The Ten Comandmants are the sins, the capital sins are the root. To make a sin Mortal 3 steps are necessary: 1. For it to be of a serious matter. 2. That you know it is a serious offense. and 3. That you do it of your own free will.

So while an action maybe sinful, it does not mean that it is a sin , either mortal or venial, for the person doing the action. We are taught both in the Bible and by the Catholic Church that while we can judge the action we cannot not judge the person.

It seems to me that we live in a world were no one wants to accept responsibility for thier actions and therefore so many try to reduce sin to being human nature that does not need to be corrected. Today so few go tho Church yet they form these ideas that they preach as doctrine, and everyone jumps on the band wagon because it seems to get them off the hook.. Too bad. If we truly tried to live by the Spirit of the Law rather than picking apart the law we would all be so much better off.

Kathleen Milite, New Rochelle, NY

Perhaps Mr. Kieran Proffer of London, NW3 might want to refer to the Gospel account of Matthew, Chapter 5 verse 28, to see what Jesus has to say about this matter of lust and adultery.
Or is he like so many others today, wanting to re-write Holy Scripture?

While reading, he might also like to study Pope Paul VI's (aka Peter) Encyclical "Humanae Vitae", which instructs on the matter of contraception.

I sincerely hope this clears all this up for him and other readers...

Gerald Maingot, Langley, BC, canada

Time to reignite that most urgent of agonising human dilemmas, viz:

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

How it torments me !

Paulo, Copenhagen, Denmark