A Washington Times piece today details a federal investigation into a Virginia Catholic charity that apparently signed a minor’s abortion consent form, in violation of the law, not to mention church doctrine.

This paragraph in the story caught my attention.

“The church also teaches that knowingly using contraception is a mortal sin, although it does not incur automatic excommunication.”

Having recently written about Humanae Vitae, the Vatican document that forbids birth control (see here), I was intrigued by the blanket application of “mortal sin.”

I know abortion, which the church reasons is tantamount to murder, is considered a mortal sin; but do all forms of birth control fit into that category?

According to the Catholic catechism, for a sin to be mortal three conditions must be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”

It certainly sounds like birth control could fall into that category, but if that’s that case why can’t I find a document where the Vatican says that?

Paul VI, who wrote Humanae Vitae, calls contraception “intrinsically wrong” but never does the word “mortal” appear in the encyclical. I also checked my desktop Catholic catechism. No mention of contraception being a mortal sin there either.

I know that many Catholics, and some bishops, including Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb., do explicitly say that using the morning after pill is, in fact, a mortal sin. But while calling other forms of birth control “sin,” he does not use apply the category of “mortal sin.”

So, what gives? Is it a mortal sin, or not? Is there something I’m missing?