May the Lord bless you, and may He continue to give us good weather! In the last installment of Rectory Ramblings, I

wrote about the idea of sin, and how we commit sin. I’d like to examine now the two main types of sin (mortal and

venial), and next time talk about penance, reparation and Divine Justice.

All sin is an offense against God and a rejection of His perfect love and justice. However, Jesus makes a distinction

between two types of sins. We call the most serious and grave sins, mortal sins. Mortal sins destroy the grace of God

in the soul of the sinner. By their very grave nature, a mortal sin cuts our relationship off from God and turns man

away from his Creator. St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews tell us that "if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the

truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins" (Hebrews 10:26). So what kinds of sins are mortal? In order for a sin to be

mortal, it must meet three conditions:

This means that mortal sins cannot be done "accidentally." A person who commits a mortal sin is one who knows that

their sin is wrong, but still deliberately commits the sin anyway. This means that mortal sins are "premeditated" by

the sinner and thus are truly a rejection of God’s law and love.

The second type of sin, venial sin, does not cut us off from Christ. However, venial sin does weaken grace in the soul

and damages our relationship with God. A person who frequently indulges in venial sin is very likely to collapse into

mortal sin if they persist in their evil ways. Venial sin may be a sin of less grave matter than mortal sin, but it can also

be a sin of grave matter in which the sinner did not fully consent to the sin or didn’t know that his actions where

sinful. Venial sins will not destroy grace in the soul, and will not directly cause a person who dies in the state of venial

sin to lose the promise of heaven. Yet, venial sin weakens a person’s will to avoid evil and thus may indirectly lead to

mortal sin. Regardless, all sin is an offense against God and should be avoided. (see http://www.saintaquinas.com/ )

On a different topic, we’d like to announce that we’re in the process of selecting a new principal to lead St. Monica

School in the 2009-2010 school year. We’re deeply grateful to Mrs. Beth Ingeneri for leading the school for the past

four years, and for her willingness to continue as principal for the rest of this school year. I understand that, when Fr.

Joe McCarthy hired Mrs. Ingeneri there was a considerable amount of turmoil, both in the school and in the parish.

When Fr. McLaughlin came to St. Monica’s parish, the turmoil began to subside. We’re blessed now to have an

opportune moment to build upon the foundations that have been laid already. We will announce a new principal by

Easter. More on this at a later date . . .

Finally, next weekend we will be asking folks to participate in a postcard campaign, sponsored by the U.S. Catholic

Bishops, to show our opposition to the so-called “Freedom of Choice Act” (or FOCA). This bill, which President Obama

has threatened to sign, would un-do all the progress we’ve made in limiting abortion in our country, and would also

eliminate the “conscience clause” which currently allows Catholic hospitals and health care providers to refrain from

doing abortions, sterilizations or other morally objectionable procedures. We’re pretty sure FOCA is unconstitutional,

but we want the President to know how strongly we oppose it. Won’t you join us in this postcard campaign?

Remember, as Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” We

need to put our faith and our moral values into action.

God bless you all,

Fr. Jim