modern sins to be looked at by church

[upon_whimsy]

I'm not a Catholic, nor do I wish this to turn into a debate about Catholicism, but I think that this is pretty interesting and worth discussing. Given that the Pope is the face of Christianity for many in the world, it should not be taken lightly. That is all. Cross posted to ljchristians

Fewer confessions and new sinsBy David Willey

Comments

[elena23]

Reposting my comment here:

Please understand that, like in many cases, the media has pretty much completely bungled the reporting of this issue. This was not an ex-cathedra statement issued by the Pope, or a new Vatican position on sin. It was a conversational interview with a Bishop about the nature of sin in the modern age and the increasing number of Catholics who are not attending regular confession. I recommend the following articles:

http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=9A0A606B-5056-8960-327C219014498879

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=57130

The Catholic positions on these issues are hardly new, however, and neither are we suddenly rewriting the ten commandments, or replacing the old standby seven deadly sins, which the media seems delighted to report!

[paedraggaidin]

Took the words right out of my mouth. I almost wish the media would quit reporting on the Church altogether, since they always manage to do such an utterly worthless job of it.

[mlfoley]

This sort of reporting is ridiculous. No one is trying to change the "Ten Commandments" or get rid of the original "7 Deadly Sins." This is just a list of modern problems that seem to be afflicting the world, at least according to some in the RCC, that's all.

I hope that they know that here in America, that talk about keeping wealth and inflicting poverty is just Marxo-Socialist mumbo-jumbo, those liberal priests and their "reading the Bible." As bad as activist judges that "read the Constitution" instead of making sure their decisions fit with the status quo! Just sick.

[dolphingirl9109]

I agree that although the article takes a modern look at sin, these issues have always and will always be. God doesn't change. It is a sin to speed, even though there were no cars in the Bible, because we are suposed to obey the laws of the land, for example.

I also agree that this is not an issue just for Catholics.

I disagree with the Church's position on stem cell research. The embryos used for that had already been frozen too long to ever become babies. If they are wanting to preserve life, they should take a stand against the embryos being frozen for so long, or at all, instead.

I disagree with the idea that a priest is nessessary for God to forgive sin. Wouldn't driving to confession be a sin, because it causes polution? That also makes me wonder how much consumption of fossil fuels the Church will allow, or if I sin everytime I go to work. But, if I don't go to work, tht is a sin, too, right?

[dolphingirl9109]

I stand corrected. I still don't agree, though.

[catholic_heart]

The reporting on this conversation with the bishop has been some of the most laughable I've seen in religious reporting by secular media, and that says a lot. The contents of the original interview were actually quite fruitful for all Christians, but the contents of the secular reporting on the interview were pretty much useless. The articles posted by elena23 are particularly helpful.

[uberreiniger]

Agreed. It's disappointing how satirical the BBC tends to be when reporting issues about the RCC while trying to pass it off as honest news. I'd read about this statement in other media before I read this article. When read there it all makes sense, but this article completely butchers everything the bishop actually said.

[fanha]

Instead of creating complicated lists of vague rules of what is sin, they should just go with Google's slogan.