David Ancell / Thursday June 26, 2003
I now know that Robert Gotcher got my e-mail. There have been several posts about Fr. David Knight’s book on human sexuality. I once took an interest in reading him because he is a Memphis priest. I haven’t read the book they are discussion. I have read His Way, Reaching Jesus, and Confession Can Change Your Life.
The book on confession is one that I’m not so sure about. It starts off with a great premise: that we should be trying to change those things in our lives that we are confessing. As was discussed in the HMS blog, Fr. Knight does not like a rules based approach. However, because he omits the concepts and rules from his writing, it is very easy to read (or misread) him as having simply thrown the rules out. I’ve heard him preach before and can get that impression there, too.
For example, he mentions in the book the last judgement in Matthew 25. He goes on to say that no one went to Hell because they committed a mortal sin but because they didn’t “feed the hungry, clothe the naked,” etc. However, those can very well be considered to be mortal sins of omission. Therefore, the goats are going to Hell because of mortal sins committed.
He also criticized the fact that some people go to confession because they are afraid of going to Hell. Well, given that this is a real possibility, it’s difficult for this to not be at least part of the motivation for going to confession. In the CCC, this is named imperfect contrition. Such is sufficient to gain forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. I would hate for anyone to avoid the sacrament because they felt they were only concerned about staying out of Hell. Of course, I agree that we should be led to perfect contrition, sorrow for offending a good and loving God. However, this often comes after one is forgiven when there will be do eternal damnation for those sins.
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