<p>I hestitate to post because I’m not well-educated in my own faith (Catholicism), but this is my understanding of the issues IBF raises:</p>
<p>The Church’s teaching is that if the nun confesses her sin and expresses remorse and agrees not to repeat her offense, she can once again receive communion. She won’t be eternally damned. If the murderer does not confess his sin (if Catholic) and has no remorse (whether or not he is Catholic) for doing so and KNOWINGLY did what he knew to be wrong, then he IS eternally damned. </p>
<p>There are NO circumstances in which the Chruch would deny absolution to someone who repents his/her sin and does the penance proscribed by the Church. Thus, for example, if a murderer who had not been found out were to walk into a Church and confess that he had committed a murder, the priest has the right to demand that he turn himself in to the authorities as part of his penance before he will grant him absolution. But the priest could not refuse absolution because he found the circumstances of the murder truly disgusting. </p>
<p>An abortionist who walked into a confessional and with true remorse confessed that he had sinned and was willing to accept penance , would be granted absolution. However, the absolution would be ineffective if the abortionist intended to return to his clinic and continue performing abortions. </p>
<p>Catholicism uses the word “sin” in two different senses. One is the objective sense. To murder is a sin. The other is the subjective sense–to commit a sin requires an intent to do wrong. </p>
<p>When ancient peoples sacrificed a human being to the gods believing that this was pleasing to the gods, they committed an OBJECTIVE sin. However, they did not sin in the SUBJECTIVE sense because they did not intend to do wrong. Thus, they will NOT be eternally damned. God judges us by our intentions. Even if what we did is OBJECTIVELY immoral, we will not be condemned to hell if we acted in the mistaken belief that we acted morally. </p>
<p>Excommunication is the cutting off of a Catholic from receiving the Eucharist. It is automatic when someone commits a mortal (major) sin. But to do that requires INTENT. It is SUBJECTIVE sin that results in automatic excommunication. To some extent, each Catholic decides this for him-/herself. For example, it is a mortal sin for a Catholic to miss mass on a (Saturday night or) Sunday without a valid excuse. But what’s a valid excuse? To some extent, this is up to the individual’s conscience. </p>
<p>However, the Church also uses excommunication to punish Catholics who defy the Church’s teachings as to what objectively constitutes a sin or who knowingly breaks a Church rule. Thus, using what is probably the most famous example, the Church excommunicated Galileo for saying the earth revolved around the sun. That was viewed as heresy. </p>
<p>If Galileo had died while excommunicated and been refused absolution because he honestly felt that he was right and thus could not express remorse, God would have judged his soul based on his INTENT. The fact that he was ex-communicated does not ipso facto mean the man was eternally damned. </p>
<p>If the nun profiled in the NPR article honestly and sincerely believed that she was doing the MORAL thing and died five minutes later, God would judge her soul. God would see her intent. However, in THIS world, a nun who is the ultimate authority on ethics at a Catholic hospital can’t go around defying Catholic teaching on this issue. The Church has a perfect right to say this is wrong and you will be ex-communicated until you acknowledge publicly that you committed a sin. </p>
<p>There are probably many people in heaven who committed sins in the objective sense but had no intent to sin. I suspect --I’ve never had a personal revelation–that some of them have performed abortions. There is NO doubt that they committed murder–just like those ancient people who sacrificed humans to please the gods. But since they, through their ignorance, did not know that what they did was evil, God will judge them by their intent. There are also probably many people in hell who did things that really weren’t wrong but who INTENDED to do evil. </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>PS: I know that the use of the word ignorance will rile some. However, I’ve used that word intentionally because that’s how the Church views it. In the Church’s view, an unborn child is every bit as much of a human as any other human being. There is no moral distinction between killing an unborn child and any other person.</p>
)</p>