Part of apologizing for sin <\/a>is to make reparations.\u00a0 The trick, of course, is figuring out how to do that.\u00a0 Reparations are supposed to, in some way, signal and incarnate a willingness to undo damage done by the sin.\u00a0 Sometimes they can consist of something obvious (\u201cGive back the bike you stole\u201d).\u00a0 Very often, it has to be a token act of reparation since the possibility of \u201cfull reparations\u201d is not possible.\u00a0 You cannot dig up the old man\u2019s grave\u00a0and tell him you are sorry you wished he was dead when you were seventeen.\u00a0 That ship has sailed.\u00a0 But you can do something\u2013like tell your son you love\u00a0 him\u2013that makes amends.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s a stretchy concept.\u00a0 In the case of the business with Live Action I think that since my principal sin was against the people of Live Action, it naturally follows that Live Action and I should talk and they should let me know what an appropriate sort of reparation should be.\u00a0 To that end, I\u2019ve written Lila and asked that we might speak.\u00a0 Till that happens, I don\u2019t think it will help anything for me to continue to talk about Live Action publicly, nor to run around inventing some penance for myself that may either help nothing, or worse, exacerbate the problem.\u00a0 Some readers have written to prescribe various penances on behalf of LA, all of which I politely decline on the theory that is the person affected by\u00a0my sin should make that call, not a crowd of strangers.<\/p>\n In addition, as I have learned in the past, internet mea culpas are moments when some people take the occasion of your admitting to sin in some area to try to force a confession that everything you have ever argued for, particularly against them,\u00a0is wrong.\u00a0 I also decline to do this.\u00a0 I repent the sins I confessed here (as well as others I confessed in the sacrament that are none of your business).\u00a0 I do not repent opinions I did not confess to be sinful and my refusal to do so does not constitute impenitence but conviction.\u00a0 If I have refused to acquiesce to your demand that I renounce my views of, say, torture or gay \u201cmarriage, that does not mean I offered a fake repentance.\u00a0 It means that I don\u2019t repent of things I don\u2019t think are wrong, such as my opinions.\u00a0 If I thought I was wrong, I would not hold that opinion.<\/p>\n Finally, as I noted in my apology, what I said was intended to stand as an apology to many people over the years to whom I have been bitter or treated as means to ends or otherwise dealt with unjustly, not just Live Action:<\/p>\n Finally, those patterns have played out repeatedly in other arguments over the years: take your pick, you guys know better than I do.\u00a0 Again, the point is not who was right or wrong about the point being argued, it\u2019s that I have been wrong in the way that I argued, very often reducing people to means.\u00a0 Again, mea culpa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Most people, looking back over their lives, can have a general sense of \u201cThings I wish I\u2019d done differently\u201d and try to make amends in the case of specific incidents.\u00a0 But most people are not generally in a position where literally dozens and dozens of people they do not know from Adam and Eve will show up in their mailboxes, demanding all sorts of reparations for things they have no memory of and no confidence are related to anything like reality.\u00a0 I do.\u00a0 I have angry strangers show up in my comboxes and mailbox all the time, demanding reparations for everything from my imaginary support for Islamic terrorists, to my sympathy for Jewish Masonic conspirators and their nefarious plans to destroy the Church, to my censorious refusal to allow them to hold forth on what a disgusting fat pig I am.\u00a0 The other day I got an email, along with a bunch of other people, declaring me under judgment because somebody at the Register apparently said something nice about Fr. Andrew Greeley.\u00a0No idea.\u00a0I have people mad at me about lots of stuff\u2013some of which are real grievances about real sins I have committed.\u00a0 I can make a good faith effort to try to cover the bases and say \u201cI acknowledge the grievance you have\u201d but there is absolutely no way I am going to \u201cmake reparations\u201d satisfactory to every person out there with an ax to grind.<\/p>\n So I can, for instance, say I\u2019m sorry I have treated Michael Voris and his\u00a0defenders with flippancy and mockery.\u00a0 It was wrong.\u00a0 I think that, despite our very real differences, Michael is basically on the side of the angels.\u00a0 I regret the hurt you guys told me you have received from my mouth.\u00a0 As reparation, here is a link to Church Militant TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n I can say that I\u2019m sorry for allowing my distrust and disbelief of the Medjugorje \u201cseers\u201d spill into flippancy and contempt toward those who find the phenomenon nourishing.\u00a0 I\u2019ve known many very good people who have benefited from it and I regret hurting you with my flippancy and know that my words have hurt you because you\u2019ve told me so.\u00a0 As reparation, here is a link to a fine musical Rosary sung by my friend and fellow parishioner Donna Cori Gibson<\/a>.<\/p>\n I can say I\u2019m sorry\u00a0for the hurts I\u2019ve inflicted on Traditionalists over the years and that I forgive them the hurts they have inflicted on me.\u00a0 As reparation, here is a link to Corpus Christi Watershed<\/a>\u00a0to bring a little liturgical beauty into life.<\/p>\n