I am a Catholic. I love attending Mass and I love the faith. My spiritual home is the Catholic Church. I am active in my local parish as a eucharistic minister, lector and sometime altar server.
I consider it a privilege to serve the church and am humbled by the rituals and the beliefs that I hold dear. I do not take pride in the disgusting leadership of the Catholic Church. The recent news of the cover-up involving the ordination of the Rev. Paul Archambault is another example of how the Catholic leadership has let people down.
The hypocrisy of leadership is, at times, overwhelming. The revelation that an individual was allowed to be ordained by the Springfield Diocese despite warning signs that this person was potentially a sex abuser is an absolute sign the Catholic community is led by men who are simply incompetent as religious advocates and leaders.
I am embarrassed by their choices and question their judgment on both secular as well as religious matters. These types of revelations about the inaction, poor judgment and incompetencies of the church leadership cause doubt and cynicism of the pastoral letters and preaching on the part of priests, deacons and bishops.
I will continue to attend church, take spiritual pleasure in my faith and be active in my parish community. I will not let the failings of these men alter my faith in Jesus. What I will not do is put my faith in the leadership of the diocese as the guiding light for the faithful.
Paul D. Waterman
Northampton