Word: venial
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...part the pupils like best is the confessional, when each participant recounts the details of his moving violation, whereupon his 40-odd classmates judge whether it was a mortal or just a venial infraction. "Thanks, David, for sharing that with us. I'm sure few of us were aware that you can actually purchase the STOP sign you've knocked over." So much emphasis is put on self- expression and broad-mindedness that at one point an instructor found himself equating drug taking with drinking, and upholding both. "You can do alcohol. You can do drugs," he admonished. "Just...
...Americans would concern themselves more with morality and worry less about the sexual behavior of their politicians, they would impeach Reagan for the Iran-contra arms sale and forgive Gary Hart his venial sins...
...call myself a food troubleshooter," says Lee, who asks clients (including Ann-Margret and Robert Wagner) to take note of their troubles by keeping a diary detailing every bit of their daily food intake. At one session with Lee last month, Filmmaker Janna Gelfand, 26, read off the venial sins that had cost her an added pound, notably hors d'oeuvres at two cocktail parties. "You should have had a big bowl of vegetable soup before leaving your house," said Lee. Gelfand objected, "I had a tight dress on, and soup puffs out my tummy." Still, she has lost...
...seemed to have waxed. Former Dean of the Faculty Henry Rosovsky says in connection with the finding that he did not pass on his knowledge of Safran's CIA funding (was that the result of oversight of was it policy?) that "it was an administrative error." Mortal sin and venial sin were good enough for St. Augustine but not for Dean Rosovsky, who has come up with a third theological category: administrative sin. What is the penance reuired for absolution? Or may it be obtained by presidential pardon or by silence? His phrase brings back memories of Nixon's plaintive...
...play begins with Sister Mary Ignatius, played aptly by Elizabeth Franz, calmly explaining Catholic beliefs as if they were so many geometry theorems. Franz is the best part of the evening, bringing an understated madness to her part which save it from becoming, mere caricaturization. Explaining the difference between venial and mortal sins, Sister Mary lists sex outside of marriage, masturbation and hijacking as some of the more serious offenses. A parody of the Catholic belief that suffering is good, her eyes twinkle in delight as she explains in gory detail Christ's sufferings on the cross. Further, she insists...