Q: Is reluctance to look into a moral or spiritual question for fear of the results a sin? – Aaron
Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC
A: The short answer is yes. The fact that someone feels the need to research an issue but refuses to do so would be a form of negligence.
It’s one thing to do something wrong out of ignorance. It’s a much different case when someone has doubts about the morality of something but does it anyway.
An example might help.
Imagine a hunter walking through a forest. He sees a movement in the bushes. Instead of first checking to make sure that it’s a deer behind the bush – and not another hunter, for instance – he opens fire.
Objectively that hunter is guilty of a grave sin because he deliberately risked killing a person out of negligence, even if in fact it turns out to be a deer.
As one archdiocesan website puts it:
“A good conscience makes judgments that conform to reason and the good that is willed by the Wisdom of God. A good conscience requires lifelong formation. Each baptized follower of Christ is obliged to form his or her conscience according to objective moral standards. The Word of God is a principal tool in the formation of conscience when it is assimilated by study, prayer, and practice. The prudent advice and good example of others support and enlighten our conscience. The authoritative teaching of the Church is an essential element in our conscience formation.”
If a person feels bothered by an action that he is contemplating or is already doing, and he doesn’t research the topic, that is negligence. His ignorance would be blameworthy.
Catholics in general have a general obligation to keep learning about their faith.
In his 1992 apostolic constitution on the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II wrote, “I ask the Church’s Pastors and the Christian faithful to receive this catechism in a spirit of communion and to use it assiduously in fulfilling their mission of proclaiming the faith and calling people to the Gospel life.”
Note those words: The Catholic faith have a mission to proclaim the faith. That implies we need to know our faith well.
As for fear of the results of your research, remember the words of Jesus in John 8:32 – “The truth will set you free.”
