Posts Tagged ‘Sin’

Pope tells bishops not to try to change their people

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014

Pope Francis has asked new bishops not to be deceived by the temptation to change their people, but to love them as they are. The Pope said this in a written address on September 18 to 138 recently appointed bishops from around the world, including two from Australia. “Though jealously safeguarding the passion for truth, Read more

Charles Péguy and Pope Francis

Tuesday, September 16th, 2014

“The privileged place for an encounter with Christ are our sins,” Pope Francis said at yesterday’s morning mass in St. Martha’s House. “It is the power of God’s Word that brings about a true change of heart.” The “encounter between [our] sins and the blood of Christ is the only salvific encounter there is.” The Read more

Mortal sin and the vote

Tuesday, August 26th, 2014

Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding The Participation of Catholics in Political Life The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, having received the opinion of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has decided that it would be appropriate to publish the present Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding Read more

Please don’t say these six things at my funeral

Friday, July 18th, 2014

There will come a day, perhaps sooner, perhaps later, when the man in the coffin will be me. They say the dead don’t care, but I’m not dead yet, so as long as I’m still alive, I’d like to have some say in what goes on at my funeral. And, truth be told, I think Read more

Priest apologises for berating unwed Filipino teen at her baby’s Baptism

Friday, July 11th, 2014

A priest in the Philippines who scolded and harangued an unwed teenage mother at her baby’s Baptism has apologised, but may face sanctions. A video of the incident at a church in Cebu province was posted on Facebook by the 17-year-old’s grandmother. The video was also posted on Brute Show’s YouTube account, which provided an English Read more

Love: listening and respecting

Friday, May 23rd, 2014
gay priests

Everybody knows that same-sex marriage and homosexual acts are contrary to Catholic moral teaching. Yet that same teaching also says that gay and lesbian people must be treated with “respect, sensitivity and compassion.” As more states pass laws legalising same-sex marriage, more gay and lesbian Catholics are entering into these unions. This leaves some Catholics Read more

Sin? People think it’s about sex and cream cakes

Tuesday, January 7th, 2014

The word “sin” now makes people think of “sex and cream cakes”, according to one of the architects of Church of England plans that could see the word scrapped from key parts of baptism services. The Church has been accused of “dumbing down” after trialling a new wording for christenings in which parents and godparents Read more

Pope Francis has not abolished sin

Monday, January 6th, 2014

The Vatican felt compelled on Tuesday to deny that Pope Francis had “abolished sin”, after a well-known Italian intellectual wrote that he had effectively done so through his words and gestures. The singular exchange began on Sunday when Eugenio Scalfari, an atheist who writes opinion pieces for the left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper, published an article Read more

Reconciliation could encourage giving, research finds

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

Encouraging Catholics to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation could have a payoff in the collection plate, according to British research. The study involving a group of devout Catholics found that when they felt absolved of sins and a sense of guilt they were more likely to give generously. Researchers from Royal Holloway College, London, and Read more

Catholicism’s central teaching: how to be imperfect

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

The quest for perfection can never been attained in any endeavor worthy of humans. The demand for being perfect, based on Matthew 5:14, “Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” became the deranged and deranging discipline that was brought to an end by Vatican II’s healthier attitude toward spiritual growth. One of Read more