Structures of sin, not exceptions

Opinions on exclusion as a tool

In Dostoevsky’s masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov, Father Zosima, outlining the history of his life, describes the day of his conversion in particular detail. On that day, in a moment of metanoia, he recalls the words that his brother, also deeply converted, said to his mother many years ago: “Mother, my heart, truly each of us is guilty before everyone and for everyone, only people do not know this. and if they knew, the world would immediately become a paradise.

These words are neither sensitive nor unrealistic. Rather, they reflect the fullness of conscience that can belong to a saint. If you indulge in the fullness of goodness, then you will never stop destroying the stone outgrowths of your heart, allowing God to remake it into flesh. Brother Zosima’s words focus on the good that can be done at every moment; they leave no room for blaming external structures. The structures of sin are built from within, and we are to blame.

In recent months, in the context of the ongoing synod, the newly appointed Cardinal McElroy has made statements that clearly contradict Paul’s teaching on accepting the Eucharist, especially in favor of what he calls “LGBT”. While it is terribly problematic that McElroy sees the personality of people who struggle with same-sex attraction as being specifically determined by their “orientation”, the real issue is more fundamental.

Archbishop Chaput summed it up succinctly in an interview: “Cardinal McElroy wrote clearly and boldly about his beliefs. Unfortunately, many of his beliefs are erroneous and contradict the teachings of the Church.”

And that’s where the deal should stand with us. McElroy is wrong, and if we are concerned about his statements, or the silence of many other bishops, or the silence of authoritative Rome, we should be comforted by the fact that bishops like Chaput and Paprocki answer him the same and no questionable words, and even more. that Christ Himself is with us, yea, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Most importantly, however, we must not fall into the trap that McElroy himself fell into. In a scandalous article published in America On January 24, in which he lays out his position, the cardinal laments the “structures of exclusion”. McElroy dangerously treats the exception as a fundamental problem in itself—dangerous because the exception is, of course, itself neutral.

The moral character of exclusion depends entirely on what is excluded and why. When complaining about alienation, one may not realize the possibilities for good that can arise from this very alienation. And this is precisely the effect of abstaining from the Eucharist when a person is not in a state of grace: he longs for the Eucharist and in this languor stops and reflects more deeply on the mystery of Christ’s gift of himself.

Thus, if we trust the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, we should in no way regard ourselves as the excluded faithful, as some sort of remnant, as the “real Church.” Any alienation endured should make us aware of our own faults, our responsibility “to all and for all,” and our ability to strive more zealously for the absolute good.

This means that even in the utterances of Cardinal McElroy – leaving aside those that smack of heresy – we can find a test of conscience. Do we really think that we will face this exam completely clean? So let’s face it.

Archbishop Chaput again spoke on this issue most clearly. Asked about “the greatest areas of reform needed to renew the Church,” he replied: “Us; all of us. We are the problem. . . if we want to reform the Church, we must first reform ourselves.” Of course, this is the work of a lifetime, but Christ is the master of making all things new (Rev. 21:5).

So, as we work to renew the Church, let’s not get caught up in the so-called structures of alienation, but let’s get on with the uprooting of the structures of sin, the structures built around and through us. If we destroy these structures of sin by admitting our guilt in them, what joy awaits us. In truth, “the world would immediately become a paradise.”