Yeah. That’s a better way of saying it.
no credit to me, that’s the Catechism talking. I can’t cut-and-paste 1735 like I used to, before, from the USCCB site. You’ll have to look it up to see the exact wording.
no, I found it, here it is:
1735 Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors.
So, if you sin by habit, you may not be responsible for that sin. But, Fr. Mitch Pacwa of EWTN fame explains that you are still responsible for the habit – for getting into that habit and for trying to get out of that habit.
We must acknowledge the universal call to holiness.
That’s typical of the partial explanations I find for para. 1735. He says, “yeah BUT…”
And, I suppose it’s always that way. The sin is still a sin. 1735 does not give anybody a free ticket to sin, so 1735 is like a “get out of jail” free card.
The unanswered questions for me are: 1) I’d like a detailed explanation of all those factors in 1735 – the ignorance, the inadvertence, the duress, the fear, the habit, etc. 2) same point, what are the social and psychological factors and the “OTHER” factors – obviously 1735 is vague and open-ended.
Suppose I view pornography once in a while. I can seem to hold back for some period of time, because I realize that it is degrading, demeaning, dehumanizing, sinful in itself, and it objectifies people, denying their God-given dignity – yet I go back to it, full speed ahead because there’s some psychological factor that affects me, as much as hunger.
Or, suppose a woman has multiple successive sexual relations and uses abortion as a form of birth control, repeatedly, under the duress of the pregnancy or because she succumbs to the sexual relations as a substitute for a meaningful relationship – an example, perhaps, of some ignorance and possibly some social factors going on here.
Or, suppose I work someplace – of course I need the job – and it’s a policy to cheat the customer, usually by overpricing the product. So, under “duress” I suppose, I do the same thing 5 times a day, 5 days a week.
Or, suppose the only source of income I have is selling drugs, heroin, for example. Suppose further that I am under some mortal threat to do it, or, the other way around, I am forced to buy heroin for someone who refuses to seek treatment.
and, then, the final question about 1735, suppose I decide my sin falls under 1735, do I have to confess it, if I’m not fully responsible for it? if it’s not imputable to me?
The guidance on this is sorely lacking; the average priest will just say confess the sin and be done with it. The bishops of the Catholic Church could have cleared up this question, if they had added to 1735 something like “all sins must be nevertheless confessed” – BUT THEY DIDN’T. So, then, I assume (?) that they DON’T have to be confessed.
