Given the grave disorders, worldwide, just which ones are not mortal sins and which ones are?
This is an outrageous, tone deaf statement given at the conference on family life in Dublin:
“Not every irregularity is a mortal sin," Cardinal Bassetti said. “If we consider everything to be a mortal sin, then we exclude any form of integration. Once we acknowledge that not every disorderly act is a mortal sin, then there is opportunity for discernment.”
Of course, we need to remind the good Cardinal that while not every gravely wrong act is a mortal sin, it remains a gravely wrong act and evil nonetheless.
Yes, for someone to be held culpable for a mortal sin, three things are required:
1. Grave matter
2. The person knows that it is wrong because the Church or even just natural law teaches him that it is wrong
3. The person commits the gravely wrong, immoral, disordered and evil act with full consent of the will
If numbers 2 and 3 are missing, then the gravely immoral evil, disordered act is a venial sin which still requires forgiveness from God and penance.
It remains evil and in civil law still requires punishment because in civil law ignorance is no excuse.
But on the surface, we presume that well-informed Catholics, like priests, would know what is a mortal sin and would know if they have fulfilled all three requirements.
Which Catholics do not know that the following are mortal sins and when they do it with full consent of the will they are held culpable and need to go to Confession as a result of repenting and a desire to avoid the sin in the future?
1. Having false gods
2. Taking the Lord's Holy Name in vain
3. Not keeping the Lord's Day holy
4. Not honoring one's parents
5. Not killing
6. Not committing adultery
7. Not stealing
8. Not bearing false witness
9. Not coveting neighbor's spouse
10. Not coveting neighbor's goods
And of course Catholics in the know, know that each of the above 10 ideals, as some call them, are gravely wrong, disordered, and are expounded upon in minute detail in the Catechism of the Catholic Church even if one commits these through ignorance and without full consent of the will. These acts are harmful for the individual and the common good of the Church and society!
Thus, which of the ten "ideals" above can I get away with and not be considered committing a mortal sin because not every disordered act is a mortal sin? Never mind that my disorders might be harming others, like the one molested, the spouse jilted and the baby murderered!
This is an outrageous, tone deaf statement given at the conference on family life in Dublin:
“Not every irregularity is a mortal sin," Cardinal Bassetti said. “If we consider everything to be a mortal sin, then we exclude any form of integration. Once we acknowledge that not every disorderly act is a mortal sin, then there is opportunity for discernment.”
Of course, we need to remind the good Cardinal that while not every gravely wrong act is a mortal sin, it remains a gravely wrong act and evil nonetheless.
Yes, for someone to be held culpable for a mortal sin, three things are required:
1. Grave matter
2. The person knows that it is wrong because the Church or even just natural law teaches him that it is wrong
3. The person commits the gravely wrong, immoral, disordered and evil act with full consent of the will
If numbers 2 and 3 are missing, then the gravely immoral evil, disordered act is a venial sin which still requires forgiveness from God and penance.
It remains evil and in civil law still requires punishment because in civil law ignorance is no excuse.
But on the surface, we presume that well-informed Catholics, like priests, would know what is a mortal sin and would know if they have fulfilled all three requirements.
Which Catholics do not know that the following are mortal sins and when they do it with full consent of the will they are held culpable and need to go to Confession as a result of repenting and a desire to avoid the sin in the future?
1. Having false gods
2. Taking the Lord's Holy Name in vain
3. Not keeping the Lord's Day holy
4. Not honoring one's parents
5. Not killing
6. Not committing adultery
7. Not stealing
8. Not bearing false witness
9. Not coveting neighbor's spouse
10. Not coveting neighbor's goods
And of course Catholics in the know, know that each of the above 10 ideals, as some call them, are gravely wrong, disordered, and are expounded upon in minute detail in the Catechism of the Catholic Church even if one commits these through ignorance and without full consent of the will. These acts are harmful for the individual and the common good of the Church and society!
Thus, which of the ten "ideals" above can I get away with and not be considered committing a mortal sin because not every disordered act is a mortal sin? Never mind that my disorders might be harming others, like the one molested, the spouse jilted and the baby murderered!
11 comments:
"Discernment" - just double-speak for trying to "discern" every sin away... and it's coming from our "shepherds."
It's very sad.
B as in B
S as in S
I think there's a difference between the first few items on your list and the next. I can't tell whether your list is a set of exhortations or prohibitions. But who am I to judge?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible
To clarify, my comment was directed at the cardinal's statement. He's exhibit A as to why the Church is in meltdown.
Of acts which contravene the Law of God, it can be said there exists two principal aspects. One is in the subjective nature, in which is manifested to a lesser or greater degree the personal culpability of the sinner. The other is in the objective nature which is manifested in the act itself and its effect, whether interior to the sinner,or outwardly to the observer. In the one the sinner does harm to his spiritual condition by offending God; in the other, the act in and of itself goes against what God desires and requires us to do, and so is an offense against His Divine Holiness and Goodness. Though the first aspect of sin may be diminished or even absent, the other is always present.
Is it possible at all that, if there existed some place on earth devoid of religion, and whose inhabitants had no knowledge of moral precepts and natural law, that in that place no serious sin would exist? Did the Aztecs, when they practiced human sacrifice, know that what they were doing was evil? It matters not. They were rightly converted by the Catholic missionaries and enjoined by the Spanish authorities from continuing that iniquitous practice.
There is the objective reality of an evil act and its effects which cannot be dismissed and must be addressed. I speak of acts which are always objectively gravely wrong because they stand in opposition to the what God desires.
God did not set up His Holy laws just a as a way for us to demonstrate our allegiance to Him,though our obedience to Him gives evidence of that. Rather,it is that these laws flow from His very Holy and Divine nature which we, with the help of His grace, will recognize and so be impelled to give Him honor and not offense.
I am really disturbed about what is going on in the Church. I see the secular culture embraced by the Pope, by the highest officials in the Church and 2000 years of tradition and teachings including the very words of Jesus just tossed aside and contradicted. The happening in Ireland has become an occasion for the Catholic hierarchy to informally but concretely raise the homosexual life style as not just an acceptable but a specially protected sub culture. God made you that way, He loves you and that is the end of the story. As has been well pointed out by others there is not a cintilla of scientific evidence for that. Will the HF create a special dicastery for this sub-culture? Who would head it up? There are so many fine candidates out there, he would have a difficult time choosing. It won't be ex-Cardinal McCarrick, he is too old.
I am thoroughly scandalized with all that has been fully documented. I need to go to confession soon.
I apologise for the long quote. Thought some you might draw some strength and confidece from this:
“There is one more thing, which I am taking on myself;
and that is to offer reparation to God for these crimes.
Starting this Friday, and every Friday,
I will be here in church at 6:30 am, making a Holy Hour of reparation.
I will do it on my knees, if they can take it.
I will offer prayers for those who were violated and for us all.
So how does all this connect to the Scriptures?
In the Gospel, Jesus said over and over, “eat my flesh; drink my blood.”
In the Greek, the language is actually more shocking: “chew, gnaw on my flesh.”
People were shocked, and rightly so. Why would he say that?
There are times when Jesus didn’t pussy-foot around;
this is one of them. He was confronting them with a shocking reality:
he was going to suffer a horrible death on the Cross,
and this cruelty was placed at the center of his plan of salvation,
because humanity needs to face the horror of sin and evil.
Not look away; not paper it over. Face it.
Your God came to earth to go to the Cross;
the same cross that we humans nail each other to.
Until we squarely face – chew on and swallow –
the truth of human darkness,
we cannot really know what God is saving us from.
Without facing what hell really is, heaven is just a word.”
From last Sunday’s homily to the congregation of St Remy Parish in the starkly beautifully town of Russia, OH and our own Fr Martin Fox.
Well, it gives God Save the Queen a totally different meaning...
Breaking News:
Ex-nuncio accuses Pope Francis of failing to act on McCarrick’s abuse, claims corruption has reached the top of the hierarchy, publicly calls on the pope to resign.
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/ex-nuncio-accuses-pope-francis-of-failing-to-act-on-mccarricks-abuse
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/ex-nuncio-accuses-pope-francis-of-failing-to-act-on-mccarricks-abuse
Yes, rcg, I read Fr. Fox’s homilies every Sunday and was so grateful for the one this past Sunday from which you quote. We got NOTHING here locally in our parish and our very silent Bishop of Savannah has not yet said or printed anything. Gives new meaning to a quote from a friend (a Harvard B.S./McGill University PhD snob) years ago: “Oh, you’re moving to the Pellagra-ridden South? Well, good luck.” I hated him for that, but I would give what teeth I have left for some response, word of encouragement, or even acknowledgement locally from our church. We are dead silent here so far as I can tell.
So grateful for FRAJM’s continuing heroic coverage. It comes at great cost, I’m sure.
Post a Comment