Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!uwvax!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Mortal Sins?? Message-ID: Date: 13 Nov 89 16:53:19 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA Lines: 30 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article barry1@ihlpa.att.com (Barry O Olson) writes: >> >> mortal: murder; blasphemy; theft of large sums of money; perjury > >Skipping mass for even a week was considered mortal also. >Has this changed? There is no current codex of mortal sins of which I am aware (JHPB might correct me on this.) To use a term familiar to Protestants in a Catholic sense, you could say that mortal sin removes the free grace of justification (until it is restored through the sacrament of Penance.) The sins Joe mentions are certainly choice candidates for mortal sin, but one cannot objectively say for sure in every case; this, of course, is a matter between the sinner and God. When there is any doubt, it should be confessed. I believe that missing Mass on Sunday had in the past been considered a mortal sin, but you can easily see that it is hardly in the same vein as murder and embezzlement. There has been a tendency in some Catholic circles to make a delineation between "venial" sins with varying degrees of seriousness--missing Mass might be "serious venial sin" in this parlance--and reserving the phrase "mortal sin" for actions which truly reflect a radical severing of one's relationship with God, given its implications. Just where this line is drawn reflects where on the Catholic political spectrum you fall. -- Steve Dyer dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer dyer@arktouros.mit.edu, dyer@hstbme.mit.edu