My concern is based on what you say yourself that about the concept of mortal sin we all used to know.
Then, as now, the commission of a mortal sin required the matter be grave, the actor must have full knowledge it is grave and must do the act with full consent of the will.
Because of poor catechizes etc. many people do not have the certainty of grave matter and and are not trained in the use of their own will, but rely on feelings.
So they are often victims committing acts of grave matter and reaping the whirlwind of them. But again, the Church leaders will keep up the cruelty of bending over backwards to try to keep people from falling into mortal sin, that they continue mushy teachings , pat them on the back and leave them in the unhappy state of the pain of the results of objectively evil acts.
I will never the pain in the voice of one woman who cried out at a meeting with the bishop “why didn't you tell us about NFP”?
We have to speak out.
Yes, you are exactly correct; the faithful have been slowly weened off the truth. Intentionally or otherwise, the bishops and priests have allowed, if not encouraged, Catholics to think of themselves as Protestants, not Catholics. It is actually rare that one hears a priest, bishop or even a pope refer to the faithful in the pews as Catholics. All have been conditioned to refer to themselves as “Christians”. They will to admit this, of course, but it is undeniably true.
A number of years ago when I was attending the Novus Ordo Mass, a visiting priest celebrating a daily Mass at the church I was attending suggested that there was never a reason not to receive Holy Communion. He said that in spite of what “some people” may believe, it is rare that anyone ever commits a mortal sin (which he called a serious sin). He did not explain his reasoning but I’m sure there were those in attendance who took him to heart––after all, he was a “priest”.
I rarely comment on this site anymore as my views as a traditional Catholic are so dramatically inconsistent with many of the otherwise sincere Catholics who post and comment here that I’m certain my views are so radical that I come across as almost anti-Catholic. Of course, I’m not, but the teachings of the true Catholic Church are so very different than what is being taught by the Conciliar leaders in the Church today, I can well understand why many may feel that way.