Sin, Punishment, and Consciousness
A few days ago I saw in the newspaper a cartoon showing a distraught, anguished, and horrified Uncle Sam holding in his arms the body of a child while he looked over his shoulder at the flames of Iraq.
I was raised as a Catholic; I was taught by the nuns the Catholic doctrine regarding sin, punishment, and consciousness. Venial sins were like misdemeanors and mortal sins were like felonies. However, this is not a completely accurate analogy because if a person dies with venial sin on the soul s/he would be punished by having to spend time in purgatory before going to heaven but if a person died with mortal sin on the soul s/he went directly to hell for eternity.
Confession was the standard means for ‘erasing sin from the soul’. A confession was considered to be a ‘good confession’ only if the sinner confessed the sins to a priest and was truly sorry for having committed sin. A very important element of a good confession was an examination of consciousness, which meant the person must become fully conscious of having committed the sin.
Ignorance of the sin was no excuse just as ignorance of the law is no excuse. Herein lays the rub. Knowledge and consciousness of sin were necessary conditions for the erasure of sin from the soul in confession.
In the matter of Iraq what must the American Catholic citizen recognize before s/he could make a good confession? For the non Catholic American citizen who considers him or her self to be a moral person, what is required?