Morality without norms is product of distortion of sin, warns Argentinean archbishop

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 3, 2007 / 09:29 am

In a recent reflection, Archbishop Domingo Castagna of Corrientes warned that “sin always existed, since the first one was committed,” but that in today’s world sin has been distorted and this should be called “establishing a new morality without norms or principles.”
 
In a world in which there is no respect for family, religion or purity, he said, “a culture of distortion that proposes anti-values” is being foisted on children, young people and the poor, “as if they were the new values of progress and modernity.”

“Prayer, as Jesus teaches it, is of little importance to this disturbed generation,” Archbishop Castagna said, adding that, “mankind seeks after that which satisfies his whims and not that which he truly needs,” and therefore even “the strongest of believers become angry with God when their complaints are not answered as they wish.”

“Is this progress?” the archbishop asked.  While the Church speaks out about the dangers facing believers and strives to provide them guidance, “other voices seek to discredit” the bishops and impose belief systems and behavior that are “contrary to the faith and to Christian morality,” he said.

“The modern Pharisees set up booby traps for good people, creating division, inventing fallacies, undermining good will and portraying the best men and women as deceitful,” Archbishop Castagna stated.

“We can always find wounds to heal and profound doubts to be resolved. Nobody is ignoring the deficiencies and contradictions that impede the course of history,” but “now is not the time to cast blame but rather to find serene answers and accept responsibilities,” he added, saying to do so requires “silence and prayer” and “allowing our personal and social lives to be illuminated by the Word.”