A venial sin is one relatively slight or that is committed without full reflection or consent. And, Bowen adds, "because it was less serious than a mortal sin (the other kind, which had to meet three conditions: serious matter, sufficient reflection, and full consent of the will, as I was taught them) a venial sin did not automatically condemn the perpetrator to Hell if he died without repenting it. He spent plenty of time burning in Purgatory, however, as the Church allowed no one to believe in a free lunch where sin was concerned. However, Purgatory was not eternal even though one might suffer there for hundreds or thousands of years, so it was a lot better than Hell."

Both Myers and Bowen point out that Bellairs wrote his spoof just after the introduction of the birth control pill and at a time when Catholics genuinely thought that the Church would modify its position on such things.

"However, the appointed laity, clergy, doctors, scientists, and so on reported back to Paul VI and, even though they did recommended a change, the Pope was overwhelmed by the idea that the faithful would be thrown into deadly and soul-destroying confusion by the sight of the Church changing its mind," explains Bowen. Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which Myers believes many Catholics, both among the laity and the clergy, consider to be the biggest disaster to befall the Church in modern times.