This weekend's topic is "Whatever Happened to Sin, Part 2." I can remember when sin was very private. It was strictly between God and me. And, in the case of a few commandments, like lying and stealing, it would include one or two other individuals who got caught between me and God. But, not only was it very private, it also was very internal. Remember the common and familiar confessions, "I had bad thoughts."

Now, while all of that is true enough, in our standard catechisms and classes there was very little and very limited mention of public issues or political life or of collective or of social sin. And, there was a very good reason for that. (Now, this doesn't apply to our candidates for Confirmation, but applies to many of us here who have hair styles such as I do, and similar symptoms.) The catechisms that we used, although they were printed in the 1940's and the 1950's and the early 1960's, were actually a version and a reissue of the Roman Catechism that was produced by the Council of Trent, for clergy and for teachers. And that means it was produced in the late 1500's. And that means that it was produced well before the Industrial Revolution, with its difficult issues around labor and capital. It was produced well before the growth of democratic governments and their issues around political responsibility. And it was produced well before nuclear arms and multinational corporations and global warming.

So, in 1891, when Pope Leo XIII first addressed the condition of labor and he called for the rights for workers to organize, for the right to collective bargaining, for a living wage, for decent working conditions, the impact on our catechisms and on us and on our sins was invisible. And it was the same in 1931, when Pope Pius XI dealt with the responsibility of national governments and, therefor, the responsibility of citizens and their politics. And the catechisms could hardly keep up with the Second Vatican Council, with Pope John XXIII, with Pope Paul VI, with Pope John Paul II, all of whom addressed the international and global issues of justice and the obligations of the Church and Christians not to run away but to get engaged with and be responsible for the social issues facing the modern world.

We now know far more clearly that the Ten Commandments and the Gospel of Christ mean recognizing and, at times, admitting that our sins include activity in the public and social arena, with the challenge of racism and militarism and defense of life issues and sexism and responsibility for the environment and concern for social justice and responsible voting and participating in our society and in our world. Sin is much more public than it used to be.

It sounds as if there's a new look in sin. And there is! But it is also as ancient as the cry for justice of the Hebrew prophets in the Old Testament. It's as traditional as Jesus saying, "Whatever you do to the least of My brothers and sisters, not just the one next door, but all of them all over the world... you do unto Me."