‘Love the sinner, hate the sin,’ explained

She writes that it is “hateful or shameless bigotry” to prevent someone who is not living in accord with the teachings of the church to teach and work in a Catholic institution. Her point seems to be that we are all sinners and shouldn’t judge. Sounds good, right?

Yes, we are all sinners. In fact, any faithful Catholic can tell you that in the first few minutes of Mass we all say the Confiteor Prayer, where we confess our sins to God.

Now here comes the difference. We are all sinners, but in the Catholic faith we strive not to persist in sin. That’s the key. When we fall into temptation and sin, we should acknowledge that we have sinned, feel a true sorrow for offending God and breaking his law.

We must repent, which means to turn from. Then we go with humble hearts to the sacrament of reconciliation, where we confess our sins to the priest who, in persona Christi — translated as “person of Christ” — hears our confession, forgives our sins and gives us a penance which “fits the crime,” if you will.

The key thing to understand here is that we always strive to “go and sin no more!” (Jesus’ words in John 5:14-15 and John 8:11).

For someone in a homosexual relationship, they are in a persistent state of sin. If they are without remorse and unwilling to repent their sinful life, then they have turned their back on God’s mercy. The good news is that God’s mercy is always there, waiting to embrace you if you turn to him.

Good on Petteys for dusting off the Catechism for her article; I hope she spends some more time reading it entirely for a bit more context. The Catechism does say that people with homosexual attractions “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.” Note the wording, the people must be accepted, but we don’t accept or affirm sin. Love the sinner, hate the sin.

If you truly love someone, you want what’s best for them. As a Catholic Christian, the best we can hope for anyone is eternal salvation in heaven. If you saw someone you love walking down a sidewalk with their nose in a book that you know they are getting great pleasure out of, and they are headed to an open manhole, do you let them keep walking undisturbed? Or do you cry out, “Stop! Look up!”

God is calling to us all. Stop, look up.

David Cote

Waterville