ArchbishopLefebvre.com
Links
  • Archbishop Lefebvre
    • Biography of Archbishop Lefebvre
    • Who is he?
    • In his own words
  • Sermons
    • Sunday Sermons
  • Letters
    • Archbishop Lefebvre >
      • To Friends and Benefactors
      • Other Letters
    • Bishop Williamson >
      • Friends and Benefactors
      • Eleison Comments >
        • Italiano
        • Espanol
      • To SSPX Priests
  • Blog
  • Books
    • E-Books
    • Free Catholic Books
    • Archbishop Lefebvre
    • Bibles
    • Blessed Sacrament
    • Children Books
    • Childrens Saints
    • DVDs
    • Hell
    • Purgatory
    • Our Lady
    • Sacred Heart
    • Missals
    • Missale Romanum
    • Summa Theologica
    • Saints
  • Catholic Faith
    • Catechisms
    • Catholic Art
    • Chant
    • Dogmas of the Catholic Church
    • Encyclicals
    • Sermons
    • History >
      • HughesVol1index
    • Liturgy
    • Sacraments
    • Prayers >
      • Blessings
    • Way of the Cross
  • SSPX Crisis
    • sspx Archbishop Lefebvre
    • monks nuns
    • SSPX Bishop Fellay
    • SSPX Bishop Tissier
    • ex-sspx Bishop Williamson
    • ex-sspx chazal
    • sspx couture
    • sspx fox
    • ex-sspx fuchs
    • ex-sspx girouard
    • ex-sspx hewko
    • sspx laisney
    • sspx ockerse
    • ex-sspx pfeiffer
    • sspx themann
    • Fr. Ringrose
  • Links
    • Other Sites
    • Donate
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • You Tube
  • TradCat Items
    • Beeswax Candles
    • Chapel Veils
    • Prayer Cards - Our Lady
    • Prayer Cards - Espanol
    • Protected Scapulars
    • Scapulars
    • Unbreakable Rosaries
  • Crisis in Church
    • Declaration of the 2006 Chapter (SSPX)
    • Fr Hewko to SSPX Superiors
    • History of the Archbishop and Rome
    • Vatican II more important than Nicea!
    • The Archbishop and Religious Liberty
    • The right to resist an abuse of power
    • How Are Catholics To Respond To The Present Crisis

Letter to Friends and Benefactors


The moral chaos of "sincere sin"

June 6, 1995

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

     

There is so much chaos in men's minds today, that good old-fashioned analyses of how men think and behave can need to be carefully re-applied if they are not to come out false.  For instance, normally any man who utters heresy all the time is a formal          heretic and is to be judged as such, but today, not necessarily. Similarly          any man who is plunged in sin and pretends to be doing good, is a hypocrite          and there is no sincerity in him, but today, not necessarily, in fact          today, sincere sinners are as common as dandelions! If we are not to lose          our heads, or lose our footing, in the rising tide of chaos around us,          we need to take a look .....

One such "sincere sinner",          and the perplexity of a Catholic priest trying to analyse his case, is          well portrayed in the article enclosed, "Pray for the Guy Across          the Street, Too". This article consists of a prolonged quotation          from a plea for contributions by the Franciscan priest, Fr. Bruce Ritter,          who was, at the time he wrote it, running his famous "Covenant House"          ministry to abandoned and degraded children in the notorious red-light          district of 42nd street, New York City.

     

In it he tells how one day the          man operating one of the most immoral brothels on 42nd street          — let us name him El Dorado, from his car — took up a collection          from his young employees (!) and customers (!!) on behalf of Fr. Ritter's          work, and when Fr. Ritter sent the tainted money back to him, he returned          to Covenant House the following day to express his righteous indignation—he          had meant well in making the gift and Fr. Ritter had had no right to refuse          it. See El Dorado's own words at the top of the second column.

     

Now at this point, following the          rule-book, Fr. Ritter could simply have ruled out of court El Dorado's          second appearance like his first, but, more true to life, Fr. Ritter goes          on to describe how, instead, El Dorado's apparent sincerity and good intentions          sent his mind "reeling". Fr. Ritter concludes with a paragraph          on his own unworthiness and kinship with the sinner and finally appeals          for prayers for him, with the wish that he himself understood how such          a sinner could seem so sincere.

     

Now by the rule-book it is not          difficult to judge El Dorado's actions: by running the brothel, etc.,          by organising, promoting and exploiting the wholesale violation by numerous          souls of God's 6th and 9th Commandments, he is gravely          sinning. When he says he hurts nobody, he lies at least objectively and          maybe also subjectively because for one moment he admits he is "in          a bad business". It is no excuse that he has four kids, that he has          to make a living, that he cleaned up his place and made the girls stop          stealing, etc., because it is forbidden to do evil to bring about good,          the end cannot justify the means. And that he goes to Church, tithes,          does not like children getting hurt and says "God bless you",          is all irrelevant so long as he intends to go on committing the major          sin of running the brothel. Until he seriously repents of that sin and          takes serious action to stop committing it, his money is tainted at source,          and the priest has the right to refuse it and even the duty to do so,          to prevent scandal and confusion.

     

Yet who with knowledge of real          souls in real life today will dismiss as a mere sham the sincerity and          good intentions of El Dorado appearing through his words and deeds as          related by Fr. Ritter? Yet if El Dorado's sincerity and good intentions          are not a mere sham, how are they to be reconciled with his life of sin?

     

Of course men have always been          contradictory in their behaviour, a mixture of good and evil, and the          contradiction is, strictly speaking, resolved, when one observes that          what is good is not evil and what is evil is not good. For instance what          is sincere in El Dorado is not hypocritical, and what is hypocritical          (he says he hurts nobody, but at the same time he admits he is "in          a bad business") is not sincere.

     

Nevertheless, have "sincere          sinners" ever before been the norm as one might say they are          today? Nothing Fr. Ritter experienced in those 1980's was beyond the reach          of the moral theology he had learned in his manuals at the Seminary, yet          had any of those manuals prepared him for the scale and degree of what          he experienced with the El Dorados of 42nd Street?

     

The moral chaos of "sincere          sin" is rising all the time, it made Fr. Ritter giddy and it threatens          to engulf us all, unless we can keep our heads by seeing where it comes          from and where it is going.

     

Essentially, "Sincere sin"          on the modern scale comes from religious liberty. In the old days when          all men knew that there is a God and that He lays down Ten Commandments,          and when they built their nations and ran their social life on that basis,          then whenever a man did evil, he and everyone else knew it to be evil,          and if he wanted to pretend he was doing good, then he was a hypocrite          and again everybody knew it. Good was good and evil was evil. Men may          have been naughty but the principles were not confused.

     

Nowadays on the contrary, when          men base their nations and social life not on God and His Ten Commandments          but on religious liberty, so that logically God and His Commandments become          a matter of choice and all moral principles become in society's view optional          and confused, then whenever a man does evil — what is evil any longer?          — he and everyone else no more so clearly know it to be evil, so          he can that much more easily delude himself and everyone else that he          is doing good when he sins, so he can be to all appearances a sincere          sinner.

     

Of course God is not deluded, and          no man or society however perverse can escape from His eye or deceive          His judgment. Nor can any man not be receiving from God sufficient grace          to save his soul and sufficient natural light in his conscience to see          what he really is doing - notice how El Dorado knows that looking after          four kids is good and 42nd Street business is bad — so          that even today "sincere sin" has its limits. Notwithstanding,          religious liberty is where almost endless moral chaos comes from.

     

Where is it heading to? For a long          time among the nations only the Unites States of America was founded on          religious liberty, the idea of which had been imported from Europe, but          with Vatican II, the full-blown practice of religious liberty was re-exported          by Cardinal Spellman and the American bishops to Rome, into the heart          of the Catholic Church, from where recent Popes are exporting it all over          the world, which is why sin is being abolished world-wide and sinners          everywhere are becoming more and more sincere! The more widely religious          liberty expands, the more it unhooks men's minds from objective truth          and morality, the more men's minds are cut adrift, the more El Dorados          sincerely sin and the more moral chaos swirls around the feet of a Fr.          Ritter, so that many a good priest has lost his footing.

     

The priest must pray much, to obtain          from God indispensable grace, light and strength. He must love truth and          have a horror for religious liberty, in all its forms. He must avoid over-exposure          to chaos, and so must realistically measure his capacities and limit his          activities. And he always needs to pray for, and to be prayed for by,          his people.

     

Here at Winona, after priestly          ordinations on Saturday, June 24, there are still rooms free for the men's          retreats from June 28th to July 1st and from July          17th to July 22nd, and for the Doctrinal Session,          "The Answer to Oklahoma", from July 25th to July          29th, which will consist mainly of social Encyclicals of Leo          XIII.

     

Note also, to celebrate the Silver          Jubilee of the Society of St. Pius X on November 1 of this year, a pilgrimage          from Oct 23 to Nov 3 to Paris, Lourdes, La Salette, Ecône, etc., being          organized out of Connecticut. For details ring Mrs. di Cecco at (203)          261-1133, fax (203) 261-3355.

     

And may the one true God who allows          no right to religious liberty bless you all abundantly.

     

Sincerely yours in Christ,

+ Richard Williamson
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.