this wonderful trick: “mental
reservation”*.
Without blushing, lies you can tell
when you require that truth be withheld
and never worry about going to hell.
and never worry about going to hell.
While I do not wish to be critical,
N.B. Kavanaugh's
prep school was Jesuitical.
_______
*According to the common
Catholic teaching it is never allowable to tell a lie, not even to
save human life. A lie is something intrinsically evil, and as evil
may not be done that good may come of it, we
are never allowed to tell a lie. However,
we are also under an obligation to keep secrets faithfully, and
sometimes the easiest way of fulfilling that duty is to say what is
false, or to tell a lie. Writers of all creeds and of
none, both ancient and modern, have frankly accepted this position.
They admit the doctrine of the lie of necessity, and maintain that
when there is a conflict between justice and veracity it is justice
that should prevail. The common Catholic teaching has formulated the
theory of mental reservation as a means by which the claims of both
justice and veracity can be satisfied. — The
Catholic Encyclopedia
[updated 9/17/2018 3:13
pm]