Today I woke up from a dream about a childhood friend of mine being collared for grand theft larceny.

Within minutes of waking up, I began thinking about the sin of stealing.  I was going over how much music I uploaded and downloaded at one time before my conversion, probably thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise, except it's not quite so simple.  I went out and bought most of the CDs I liked and wanted to have permanently ( which I then threw away when I became Catholic, since I no longer listen to rock music ).  But I still allowed others to upload burned music off my computer.  

My name is Mike de la Sota, by the way, in case cops are reading this and want to arrest me or slap a fine on me.  Since I can't pay it, unless my mom sells her house, which I doubt she'll do, I'll do the time if necessary.  Better now than in purgatory ( although baptism wiped that sin away, if I hide it from the earthly law, isn't it another sin? )  Belloc, too bad you're not reading my posts!  I think he's a cop.

That is not the moral quandary in question, though.  The even worse moral quandary is that I once knew someone, without going into any more detail about age, sex, station in life, or so on, who committed a $30,000 dollar burglary, or so they told me, in another state.  

It has been a while since this person occupied any place in my mind, and I thought it was all in the past.  As the movie slogan says "He thought he was done with the past, but the past isn't done with him!"  Because it just hit me this morning, after my dream, that I could be an accomplice to this crime, the $30,000 dollar theft, since I have not reported it.

Do I let this go and chalk it up as part of my gruesome past, or do I go to the police, which could very easily bring down a storm of fury on my head?  This person would probably love to kill me already, even before getting them thrown in prison, which will undoubtedly fixate them on revenge at all costs.  This person, when I think back on it, seemed to be possessed by the devil and to be driven by an extreme hatred of God, with no conscience whatsoever.   I'm not exaggerating when I say this person could easily be a modern figure of a Cain or Jezebel -- I say both names to leave the sex ambiguous.  Like someone under a curse.

Not that I'm scared of their revenge.  It's only God I fear.  Well, okay, I'm a little scared, because if this person got their hands on me, they wouldn't just kill me.  They'd make it count.  
But I have to do the right thing anyway.

What do you say, CathInfo?  Should I go to the police?  (  I'm probably going to even if the site says "No." )  And if I do go to the police, to what branch of the police?  To my small-town police station?  Would they care about an out-of-state crime?  I'm guessing that this person, by the way, fudged details of the theft, probably told me it happened in one state when it really happened in another, and may have lied about the amount stolen as well.  Maybe the whole thing was made up.

I don't think you're bound to report it.

You did not commit the crime.  If you had knowledge that this person was going to do something similar again and you had the ability to stop it, then you would be bound to act.

What you really need is to get into the confessional with a priest.  

Don't we all...

Elizabeth said:

What you really need is to get into the confessional with a priest

All of this was before baptism.  The downloading of CDs -- though some sins of that nature, extremely minor in comparison, were committed afterwards -- as well as aiding and abetting a criminal.  

The sins are washed away, but it kind of feels like they return somehow if I "cover up" for my pre-baptismal crimes.  A theft occurred, I know about it, and in a way I'm helping the person get away with it TO THIS DAY -- or so it seems to me.  

Elizabeth said:

You may make an anonymous call about the burglary, and explain how you sinned by keeping quiet and your view on his probable revenge.

That's the best advice, thanks Elizabeth, although I don't think the cop will care that I sinned ( if you're referring to a priest, I have nowhere to confess, although I keep a long list of sins on my computer ).  

Actually, I don't know if I've sinned by not reporting this theft, since as I said I was baptized, and that was around two-and-a-half years after last talking with this person, unless by "talking" you mean me picking up the phone and quickly hanging it up as soon as I hear their voice.  

For years, their theft has not crossed my mind, as far as I know.  When I was friendly with the person I just figured it was their business and stayed out of it.  Now I hardly ever even think about this person at all, as the last year has been entirely consumed by becoming Catholic, learning about the Church, trying to keep my sanity together while indulging in detailed metaphysical computations just to know where to go to Mass if anywhere at all, and so on.  The long-forgotten theft and the idea of aiding-and-abetting just hit me the other day because of this dream I had.  The idea that I was an accomplice to a criminal act NEVER hit me before this Monday morning, believe it or not.

So I can still avoid sinning if I do the anonymous tip-off.  One other option is to get back into contact with my dad, who was a district attorney, and ask for advice.  It's a good way to get back in touch with him as we haven't talked since 1999.  Since then I've become a brooding, world-weary home-alone sede and he's become... Vatican II, going to "Mass" in a Hawaiian shirt and sandals, according to my mom who saw him once, ha ha.  

P.S.  For your good advice, Elizabeth, and out of charity of course, I will buy you the "Rite of Sodomy" book ( with my mom's money because I don't work ).  You said you might have trouble affording it.  That is, if you can think of some way for me to send it to you without giving me your address, as you probably think I'm a nut.  

You may make an anonymous call about the burglary, and explain how you sinned by keeping quiet and your view on his probable revenge.

What you really need is to get into the confessional with a priest.  

he cannot, he does not recognize any clergy as valid...guess he has to do the Prot thing and shout out to the sky or something.....