A Bishop Who Has a Hard Time Defining "Sin"

 The recent Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, restating the Church’s teaching on the sinful nature of homosexual acts, and thus the impossibility of an ordained minister of the Church legitimately conferring a blessing upon the union of two homosexuals, should have evoked expressions of gratitude from all the bishops of the Church. Many face continuous pressure from various quarters to abandon the Church’s doctrine and practice concerning homosexuality. Instead, a number of bishops, primarily in Western Europe but also in America, have strongly criticized and indicated their disagreement, and even disgust, with the Responsum.

Bishop Bonny

Perhaps the most vehement public rejection was issued by the Bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny. In the Flemish-language De Standaard (cited in English here and here) he wrote:

• “I feel ashamed for my Church. I mainly feel intellectual and moral incomprehension.”

• “I want to apologize to all for whom this is painful and incomprehensible.”

• “Intellectually, this does not even reach the level of high school. These kind[s] of arguments, the logic, you see right through it. These days, you don’t convince anyone that way.”

• “Sin is one of the most difficult theological and moral categories to define, and one of the last to pin on people and their way of living."