A challenging article

"Did Hitler think he was doing good?" asks a Catholic question embedded in a moral theology developed for priests who had to decide the kind and gravity of each specific act or omission they heard in the sacrament of penance, and who were told to investigate both whether the penitent's personal behavior actually was sinful and, if so, how seriously sinful it was. In this setting, "sin" was described as a person's aware, free refusal to obey God's laws. Today many Catholics with whom I have spoken have no other understanding of what sin means, and they dismiss impassioned papal teachings about "social sin" as mere metaphor.

In no way can they apply the judgment "Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" to people who act in any of the ways mentioned by Jesus in the last judgment described in Matthew 25. Ignoring those without sufficient food or potable drinking water does not fit the Catholic definition of "mortal sin." I propose that we expand our examination of conscience to include reflection on our complicity in great harm done to ourselves, others and God's creation.

PAUL M. JURKOWITZ

Mount Vernon, Ohio

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