Being an Accessory to Another's Sin

The other morning while having breakfast with a good priest friend the topic came up of the sense of sin among Catholics, or more appropriately the lack thereof. Failing to do an appropriate examination of conscience we judge ourselves as "good" by the simple fact of being nice. We have all heard people excuse different forms of behavior (or done so ourselves) by something to the effect of "well at least I didn't shoot anyone," or "it's not like I robbed a bank" as though those were the only ways we could sin against those respective commandments. But in addition to the ways we can commit a sin personally, there are nine ways we can be also be an accessory to another's sin.

1. By Counsel
2. By Command
3. By Consent
4. By Provocation
5. By Praise or Flattery
6. By Concealment
7. By Partaking
8. By Silence
9. By Defense of the Ill Done

Being an Accessory to Another's Sin

The other morning while having breakfast with a good priest friend the topic came up of the sense of sin among Catholics, or more appropriately the lack thereof. Failing to do an appropriate examination of conscience we judge ourselves as "good" by the simple fact of being nice. We have all heard people excuse different forms of behavior (or done so ourselves) by something to the effect of "well at least I didn't shoot anyone," or "it's not like I robbed a bank" as though those were the only ways we could sin against those respective commandments. But in addition to the ways we can commit a sin personally, there are nine ways we can be also be an accessory to another's sin.

1. By Counsel
2. By Command
3. By Consent
4. By Provocation
5. By Praise or Flattery
6. By Concealment
7. By Partaking
8. By Silence
9. By Defense of the Ill Done

Louis Veuillot Quote

"We Catholics lose ground perhaps more on account of the truths that good men have not the courage to proclaim than because of the errors that the wicked have been cunning enough to multiply."

Louis Veuillot Quote

"We Catholics lose ground perhaps more on account of the truths that good men have not the courage to proclaim than because of the errors that the wicked have been cunning enough to multiply."

The Deception of "The Free Press"

Our forms of communication have changed dramatically since 1935 yet the criticisms of the media then are as relevant as today.  G.K. Chesterton wrote about the misleading nature newspapers when he wrote,

Journalism, is a false picture of the world, thrown upon a lighted screen in a darkened room so that the real world is not seen and the unreal world is seen. . . . We live under secret government, conducted by a secret process called Publicity."

Here is an indictment of the journalistic profession by one of its own, an editor from New York, John Swinton, given during the New York Press Associations annual dinner.

"There is no such thing as a free press in America, if we except that of little country towns.  You know this and I know it.  Not a man among you dares to utter his honest opinion.  Were you to utter it, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print.  I am paid 150 dollars a week so that I may keep my honest opinion out of the paper for which I write.  You, too, are paid similar salaries for similar services.  Were I to permit that a single edition of my newspaper contained an honest opinion, my occupation, like that of Othello's, would be gone in less than twenty-four hours.  The man who would be so foolish as to write his honest opinion would soon be on the streets in search for another job.  It is the duty of a New York journalist to lie, to distort, to revile, to toady at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread, or what amounts to the same thing, his salary.  We are marionettes.  These men pull the strings, and we dance.  Our time, our talents, our live, our caprices are all the property of these men; we are intellectual prostitutes."

Apparently there was some controversy over this quote of Swinton's but for a fact checked account of what he said you can read here.

The Deception of "The Free Press"

Our forms of communication have changed dramatically since 1935 yet the criticisms of the media then are as relevant as today.  G.K. Chesterton wrote about the misleading nature newspapers when he wrote,

Journalism, is a false picture of the world, thrown upon a lighted screen in a darkened room so that the real world is not seen and the unreal world is seen. . . . We live under secret government, conducted by a secret process called Publicity."

Here is an indictment of the journalistic profession by one of its own, an editor from New York, John Swinton, given during the New York Press Associations annual dinner.

"There is no such thing as a free press in America, if we except that of little country towns.  You know this and I know it.  Not a man among you dares to utter his honest opinion.  Were you to utter it, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print.  I am paid 150 dollars a week so that I may keep my honest opinion out of the paper for which I write.  You, too, are paid similar salaries for similar services.  Were I to permit that a single edition of my newspaper contained an honest opinion, my occupation, like that of Othello's, would be gone in less than twenty-four hours.  The man who would be so foolish as to write his honest opinion would soon be on the streets in search for another job.  It is the duty of a New York journalist to lie, to distort, to revile, to toady at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread, or what amounts to the same thing, his salary.  We are marionettes.  These men pull the strings, and we dance.  Our time, our talents, our live, our caprices are all the property of these men; we are intellectual prostitutes."

Apparently there was some controversy over this quote of Swinton's but for a fact checked account of what he said you can read here.

Times Interview with Grand Master SMOM Fra Mathew Festing

From  the Times Online

April 9, 2010

New Grand Master's crusade to explain his ancient Catholic order

TheSovereign Military Order of Malta is now a global aid charity

Richard Owen

Fra Matthew Festing, 60, is the third British Catholic since 1258 to serve as Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.

When I spoke to him in his residence, a frescoed Renaissance palace near the Spanish Steps in Rome, I asked him why some people have the impression that his order is a secretive, even sinister, global power.

“A complete mystery,”he replies. “I think it comes from 19th-century Romanticism about the Middle Ages, fascination with things Gothic.”  In reality the order traces its origins before the First Crusade in the 11th century, when it protected and cared for pilgrims in Jerusalem and grew into a formidable fighting force. Driven out of the Holy Land by Muslim forces to Rhodes, and then in 1530 to Malta, the order has had its headquarters in Rome since 1834.

Festing is irked by “fraudulent”orders also claiming descent from the Knights of Malta. “It is based on ignorance, a misappreciation of history, reading too much Dan Brown,”he says. “The Knights Templar do not exist. They were suppressed by the papacy in the 14th century.

“There is this crazy desire for dressing up in funny clothes — plus some people think that by aping us they can get their hands on our diplomatic passports. After the loss of Malta our order became very small and was thought to be exclusive because you had to have noble qualifications. I think that is what has given rise to all this nonsense.”

Now a global aid charity, the order remains one of the most powerful Catholic orders: as its head Festing has the rank of cardinal (although not the right to vote for the next Pope).

A former officer in the Grenadier Guards and art expert at Sotheby’s, Festing became a member of the order in 1977 and Grand Prior of England in 1993, leading various humanitarian aid missions to Kosovo, Serbia and Croatia.

The Latin motto of the order translates as “Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor”.

“When they were hoofed out of Malta by Napoleon, the Knights were absolutely devastated, thought it was the end of everything. Actually it was a blessing in disguise, the order could get back to what it was meant to be doing, looking after the poor and the sick.”

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

Times Interview with Grand Master SMOM Fra Mathew Festing

From  the Times Online

April 9, 2010

New Grand Master's crusade to explain his ancient Catholic order

TheSovereign Military Order of Malta is now a global aid charity

Richard Owen

Fra Matthew Festing, 60, is the third British Catholic since 1258 to serve as Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.

When I spoke to him in his residence, a frescoed Renaissance palace near the Spanish Steps in Rome, I asked him why some people have the impression that his order is a secretive, even sinister, global power.

“A complete mystery,”he replies. “I think it comes from 19th-century Romanticism about the Middle Ages, fascination with things Gothic.”  In reality the order traces its origins before the First Crusade in the 11th century, when it protected and cared for pilgrims in Jerusalem and grew into a formidable fighting force. Driven out of the Holy Land by Muslim forces to Rhodes, and then in 1530 to Malta, the order has had its headquarters in Rome since 1834.

Festing is irked by “fraudulent”orders also claiming descent from the Knights of Malta. “It is based on ignorance, a misappreciation of history, reading too much Dan Brown,”he says. “The Knights Templar do not exist. They were suppressed by the papacy in the 14th century.

“There is this crazy desire for dressing up in funny clothes — plus some people think that by aping us they can get their hands on our diplomatic passports. After the loss of Malta our order became very small and was thought to be exclusive because you had to have noble qualifications. I think that is what has given rise to all this nonsense.”

Now a global aid charity, the order remains one of the most powerful Catholic orders: as its head Festing has the rank of cardinal (although not the right to vote for the next Pope).

A former officer in the Grenadier Guards and art expert at Sotheby’s, Festing became a member of the order in 1977 and Grand Prior of England in 1993, leading various humanitarian aid missions to Kosovo, Serbia and Croatia.

The Latin motto of the order translates as “Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor”.

“When they were hoofed out of Malta by Napoleon, the Knights were absolutely devastated, thought it was the end of everything. Actually it was a blessing in disguise, the order could get back to what it was meant to be doing, looking after the poor and the sick.”

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

That Which Suffices is not Sufficient

In the great book Holy Abandonment by Dom Lehody is this comment by Joseph de Maistre,

"That which suffices is not sufficient.  Whoso resolves to do all that is permitted will soon be found doing that which is not; and he that will content himself with what is of strict obligation will be content with a little less before long."

I think this sums up fairly well the attitude of many Catholics born and raised pre-Vatican II and explains their resultant falling away from or laxity in the Faith afterwards.

That Which Suffices is not Sufficient

In the great book Holy Abandonment by Dom Lehody is this comment by Joseph de Maistre,

"That which suffices is not sufficient.  Whoso resolves to do all that is permitted will soon be found doing that which is not; and he that will content himself with what is of strict obligation will be content with a little less before long."

I think this sums up fairly well the attitude of many Catholics born and raised pre-Vatican II and explains their resultant falling away from or laxity in the Faith afterwards.