Article on Catholic Guilt For Contemporary Catholics /NCR/1966 Class Reunion/Bishop Denis J. O'Connell

45th Reunion/Class of 1966
Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School
http://ncronline.org/blogs/bulletins-human-side/guilt-shortage-dooms-reform-reform

"Guilt shortage dooms reform of the reform"
by Eugene Cullen Kennedy on Aug. 04, 2011
..."Catholics cut down on confession not because they abandoned the idea of sin but because they discovered the meaning of sin and realized that it was much different in many of its social dimensions than the personal foibles they had been trained to feel guilty about in the pre-Vatican II Church.
The Reform of the Reform is therefore doomed because it can no longer make healthy people feel unhealthy and unnecessary guilt about being human. That is why, when once asked why he convened Vatican II, Pope John XXIII replied not with a discourse on the sinful world but with perhaps the most Catholic sentence spoken by any pontiff in the 20th century: "To make the human sojourn on earth less sad."
[Eugene Cullen Kennedy is emeritus professor of psychology at Loyola University, Chicago.

Bridget Mary's Reflection:
I attended my 45th high school reunion this evening for the class of 1966 at Bishop Denis J. O' Connell in Arlington, VA. One of my classmates did an informal survey of our class and found two practicing Catholics. Several women reported that they had longed for women priests and applauded the courage of our Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement leading the way to equality in our church. Both women and men affirm a more open, inclusive church! I am sure that the classmates that I met this evening would love this article on Catholic guilt by Eugene Kennedy.

Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP, sofiabmm@aol.com

http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/