I'd be careful with quick assumptions. Not all priests are master manipulators, and it's not always a bad thing. Grieving people often need to be manipulated to

I'd be careful with quick assumptions. Not all priests are master manipulators, and it's not always a bad thing. Grieving people often need to be manipulated to help them out of a state of mind that seems unbearable and unsolvable. That's what priests are supposed to do. Grieving people are most vulnerable, because they don't have their emotional shields up. Some priests have the importance of their institution in mind and try to maneuver their flock to the church. Whether with good or bad intentions, e.g. helping people to have hope and high spirits, or just pretending to be helpful for plentiful donations (televangelists in the US). In any way there is always some emotional manipulation, and people who depend on that are also vulnerable to rational manipulation. Sometimes it's helpful, sometimes it's dangerous. How you respond to that depends on you. You saying words like "shocked, disgusted, suspicion, subverts" concerning faith and church reveals more about you than it says about your opinion.