Stolen hockey pucks?

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McatholicN

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I have quite a few hockey pucks at my house, but I think most, if not all, are ones that were laying around at the rink (probably lost or forgotten) and were picked up. Is this stealing? Can I continue to use the pucks?
 
Is this stealing? Yes and no. It’s kind of tricky when you talk about things that were forgotten/lost. It’s kind of a slippery slope.

Like with my daughters, they often find something in the floor and then claim it’s theirs. They found it, someone else lost it or forgot about it. Well, that doesn’t make it theirs. It just means someone lost it. While it’s common in our world to simply take things that are found, ‘finder’s keepers’; the bible holds us to a higher standard. “And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner.”

For me, if I lost something I would at least want someone to attempt to find out who it belonged to. I’m not sure I would care about a hockey puck though. Just as I often leave golf balls laying when I can’t find them.

But there are other variables. Is it a public ring? A school ring? A private ring? Where you supposed to be there or just wandering around? It’s much different to walk through a field at night and find a golf ball, and to walk into a place where the establishment(owners) pay for the equipment. To them it might be a very big deal to lose a few pucks. Especially if they can’t afford new ones.

So I would let my conscience guide me. Do you feel a need to return them? Do you feel like you have stolen? If they were your pucks, how would you want someone to deal with them?
 
I don’t think it is a big deal. It’s a societal norm that inexpensive objects like hockey pucks are lost or forgotten and then others find them and use them, and no one considers it stealing.

I’m sure all of the people who’s hockey pucks you have, also have a collection of pucks that were left or forgotten by somebody else, some of them probably from you. So nobody is stealing pucks, they are just being circulated.

But if your conscience is bothering you, you can always donate them to a youth league.
 
bmullins said:
Is it a public ring? A school ring? A private ring?

Where you supposed to be there or just wandering around? It’s much different to walk through a field at night and find a golf ball, and to walk into a place where the establishment(owners) pay for the equipment. To them it might be a very big deal to lose a few pucks. Especially if they can’t afford new ones.
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I think these are the most important questions here.
 
Give’m to me. I’ve lost quite a few over the years.
 
Personally, if I came across useful items that were apparently abandoned at a public facility which had staff running it, I would hand them in, or at least attempt to hand them in. If the items were lying about in clear view and nobody wants them - i.e. their previous users had left the premises and the management of the premises weren’t interested in taking them into safe-keeping, then it’s reasonable to assume they weren’t wanted any more.

Do hockey pucks degrade after use so that pros or semi-pros wouldn’t want them any more? If that’s the case, then they could be described as litter, in which case why consign them to land-fill if you can still find a use for them? In that case you would be recycling, which is a good thing.

As ever with these scrupulosity type questions, context is all!
 
Any other (name removed by moderator)ut?

As I said, it’s a public rink and it is common practice to take pucks lying around. If they are left there, it’s probably because their owners forgot them, and they likely wouldn’t be able to find them again.
 
mcatholicn said:
any other (name removed by moderator)ut?

As i said, it’s a public rink and it is common practice to take pucks lying around. If they are left there, it’s probably because their owners forgot them, and they likely wouldn’t be able to find them again.
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talk to your priest
 
You really need to try to NOT WORRY ABOUT IT. This is coming from a fellow scrupulous person. Really. DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. I know it is hard not to, but DON’T.

My confessor has told me that as a scrupulous person, I should assume that anything I initially suspect may be a serious sin is NOT serious. I am confident he would give you the same advice. If you haven’t already you should get a regular confessor.
 
I’m working on talking to a priest; getting some appointments.

But does anyone on here have any other (name removed by moderator)ut on whether this would count as theft to use the pucks?

Also, it would seem that this question is a lot like “would it be sinful to pick up money lying on the street?” I don’t know the answer to that, but maybe it would help clarify.
 
McatholicN said:
I’m working on talking to a priest; getting some appointments.

But does anyone on here have any other (name removed by moderator)ut on whether this would count as theft to use the pucks?

Also, it would seem that this question is a lot like “would it be sinful to pick up money lying on the street?” I don’t know the answer to that, but maybe it would help clarify.
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No, it is not sinful to pick up money lying on the street.
 
McatholicN said:
Maybe you implied this, but is it okay to use it then? 🤷 + 😃

Are hockey pucks a different story?
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Have you talked to your priest yet?

You seem to ask and re-ask the same questions over and over.

Talk to your priest, follow his advice, rinse, and repeat.
 
McatholicN said:
Maybe you implied this, but is it okay to use it then? 🤷 + 😃

Are hockey pucks a different story?
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FORGET about the pucks. The pucks are not the problem. Your scrupulosity is the problem. You say you are trying to arrange to talk to a priest yet we have been advising you to do that for months. It does not take months to fix an appointment with a priest.
Don’t you realise how miserable your life will be if you don’t sort out your scrupulosity.
 
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