“Father, is that a sin?”
Being a priest is like having any professional status. I am always on. I am always fair game. At a restaurant or bar, at any social event or gathering, anytime I am in public, someone will approach me with some question or gripe or complaint about the Roman Catholic Church.
It’s OK. It comes with the territory.
Believe it or not, I don’t mind the gripes or complaints. Think about it. Any institution will have its issues. Make it a global institution over two millennia years old that spans wildly different cultures with a billion or so members, and the issues multiply… exponentially.
Usually after someone vents, I can commiserate with them, help them realize a few things that they might not know or have considered, get them laughing and help them realize that the Church is made up of extremely damaged human beings and so
stuff is bound to happen, and will probably continue to happen until Jesus comes back. Easy peasy.
It is the questions that get to me. The primary reason is that often people are seeking simplistic one syllable answers to questions that often deserve a bit more nuance and complexity. Take for instance the seemingly innocuous question: Father, is that (fill in the blank) a sin? (Even worse, is when someone asks: Is this STILL a sin? A loaded question if I ever heard one.)
There is no easy way to answer this question. Obviously, there are actions and attitudes that most everyone would agree are morally wrong. But no one inquires about the morality of first degree murder. (We’re against it, in case you were wondering, thumbs way down.) Instead I get questions about actions and inactions that seem more mundane and familiar, usually centered on our human sexuality. But instead of wandering into that moral minefield, and in order to keep this article shorter and age appropriate, let me talk about Sunday Mass attendance, or more to the point,
nonattendance.
Father, is missing Mass on Sunday a sin? Is it a mortal sin?
If I answer NO, I’ve just offered that person easy justification, a “get out of jail free” card if you will, and that simplistic justification will not serve them well at all in their relationship with God. If I answer
YES, they will share with me the most extreme example of how someone could not possibly make it to Mass (three inches of ice, a broken leg, a sick child and no transportation). I will appear dogmatic, doctrinaire, antiquated and controlling. As you can see, this question is posited with a wee bit of an agenda.
The real answer should focus on the person’s own conscience. From the Catechism:
Deep within their conscience humans discover a law which they have not laid upon themselves but which they must obey. Its voice, ever calling them to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in their hearts at the right moment. For humans have in
their heart a law inscribed by God…….. Our conscience is our most
secret core and sanctuary. There we are alone with God whose voice echoes in our depths.
Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that they are going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed.
In all we says and do, humans are obliged to follow faithfully what they know to be just and right. It is by the judgment of our conscience that we perceive and recognize the prescriptions of the divine law.
Two things about this. First you are OBLIGATED to follow your own conscience. Second, this is a very real way that God communicates with us. HOWEVER…your conscience needs to be both FORMED and INFORMED. Thus, following your conscience is a bit more complicated than doing whatever you want to do (or worse, feel like doing). You need balanced formation and you need proper
information to follow your conscience.
With that in mind:
The Church gives you an obligation to go to Sunday Mass. The
Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin. Catechism 2181
That’s what the Church teaches. I’ve given you the information.
But then you have to make a decision to act in good conscience. Your decision. All by yourself.
To this purpose, we strive to interpret the data of experience and the signs of the times assisted by the virtue of prudence, by the
advice of competent people, and by the help of the Holy Spirit and his gifts. Catechism 1788.
So in any moral decision, Fr. Kevin can give you guidance.
Fr. Kevin can give you information (or at least, point you to it). Fr. Kevin can help you consider some things that you may not have considered.
But ultimately, Fr. Kevin cannot make that decision for you. Terrifying, huh.
“Father, is this a sin?” Well…