Seven sins that kill faith

Gluttony and greed, anger and envy: Sins like those are considered cyanide to spiritual life by the Church. They're called "capital sins," but most Catholics know them by an older name: the "seven deadly sins."

This week, The Evangelist begins a Lenten series exploring those sins: what they are, how they're being lived out in today's world and how to avoid them. Since Lent is a time to consider the state of one's soul, looking at the capital sins can be one way to begin.

Q: What are the seven capital or "deadly" sins?

A. Pride, avarice (greed), envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth (acedia).

Q: Who came up with this list?

A. In the fifth century, St. John Cassian wrote about eight "principal vices," which he listed as gluttony, luxury, avarice, wrath, sloth, acedia (he defined that as "discouragement"), vainglory and pride. St. Gregory the Great is credited as grouping the seven deadly sins together in his sixth-century work, "Moralia in Job." His list included pride, envy, anger, avarice, sadness, gluttony and lust. The list used today can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Q: What makes these sins "deadly"?

A. The seven "deadly" sins were called such because they led to committing more sins; for instance, a greedy person may feed that greed by committing a robbery, another sin -- and even killing someone in the process, compounding those sins. The capital sins were thus considered "deadly" to a person's spiritual life.

Q: Why does the Church call them "capital sins" now?

A. Just as "capital punishment" is the worst sentence a criminal can receive (a death sentence), a "capital sin" is a major sin. According to Jeffrey Marlett, an assistant professor of religious studies at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, a capital sin is the same as a mortal sin: one that hurts others and also damages our relationship with God and with others.

Q: Why do we have to worry so much about these particular sins?

A. "Anything that takes you away from who you are is sinful," said Rev. Roger Karban, a Scripture columnist whose work appears weekly in The Evangelist. "Jesus' major complaint against people was that they [were] hypocrites -- a nice word for an actor." Thus, he explained, people who commit capital sins are not being true to themselves -- they are dishonoring themselves as children of God.

Q: Can a capital sin be forgiven?

A. God can forgive anything if a person is truly repentant. "If grace is abundant, there should be some relief on the part of us everyday people," Mr. Marlett remarked. "The source of forgiveness is certainly going to be able to compensate for whatever we did."

Q: Is there a list of opposites to the capital sins?

A. The seven principal virtues are the opposites of the capital sins. They are: prudence, justice, courage, temperance, faith, hope and charity. All the sins and their matching virtues will be discussed during Lent in The Evangelist.

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