Is getting intoxicated a mortal sin?

[catsrus]

Well Dums, you certainly made me think. After the Vigil where my granduaghter was baptised, confirmed and received 1st Eucharist, the family trooped over to Jem’s (GD) boyfriend’s parent’s house where we ate and drank the best wine ever. Because I never drink, except in social situations, I was well buzzed on my one glass of wine. I didn’t drink it to get that way but I ended up that way.
I feel no guilt at all though. I had fun!

 

[johnq]

demolitionman65:

Finally, I’m not convinced that ocassioanl intoxication is a mortal sin.

Sorry to say it qualifies as grave matter and if all the conditions are met then it is a mortal sin.

CCC
1852 There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. The Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.” 127

2290 The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice.** Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart**** 133**** do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.** 1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

 

[demolitionman65]

I need not be lectured on the realities of mortal sin.

We may be getting hung up on the definition of “intoxication”.

I agree, that if a person knowingly drinks to the point of “loss of reason”, knowing the definition of sin, he/she may be in a state of mortal sin.

But there are varying levels of intoxication before the loss of one’s reason. Hence my commentary on Cana. These lesser levels, I suspect, are not as problematic.

BTW, I am one who consumes on average about one alcoholic beverage a month. . .just so no one gets the idea that I’m trying to rationalize my own intake.

 

[johnq]

demolitionman65:

I need not be lectured on the realities of mortal sin.

Sorry, demolitionman65, I was not trying to lecture. Just trying to show what the church officially teaches.

God

 

[demolitionman65]

No worries!!!

 

[dezembrum]

dumspirospero:

Last night a bunch of team members and Neophytes got together to celebrate Confirmation…I must admit I drank too much and was intoxicated…however, I did not drive anywhere, nor get belligerent and rude, nor did I have impure thoughts…it was just good clean fun…I just got a little drunk. Is that a mortal sin?

You can never go wrong with Aquinas (well, for the most part…). In the Summa Theologiae (Second part of the second part, question 150, article 2) he says:

“I answer that, The sin of drunkenness, as stated in the foregoing Article, consists in the immoderate use and concupiscence of wine. Now this may happen to a man in three ways. First, so that he knows not the drink to be immoderate and intoxicating: and then drunkenness may be without sin, as stated above (1). Secondly, so that he perceives the drink to be immoderate, but without knowing it to be intoxicating, and then drunkenness may involve a venial sin. Thirdly, it may happen that a man is well aware that the drink is immoderate and intoxicating, and yet he would rather be drunk than abstain from drink. Such a man is a drunkard properly speaking, because morals take their species not from things that occur accidentally and beside the intention, but from that which is directly intended. On this way drunkenness is a mortal sin, because then a man willingly and knowingly deprives himself of the use of reason, whereby he performs virtuous deeds and avoids sin, and thus he sins mortally by running the risk of falling into sin. For Ambrose says (De Patriarch. [De Abraham i.]): “We learn that we should shun drunkenness, which prevents us from avoiding grievous sins. For the things we avoid when sober, we unknowingly commit through drunkenness.” Therefore drunkenness, properly speaking, is a mortal sin.”