The dilemma of being a Catholic

I am not a Catholic and this post is not an attempt to disparage The Church of Rome. My mother attended a secondary school where the ghost of either the famous Mary Slessor or Florence Nightingale was often seen at night doing her rounds decades after her death in Nigeria.

However, it must be said that there are some irreconcilable actions and thinking that have bothered me over the years.

An example of the thinking mistakes, in my own opinion, is presented by the goofy plan of the Vatican to use emigrating Catholics to spread the Christian gospel in their new location.

The assumption is that the port of disembarkation is devoid of Christianity. So, why would a Christian go to a pagan territory to find a better way of life without imbibing the 'deviant' foreign culture?

How can the Vatican turn some of its priests into homosexuals or gays by forcing celibacy on them and how can a Christian fail to read the Bible during the worship service and how can a Christian hear about a confession of a heinous crime or deed and fail to do something about it conscientiously?

So, you can imagine my surprise to read the following headlines about the decline of homosexuality in The Church - achieved through the appointment of "....better administrators in diocesan seminaries...." - and the Catholic Church lifting the 830-year old veil on the Tribunal of Conscience or, more officially, the Apostolic Penitentiary - its highest court of absolution presided over by The Pope in person!

Vatican lifts shroud on secret confessions tribunal

Vatican reveals secrets of worst sins

Homosexual behavior' on the decline in seminaries


What sins could get you hauled before the 'tribunal of conscience'? Do not ever try any of the following top five, unless you want to be a Paul Myers. of course - but then, he knew enough about Catholicism in order to do his crazy act of putting a nail through a communion wafer before dumping it in a dustbin:

[......Defiling the Eucharist is one of five sins that can be dealt with only through the tribunal. Cardinal Stafford says there has been a rise in incidents of people receiving the host and spitting it out or otherwise desecrating it, sometimes in Satanic rituals.

Other sins that would land a repentant Catholic before the tribunal include attempting to assassinate the Pope and, as a priest, breaking the seal of confession by revealing who has sought penance and why. In addition, the Vatican's highest court would handle priests who have offered absolution to their own sexual partners and men who directly participate in an abortion, such as by funding it, and later seek to become priests or deacons.....]