i went to confession and the priest told me that the sin of masturbation was not a mortal sin because of my age, i'm a teenager. he told me that since i'm of a younger age it has become an addiction or habitual sin which lessons the mortal sin and that i'm doing the right thing by continually going to confession. he told me that i should not refrain from communion even after committing this sin. is this priest correct?First of all, the Catechism says this:
- 2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."138 "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."139
To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
Personally, I advise people to go to confession if they have committed a grave sin (whether the sin is actually mortal or not) because it is not always easy to determine if a grave sin was committed with the full knowledge and consent of the will that is required to make that sin a mortal sin. Put simply, it is better to be safe than sorry. Plus, it is always good to go to confession, even when you have committed no grave or mortal sins. Even venial sins wound our relationship with the Lord and make us more inclined to commit more grievous sins. They also lessen the fruitfullness of the Eucharist.
On the topic of masturbation, the CDF's Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics is also helfpul. In section IX, we read:
- On the subject of masturbation modern psychology provides much valid and useful information for formulating a more equitable judgment on moral responsibility and for orienting pastoral action. Psychology helps one to see how the immaturity of adolescence (which can sometimes persist after that age), psychological imbalance or habit can influence behavior, diminishing the deliberate character of the act and bringing about a situation whereby subjectively there may not always be serious fault. But in general, the absence of serious responsibility must not be presumed; this would be to misunderstand people's moral capacity.
- It is true that in sins of the sexual order, in view of their kind and their causes, it more easily happens that free consent is not fully given; this is a fact which calls for caution in all judgment as to the subject's responsibility. In this matter it is particularly opportune to recall the following words of Scripture: "Man looks at appearances but God looks at the heart." However, although prudence is recommended in judging the subjective seriousness of a particular sinful act, it in no way follows that one can hold the view that in the sexual field mortal sins are not committed.
I hope that helps