When good (bad) things happen
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-17-2010
Publisher
The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company
Abstract
Anyone who has ministered to people who are suffering has probably encountered the anguished question: Why did God ... give this young mother terminal cancer? allow our child to be kidnapped and killed? inflict this hurricane upon an already earthquake-ravaged country? Conversely, there are those smug or masochistic or sadistic people who are sure they know exactly why God did something: God is punishing those perverts, God is testing my faith, God took your child to teach you detachment, and so on. This attribution of direct causality for mundane happenings to God can be a spontaneous reaction to bewilderment in the face of inexplicable evil and suffering, but it reflects bad theology and encourages worse spirituality. Before looking for traces of God’s influence in the present experience of the Vatican investigations of religious congregations and their leadership, it is well to unveil and repudiate any temptation to whitewash that experience under the rubric of “God’s will.”
Recommended Citation
Schneiders, Sandra Marie “When good (bad) things happen.” National Catholic Reporter. Sept. 17, 2010. http://ncronline.org/news/women-religious/when-good-bad-things-happen. Date accessed Sept. 24, 2010.
