Friday, March 14, 2008

New Sins? Nope.

Some folks don't really get it--especially members of the MSM.

First off, there are no "new sins." There may be new ways to commit OLD sins; and there may be different social or global ramifications today than there were in (say) A.D. 1523 or B.C. 634. But as any priest will tell you, hearing Confessions is kinda boring--the list rarely varies.

Anyhoo, some buncha BritIdiot MSM folks snatched a headline or two by stating that "the Vatican" had issued a new list of "deadly sins."

And true to form, 'the lie was halfway around the world before the truth got its boots on.'

A very thorough 'splanation of what goes on in Rome is linked here. Part of his essay:

The list of new “deadly sins” came from none of these sources. In fact, it was compiled by a journalist, Nicola Gori, who was interviewing a bishop, Gianfranco Girotti, for the quasi-official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. In the interview, published March 9, the journalist teased out from Bishop Girotti his ideas on how to apply Catholic morality to contemporary questions, such as economics and the environment. Bishop Girotti has some competence to address these issues; as regent of the tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, he is in charge of offering guidance to priests around the world when they hear Catholics’ confessions. But the good bishop has no (and would claim no) authority to update the moral theology of the Church and re-orient it toward social issues, instead of one’s personal moral life. That’s just how the media spun it. It’s as if a prominent rabbi in Israel, in an interview, spoke about a serious moral issue, and the secular media presented it as “Jews Add 11th Commandment.

Got it? Good. What you read about was APPLICATION of moral norms--not NEW moral norms.

That said, it makes perfect sense for churchmen such as Bishop Girotti to address contemporary problems. As an old and wise institution, the Church is obliged to warn modern men that our consumption of natural resources and impact on ecology has implications for the Common Good.

As a matter of fact, the "common good" also includes questions such as homosexual "marriage"--another proposition unheard-of until about 1990 or so. It also includes IUD-caused abortions, or estrogen-caused abortions, also propositions new to the late 20th century.

There is nothing new under the sun. That is all.

1 comment:

SkinnyJay said...

I really appreciate this post! I was very confused on what the actualy deal was with the 'new' sins. I knew it felt wrong and am glad to get the full story here and in the links provided. Thank You.