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August 7, 2022Dear Parishioners,
Last week I announced at Mass that our parish convent building was broken into and vandalized. One exterior window was broken to gain entry. Inside we found broken sinks, mirrors, glass, cabinets. Pawtucket Police and the diocese were notified. After the 4:00pm Mass last weekend Pawtucket Police apprehended three teenagers who had reentered the building. Since then we have secured the building by blocking the lower windows with wood. We also removed the old fence to increase visibility. Eventually the green container will be removed as well. Please pray for protection for our parish and school. Also, please pray for the conversion of those involved that this might be an opportunity for them to believe in Christ.
When an injustice like this one occurs people often become angry; and rightly so. We might wonder however: is it ever good to be angry with someone else? We find this question several places in scripture including: Ephesians 4:26 (“Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger.”), the Gospel of Matthew 5:22 (“But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”), and the scene in the Gospel of John 2:15 when Jesus flips the tables of the money changers. Scripture presents many different visions of anger. Sometimes we read it as a sin and sometimes not.
We need to remember a key aspect of Catholic psychology: Part of what makes us human is that each of us possesses what are called the passions. We could translate this word in today’s terminology as emotions (but it is an imperfect translation). Emotions, since they are part of our makeup and nature are good. For instance, when we see another person suffer sadness is the correct emotional response. We need our emotions to respond to life’s circumstances. Unfortunately, they can go awry when they exceed our reason’s control.
We need to distinguish at least two different meanings or types of anger. Scholars have typically referred to these two types of anger as righteous and unrighteous anger. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, righteous anger is an emotional desire to correct vices and maintain justice. For instance, if you see someone stealing from a store, the emotion of anger can be the force that drives you to report it to the police or stop the criminals. On the other hand, unrighteous anger is the desire for vengeance in order to do evil to someone. Notice that this type of anger could respond to a real injustice (responding to injustice is good), but it goes beyond the correct response as known by reason. As the Catechism tells us (1773) anger, as an emotion, is not necessarily evil or sinful, and is good when it contributes to a good action.
So we can be righteously angry that this injustice occurred here at the parish (and other injustice in the world). It gives us the energy to work toward the restoration of justice. At the same time, as Catholics we also look beyond the confines of justice and anger to mercy. Mercy goes beyond justice in that it wants the conversion of the guilty to a state of life even better than before.
God bless,
Fr. Barrow
