Mormons and Catholics

In the discussion following the post “Thoughts on Abortion”, questions were raised regarding “confession and repentance in the Roman Catholic Church.” I hope in this post to give a brief, general overview of the Catholic understanding of these issues, and to answer some of the questions raised in the discussions of the previous post.

To get an overview in the Church’s own language, I recommend reading the sections concerning grace and justification of the Catechism, paragraphs 1987 through 2029. I refer to these sections because understanding the Catholic conception of grace is necessary to understand the Catholic conception of sin.

Why does man need salvation?

Catholics believe man’s destiny is eternal life, to live in unity with God. This, in particular, is what distinguishes us from the animals, who share biological and sensible life with us, but do not have free will and rational, immortal souls. The nature of this life with God himself is participation in God’s own life – this is our definition of grace (CCC #1997).

Since He gave us free will, we can reject that gift of eternal life with Him. And sure enough, the first humans, Adam and Eve, rejected their unity with God. Now, because of God’s social design for humanity, this separation from God was inherited by their descendants. This is what we call “Original Sin.” (Note that it is this separated, corrupted state that is inherited – God does not impute the actual sin to the descendants.)

In order to redeem mankind from this fallen state, God Himself became man and suffered death on the cross. Men, still having free will, can choose (or not choose) to accept this salvation by being baptized in the name of Christ.

In technical terms, we say that baptism grants sanctifying grace – the life of God in the soul. Following Christ’s own language in the third chapter of John’s gospel, we say that baptism is a rebirth into the spiritual life. Subsequent to baptism, man is further perfected throughout his life – and afterwards in Purgatory, if necessary. Concupiscence, the inclination to sin, is gradually removed and the spiritual life grows, analogous to the growth of the physical body, into ever greater closeness to God (CCC #1426).

So what is sin?

In the words of the Catechism, “Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him” (CCC #1440). In a sinful act, we choose ourselves above God and thereby either distance or completely separate ourselves from him.

There is a difference between venial and mortal sins, in Catholic thought (cf. 1 John 5:16-18). A venial sin is a minor sin which weakens the spiritual life and distances one from God; a mortal sin is a graver sin which completely kills the spiritual life and turns one’s back on God. In technical terms, a mortal sin completely removes the sanctifying grace from the person’s soul; that grace is necessary for eternal life, and therefore a person without sanctifying grace cannot enter into Heaven.

Venial sins are those lesser sins of ordinary life that simply result from our imperfect state: an unkind word to a neighbor or a bit of overindulgence, for example. Mortal sins are more serious, such as violations of the Ten Commandments.

Repentance

Venial sins can be forgiven in multiple ways; one way to think of it would be to say that if a venial sin is a reduction in grace, it can be countered by an increase in grace – such as through prayer, reception of the Eucharist, etc. Catholics are encouraged, but not required, to confess their venial sins in confession in order to avail themselves of the grace in that sacrament.

Mortal sins, on the other hand, cannot be forgiven except* through the sacrament of Confession (also sometimes known as Penance or Reconciliation). In this sacrament, the penitent goes to a priest, confesses, and is absolved of his sins through the ministry of the Church – bringing sanctifying grace back into his soul.

Catholic theology teaches that only God can forgive sins; the forgiveness that a person receives in confession comes from God, but through the ministry of the Church.

(*Under ordinary circumstances. For example, if a person has committed a mortal sin and intends to go to confession, but dies before he has a chance, God’s mercy will not hold that against him and necessarily condemn him simply because of circumstances.)

Confession

The sacrament of confession is performed only by priests. It involves the penitent approaching the priest, confessing to his sins, being counseled by the priest, praying an “Act of Contrition,” and then being absolved by the priest.

In confession, a Catholic is assigned a penance by the priest, for example, the saying of certain prayers. The sin itself is absolved in confession, but the penance is assigned as a way for the sinner to begin to repair the violence done to their soul by the sin. In other words, though a person’s sin may be forgiven, its effects on their soul may not be. This process of purification of the justified proceeds through activities which give grace in life, such as prayer, the sacraments, good works, and offering up sacrifices and sufferings, and continues after death in Purgatory before entering Heaven.

A confession can be heard anywhere and anytime by a priest, but it is usually scheduled at regular times that vary from parish to parish. Usually, the priest is located in a room (or a booth in some churches) specifically for the purpose, called the confessional. Traditionally, confession was anonymous and the priest and the penitent were separated by an opaque grill. In recent years, however, many have taken to performing the sacrament face to face.

The priest is bound to never under any circumstances reveal what he hears in confession.

Canonical Penalties

The above is the general way in which Catholics think about sin and repentance. Anyone who commits a sin can be reconciled to God and the Church through the sacrament.

There seemed to be an interest in the comments of the earlier post about formal ecclesiastical penalties, such as excommunication. I want to clarify that such penalties are rare and usually never even considered by the average Catholic. A formal ecclesiastical censure usually plays no role in the life of a Catholic, however often he may sin and repent. In other words, when the average Catholic sins, he usually only has to worry about going to confession in order to be restored to grace and participation in the life of the Church. Excommunication is reserved for only the gravest situations.

For more detail on excommunications and other canonical penalties, I recommend the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Excommunication.

Other Resources:

The Catholic Encyclopedia on Confession

Catholic Answers on the Forgiveness of Sins