"Wretch" is protestant code for total depravity, a heresy. Man is not a "wretch" because even while in a state of sin God give him grace to respond to His promptings.
Agreed, Romulus, and just for the record, while “Amazing Grace” is certainly a nice hymn...it is decidedly NOT Catholic, and I don’t like hearing it at Catholic Masses.
That being said...the reason ALWAYS given to me about the change in the “wretch” line had nothing whatsoever to do with Catholic doctrine, and everything to do with the “we don’t want people to feel bad” sort of stuff.
Regards,
There is a beauty in the Protestant version of complete and sudden, tear-drenched, repentant conversion. “Amazing Grace” expresses that particular form of beauty well.
Not that a Catholic cannot have the same experience. Nevertheless, it is not just the verbiage: the entire song is based on the notion of sudden and complete outpouring of grace in response to faith. This is a Protestant model, out of place in a Church, a place where real encounter with Christ Whole, not solely His Grace, happens whether we are ready for it or not, and mostly, we are not.