YOUCAT Question n. 320 - Is there such a thing as structures of sin?
(Youcat answer) Structures of sin exist only in a manner of
speaking. A sin is always connected with an individual person, who knowingly
and willingly agrees to something evil.
A
deepening through CCC
(CCC 1869) Thus sin makes men accomplices
of one another and causes concupiscence, violence, and injustice to reign among
them. Sins give rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to
the divine goodness. "Structures of sin" are the expression and effect
of personal sins. They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an
analogous sense, they constitute a "social sin" (John Paul II, RP
16).
Reflecting
and meditating
(Youcat comment) Nevertheless,
there are societal situations and institutions that are so contradictory to
God’s commandments that we speak about “structures of sin” yet these, too, are
the consequence of personal sins.
(CCC
Comment)
(CCC 1887) The inversion of means and ends
(Cf. CA 41), which results in giving the value of ultimate end to what is only
a means for attaining it, or in viewing persons as mere means to that end,
engenders unjust structures which "make Christian conduct in keeping with
the commandments of the divine Law-giver difficult and almost impossible"
(Pius XII, Address at Pentecost, June 1, 1941).
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