Q. I know that I have committed hundreds of mortal sins since my last confession. There is no way that I can be assured that I can remember all of them in order to confess them.
A. You did not commit hundreds of mortal sins since your last confession. Mortal sin is best understood as a description of the condition of your relationship with God as a result of freely chosen actions. Mortal sin means “death.” There is only one death, not hundreds of deaths piling up on each other. That idea of number and kind, which is the only way you can have hundreds of mortal sins, was dependent on the assignment of penalties to canonical laws. It is not reflective of current theology or understanding.
Q. If you suffer from scrupulosity, does that automatically indicate that you also have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)? It seems as if the descriptions are used interchangeably, which I find confusing.
A. No. You can be scrupulous and have “a tender conscience,” which can be remedied by proper catechetical formation. OCD, on the other hand, employs the language of sin and religious understanding as a way to describe the interpretation of specific compulsive behaviors and ritualistic responses. It is a mental disorder and cannot be effectively addressed through catechetical formation. Therapy and good spiritual direction are essential in order to manage religious OCD/scrupulosity.