Born In Mortal Sin?

[Byzantine]

Are we really born in mortal sin, as the Baltimore Catechism teaches? I had thought original sin was to be understood differently.

[Theoketos]

I am going to need a citation. I highly doubt it says that. 

[Theoketos]

Byzantine emailed me the citation from a web site. I have not confirmed that it is actually in any print edition. I only have volumes 1 and 2 in my office. I will check volume 3 when I get home. Lets assume though this is really what the BC3 says; 
 
 

 
 
Q. 258. But how did the loss of the gift of original justice leave our first parents and us in mortal sin?
A. The loss of the gift of original justice left our first parents and us in mortal sin because it deprived them of the Grace of God, and to be without this gift of Grace which they should have had was to be in mortal sin. As all their children are deprived of the same gift, they, too, come into the world in a state of mortal sin.
 

 
 
What it says is true, but there might be better or more pastoral ways of saying this. This makes it seem like all who do not receive ordinary Baptism cannot see God. Further there is still a distinction between original sin and actual sin. 

Original sin is deadly (or mortally dangerous) and can keep us from God, because by it our nature as human beings was made fallen and put asunder. This is to say that we, as human by our nature, are separated from God and need to be saved from hell and sin and the medicine is Christ through His Church. This is why Baptism, either in its ordinary form of water or in its extraordinary forms of blood or desire, is required for salvation as the Magisterium always has taught. Baptism literally transforms what we are. What we are = our nature. 
 
That being said recent theological developments I think are insightful and have helped the Church develop a pastoral response to question of infants who die any where from in utero to before the age of reason. Of course Lumen Gentium dealt well with how those outside the ordinary bounds of the Church might be saved.
 
The International Theological Commission, which meets at the behest of the Holy Father but has no real magisterial power, put out an excellent document that deals with the question of infants. It says that we can hope that despite what we know now that those little ones are with God. Here is the relevant text.
 
 
 

 
Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered above give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the Beatific Vision. We emphasize that these are reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge. There is much that simply has not been revealed to us (cf. Jn 16:12). We live by faith and hope in the God of mercy and love who has been revealed to us in Christ, and the Spirit moves us to pray in constant thankfulness and joy (cf. 1 Thess 5:18).
 

 

The document is here:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/co...nfants_en.htm

 

And I hope by this I do not take away an urgent sense for the need to evangelize. If we do not share the Good News the Jesus is God and can save us from our sins and give us peace, we and others will go to Hell.