Confession if you didn't know it was a sin?

[Nicole]

In our paper this week, I read the following:
Archbishop Raymond L. Burke said Friday that Catholics in St. Louis who vote for political candidates supportive of abortion rights have committed a grave sin in the eyes of the church, and should confess and do penance before receiving Communion.

It has only been recently that I really understood that you cannot use conscience or a seamless garment theory to allow a vote for a prochoice politician. I have in the past voted for a candidate that supports abortion. Do I need to confess before I can receive Holy Communion? I will anyway, but I wondered if I need to refrain from Communion even though I didn’t really fully understand it to be a sin at the time.

Thanks,
Nicole

 

[JimG]

I presume that the same conditions that apply with respect to any other sin would apply here: full knowledge of the gravity of the sin, sufficient reflection, and full consent of the will.

If one did not understand that an action was gravely sinful, then a mortal sin was not committed.

JimG

 

[Nicole]

I sure hope that is true! I will still confess it, although at Confession a while back I mentioned that I had missed Mass in the past before I understood that it was a mortal sin and the Priest was kind of like - yeah, yeah, is there anything recent since your last Confession? So, I felt kind of silly.

Thanks for the response!
God Bless,
Nicole

 

[IoA]

Nicole:

I sure hope that is true! I will still confess it, although at Confession a while back I mentioned that I had missed Mass in the past before I understood that it was a mortal sin and the Priest was kind of like - yeah, yeah, is there anything recent since your last Confession? So, I felt kind of silly.

Yep, it’s true! If you didn’t know it was a sin, then you haven’t really committed one that is in dire need of being confessed.

sigh… The seamless garment theory is more hassle than it’s worth in the end, I think… It makes something simple rather complicated in our modern political climate…

Bishop Burke rules!

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Someone said this:

“Yep, it’s true! If you didn’t know it was a sin, then you haven’t really committed one that is in dire need of being confessed.”

I don’t agree. A sin is a sin because the act is sinful. So if you do something that is sinful you have sinned. However because of the circumstances (not knowing that it was wrong) you are not held responsible. Or at least only responsible to the point that you understood it was wrong at the time. When we learn of the sinful nature of an action that we have already committed we do need to confess that sin in our next Confession or at least include it in our next Act of Contrition at the close of the day.

 

[IoA]

Br. Rich SFO:

I don’t agree. A sin is a sin because the act is sinful. So if you do something that is sinful you have sinned. However because of the circumstances (not knowing that it was wrong) you are not held responsible. Or at least only responsible to the point that you understood it was wrong at the time. When we learn of the sinful nature of an action that we have already committed we do need to confess that sin in our next Confession or at least include it in our next Act of Contrition at the close of the day.

I agree with that, and I think my original post didn’t do it justice. Sin exists whether we recognize it or not in our actions, but we cannot consider it “mortal sin” because we didn’t know about it beforehand. It should be confessed eventually or in some way, but it is not essential that one do so before receiving the Eucharist.

 

[Nicole]

Thanks IoA, that clarification goes exactly to my question. I did still plan on confessing it, but I have been receiving Communion all this time and suddenly panicked about that fact.

God Bless,
Nicole

 

[gomer_tree]

You did participate in sin. You may not have understood it to be a sin at the time, and it may not have been mortal. But the sin itself was serious.

Going to communion in that state, not realizing it was a mortal sin, probably was not sacreligious. I’d probably still say that I had been going to Communion, however.

Once you are made aware that a sin you committed was mortal, even if not done with full culpability, I believe you should now refrain from Communion, and going would be sacreligious. Another example is contraception. Many couples use it not realizing it is a sin. But once they are made aware that they have committed a mortal sin, the act of not confessing it itself would be seriously sinful and they should not go to Communion until they do so.

The question is, are you aware of it now? Do you understand that it was a serious sin? Are you contrite about it? If all of these are true, it tells you that you are now aware of serious sin. You cannot receive the Lord if you are aware of serious sin.

And no Priest should ever make you feel silly about confessing a prior mortal sin. We are obliged to confess any past mortal sins that come to mind.

I had a long absence from confession, nearly three years ago. Just recently I was listening to a tape and it hit me that what the guy was talking about was something I had done 20 years ago and never confessed. It was a serious sin, so I went to the next available confession and just explained to the Priest why I was confessing such an “old” sin. He welcomed that confession, as he should. (This is only required of serious sins.)