Sins of Omission

[Gabriel]

This topic:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2587
got me thinking about my personal response to seeing things happen around me. At what point does it become a sin to do nothing, despite coertion from friends or even employers as is this case? Is there a good reference for the sin of refusal to confront evil?
Gabriel
CHS

[Gabriel]

Here is one:

So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin

James 4:17

Example:
Everyday abortion occurs. We consider that killing babies. The government says that it is a right for our under-age children. Are we to prevent that by all means, even if it means going to jail?
Gb
CHS

[richgr]

I have a question related to this. If I know that we must abstain from meat on Friday (and for those still in the proper age range, fast), and I see another Catholic eating meat because he forgot about abstaining on Fridays, do I commit a sin of omission by not reminding the other person that we must abstain from meat?

[holyjoe]

Just my opinion, but I think that it would in fact be imprudent to do that. How can we know that they actually forgot? We can't read minds, and attempting to do so is never a good idea. For all we know, the person is NOT required to abstain, for example if they have permission from their pastor, or if their doctor told them to eat meat, or whatever. Assuming that everybody else has the same moral requirements as ourselves is contrary to experience and reason.

Furthermore, such an "intervention" would more often than not do more harm than good, convincing people that we have a "holier than thou" attitude, without actually convincing them to do what's right.

None of the above applies if the person actively demonstrates an openness to being corrected, such as if they ask, "Do you mind if I eat meat today, even though I know I shouldn't?" A prudent reply would be, "In that case, let's have fish today."

Just my opinion.

[richgr]

Thank you, Fr. Joe, for your excellent advice. I certainly do fall into that problem of being a "mind-reader." But in this case, if I do happen to know that the said person doesn't have any permission from the pastor or some medical excuse (because otherwise I would have been informed about it when the topic had come up in conversation the evening before), how should I commence? This is a regular problem of mine--where I don't want to correct others without pride coming into it, which I think happens all too often for myself, so I often just remain silent for fear that I will actually cause more harm than good, but then I begin to wonder if I should have said something, if such was a case of a sin of omission. I know that it isn't too serious a matter, so I don't pain myself over it, but I still worry. Also, I'm not sure whether or not they would be open to correction in this case.