throws on big red Catholicism switch in brain implanted there by years in the school system
You need full consent of the will for a sin to be mortal (i.e. severe enough to have going to hell on the table). Damage to brain function impairs the will. Anterograde amnesia = the person would need to be instructed in Church teachings again (for their own edification, not as a condition of salvation), but the effect of the sacrament of baptism is permanent and irreversible.
In the case of the amnesia, theoretically, one would have to be taught again in order to understand contrition and confess one sins and as well as understand and then recieve communion. I would assume confirmation as well but the gifts the Holy Spirit imparted would remain, maybe. Yet their sins after having amensia are the ones that they could only confess since they cannot be contrite for the sins prior with exception of their original sin. The interesting question here is if a baptised person has amensia and they do not remember their life before amensia til the day they die, does this become an actual case of Catholic tabula rasa?
I think so, yeah. They could confess "and any sins I have forgotten" just to cover their bases, but it's impossible to have true contrition for something you don't remember having done. I don't think they'd repeat confirmation since it's not one of the repeatable sacraments, but in practice the priest would probably have some kind of little "renew your baptismal vows" thing for the person, if they wanted it.
(These are hypothetical questions that have very little to do with the actual pastoral response to head injuries, but they're fun to think about)
throws on big red Catholicism switch in brain implanted there by years in the school system
You need full consent of the will for a sin to be mortal (i.e. severe enough to have going to hell on the table). Damage to brain function impairs the will. Anterograde amnesia = the person would need to be instructed in Church teachings again (for their own edification, not as a condition of salvation), but the effect of the sacrament of baptism is permanent and irreversible.
idk what the dirty prots think tho
In the case of the amnesia, theoretically, one would have to be taught again in order to understand contrition and confess one sins and as well as understand and then recieve communion. I would assume confirmation as well but the gifts the Holy Spirit imparted would remain, maybe. Yet their sins after having amensia are the ones that they could only confess since they cannot be contrite for the sins prior with exception of their original sin. The interesting question here is if a baptised person has amensia and they do not remember their life before amensia til the day they die, does this become an actual case of Catholic tabula rasa?
I think so, yeah. They could confess "and any sins I have forgotten" just to cover their bases, but it's impossible to have true contrition for something you don't remember having done. I don't think they'd repeat confirmation since it's not one of the repeatable sacraments, but in practice the priest would probably have some kind of little "renew your baptismal vows" thing for the person, if they wanted it.
(These are hypothetical questions that have very little to do with the actual pastoral response to head injuries, but they're fun to think about)