Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Catholic Word of the Day: AGE OF DISCRETION, 10-02-10
CatholicReference.net ^ | 10-02-10 | Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary

Posted on 10/02/2010 7:44:55 AM PDT by Salvation

Featured Term (selected at random):

AGE OF DISCRETION

Sometimes refers to the age at which a person reaches adulthood and can make lifetime decisions, especially regarding one's state of life. But more commonly it is the age when a child is capable of making free acts of the will and therefore becomes morally responsible for his actions. This was St. Pius X's understanding as regards the age for receiving the sacraments of penance and Holy Communion. In general, it is about seven years of age.

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholiclist; firstcommunion
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last
In general, it is about seven years of age. (Second grade usually here.)
1 posted on 10/02/2010 7:44:57 AM PDT by Salvation
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper; Allegra; SuziQ; BlackVeil; Straight Vermonter; Cronos; SumProVita; ...

Catholic Word of the Day – links will be provided later by another FReeper.

 

Calvinism/Armianism

Aseity

Humanism

Murder

Luna

Meta-Ousiosis

Renunciation

I. H. S.

Peace of the Church

Bilocation

Marriage Bond

Epikeia

Scapular Medal

Clandestinity

Donatism

Sign

Altar Bread

Curse

Chrismation

Religious State

Clerics of the Pontifical Chapel

Nehemiah

Age of Discretion

 

 

 

 

Catholic Word of the Day Ping!

If you aren’t on this Catholic Word of the Day Ping list and would like to be, please send me a FReepmail.


2 posted on 10/02/2010 7:46:23 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Salvation

Where do you read this in the Bible? That’s right, because it isn’t there.


3 posted on 10/02/2010 7:56:41 AM PDT by orchestra
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: orchestra

I would assume by your comment that you are a protestant? If so, buzz off. This the CATHOLIC word of the day thread.


4 posted on 10/02/2010 8:46:02 AM PDT by Celtic Cross (Pablo is very whiney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: orchestra; Celtic Cross; Salvation; All
Where do you read this in the Bible? That’s right, because it isn’t there.

Many English words that have legal or moral implications are not in the Bible.

This thread is clearly entitled, "Catholic Word of the Day"

5 posted on 10/02/2010 8:52:26 AM PDT by MaggieCarta (Looking for the off ramp on the road to serfdom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Salvation
More commonly called Age of Reason; see:

Age of Reason
The name given to that period of human life at which persons are deemed to begin to be morally responsible. This, as a rule, happens at the age of seven, or thereabouts, though the use of reason requisite for moral discernment may come before, or may be delayed until notably after, that time. At this age Christians come under the operation of ecclesiastical laws, such as the precept of assistance at Mass on Sundays and holydays, abstinence from meat on certain days, and annual confessions, should they have incurred mortal sin. The obligation of Easter Communion literally understood applies to all who have reached "the years of discretion"; but according to the practical interpretation of the Church it is not regarded as binding children just as soon as they are seven years old. At the age of reason a person is juridically considered eligible to act as witness to a marriage, as sponsor at baptism or confirmation, and as a party to the formal contract of betrothal; at this age one is considered capable of receiving extreme unction, of being promoted to first tonsure and minor orders, of being the incumbent of a simple benefice (beneficium simplex) if the founder of it should have so provided; and, lastly, is held liable to ecclesiastical censures. In the present discipline, however, persons do not incur these penalties until they reach the age of puberty, unless explicitly included in the decree imposing them. The only censure surely applicable to persons of this age is for the violation of the clausura of nuns, while that for the maltreatment, suadente diabolo, of clerics is probably so.

----

Sources
Ferraris. Bibliotheca prompta jur. can. s.v. Aetas, (Rome, 1844); Wernz, Jus Decretalium (Rome, 1899).

Age of Reason (ca. 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia article)
6 posted on 10/02/2010 10:15:44 AM PDT by annalex (http://www.catecheticsonline.com/CatenaAurea.php)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: orchestra

Read what in the Bible?

That little children are innocent of sin is very much in the Bible. See, for example, Matthew 18:1-10, Matthew 19:14.

That the Church is authorized to legislate its own activities is also in the Bible, see for example, Matthew 18:18 or Acts 20:28.

I think it is fine for you to ask. It is an open thread and not a Catholic Caucus thread. What does your confession teach regarding children becoming adults?


7 posted on 10/02/2010 10:23:50 AM PDT by annalex (http://www.catecheticsonline.com/CatenaAurea.php)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: orchestra

Do this run on some kind of auto-type function on your keyboard? For example, if I posted PANGOLIN, would you respond, “Where do you read this in the Bible? That’s right, because it isn’t there.”?

Just kidding. I bet it was catz.


8 posted on 10/02/2010 12:31:06 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Beware of the owrk!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: All

Calvinism/Arianism

Aseity

Humanism

Murder

Luna

Meta-Ousiosis

Renunciation

I.H.S

Peace of the Church

Bilocation

Marriage Bond

Epikeia

Scapular Medal

Clandestinity

Donatism

Sign

Altar Bread

Curse

Chrismation

Religious State

Clerics of the Pontifical Chapel

Nehemiah

Age of Reason


9 posted on 10/02/2010 5:06:10 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Straight Vermonter

Welcome back!


10 posted on 10/02/2010 7:46:18 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: orchestra; MaggieCarta; Celtic Cross; annalex; Tax-chick

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.”

Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible Online
http://drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drb&bk=53&ch=13&l=11&f=s#x


11 posted on 10/02/2010 7:47:28 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: orchestra; MaggieCarta; Celtic Cross; annalex; Tax-chick

Other bible translations actually use the word “reasoned”:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013:11&version=NIV;KJV;KJ21;YLT


12 posted on 10/02/2010 7:47:58 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: orchestra; MaggieCarta; Celtic Cross; annalex; Tax-chick

Thanks for the posts.


13 posted on 10/02/2010 7:48:25 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Salvation

Yes, that’s true.

It can be hard to tell what’s going on in children’s brains. My 4-year-old is in first grade Sunday School this year, to keep him out of trouble, but the DRE told me I shouldn’t expect him to have make his First Communion next year with the second grade. She’s right - he reads, adds, and memorizes like crazy, but he’s not, as far as I can tell, engaging in moral reasoning beyond, “I was told not to X; now I’m in trouble!”


14 posted on 10/02/2010 7:57:52 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Beware of the owrk!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Salvation

Thank you!


15 posted on 10/02/2010 9:43:24 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Salvation

It was my pleasure, Salvation. Thanks for posting the links.


16 posted on 10/02/2010 10:51:41 PM PDT by MaggieCarta (Looking for the off ramp on the road to serfdom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: MaggieCarta

Sent to me by a FReeper — and then I will compare because I don’t know the version that this came from.

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Ps. 58:3


17 posted on 10/03/2010 5:15:31 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: MaggieCarta
Doing a little further reading here to get the context. One really cannot judge by one line.

Psalms 57
1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in thee my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of thy wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.
2 I cry to God Most High, to God who fulfils his purpose for me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me, he will put to shame those who trample upon me. [Selah] God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
4 I lie in the midst of lions that greedily devour the sons of men; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues sharp swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let thy glory be over all the earth!
6 They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. [Selah]
7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!
8 Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!
9 I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to thee among the nations.
10 For thy steadfast love is great to the heavens, thy faithfulness to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let thy glory be over all the earth! ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 



Psalms 58


 

1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the sons of men uprightly?
2 Nay, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
8 Let them be like the snail which dissolves into slime, like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."

18 posted on 10/03/2010 5:21:11 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: All

Notice that Psalm 58:3 references the word, gods, with a lower case g. Hmmmm.


19 posted on 10/03/2010 5:24:42 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: All
Very different here!

From the NAB
Psalms
Chapter 57
1
1 2 For the director. Do not destroy. A miktam of David, when he fled from Saul into a cave.
2
Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me. In you I seek shelter. In the shadow of your wings 3 I seek shelter till harm pass by.
3
I call to God Most High, to God who provides for me.
4
May God send help from heaven to save me, shame those who trample upon me. May God send fidelity and love. Selah
5
I must lie down in the midst of lions hungry for human prey. Their teeth are spears and arrows; their tongue, a sharpened sword.
6
Show yourself over the heavens, God; may your glory appear above all the earth.
7
They have set a trap for my feet; my soul is bowed down; They have dug a pit before me. May they fall into it themselves! Selah
8
My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and chant praise.
9
4 Awake, my soul; awake, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn.
10
I will praise you among the peoples, Lord; I will chant your praise among the nations.
11
For your love towers to the heavens; your faithfulness, to the skies.
12
Show yourself over the heavens, God; may your glory appear above all the earth.

Footnotes

1 [Psalm 57] Each of the two equal strophes contains a prayer for rescue from enemies, accompanied by joyful trust in God (Psalm 57:2-5, 7-11). The refrain prays that God be manifested as saving (Psalm 57:6, 11[12]). Psalm 108 is nearly identical to part of this psalm (Psalm 57:8-11 = Psalm 108:2-6).

2 [1] Do not destroy: probably the title of the melody to which the psalm was to be sung.

3 [2] The shadow of your wings: probably refers to the wings of the cherubim (powerful winged animals) whose wings spread over the ark in the inner chamber of the temple (1 Kings 6:23-28).

4 [9] I will wake the dawn: by a bold figure the psalmist imagines the sound of music and singing will waken a new day.

Psalms
Chapter 58
1
1 2 For the leader. Do not destroy. A miktam of David.
2
3 Do you indeed pronounce justice, O gods; do you judge mortals fairly?
3
No, you freely engage in crime; your hands dispense violence to the earth.
4
The wicked have been corrupt since birth; liars from the womb, they have gone astray.
5
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake, like that of a serpent stopping its ears,
6
So as not to hear the voice of the charmer who casts such cunning spells.
7
O God, smash the teeth in their mouths; break the jaw-teeth of these lions, LORD!
8
Make them vanish like water flowing away; trodden down, let them wither like grass.
9
5 Let them dissolve like a snail that oozes away, like an untimely birth that never sees the sun.
10
Suddenly, like brambles or thistles, have the whirlwind snatch them away.
11
Then the just shall rejoice to see the vengeance and bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
12
Then it will be said: "Truly there is a reward for the just; there is a God who is judge on earth!"

Footnotes

1 [Psalm 58] A lament expressing trust in God's power to dethrone all powers obstructing divine rule of the world. First condemned are "the gods," the powers that were popularly imagined to control human destinies (Psalm 58:2-3), then "the wicked," the human instruments of these forces (Psalm 58:4-6). The psalmist prays God to prevent them from harming the just (Psalm 58:7-10). The manifestation of justice will gladden the just; they will see that their God is with them (Psalm 58:11). The psalm is less concerned with personal vengeance than with public vindication of God's justice now.

2 [1] Do not destroy: probably the title of the melody to which the psalm was to be sung.

3 [2] Gods: the Bible sometimes understands pagan gods to be lesser divine beings who are assigned by Israel's God to rule the foreign nations. Here they are accused of injustice, permitting the human judges under their patronage to abuse the righteous. Cf Psalm 82.

4 [5-6] The image is that of a poisonous snake that is controlled by the voice or piping of its trainer.

5 [9] A snail that oozes away: empty shells suggested to ancients that snails melted away as they left a slimy trail.


20 posted on 10/03/2010 5:30:51 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson