Actually I now just went back to your
Catechism and carefully examined it as to what it does and does not say. I guess I could say this issue still bothered me and I wanted to resolve once and for all whether the answers I received here that troubled me greatly were official Catholic teaching or just your interpretations.
I have concluded that your Catechism is sufficiently ambiguous such that an interpretation that is much closer to what I believe and satisfies my biggest concerns is possible.
In other words I can legitimately interpret it in such a way that my hunter friend in my scenario is not condemned to hell. You all have been giving me your more restrictive interpretations of what it says.
The key here is exactly what is full knowledge and full consent. Your Catechism does not really define these terms. The best that it does is give examples of what it is not. I think one could argue that normal Christian sins in the ebb and flow of life are not full consent, including what my hunter friend did.
Also your catechism does not explicitely say that a person is immediately condemned to hell at the point of committing the sin. That is something that must be read in.
In sum, you all have been giving me your interpretations of your Catechism. Other interpretations are possible.
I posted an article here. The article referenced some Catholic theologians who believe that in actuality mortal sin is very rare. Although you may disagree with this, there is a legitimate reading of the Catechism that supports this.
The article also also speculates that this is a doctrine that is ripe for “development”. The article also speculates that were it to develop it would most likely develop towards the less restrictive side.
Given the genuine ambiguity that exists in your Catechism, I agree.
Heres another analogy, like your hunter one, but with something extra just to bring it closer to the sense of the thing from our perspective.
You are married, the story begins, and you find yourself at home relaxing one stormy evening, and your wife calls out to you from the hallway that she is going to drive into town for something or other, you hear the door bang and an engine start.
Twenty minutes later you get a phone call from your wife, whom you love dearly let me add here, she drove through a stream on the way which stalled the car, the water rose quickly because of heavy rain in the mountains and as it rose it shorted the electrics, the doors are locked and stuck the windows won’t work and the water is near the roof of the car, - can you come and help her.
Your hunter in your story would think about this and say to himself, well, my wife is twenty miles away, and frankly I think that is an unreasonable request and an unreasonable distance to travel. Goodbye my love, see you next week.
You on the other hand will take the heroic option, which you see simply as your duty, it is a sweet duty and one you love, and you rush to your love who is calling you. Neither storm nor darkness nor distance nor wild animals nor hunting trips are any obstacle - you will get to her in good time wherever she is.
For the sin part; you can judge for yourself if abandoning your love to a flooded river, or abandoning her at all when she wants you, is a serious matter, and if you had full knowledge of what that would mean - you’ve often seen pictures on tv of dead people pulled out of cars in the water, and if you consented freely to leaving her in her predicament - ‘bye honey, see you next week!’.
You go to mass only because you want to be there with ‘her’ and ‘she’ wants you there with her, there is no point in going otherwise.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it:
(Greek eucharistia, thanksgiving). Other titles are used, such as “Lord’s Supper” (Coena Domini), “Table of the Lord” (Mensa Domini), the “Lord’s Body” (Corpus Domini), and the “Holy of Holies” (Sanctissimum), to which may be added the following expressions, and somewhat altered from their primitive meaning: “Agape” (Love-Feast) - NA.
