I hate living in America where anti-Catholic sentiment reigns supreme. I'm very proud of both my heritage and my religion. The media is the main source of the continually developing stereotypes about the Catholic Church. How can one worship in country that advertises "'freedom of religion" when we are bombarded on the nightly news with images and stories of pedophile priests and holy men? Less than 1% of Catholic priests in America have even been accused or convicted of such crimes. I can only imagine how hard it is to be an honest, devout priest these days, knowing that everyone has suspicions and preconceptions.
The blood thirsty media milks stories like this in order to catch people's attention, simply because it is controversy where controversy shouldn't be. It's a small impurity where there should be none. It's not bad enough that Catholics are already viewed as everything from old fashioned and strict to creepy and strange, now we have this wonderful new stigma to deal with. The Catholic faith has never really been accepted in America, from the time when the first Irish Catholics began coming over, till now, with newer more controversial issues. In a society where a couple members of a religion make mistakes and the over-exaggeration of the media can turn an entire country against that religion, it seems as though the only thing we're good for is to lend our beliefs to an apocalyptic movie every now and then.
"Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye" -Jesus
