OCCASION OF SIN. — I. NOTIONS. — By occasion of sin properly is meant a circumstance involving a person, thing, or place, external to the subject, which entices someone to sin, making its commission easy. The occasion of sin thus implies two essential elements: one outside the subject, namely, the enticing circumstance, whose presence exerts a particular influence on the individual; the other within the subject itself, namely, the general or personal disposition toward the sin in question. The occasion of sin differs from danger because the latter has a broader meaning and also includes various internal inclinations (temptations, habits, passions, natural frailty, etc.), and because danger is rather an effect of the occasion, which creates the danger.
Modern life has multiplied occasions of sin: the press, relations with persons without faith, mixed marriages, or marriages with persons hostile to Christian life, neutral or mixed schools, fashion, occupations and promiscuous work environments, dance halls, cinemas, various entertainments—all causes which, combined with bad example, human respect, or personal weakness, produce moral contagion.
According to the degree of influence it exercises on the subject, the occasion of sin is remote if it creates a slight danger of sinning; proximate if it creates a probable danger of grave sin, either for everyone (absolute occasion) or for a particular individual because of his particular dispositions (relative occasion).
A proximate occasion is present (continuous) or absent (non-continuous), according as the occasion is current and permanently present to the subject, or requires access to it (going there, meeting, etc.). A proximate occasion of sin may furthermore be free (voluntary) or necessary, according as the subject can abandon it or not without serious harm, inconvenience, or scandal. A book, a gathering, or an entertainment is a free occasion, even if the person may derive some benefit from it; family, military, or prison cohabitation constitutes a necessary occasion. The same thing may be a free occasion for one individual and a necessary occasion for another, e.g., a job or a relationship.
One must beware of the illusions of personal judgments, since no one is a good judge in his own case, especially when some passion or advantage is involved (cf. the propositions condemned in this regard in Dens-U, nos. 1141, 1211–13).
II. NORMS FOR MORAL ACTIVITY. – The proximate occasion of grave sin, whether present or absent, must be avoided or physically removed under pain of grave sin. Indeed, it is clear that this occasion constitutes a grave danger of sin, while at the same time there is no sufficient reason for exposing oneself to a danger that can be removed only by separation. This particular obligation arises from the general obligation to exercise appropriate diligence in fulfilling one’s duty. It may also be granted that, by employing suitable means of resistance, the obligation to remove the occasion ceases, provided, however, that through such means the occasion becomes remote. Subjectively, it may also happen that the person does not possess, or cannot form, an awareness of the gravity of the danger; one is then confronted with a false conscience, which must be enlightened.
One is not obliged physically to avoid the morally necessary proximate occasion of sin, provided that one renders it remote through the use of effective means (prayer, vigilance, the Sacraments, mortification, meditation, penance, etc.). In such a case, God’s grace will not be lacking to prevent one from falling, bearing in mind that only consent in itself constitutes guilt, not the danger as such.
The difficulty lies in assessing doubtful cases concerning moral necessity, the proximity of the occasion, and the efficacy of the means. In case of uncertainty, one cannot speak of a grave obligation, but of a counsel. Especially in the case of a relative or morally necessary proximate occasion, discretion must suggest requiring only what the person is capable of giving; for example, even a reduction in the number of falls.