Last night on "Hardball," Chris commented on the funeral of his friend and colleague Tim Russert (may Tim rest in peace!) :
"I was at the funeral mass at Holy Trinity, which is a wonderful (church) in Georgetown. It‘s a Jesuit Catholic Church. The Jesuits run that church. It has a certain quality . . .
It‘s nice to go to a church. By the way, it‘s a Jesuit church. It‘s liberal. It‘s my kind of Catholic. It‘s really nice. They are very forgiving in that church. They‘re very forgiving at that church. The only sins in that church are nuclear war and racism. "
A "certain quality," indeed. Chris probably left out smoking . . . and mixing paper & plastic.
But a question: Why forgiveness if you don't believe in sin?
Posted by Gibbons
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3 comments:
That's a great point about forgiveness, Gibbons. So many people today remove the Cross from the Gospel, turning Jesus into a Gandhi figure. Of course his message of peace and forgiveness is essential to our Faith, but the Cross is what earned us redemption. It was that unique sacrifice which could be performed by the Son of God alone, and which would be totally worthless if there were no such thing as sin.
People often consider conservative Catholics (i.e. Catholics) judgmental. And I'm sure some are. But really, the great thing about the Catholic message is that all sins are forgiven if we have contrition and a firm will to make things better. This includes the "conservative" moral sins like abortion and homosexual acts, and all sins. It's a positive message, not a negative one. And thank God we have the confessional, because we all need it.
Matthews is a cultural Catholic. I've never heard him espouse a true Catholic position on any important political or social issue. Like many so-called Catholics in poitics and the media, Matthews was raised a Catholic but born a Democrat. gravey
I once heard Chris Matthews speak. As he told fond stories of growing up in and around the Catholic faith - 'I couldn't help asking from the crowd..I hope you don't consider yourself a Catholic now?'
I paraphrase as it was some years ago...but I'll never forget the look he gave me - and no, I didn't blink.
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