ST. LOUIS (MO)
Waiting for Godot to Leave
Kevin O’Brien
I am glad to say that the combox discussion in my post about Fr. Jiang has been civil and intelligent.
Fr. Jiang’s defenders are defending him, it seems, not just because of his Catholic orthodoxy, but because of his character. And I don’t know Fr. Jiang, so I can’t comment on his character.
But I can say something about character in general.
It is quite possible for the most reverent of men to harbor the most sinful of thoughts and desires, and even to conceal some of the most heinous of acts. We have lost sight of sin. As I’m often saying, we hear very little about sin from the pulpit, even the most common (and deadly) sins that surround us in our parishes – adultery, greed, fornication, the use of pornography, lying, contraception, etc. And when have we ever heard any Catholic echo St. Paul, “How can we who have died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6:2)
Our baptism was a death to sin and a rebirth to Christ.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (Rom. 6:6-7)
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