At 07:18 AM 6/4/2004 -0700 Nick Arnett wrote in response to Archbishop Chaput of Denver: >I don't hear grace in these words. Confession doesn't change God, it >changes me, but what I hear in the words above are that God demands >repentance as a condition of forgiveness... which flies in the face of >agape, unconditional love.
There is no contradiction here. Parents, for example, may unconditionally love their children *and* choose to punish them anyways for their transgressions. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine how one can be forgiven for those things one is not sorry for. >Christ chose to spend his time with people >whose imperfections were no secret, saving his harshest criticisms for >the self-righteous ones. Those people with imperfections all ask for forgiveness - and indeed, Christ tells them "go and sin no more." >> Claiming to be Catholic and then rejecting Catholic teaching is an act of >> dishonesty and a lack of personal integrity. > >That leaves no room for prophets, no room for reform from within. The >church, as a human institution, is in constant need of reform. This >language seems to ask me to worship the church, not God. That is true.... but it is also necessary to exclude heretics. If someone began preaching a Gospel that salvation is only for white people, it would be necessary and proper for the Church to disassociate herself from said heretic. It is a difficult balance - but a necessary one. >> Denying anyone Communion is a very grave matter. It should be >> reserved for extraordinary cases of public scandal. > >Goodness, this puts into a different perspective all the times I've gone >to a Catholic mass and not been allowed communion. Apparently I am an >extraordinary public scandal, I guess because I'm not Catholic. Cheap shot. In the Catholic Church, Communion is presented with the affirmation "The Body and Blood of Christ", to which the communicant responds "Amen." Why would you wish to say "Amen" to a statement which you do not believe to be true? JDG _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
