Mortal Sin?

[Guest Guest]

I have gone to confession now with several priests, and the majority of them told me that the sin of masturbation isn't a mortal sin because of my aage, (15), that it was normal and sometimes it is a way for someones body to release anger or something like that.

So I was wondering if that is true or not...

Thanks,

Guest

[cappie]

This is the reply from the Catechism:

2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action." "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."

[b]To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability[/b].

That last section is I think what the priests may have meant. These things should be dealt with sensitivity and care. One priest used to say to me "There are more sins caused by lack of charity, than lack of chastity" That is of course not to deny the sinfulness of such actions. The priests should leave you in no doubt, however , of the sinfulness of such acts as it is the teaching of the Church always remembering the part in [b]bold type [/b]above