Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@lancia.garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Mortal Sins?? Message-ID: Date: 15 Nov 89 09:28:01 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 39 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu 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.) As far as I know, missing Mass on Sunday is still serious sin. But not for the same reasons that, say, murder is. Murder is serious because of its nature. Missing Mass is serious because the Church made Mass attendance a serious obligation. The source of some of these things is the code of canon law. If anyone has a copy handy, please look it up. Mass attendance is probably in there. Catholic priests study moral theology as part of their seminary training. They have to be able to understand what is sin and what is not, and how serious different kinds of sin are, and what effects they produce on souls, because they have to be able to hear confessions. 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 I was talking about the seriousness of the things themselves, in the things I mentioned. Some acts are morally always bad enough to be candidates for mortal sin. For example, blasphemy. A person who utters a blasphemy has done something which is materially a mortal sin. Whether he is culpable for the action or not depends on two other things: 1. whether he did it totally freely or not (full consent of the will) 2. whether he knew it was something serious (sufficient reflection) Joe Buehler