Fr. Riley gave an amazing homily today on the difference between mortal and venial sin, which included a run-down of the Ten Commandments and a description of a mortal and a venial sin that would offend against each one. Included in his descriptions was a statement that contraception is a mortal sin. I almost fell over. If you refer to my previous post, you'll see that Fr. Riley just preached on two of the topics I never thought I would hear from the pulpit.

I have been a Catholic since 1998, attending Mass since 1997. In that time I have not heard a priest speak against contraception during a homily. I asked the Old Oligarch, a cradle Catholic who has attended weekly mass all his life, how many times before today he had heard any preaching against contraception. He responded, "Once or twice." How sad.
When Father spoke against contraception, I expected some reaction from the congregation. Maybe a "Boo," or someone leaving, or everyone shifting in the pew, or something. Nothing happened, though.

This homily was very special to me because I have been somewhat bummed out all week from the revelation (via the discussions in the comments boxes on Amy Welborn's blog, and other places) that many of the so-called "Catholic bloggers" in the "Catholic blogosphere" are in fact sucking down The Pill as fast as Ortho-McNeil can produce them. Maybe I am naive, but the spirit in which many of these bloggers write made me believe they were truly orthodox, and I felt pleased that I had found a few like-minded people, which of course I now realize is not true. Maybe I am wrong to be disappointed, given my own multiple imperfections (I know it's hard to believe, but they do exist!), but I think there is a distinction between recognizing that something is a sin and acknowledging that one has fallen short and simply denying that one has sinned.

Charity has always been one of the most challenging virtues for me, and this is but one more example of my need for it, I guess.