A VERY Unappetizing Lunch

So…... today over lunch in the docs lounge I was acosted (not too strong a term, I believe) with questions about the Catholic priest who fathered a child out of wedlock for whom the church paid "hush money" to the mother for years in order to keep the woman involved quiet and to avoid scandal.  How could this be?  "The church that did this is not a church" pontificated one of my advesaries.  Now the child and the mother both have cancer and the Church refuses to help!  What did I think about that??  See, this proves that you Catholics have it all wrong and that priests should be allowed to marry.  Celibacy is un-natural and absurd.  This is what comes of it….On top of it all the priest did not have anything bad happen to him at all.  He was re-assigned and continues to perform his job and has not suffered in the least…..what did I think of that????........and on and on and on.

Having NO clue about what they were talking about I said so and was told that this was all over the news!  I needed to get with it!….no surprise there!  Anytime there is a hint of scandal in the Catholic Church the jackals in the press are running all over the place to put the worst possible spin on it.

Long story short I did what I could, in acknowleged total ignorance of the actual facts of the matter, to defend MY FAITH and MY CHURCH.

Here is the link to the New York Times (a well-known paragon of journalistic even-handedness, truth and virtue!  Keep in mind it recently ignored the story of an Orthodox rabbi in similar straits) story on this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/us/16priest.html

So there are the "facts".  What would you have said?  More importantly,  What will you say?*

We shall discuss this on Sunday.  Please come prepared with your thoughts!

SLG

*I ask this because if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing (living openly the life of a faithful Catholic) you will be asked.  Perhaps it will come out of concern for your immortal soul by one of our Protestant brothers or sisters, or maybe by one of the unchurched out there who is actually curious, or possibly by someone just hoping to "stir the pot" and start up a good argument, but come it should.  Just a thought.