"Is it a sin or not?" This question about particular actions often reflects a Catholic's concern about living the moral life.

However, in the post Vatican II Church, some feel that the apparent clarity around moral issues has been lost. In fact, one can see this refrain echoed over and over again by a small group of contemporary Catholic journalists. So much so, that is has been picked up by a number of Catholics in general.

This concern itself echoes a title of a dated but no less important book by Carl Menninger that asked us back in 1973, "Whatever Became of Sin?" There are claims that the lines for Communion are too long and the lines for confession too short. There are claims that the moral fiber of the Catholic community has been seriously if not fatally wounded by ethical relativism and an ever-widening adherence to the absolute autonomy of the individual. No doubt there is some truth in these concerns.

However, I would suggest that there is a deeper and more important theological question that is really beneath the concern about the apparent loss of a sense of sin: Did something happen to Catholic morality, and did someone forget to tell me?

The answer is, in fact, yes and no. Something did happen to Catholic morality in the last 35 years. There is a different vision than that prior to the Council --- but it is not a new vision.

What the Church has done is to recover the best of its moral tradition and move from an almost singular focus on isolated actions, and return to a morality that addresses the person. The Church has rediscovered the power of the Aristotelian/Thomistic teaching, that human actions, moral actions are only possible because they flow from human beings. This means that indeed the moral question "What should I do?" remains essential, but is actually secondary to the primary moral question, "What should I be?" Let me explain.

Look at the following questions and let me know if you think they get to heart of moral discipleship:

---Am I supposed to fast an hour before Mass or an hour before Communion?

---Does a diet drink break my fast since it has zero calories?

---Exactly what constitutes the "two smaller meals" on a fast day?

---What if I eat a bigger main meal? Can I then eat two larger "small" meals that are each only half of my main meal?

---If I take a half of box of paper clips home from work, is that a sin? Mortal or venial?

Menninger's question "Whatever became of sin?" remains a serious one. No healthy Catholic moral theology can trivialize the power and reality of sin. When we lose a sense of sin, we lose any sense of personal responsibility and eventually of morality itself.

However, it must be acknowledged that a loss of moral focus cannot only be attributed to a loss of the reality of sin by moral relativists. It also has arisen from an impoverished theology that divorced morality from the person and centered it almost exclusively in the act. Sin is trivialized when it is either relativized or when it is viewed as something that can be separated from a person.

Every moral act needs two essential elements: it needs to be deliberate and informed. These two elements are not found in acts per se, but in persons. If we forget that morality is about persons, we run the danger of trivializing it.

The recent discussions that have arisen concerning the appropriateness or not of monuments of the Ten Commandments in government buildings or on government property might prove to be a valuable starting point for Catholics asking about Catholic morality. For us Catholics, the Ten Commandments are important and valuable, but are not now, nor have they ever been, the heart of our moral focus. Some have suggested that if Christians really wanted a symbol of our moral focus we would need to have a monument of Christ delivering the Sermon on the Mount. The power of Catholic morality is, of course, that it transcends a minimalist morality and calls one to the Beatitudes and beyond.

For us Catholics, it is important to understand that it is not rules or commandments that are at the heart of our morality. As Catholics, the ultimate law we live by is the law of Christ. We are called to conform ourselves to Christ in all things. Discipleship is a life-long commitment to Christ. Discipleship is following in the footsteps of Jesus.

This discipleship is made clear in the liturgy of the Eucharist where we are privileged to participate in and be transformed by the paschal mystery. The paschal mystery is the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. This does not represent a new focus for moral theology, but rather the reclamation of our Tradition. I would suggest that the recovery of the pre-reformation Catholic theological tradition accounts for the best of what has happened to Catholic moral theology since Vatican II.

As we continue to conform ourselves more and more to Christ in all things, the question "What should I do?" will only be authentic if we first ask, "What do I want to be?" And, of course, the answer to that question is, "A disciple of Jesus.

Vincentian Father Richard Benson is academic dean and professor of moral theology at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo. Starting in October, he will write a monthly column for The Tidings on issues of morality and life.