Why Stay? Am I really a Catholic because bishops and priests are holy, better than me, and the pope is infallible? Please. I would have left a long time ago if that was my criterion. Who put these people on a pedestal, saying they are better than the "laity?" The Vatican did that over time. They became princes of the church and the pope a kind of king. Well, we got rid of royalty a long time ago except in some symbolic sense such as the Queen of England. When people decided that their Royalty was not so royal, wise, knowing, and caring, the people did not leave the country or decide not to be French, English, or Italian. So I am first of all Catholic and it does not depend on the holiness or goodness and wisdom of ordained people. My relationship and bond begins with the God of my

interior life. I nourish this with Sacrament and community. I worship with people together, and try to be useful to them and others as the result of all this. I am not perfect, so why should ordination make someone else perfect? It is not magic. Did you become perfect when you go married, also a sacrament in my church? Some hierarchs are more criminal than the laity. But do you stop shopping at a grocery store because the clerk is such and such? Why is it only in institutional religion that management has to be better than you? You buy lots of products from businesses that are disreputable in other areas, treat employees badly, invest in murderous dictatorial countries that prop up the bad government. Maybe what is going on in the Catholic Church is what is needed to make long overdue changes. I am putting my faith in the Spirit.