Vinogradov
Fr. Alexis Vinogradov on “issues” and “persons”
The idea I mentioned of individual uniqueness could be construed by rubricists of every ilk as the slippery slope to situational ethics, the mantra of pre-Woodstock ditching of all societal norms. However, I still maintain, as the central discovery of my priesthood, that we are moment to moment “sent” on an unprecedented discovery of a unique creation of God, that has never before been imagined, and will never be repeated. To that creature, I must find a unique response, willed by God. I won’t find answers in a book, though the books may guide me. Like a good physician, I now have to bring to bear everything in my arsenal and make a once-in-a-lifetime decision. This act is a cross, which in my falleness I seek to avoid; I recuse myself from life by appeal to the dead letter of secure laws.