McBrien Rewrites the Catechism

“In the end, the elimination of Limbo raises questions not only about the necessity of baptism, but more fundamentally about the nature of Original Sin. What if we are all born permeated with the presence of God, which is grace, and which is ours to lose only later in life by sin? Why is such “good news” so disturbing for some? Why does it make them angry toward anyone who even suggests the possibility? Why is our solidarity with Adam in sin a more important value for such Christians than our solidarity with Christ in redemption? As the ITC notes, the Greek Fathers had no idea of inherited sin or guilt, so central to the West’s concept of Original Sin. Yet the Greeks were no less Catholic than we. Something surely to think about.” Father Richard McBrien excerpted from column of 5/18/07. (See full column here)

“Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called.⁵⁰ The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, N. 1250.

Father Richard McBrien is a featured columnist in the monthly edition of the Rochester based Catholic Courier.