Tag: sin

On
Dale Lawinger

Priests should preach about sin, Confession

To the editor:

As we enter into this extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, it is good to see the extra times set aside by our priests for the Sacrament of Confession. I am concerned that most priests will have a lot of reading time or time to visit with Our Lord as they wait for people to come to this sacrament of mercy.

We must not judge another person, but our priests need to teach from the pulpit what sin is. Today’s Church has forgotten to lead people, to be a teacher to us, more on dogma on the faith and not just love your neighbor.

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On
Fr. Gregory Ihm

The power of forgiving sins

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Fr. Gregory Ihm

In 1793 began the Reign of Terror in France known as the French Revolution when many priests, Religious, and Catholic lay faithful were murdered because of their association with the Church.

One man had a particular hatred for priests and was famous for his style of execution: slitting their throats. Several years after the Reign of Terror, this man grew old, sick, and weaker.

His wife, a hidden Catholic, called in a priest she knew to anoint her husband because she feared for his soul.

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On
Patrick Gorman

Baptism: What really happens

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Patrick Gorman

The last four articles have reflected upon the elements of the Baptismal ritual leading up to the actual Baptism.

Some of these elements are the welcoming of the candidate for Baptism, the sign of the cross, the blessing of the water, and the renunciation of sin and profession of faith.

The actual Baptism is really quite simple. The Baptism takes place with water which is either poured over the head of the person being baptized or in which he/she is immersed (standing or kneeling in the water), while the baptizer invokes the Trinity:

“I baptize you in the name of the Father (water), and of the Son (water), and of the Holy Spirit (water).”

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On
Fr. Robert Barron

Film looks at sin and salvation

There were a number of reasons why I liked World War Z, the film based on Max Brooks’ book of the same name.

First, it was a competently made thriller and not simply a stringing together of whiz-bang CGI effects. Secondly, it presented a positive image of a father.

In a time when Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin are the norm for fatherhood in the popular culture, Brad Pitt’s character, Gerry Lane, is actually a man of intelligence, deep compassion, and self-sacrificing courage.

About sin and salvation

But what intrigued me the most about World War Z is how it provides a template for thinking seriously about sin and salvation.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Church needs ‘dynamic’ fraternal correction

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

Last week in my column I talked a lot about conscience, and I’d like to pick the theme back up, as our Gospel from this past Sunday touches on that very same message.

Conscience should always drive us toward perfection. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48),” is the parting exhortation from our Lord in this past Sunday’s Gospel. A correctly formed conscience never says to you, “How little can I do and still call myself a Catholic?”

Conscience doesn’t make us minimalistic

Conscience does not open the door to be a minimalist. It is not a tool for our saying, “How can I give myself permission to do the minimum?”

Conscience opens the door to perfection, to the heroic, to the maximum, because the well-formed conscience serves as that truth-seeking radar, by which we choose to follow the law of the Lord.

As I said, we very much need to spread the word about conscience, and the readings of this past Sunday really help us with one detail of how to do that.

If we’re going to spread the good word about conscience, that means we’re going to have to correct others, especially our brothers and sisters who are Catholic. We know that this is not easy.

What is easy, when we seek to inform the consciences of others, is to seem as if we are judging the person themselves. We have to avoid that judgment of the individual, but we must not hesitate to help them, by offering the truth about their actions.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Conscience must be a ‘Truth-seeking radar’

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

There is a great service to humanity that is being lost. It is being lost in society and it is being treated with kid gloves even in the Church. This service is to help another person form and follow their conscience.

So lost is this service that it is very quickly becoming illegal. I wish I were speaking in exaggerated hyperbole here, but sadly I am not. To help others form their conscience means to say that this or that is wrong. And to say certain things are wrong has become very dangerous and indeed — close to illegal in our country, and already illegal in Canada.

However, it is, always and everywhere, the right and responsibility of the Church, and of parents, and of good neighbors, to witness to the law of the Lord, to speak the Truth as it is written on our hearts, and to help others to form their conscience.

In fact there is little that is more important because, as we’ll see, it is the path by which we must follow to seek and to attain the blessedness in this life and in the life to come.

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