Saturday, March 25, 2023

How not to love the sinner (Scylla and Charybdis)

Sage advice from Bishop Hying of Madison in "Statement from Bishop Hying on the ‘Synodal Way’ process from bishops in Germany."

We do not love people when we simply leave them in sin and error, nor do we love them when we harshly reject them without any compassion or feeling.

Yeah. this is a very hard line to walk. Partly because if you are attempting to "not...leave them in sin and error," you will often come off as, "harshly reject[ing] them without any compassion or feeling."

I'd say in general if you can't address sin and error without (even erroneously) seeming condemn, you should pull back and begin with sympathy and listening. Maybe you should always begin with sympathy and listening.

Now, what do you do with those in our society who are aggressively promoting "sin and error" to the detriment of the lives of thousands, if not millions? Can you publicly struggle against their error without seeming to "harshly reject[ing] them without any compassion or feeling"?

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