Copy of the contents of a letter written to person unknown, on date unknown.

Copy of the contents of a letter written to person unknown, on date unknown.

          It was interesting to hear Fr. Leo's last words      asking    us to interrupt him because he tends to do all the talking.    Before that I had wanted to make some remarks on your question      but didn't get a word in edgewise.

          I think your question highlights a concept not very well

     known or understood, the Living God.

          As a child lives and grows into an adult, so civilization   grows like a living thing, changing as time goes on.  Life in   the world today is not the same as life in the time of Jesus     and the infant Church.  The Church, the bride of Christ, the      bride of a living God, also grows (changes) to take care of a changing world.

          A two year old may be forbidden to touch a sharp knife.    When the child becomes an adolescent he may be taught how to use that same knife.  The law needed to be changed because the      situation changed.

          In the early Church it was common practice for people to      take the Eucharistic Bread home with them to members who could   not go to church.  As time went on complaints arose that the     people did not differentiate between the Eucharist  and common bread, so corrective Church laws were instituted to build    reverence for the Host.  Eventually this swung too far in the opposite direction.

          Throughout the years Church changes were made in response to arising heresies, scientific advances, and other conditions    affecting the life of Christians.  These were changes made in     the accidental or extrinsic affairs (regulated by the Church)     not in the essential things (which were instituted by God.)    Fr. Leo mentioned the seven sacraments which were instituted by Christ.  Their essential growth-giving function remains the      same but the embellishments which the Church gave them can be      changed by the Church.  The mass is another institution which     must remain as Christ gave it, though much of what we consider    "mass" are really Church additions and can be changed by the      Church.

         
The Church first convened the Vatican Council in 1870.     A need had been felt then that the Church needed to be     updated.  Unfortunately the Franco-Prussian war broke out and the council was quickly disbanded without adjourning and      without achieving the needed changes.  The church did not get   around to re-convene the Vatican Council until 1963.

          Almost another hundred years of updating was added.  In     the past changes in the church filtered down slowly from the     Vatican to the bishops, to the priests.  The people gradually     accepted and adapted them.  But in this century the media, especially TV, quickly spread the news of changes, and some     people were demanding extreme changes even before priests        received their orders, or knew what to expect.

               I was not brought up as a Catholic.  I have not       experienced the upheaval you have, so perhaps I should         not try   to answer you, but I would like to anyway.

               I believe that when God judges our sins he does not       look upon the deed itself, but upon our heart and our        intention.  Before the change in law, if a person ate          meat on Friday believing it was Thursday, it was not a        sin.  If a person ate meat on Friday knowing it was         against the church law, believing that disobeying church        law was a sin, and deliberately ate it anyway, then he          did sin.  That still holds true today.  If a person still        believes eating meat on Friday is a sin, and eats it       anyway, he still sins.  The sin is his deliberate action      against what he believes is God's will.  It is not the           deed but the thoughts and intention behind the deed that           determines whether it is a sin, and if so, how serious a        sin it is.  The Vatican Council did not change that

               I think Charley had the same trouble you are having.        He was so used to the pastor laying down the law stating         what actions were sins, what penances he should do, what          days he had to go to church etc. that he was lost when         the church no longer supported the old regime.  He could          not understand the church's new stress that God was a God       of love, that a person was to attend mass out of love for       God rather than out of fear of Him, and that he should          follow a conscience formed by a sincere desire to honor           God, to spread His word and love all men.

               I hope this helps you.