Merriam-Webster defines scandal as “malicious or defamatory gossip,” a “disgrace,” or “a circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions.” Those are probably the definitions most people are familiar with. But they barely touch upon the true meaning of scandal and the consequences of it.
“Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death.”
In other words, our actions have serious consequences for us and for others. This definition helps us see our responsibility to become moral leaders and to live the truths of our faith.
Yet this is not how the majority of the world thinks about their actions. We live in a “you do you” world in which fewer and fewer people have the courage to stand up for anything they believe. And society has us thinking that this selfish mentality is a good thing.
Scandal can and does damage our souls and lead to spiritual death. And we can find instances of scandal nearly everywhere in today’s society. Because many don’t take this sin seriously, it leads not only to the devaluing of human life but to a culture of death.
Our faith must be the most important thing in our lives. That means that, when others look at our actions, they should see us as Catholics behaving as Catholics and following the tenets of the faith. Christ taught us, “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”
If our actions don’t glorify God, who do they glorify? Ourselves? The devil?
When we partake in actions that cause others to believe erroneous teaching about the Catholic faith, we are committing the sin of scandal and possibly drawing people away from the faith by sowing the seeds of confusion or planting doubt.
We see instances of this in all walks of life.
An obvious example comes from our president, who claims to be Catholic but who chooses to live as if Catholicism is a buffet where he can pick and choose what he wants. Biden falsely calls abortion “reproductive freedom,” he advocates for the “right” of people to “change” their sex at will, and then he proceeds to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. This scandalous behavior sends a message to the world that it’s okay to call yourself Catholic but to not actually follow the tenets of the faith.
We see this with some Catholic clergy, who lack the moral courage to stand up for our faith. And we see this in the pulpits, where many priests preach only of kindness and goodness but never speak about how to truly live as faithful Catholics.
This lack of spiritual guidance leads people astray, and it leads them to think that some people—the preborn, the elderly, the sick—are expendable.
Yet it is not only those in public positions who create scandal. The average Catholic does this as well, and they may not even realize it.
The Catholic businessman who cheats his clients teaches others that it’s okay to use and hurt people.
A Catholic teacher living with her boyfriend sends the message to her students (and others) that living in sin is acceptable to the Catholic Church.
The Catholic woman on birth control tells her friends that it’s okay to close herself off from God’s will when it comes to children.
The Catholic parent who fails to prioritize Mass teaches his family that God can be discarded when He’s not convenient.
A Catholic who votes for pro-abortion politicians sends the message that preborn lives don’t have value.
The list goes on and on.
These sins damage the virtue and integrity of those around us because we are failing to stand up for the truth.
We have a responsibility to not only ourselves and our families but also to society to live our faith proudly and to follow Church teaching. We do this for the salvation of our own souls, but also for the salvation of others. Remember that Christ exhorted, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
We do the exact opposite of this when we pick and choose which tenets of the faith we want to adhere to. And when we fail to follow Christ’s teachings and lead others astray, we commit the sin of scandal.
And so let us ask ourselves, How can I live today so that I can be with God for eternity?
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
A lot of your comments should be read at Catholic school parents school meetings, along with the Gospel story of only one leper coming back to give thanks.
We read: “The list goes on and on.”
In addition to “actions,” our “attitude and behavior” also includes sins of omission and silence. As in preaching the heights of the Beatitudes while obscuring Verititas Splendor on moral absolutes: “…the commandment of love of God and neighbor does not have in its dynamic any higher limit, but it does have a lower limit, beneath which the commandment is broken” (Veritatis Splendor, n. 52).
How to influence the external and complex conundrums of today’s big-picture world, but without crowding out the interior life of a personal, consistent, and sanctified life? How to be both universal and coherently apostolic? How to walk and chew gum at the same time? Probably not by “harmonized” word games as, for example, in the blessing of “irregular” and fatally compromised situations.
The millstone necktie is a fitting outcome….In his “Jesus of Nazareth,” Benedict XVI explains that the scandalized “little ones” are not children alone, but rather all of those of weak and vulnerable personal faith.
I’m a Protestant Minister and I truly enjoy your articles and agree with the message they contain. It’s really sad that so many Christians do not behave in a way that honors the teachings of the Church. Thank you for your teachings.
I am surprised you are willing to cast the first stone. Only love will change hearts and only changed hearts change behavior.
Pointing out public sins and making basic observations about morality are not instances of “casting the first stone.” The Catechism warns of the serious dangers caused by scandal:
And Catholics have a right, even a duty at times, to admonish sinners and instruct the ignorant, which are two of the spiritual acts of mercy. Furthermore, how is pointing out scandal contrary to love? Love and truth cannot be separated, and so the truth must be proclaimed, with love and with the desire for conversion. Are you suggesting, judgmentally, that the author is not writing out of love and in accordance with truth?
Ah, the tyranny of “nice”. Being a Christian does not include turning a blind eye to sin like it’s ok, just to spare someone’s feelings. Jesus did not, did He? No, in fact he made quite a thing about people “sinning no more”, after he healed them. And publicly enough to have been recorded for the gospels.Especially in public life, where your vote may be needed to decide policy, your vote should be for what the CHURCH supports. You have to get out there and defend the Catholic position. I do put it on our clergy to have the courage speak more clearly from the pulpit, especially on today’s sexual behavior, where more and more inappropriate things are being normalized.And if some are offended, let the chips fall where they may.
Doubftul that this piece will elicit many responses from its Catholic readership. After all, most Catholics are complicit with the world, the flesh and the Devil. If they weren’t, we’d have many, many more martyrs than we currently do.
Thank you for clearly and concisely explaining the sin of scandal and its harmful consequences. This is what we need to hear from our pope, bishops, and priests and rarely, if ever, do.
A Catholic who votes for pro-abortion politicians sends the message that preborn lives don’t have value (Ciancio). The heart of the matter for many, very many self professed observant Catholics who otherwise will tell you if questioned, with adamancy that other issues, climate, a candidate’s dictatorial posture are sufficient reason to choose a lesser evil. A lesser evil is a misconstrued evaluation regarding the slaughter of the innocents in the womb, as if Herod the Great were more favorable than Augustus Caesar to rule Israel.
Susan Ciancio lists among the many rationalizing common sins that scandalize and breeds contempt for life, even if their response when questioned is that they really care convincing themselves of their well thought out morality. Among the more common sins that precipitates rationalization of abortion is the conscientious acquiescence to the use of contraceptives, the dismissal of Humanae Vitae by so many Catholic theologians, clergy. There’s a price to pay for leaning in favor of an intrinsic evil, clearly condemned by Paul VI, evident as Ms Ciancio argues, in the increasing acceptance of the greatest holocaust, abortion. Once we separate the pleasure of the conjugal act as a good exclusive to life we diminish life itself.
Adjunct to my comment, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when prefect CDF: “When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.” That would be for the lesser evil. To vote for the abortion candidate would require the alternative candidate to present the threat of extremely grave evil, for example a nuclear war due to the gravity of abortion. A plausible option in such a case is abstention.
Back in 2002, I was amazed to read how much evil had been perpetrated for the sake of “avoiding scandal.” (All right, so I was naïve.) During that time, I was reminded of the myth of Oedipus: Laius and Jocasta, upon hearing the prophecy that their son will grow up to kill his father and marry his mother, plot to thwart the fulfillment of the prophecy, but the very steps they take to preclude the prophecy’s fulfillment *bring about* the prophecy’s fulfillment; similary, the steps so many bishops took to avoid the possibility of scandal were the very things that brought about the scandal. I believe someone once said that a myth is not a story of something that never happened, but a story of something that never stops happening.
What about Catholic schools? Is it a scandal that they now serve primarily the upper classes?
In Cleveland it seems that Catholic schools now serve the poor, rather than the middle class. Many folks regardless of means want their children taught in “better” schools.
This paragraph you wrote reminds me of my own neighbors whom I have to live by.
Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death.”
I wish I could have a sign in my yard with this article on it. Thank you for telling the truth and spreading the good work of our Lord.