Bishop Anthony Taylor of the diocese of Little Rock said this during his homily a couple of weeks ago:
“Over the last 45 years our society has become very permissive — anything goes! This leaves us and especially our children at great risk because even when done in ignorance, evil deeds do great harm. Ignorance is one of Satan’s deadliest weapons.” (www.arkansas-catholic.org/columns/index.php)
I would add that for many families, parents have also become very permissive. The attitude that minor children should not be taught moral absolutes for fear of unhealthy guilt is an experiment that has failed us. This attitude and practice has contributed to social evils that afflict contemporary society, evils such as abortion, euthanasia, contraception, devaluation and destruction of marriage, and various forms of idolatry to mention a few.
Even if, because of ignorance, an individual is not seriously morally culpable, the social impact of sinful behavior does damage to the individual and to society.
This is why the Church continues to speak out against all of the above mentioned evils in our world today, all the while condemning no one individual. The world has a hard time understanding this; they see it as rejection and condemnation of persons rather than for what it is, i.e., an attempt to teach all of us that whether known or unknown, sin damages all, especially the most vulnerable.
