Posts Tagged ‘Sin’

Some bishops and lay groups have become de facto Catholic morality police

Monday, March 27th, 2023

Not long ago, every U.S. cleric — bishop, priest and deacon — received a reprint of Cardinal Raymond Burke’s 2007 essay from Periodica de Re Canonica, the annual 700-page canon law journal of the Gregorian University in Rome. Burke documents the church’s history of legislating against giving Communion to persons “obstinately persevering in manifest grave Read more

Sinful sermon lands priest in hot water

Monday, November 7th, 2022
Sin

An Irish Catholic priest has been reprimanded by his bishop for a sermon on sin, homosexuality, promiscuity, abortion and the ‘lunatic approach of transgenderism. “We rarely hear about sin, but it’s rampant, it’s rampant. “We see it in the promotion of abortion. .. in this lunatic approach of transgenderism,… in the promotion of sex between Read more

Suicide is not a sin to be judged

Thursday, September 15th, 2022
suicide

The first thing I remember being taught about suicide is that it is selfish. And so in my middling Protestant childhood, while I did not worry about the eternal destiny of people who killed themselves, I did believe suicide was principally a moral failing. In Catholicism, the situation was more complex. Suicide was thought to Read more

The contrite heart

Monday, June 13th, 2022
ageing

In 1982, a new Catholic fell in love with the prayers of the Mass. Those words fed me in many ways: as music for the ear, wisdom for the mind and food for the soul. There was only one problem. The words went too fast for this new convert. I wanted our priest would slow Read more

Pope fears self-righteous perfect Christians

Thursday, April 28th, 2022
perfect christians

Pope Francis says the Lord does not expect us to be “perfect Christians,” and he (the pope) is afraid when he sees righteous and self-assured Christians. Francis told a crowd at the Vatican on Sunday that the Lord would prefer us “to seek him, to call on him or even, like Thomas, to protest, bringing Read more

Christians need more sins

Thursday, March 3rd, 2022
sins

As we enter Lent, we reflect on the role of sin in our lives. But we often — maybe generally — look too narrowly at what constitutes sin. After Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1873, the country abandoned the lunar calendar altogether by 1910. So, though the rest of Asia welcomed this year of Read more

Church fixated on sexual morality

Thursday, November 18th, 2021
sexual morality

Nine out of ten Catholics in France firmly believe the Church needs to change its attitude towards sexual morality, according to the findings of poll last month that was co-sponsored by La Croix. Many moral theologians in the country agree with that assessment. One of them said that re-formulating Church teaching on human sexuality is Read more

No sin, no growth

Monday, August 26th, 2019
pro-life

The Hound of Heaven who drove me into the church, also led me to the right priest for instruction,  dear Monsignor Tottman, who gave me the structure that was missing in my enthusiasm. While I waffled on about the spiritual experience, he smiled kindly and said.  “I’m a bread and butter man, myself.” He showed Read more

The Devil’s favourite sin

Monday, October 1st, 2018

The Devil’s favourite sin is pride, according to Father Juan José Gallego, an exorcist from Spain. In an interview after his first decade as an exorcist, Gallego admitted in the beginning he “had a lot of fear”. “All I had to do was look over my shoulder and I saw demons… the other day I Read more

Pope risks sinning against the Holy Spirit

Thursday, November 2nd, 2017

A bishop who is the former chief of staff for the U.S. Bishops’ committee on doctrine has written to Pope Francis. He says the current pontificate is marked by “chronic confusion”. He warns Francis his teaching with a “seemingly intentional lack of clarity risks sinning against the Holy Spirit.” Read more