<<No one can be well behaved in the heart without the Holy Spirit and the Grace of God through Jesus.>>
This statement is simply absurd, Emile. There are people who are "well behaved in the heart" who have know absolutely nothing of the Holy Spirit, the Grace of God, or Jesus, or have experienced but later rejected Christianity. One of the main things I have been trying to say since I started posting here is that essential goodness, brotherly love, mental health and positive spirituality obviously come from a constellation of factors like plenty of love and acceptance in childhood, good prenatal nutrition, avoidance of head injuries, consistent and gentle discipline, and having parents who are good moral examples.
That certainly dos not mean that Christians cannot be wonderful people. But it does definitely show that Christianity is not simply wonderful, not THE answer. What did it do for this person, and the children whose lives he ruined? I would assume that a Bishop would somehow be acquainted with the Holy Spirit, the Grace of God, and Jesus:
Bishop Quits--
Admits Molesting
5 Boys in Florida
Chronicle News Service
June 3, 1998
West Palm Beach, Fla.--Bishop J. Keith Symons announced his resignation yesterday as spiritual leader of the Catholic diocese based in Palm Beach, Fla., admitting that he sexually molested five boys early in his long career as a priest.
Symons, 65, is the highest-ranking American Catholic to be forced out of church office for molestation of minors. His resignation is believed to be the first by a U.S. bishop for such conduct.
Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation Monday, moving with uncharacteristic speed to name Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg the temporary administrator over the 200,000 Catholics in the five-county diocese.
Lynch said the church became aware of Symons' abusive past five weeks ago when one of the victims came forward to an undisclosed church official. Symons admitted to assaulting him.
Lynch refused to specify where or when the abuse occurred, but said there were at least five victims in three churches--all boys, all parishoners and probably all altar boys.
"I have prayed each day for these persons and their families," Symons said in a statement in which he asked for prayers and forgiveness. "It is a memory with which we have lived far too long."
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