Work & Sin

[DKIN]

Hello All,

I have a questions that I believe I may already know the answer to, but wanted to check myself against the opinions of this forum group.

Here is my dilemma, I work in broadcast media as an Account Executive. It is my job to develop business with regards to advertising. I developed a campaign for a local urologist which would be specifically targeted to those consumers seeking a vasectomy.

My question is this…am i complicit in mortal sin by actively participating in the encouragement of this mortal sin? I would be interested in hearing your answer as well as the thought process as to how you have arrived at it.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Spencerian]

Hello All,

I have a questions that I believe I may already know the answer to, but wanted to check myself against the opinions of this forum group.

Here is my dilemma, I work in broadcast media as an Account Executive. It is my job to develop business with regards to advertising. I developed a campaign for a local urologist which would be specifically targeted to those consumers seeking a vasectomy.

My question is this…am i complicit in mortal sin by actively participating in the encouragement of this mortal sin? I would be interested in hearing your answer as well as the thought process as to how you have arrived at it.

Thanks for your help.

Hi, there. While your parish priest would be the best adviser on this problem, you could read this definition of being an accomplice as defined by the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The challenge in these situations involves the level of complicity. For instance, I go grab a drink at Starbucks, a company that actively supports several morally questionable causes. I shouldn’t patronize this place. In addition, my wife *works *there. Is she being an accomplice, or are we both? (This is my family’s actual status.)

The reality is that very few of us can escape shopping or buying things or even working for companies that have causes that are contrary to the Church’s teachings. It becomes very impractical and therefore expensive to try to avoid every company that are involved in matters such as abortion or similar issues. It doesn’t mean you cannot try, but the Church, to my understanding, doesn’t require us to do the impossible.

So it’s a matter of magnitude. My opinion is that you *may *be too close to this matter in terms of complicity based on your description if you are the one that directly generates the ad that is contrary to Church teaching, and that the ad encourages a mortal sin. That is, you *may *be materially complicit here.

At the same time, if declining the task puts you at jeopardy with your employment and stands to put your family at grave peril financially, you may not have an *immediate *choice at present but to complete the work until other employment restrictions or avenues arise.

Do speak to your pastor on this or call Father Vincent Serpa on Catholic Answers Live when he is on the air for some supporting help.

 

[marywarfield]

Hello All,

I have a questions that I believe I may already know the answer to, but wanted to check myself against the opinions of this forum group.

Here is my dilemma, I work in broadcast media as an Account Executive. It is my job to develop business with regards to advertising. I developed a campaign for a local urologist which would be specifically targeted to those consumers seeking a vasectomy.

My question is this…am i complicit in mortal sin by actively participating in the encouragement of this mortal sin? I would be interested in hearing your answer as well as the thought process as to how you have arrived at it.

Thanks for your help.

If so your cooperation would be material i.e. without
malice. Anything further than that you really need
to consult your spiritual advisor.

 

[DKIN]

Hi, there. While your parish priest would be the best adviser on this problem, you could read this definition of being an accomplice as defined by the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The challenge in these situations involves the level of complicity. For instance, I go grab a drink at Starbucks, a company that actively supports several morally questionable causes. I shouldn’t patronize this place. In addition, my wife *works *there. Is she being an accomplice, or are we both? (This is my family’s actual status.)

The reality is that very few of us can escape shopping or buying things or even working for companies that have causes that are contrary to the Church’s teachings. It becomes very impractical and therefore expensive to try to avoid every company that are involved in matters such as abortion or similar issues. It doesn’t mean you cannot try, but the Church, to my understanding, doesn’t require us to do the impossible.

Thank you Spencerian for your reply. You have confirmed my own thoughts. While my job is to sell advertising I am free to choose (for the most part) what clients I call on and not moving forward with trying to sell through the program I described will in no way put my job in jeopardy. I was really looking for confirmation of what I had already discerned in my own soul. Thanks again for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

DKIN

So it’s a matter of magnitude. My opinion is that you *may *be too close to this matter in terms of complicity based on your description if you are the one that directly generates the ad that is contrary to Church teaching, and that the ad encourages a mortal sin. That is, you *may *be materially complicit here.

At the same time, if declining the task puts you at jeopardy with your employment and stands to put your family at grave peril financially, you may not have an *immediate *choice at present but to complete the work until other employment restrictions or avenues arise.

Do speak to your pastor on this or call Father Vincent Serpa on Catholic Answers Live when he is on the air for some supporting help.

 

[Loving_disciple]

This is a tough one. It seems you have full knowledge so that is one part of a mortal sin