hts of our
conscience and liberty are violated by rash or dangerous oaths.

The Church does not oppose associations founded on law and justice; but
on the contrary, has always encouraged and still encourages every
organization that tends to benefit its members spiritually and
temporally, and opposes only societies that have not a legitimate end.
Therefore you may understand that labor unions and benefit societies in
which persons are leagued together for their own protection or the
protection of their interests are not secret societies, though they may
conduct their meetings in secret.

351 Q. Is it a sin not to fulfill our vows?
A. Not to fulfill our vows is a sin, mortal or venial according to the
nature of the vow and the intention we had in making it.

"Vows"--that is, lawful vows. When a man who is in the habit of getting
intoxicated vows not to take liquor for a certain time, he generally
intends to bind himself only under venial sin; that is, if he breaks
that pledge or promise it will be a venial and not a mortal sin; but he
can make it a mortal sin by intending, when he takes the pledge, that if
he breaks it he will be guilty of mortal sin.

352 Q. What is forbidden by the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment forbids all false, rash, unjust, and
unnecessary oaths, blasphemy, cursing, and profane words.

"Rash"--swearing a thing is true or false without knowing for certain
whether it is or not. "Blasphemy" is not the same as cursing or taking
God's name in vain. It is worse. It is to say or do something very
disrespectful to God. To say that He is unjust, cruel or the like, is to
blaspheme. We can blaspheme also by actions. To defy God by a sign or
action, to dare Him to strike us dead, etc., would be blasphemy. We have
a terrible example of blasphemy related in the life of Julian the
Apostate. An apostate is one who renounces and gives up his religion,
not one who merely neglects it. Julian was a Roman emperor and had been
a Catholic, but apostatized. Then in his great hatred for Our Lord he
wished to falsify His prophecies and prove them untrue. Our Lord had
said that of the temple of Jerusalem there would not be left a stone
upon a stone. To make this false Julian began to rebuild the temple. In
making the preparation he cleared away the ruins of the old building,
not leaving a single stone upon a stone, and thus was instrumental
himself in verifying the words of Our Lord; for while the ruins re