A. A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.
So if an ordinary Catholic has received at least Baptism and Confirmation--and presumably makes use of Penance and Eucharist as well--and more likely than not has received Matrimony--then why aren't we all much nicer than our non-Catholic neighbors? And for priests and bishops, who have received Holy Orders, why are they not holier still? Why are catty Catholics and wolfish shepherds a thing?
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