Is an "unjust war" a sin? What about adultery, slander, slavery, prostitution, pornography, abortion?
The first answer than comes to mind is "yes, of course." The answer seems at first glance almost too obvious to be asked, but recovering a sense of sin and an understanding of the reality of sin might be a valuable project for us members of the Catholic Church in the 21st century.
In fact the correct answer, "no," might be a bit surprising. The Church's constant tradition is that "actions" cannot be sinful, only people can be sinful. An act can be "evil" but sin is personal, it demands sufficient knowledge and free and deliberate choice. To label actions, simply in and of themselves, as sinful is inaccurate and might actually contribute to the trivialization or even dismissal of the reality and power of sin in our lives and world.
Let's begin with a case:
Juan and Mary have been active Catholics throughout their lives, married for 60 years. They approach the Parish Life Director before the Sunday Eucharist with a bit of trepidation and guilt. They mention that they did not go to Mass the previous Sunday and want to know if they are in the state of sin and need to go to confession before receiving Communion.
The director takes the time to ask them why they missed Mass. They relate a simple story surrounding Mary's health. It seems that last week as they were getting ready for Mass Mary had an insulin reaction related to her diabetic condition. After a bit of orange juice, she seemed fine but was still unsteady and told Juan to leave her and go to Mass on his own. Juan refused to leave her and stayed home to keep her company and make sure that indeed she was recovering. Thankfully, it was a passing incident and this week everything was back to normal.
Nevertheless, they still felt guilty about missing Mass, especially Juan, since he knew that he hadn't been sick himself. Was it a sin that he missed Mass? After all, he did knowingly and deliberately break a serious commandment of the Church by not fulfilling his Sunday obligation.
This simple scenario allows us to open up the Church's teaching on sin. Sin is real. Sin is a part of everyone's life. However, without an accurate understanding of sin, our identity as Christians and our growth as disciples of Jesus can be hampered. The most common misunderstanding often results from the fact that we don't recognize that in its moral theology the Church undertakes two very different kinds of analyses that are complementary but not identical. The moral analysis of the Church involves both objective analysis and subjective analysis.
1. Objective moral analysis focuses exclusively on actions. It is essential, for by doing this we both identify and come face to face with the reality evil. The determination that some actions are "intrinsically evil" (instrinsice malum) means that these actions can never be done under any circumstance or with any intention, no matter how good. These actions run counter to who we are as the children of God.
Our Catechism defines these kinds of actions thusly (n. 1761): "…there are certain specific kinds of behavior that are always wrong to choose, because choosing them involves a disorder of the will, that is, a moral evil." A contemporary list of such actions can be found in the document from Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes (n. 27) and is repeated by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor (n. 80). The list includes acts of genocide, abortion, euthanasia, physical and mental torture, arbitrary deportation, and degrading conditions of work, along with others.
While the objective analysis of actions is essential to a healthy moral theology, the analysis of acts alone can never be about sin. Sin is about culpability, about real guilt. It is about being personally responsible for an evil decision. We cannot talk about real sin unless we talk about ourselves.
2. Subjective moral analysis focuses on persons and only here do we encounter true sin. Subjectivity is used here not to mean "arbitrary" or "relative," but rather that which only belongs to the human subject, the person. Simply stated, sin is not "what" I did, but that "I" did it. For sin to be sin, knowledge and intent must be involved. For this reason, those who have not reached the age of reason, or who suffer permanently or temporarily from a loss of reason are not judged as "responsible" for their actions and thus cannot sin.
On the other hand, in Scripture, Jesus makes it clear that an "exterior" act is not even necessary for one to be guilty of sinning. More important and essential, in fact, is the "interior" act of deliberate choice: "What I say to you is: anyone who looks lustfully at another has already committed adultery… (Mt. 5:28)."
Every Christian must admit that "we" are at the heart of sin. Sin is when we choose to love only ourselves rather than God and neighbor. That is why so many saints have repeated the adage that "idolatry" is at the heart of all sin, since in sin we choose to worship ourselves rather than God. In sin, it's all about "me."
Is every evil action automatically a sin? That has never been the teaching of the Church. While it is essential for the Church to continue to denounce all forms of evil, personal and social, it is clear that without the proper knowledge and intention, an individual or even a society might commit an evil act without full culpability.
St. Thomas Aquinas spent considerable time on this issue. He wrote about "impediments" to personal responsibility that reduced or even removed the notion of sin from an objectively evil act --- e.g., acting out of passion, or without true freedom, or with a mental defect.
Have we individually or as members of a civil society moved too far from a personal and communal ownership of sin, from culpability? Are we unwilling to take responsibility for our complicity in evil? Have we become so clever and sophisticated that we can find an impediment that makes us "not guilty" almost all the time? Perhaps.
Nevertheless, personal and social sin is a reality in all our lives. And only when we recognize it as an "interior" choice and take responsibility --- as individuals and as a society --- can we search for and receive the infinite mercy and forgiveness of God offered us through the Body of Christ and found particularly in the Sacrament of Penance. Vincentian Father Richard Benson is academic dean and professor of moral theology at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo.
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