Since I attended a Catholic grade school and a Catholic high
school, I was well versed in the fact that you did NOT want a mortal sin on
your soul. During my grade school years, we would pray for the pagan babies,
who were (almost by definition) anyone who was not Catholic. As a matter of
fact, the official teaching of the Catholic church, until the Vatican Council
of 1962, was that the ONLY people who could get into heaven were Catholics.
During the same time period, Lutherans were taught that only LUTHERANS could
get into heaven, but it wasn’t until years later that I realized that NEITHER
argument was entirely correct.
Thoughts about mortal sin crept into the news the other day
due to the actions of a Catholic priest in South Carolina (Father Robert Morey
of Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina), who
refused to give communion to Joe Biden because of his stance on abortion. Biden, a devout
Catholic, was asked about the matter on Tuesday during an interview with MSNBC's
Andrea Mitchell, but said he did not want to discuss the situation.
For
the record, Biden was a sponsor of the 1974 Hyde amendment, which prevented
taxpayer money for abortions. He is personally opposed to abortion, but does
not feel that it is proper for him to dictate his beliefs to others, a position
that I agree with.
Joe is not the only Catholic who feels that abortion should be legal in most cases. In fact. so do 56% of the Catholics in America. Party affiliation, of course, also has a bearing. The vast majority of liberal Democrats and Democratic leaders support legal abortion (91%), as do three-quarters of conservative and moderate Democrats (75%).
Conservative Republicans and Republican leaners are far more likely to say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases than to say that it should be legal (77% vs. 22%).
https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/
Father Morey is certainly entitled to his opinion, but the
truth of the matter is that his refusal was actually a political stunt - which
is why he invited the local press to attend the service.
Since 42 priests in South Carolina have had credible accusations of child
sexual misconduct made against them, you would think that the church would
prioritize THAT instead of Joe Biden, but I guess that ‘s wishful thinking.
1.
grave matter, the
moral object or content of the action is seriously evil;
2.
full knowledge (or full
advertence)- one knows what he or she is doing, and its serious evil
content;
3.
and full or deliberate consent –
one accepts or tolerates what he or she is
doing.
So, what IS a mortal sin?
Here is a brief list, which is tied to the Ten Commandments:
1ST Commandment: I
am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.
·
Polytheism and idolatry
·
Superstition which also expresses itself in
various forms of divination, magic, sorcery and spiritism.
·
Irreligion which is evidenced:
in tempting God by word or deed; in sacrilege,
which profanes sacred persons or sacred things, above all the Eucharist; and
in simony, which involves the buying or selling of spiritual
things.
·
Atheism which rejects the
existence of God, founded often on a false conception of human autonomy.
·
Agnosticism which affirms that
nothing can be known about God, and involves indifferentism and
practical atheism.
·
See Compendium 445; CCC 2110-2128; 2138-2140
2nd Commandment: You
shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
·
Blasphemy, curses, unfaithfulness to promises made
to God, false oath, perjury. Compendium 447-449; CCC 2142-2149;
2160-2162
3rd Commandment: Remember
to keep holy the LORD’S day.
·
Not going to Holy Mass during Sundays and Holy
days of Obligation without a just motive (e.g. sickness); See
Catechism 1389
4th Commandment: Honor
your father and your mother.
·
Negligence, infulfillment and indifference of
the obligations/responsibilites towards one’s children,
parents and siblings;
·
hatred; ingratitude; disrespect; disobedience in
matters concerning the material and spiritual well-being;
·
negligence and indifference in
the education in virtue and in faith of one’s
children.
·
See Catechism 2114-2118;2221-2229
5th Commandment: You
shall not kill.
·
direct and intentional
murder and cooperation in it;
·
direct abortion,
willed as an end or as means, as well as cooperation in it. Attached to this
sin is the penalty of excommunication because, from the moment
of his or her conception, the human being must be absolutely respected and
protected in his integrity;
·
direct euthanasia which
consists in putting an end to the life of the handicapped, the sick, or those
near death by an act or by the omission of a required action;
·
suicide and voluntary
cooperation in it, insofar as it is a grave offense against the just
love of God, of self, and of neighbor. One’s responsibility may be aggravated
by the scandal given; one who is psychologically disturbed or is experiencing
grave fear may have diminished responsibility.
·
See Compendium 470; Catechism 2268-2283; 2321-2326
6th Commandment: You
shall not commit adultery.
·
Grave sins against chastity differ according to their
object: adultery, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution,
rape, and homosexual actions. These
sins are expressions of the vice of lust. These kinds of acts committed against
the physical and moral integrity of minors become even more
grave.
·
Direct sterilization, contraception, artificial
fecundation
·
adultery, divorce, polygamy, incest, free
unions (cohabitation, concubinage), and fornication or sexual
acts before or outside of marriage
·
See Compendium 492, 498, 502; Catechism 2351-2359; 2396;
2370-2372; 2380-2391, 2400
7th Commandment: You
shall not steal.
·
theft, deliberate
retention of goods lent or of objects lost; business fraud; paying
unjust wages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of the
ignorance or hardship of another;
·
speculation in which one contrives to
manipulate the price of goods artificially in order to gain an advantage to the
detriment of others;
·
corruption in which one
influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law;
·
appropriation and use for private purposes of
the common goods of an enterprise; work poorly done; tax evasion; forgery of
checks and invoices; excessive expenses and waste. Willfully
damaging private or public property is contrary to the moral law and
requires reparation. (CCC 2409)
·
slavery (2414)
·
disordered desire for money (CCC
2424)
·
withholding wages (CCC
2434)
·
immoderate love for riches and their selfish
use (CCC 2445)
8th Commandment: You
shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
·
Lying (in some cases CCC
2484), false witness and perjury (CCC 2476),
rash judgment, detraction, calumny (CCC 2477) , adulation (CCC
2480), violation of the sacramental seal (2490) and divulgation
of professional secrets (2491)
·
See Compendium 523-524; Catechism 2475-2487; 2507-2509;
9th Commandment:
. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
·
The ninth commandment forbids cultivating thoughts and
desires connected to actions forbidden by the sixth commandment.
·
See Compendium 528 ; Catechism 2517-2519; 2531-2532
10th Commandment: You
shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
·
This commandment, which completes the preceding commandment,
requires an interior attitude of respect for the property of others and
forbids greed, unbridled covetousness for the goods of others,
and envy which is the sadness one experiences at the sight of
another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself. See
Compendium 531; Catechism 2534-2540; 2551-2554
According to Catholic
doctrine, you should not partake in communion if you are in a state of mortal
sin. If you take a close look at the above sins, you’ll realize that VERY FEW
Catholics should receive communion on a given Sunday, and here is why:
3rd Commandment: Remember
to keep holy the LORD’S day.
·
Not going to Holy Mass during Sundays and Holy
days of Obligation without a just motive (e.g. sickness); See
Catechism 1389
According
to the most recent Gallup poll, only 39% of the Catholics surveyed had attended
mass the previous week, which means that 61% of the Catholics who went to
church should not receive communion unless they went to confession first.
6th Commandment: You shall not
commit adultery.
·
Grave sins against chastity differ according to their
object: adultery, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution,
rape, and homosexual actions. These
sins are expressions of the vice of lust. These kinds of acts committed against
the physical and moral integrity of minors become even more
grave.
·
Direct sterilization, contraception, artificial
fecundation
·
adultery, divorce, polygamy, incest, free
unions (cohabitation, concubinage), and fornication or sexual
acts before or outside of marriage
The Results Are In: First National Study of Teen Masturbation.
Just 63% of younger boys of reported masturbating at least once, but that
figure increased to 80% among 17-year-olds. For girls, the percentage rose with
age from 43% to 58%. For boys and girls, masturbation was linked with an
increased likelihood of oral sex and intercourse. As a result, only 20% of teen boys who are 17 or older should receive
communion.
According to the Washington Post, 98% of Catholic women have used birth
control at some point in their lives, which leaves only 2% of the Catholic
women who should receive communion.
Catholics do better than other religions when it comes to divorce, but
that still makes 28% of them ineligible for communion.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholics-continue-to-have-lowest-divorce-rates-report-finds
Receiving communion is an important past of the mass, but what exactly
IS communion?
The
Eucharist is another name for Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper. The
term comes from the Greek by way of Latin. It means "thanksgiving."
It often refers to the consecration of the body and blood of Christ or its
representation through bread and wine.
In
Roman Catholicism, the term is used in three ways: first, to refer to the
real presence of Christ; second, to refer to Christ's continuing action
as High Priest (He "gave thanks"
at the Last Supper, which began the consecration of
the bread and wine); and third, to refer to the Sacrament of Holy Communion
itself.
Various
Christian denominations view the eucharist differently.
In the
Catholic church, only those who are confirmed Catholics can receive communion.
Catholics who are more conservative feel that only PRACTICING Catholics can
receive communion. According to Pew Research, about half (52%) of all U.S. adults who were raised Catholic
have left the church at some point in their lives. A significant minority of
them returned, but most (four-in-ten of all those raised Catholic) have not.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church allows anyone who
is baptized (even if in another Christian faith) to receive the eucharist. The
Missouri Synod Lutheran church requires participants to turn in a post card affirming
that they are follow the teaching of that church before receiving communion.
(For the record, the one time that I went to a Missouri Synod church, I received communion – but did
not turn in a post card.)
In 2016, Donald Trump, who identifies as a Presbyterian, captured 52% of
the Catholic vote, despite the fact that he is guilty of at least 25 of the
mortal sins listed above.
Although
Joe Biden may have been disappointed by not having received communion at he
church in South Carolina, he is not likely to change his core beliefs because
of it.
Like
politics, religion is another one of the those topics that we are always going
to disagree about. In my opinion, the best approach is simply to live and let
live. We should respect the opinion of others, even if we disagree with them,
and they also are obligated to respect ours.
It’s
really that simple.
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