Mortal sin=Serious sin=Grave sin

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Just noting this…for some are confused about these terms.

They are used interchangeably by the Church.

And in the two senses: in both the objective sense (a kind of sin) and the subjective sense (someone has committed a mortal sin, serious sin, grave sin for they had grave matter, full knowledge and deliberate consent)
 
An objective mortal sin is an act which is objectively gravely immoral under any of the three fonts of morality.
  1. a gravely immoral intention, such as intending to cause grave harm to your neighbor
  2. a gravely disordered (intrinsically evil) act, such as murder
  3. an act whose bad consequences can be reasonably anticipated to gravely outweigh the good consequences
When any one font is gravely immoral, the overall act, including all three fonts, cannot be less than an objective mortal sin. Although the other two fonts can make the act a more serious mortal sin, or a less serious mortal sin, the other two fonts cannot change the grave moral disorder in the one font from mortal to venial.

When an objective mortal sin is committed with full knowledge of the grave immorality of the act, and with full consent, then the act is also an actual mortal sin.

It is also possible to commit an actual mortal sin, even when the chosen act is not objectively a mortal sin, or is not objectively a sin at all, if the person believed that the act was gravely immoral at the time that the act was chosen.
 
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Mortal sin, Serious sin, Grave sin

The Church uses these terms in two senses. And in both senses the terms grave sin, mortal sin, and serious sin are interchangeable.

Here are the two senses:
Murder is a grave sin.
Murder is a serious sin.
Murder is a mortal sin.

(all three mean the same)

this is one way the Church use the term. Talking about the ‘moral object’ of the act or the ‘objective kind of sin’. Referring to the object itself. Like if I said…do not commit murder for that is a mortal sin.

Then there is this way…
I committed the grave sin of Murder
I committed the serious sin of Murder
I committed the mortal sin of Murder

(all three mean the same)

This is speaking of when the thing I committed is grave matter …done with full knowledge and deliberate (complete) consent.

Both are true. Both are ways the terms get use in Church documents
When speaking with someone as to what a mortal (etc) sin is…that is when it is committed. I prefer to use…“grave matter” (From the Catechism and the Compendium)

Murder is a grave matter and if you do it with full knowledge and complete consent…then one commits a mortal sin (grave sin, serious sin)
 
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Bookcat said:
When speaking with someone as to what a mortal (etc) sin is…that is when it is committed. I prefer to use…“grave matter” (From the Catechism and the Compendium)

Murder is a grave matter and if you do it with full knowledge and complete consent…then one commits a mortal sin (grave sin, serious sin)
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It happens sometimes that persons who rely almost exclusively on the CCC and the Compendium for their understanding of Catholicism mistakenly think that the terminology in those books is the norm or is the standard or is somehow required. Those works were written by several persons, with (name removed by moderator)ut from many persons, and the wording is sometimes a compromise between a number of different ways of expressing a doctrine. This results in some unevenness to the wording and to the terminology, which most persons do not notice.

Terminology is not doctrine. There are required beliefs, but not required terminology. It is also not true that the Church has one static set of terms used in theology. Terminology various across the centuries, across different documents, even within the same document.

However, some terminology is more fitting than other terminology.

Some persons prefer to use ‘grave matter’ for an act that is objectively a mortal sin, and only use the term ‘mortal sin’ for a sin that is an actual mortal sin (grave matter, full knowledge, full consent). I find this approach problematic because it does not allow you to call a gravely disordered act mortal sin unless you know that the act was done with full knowledge and full consent. In most cases, one would have no way of knowing that. The result is that objectively gravely disordered acts, such as abortion, cannot be called ‘mortal sin’. One would only be able to state that the many abortions that occur worldwide are ‘grave matter’ and that we have no way of knowing how many of these abortions are ‘mortal sin.’

I think a better approach is to use ‘mortal sin’ or ‘objective mortal sin’ for those acts that are objectively gravely disordered, and to use ‘actual mortal sin’ when all three conditions are present (grave matter, full knowledge, full consent). There are a couple of infallible teachings of the Church that use the term ‘actual mortal sin’ (Council of Florence, Benedictus Deus), which then allows the term ‘mortal sin’ or ‘objective mortal sin’ to be used for any gravely disordered act.

It is then possible to call gravely immoral acts, such as abortion, euthanasia, blasphemy, malice, lust, etc., mortal sins, without having to always add, ‘if done with full knowledge and full consent.’
 
Ron_Conte said:
It happens sometimes that persons who rely almost exclusively on the CCC and the Compendium for their understanding of Catholicism mistakenly think that the terminology in those books is the norm or is the standard or is somehow required. Those works were written by several persons, with (name removed by moderator)ut from many persons, and the wording is sometimes a compromise between a number of different ways of expressing a doctrine. This results in some unevenness to the wording and to the terminology, which most persons do not notice.

Terminology is not doctrine. There are required beliefs, but not required terminology. It is also not true that the Church has one static set of terms used in theology. Terminology various across the centuries, across different documents, even within the same document.

However, some terminology is more fitting than other terminology.

Some persons prefer to use ‘grave matter’ for an act that is objectively a mortal sin, and only use the term ‘mortal sin’ for a sin that is an actual mortal sin (grave matter, full knowledge, full consent). I find this approach problematic because it does not allow you to call a gravely disordered act mortal sin unless you know that the act was done with full knowledge and full consent. In most cases, one would have no way of knowing that. The result is that objectively gravely disordered acts, such as abortion, cannot be called ‘mortal sin’. One would only be able to state that the many abortions that occur worldwide are ‘grave matter’ and that we have no way of knowing how many of these abortions are ‘mortal sin.’

I think a better approach is to use ‘mortal sin’ or ‘objective mortal sin’ for those acts that are objectively gravely disordered, and to use ‘actual mortal sin’ when all three conditions are present (grave matter, full knowledge, full consent). There are a couple of infallible teachings of the Church that use the term ‘actual mortal sin’ (Council of Florence, Benedictus Deus), which then allows the term ‘mortal sin’ or ‘objective mortal sin’ to be used for any gravely disordered act.

It is then possible to call gravely immoral acts, such as abortion, euthanasia, blasphemy, malice, lust, etc., mortal sins, without having to always add, ‘if done with full knowledge and full consent.’
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Yes…I said as much above…(except regarding the CCC and CCCC)

The terms settled on for the Catechism and the Compendium of the Catechism are very important…and it can be said that this is a good indication of usage the Church uses in Catechesis etc…so I prefer to use these terms given us in the CCC and CCCC…one can note that the Catechism also makes use of the terms grave sin to refer to the objectively grave act…as I noted above one can use both…

but again for clarity and common use it is important to use “grave matter” when talking about he three components of mortal -grave-serious sin.
 
In any case the main point of this thread is that the Church uses these three terms
interchangeablely …in both the objective and subjective sense…
 
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