Fr. Jeffrey Kirby: There’s No Gray When It Comes To God

By Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, National Catholic Register, January 25, 2024

Everyone on Earth (Including You) Is Either in a State of Grace, or a State of Mortal Sin

In recent moral teaching, it has become clear that the gravity of a person living in sin — of being in a state of sin — has been eclipsed by poor theology, wishful thinking and naïve pastoral practice. Whether we’re discussing Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried, or the blessing of same-sex couples, or the tacit approval of cohabitating couples, we need to retrieve and emphasize the terminal nature of states of sin.

As a Church, we need to expose the spiritual severity of states of sin and assist in leading those within them to repentance in Jesus Christ.

The reality of states of sin is far more egregious than the hygienic term “irregular unions.” In the case of a state of sin, the canonical term “irregular union” doesn’t fully summarize the peril of the souls involved, and so we must defer to the moral tradition of the Church and use the term “state of sin.” We must emphasize where a person is in his or her relationship with Jesus Christ and how he or she can reconcile with him. …

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