Morality vs Moralizing

I recently came across an obituary that stopped me in my tracks. It was a remembrance of Father James (Jim) Doherty of Glasgow. It is hard not to be struck by the stories listed in The Telegraph about him. Hagiography or not, they provide insight into the life of what sounds like an extraordinary priest. Here is one of the stories, courtesy of The Telegraph:

His bluntness irked the bishops, but to the laity it spelt sincerity and an absence of snobbery. An oft-repeated story told of Doherty ringing up a woman who had not been to church for years to see if she would like him to bless her home. “The old priest never came to see us,” the woman said, “because of our living arrangements – you see, I’m living with my partner and we’ve three bairns out of wedlock.”

“I’m here to bless your house, honey, not judge your circumstances,” replied Doherty. “Where do you live?”

“Oh, thank you father. We live in a flat, our name is Smith, but press the top buzzer. There are Smiths below us, but you don’t want to go there because they’re a couple of poofs.”

“Is that right? Well, see, if I do press the wrong buzzer and I get the two poofs, I’ll just say: ‘Hello you two poofs, can you tell me where the two fornicating adulterers and their three bastard children live?’ ”

A characteristic act of Doherty’s was to attach an HIV red ribbon to a statue of St Vincent. And in 2005 he addressed the Scottish Parliament. “Having a morality and moralising are two different things,” he said. “My Church has been trying to get its own house in order since it began.”

This story points out an important issue: there is a difference between morality and moralizing. For us as Christians, we are called to examine ourselves frequently and even harshly. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk reminds us: "Let us examine these things and the rest, and let us look at how we live, how we conduct ourselves, how we think, how we talk, how we act, with what kind of heart we go about before the God who sees all things, how we treat one another." Our morality and ethics are how we judge ourselves.

Yet, so often we have the desire to moralize and judge others. Saint Maximus the Confessor says: "Whoever is curious to know about the sins of others or judges his brother out of suspicion has not yet begun to repent, neither does he care to know about his own sins, heavier than heaviest lead indeed. He does not know why people are heavy-hearted, take pleasure in vanity and seek after falsehood (Psalms 4:3). So, as a madman wandering in the dark and neglecting his own sins, he muses on the sins of others—either real or imaginary—guided by his suspicion. "

As clergy and laity, let us focus on our own sins and not the sins of others. There are, of course, times when things must be dealt with accordingly. Those in the church have swept things under the rug far too often. This does not mean we turn a blind eye to grave scandal or someone is being injured, hurt, or in imminent danger. In these circumstances, we have a moral imperative to stop evil from occurring. Besides the harmful actions of others, when it comes to their sins, we leave those to God who is the only true judge.

To view Fr. Jim's requiem, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPkMvmb1JwI. To read the obituary in The Telegraph, view here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/01/21/fr-james-big-jim-doherty-well-loved-glasgow-catholic-priest/.

“Those who look well after their own consciences rarely fall into the sin of judging others.” – St. Francis de Sales