In the right mind for sin?

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Montie_Claunch

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One of the requirements for Mortal Sin is that you have full consent. If one is mentally ill it can’t be sinning mortally. How does the preist determine if one is Mentally Compentent. Does He go by the DSM (Diagnosis and Statistical Manuel) or what? Thanks and God bless.
 
Montie_Claunch said:
One of the requirements for Mortal Sin is that you have full consent. If one is mentally ill it can’t be sinning mortally. How does the preist determine if one is Mentally Compentent. Does He go by the DSM (Diagnosis and Statistical Manuel) or what? Thanks and God bless.
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A priest can tell you what’s objectively sinful. I don’t think he can tell anyone they performed the action, omission, thought, or word with full consent and with absolute certainty.
 
My understanding is that a mortal sin has three requirements.
  1. The sin must be of a GRAVE matter… ie: violation of the 10 commandments.
  2. Committed with FULL knowledge that it is infact sinful.
  3. Committed with Free Will.
So I would think the individual would know the answer to whether they committed a Mortal/Deadly sin.

It is their job to confess to a Priest their sins… not for the Priest to work it out… but sometimes they have an amazing knack of prompting you to spell it out… ( ie: The Holy Spirit ).

Its like that old story of the guy who confessed stealing 6 foot of rope… and the priest ended up saying something like “so it was just 6 feet of rope… nothing else???”

Which the reply was " well… there was a cow attached to the other end of the rope."
 
He doesn’t have to make that determination, unless its causing some sort of scruples… God makes that determination.

They confess it. Maybe it’s mortal. Maybe it’s not. That doesn’t change Confession. 🤷
 
A person can be mentally ill and still be morally aware. For example, consider sociopaths. Often they are considered mentally ill but they still are aware of what’s right and wrong.

If a person is extremely mentally ill and incompetent it’s doubtful they could make a coherent confession, or even get themselves to a church where they can receive the sacrament of Reconciliation.

This is my opinion, anyhow…
 
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