Transcript What is Morality?

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Reference Books
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PRINCIPLES OF CATHOLIC
MORALITY
Lecture 1, Part 3
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What is Morality?
It is the standard of goodness and perfection
conformed to the ideals of right human
conduct and to God. It is the standard which
God Himself has given.
– Natural Law is written in the hearts of men and
reason by itself tells him what is good and what is
evil. But man fell from grace, and rationalizes
according to his fallen nature.
– The standard of morality is revealed by God alone
partially through the prophets and fully through
Jesus. It guides man’s fallen nature to the right
path.
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Hebrews 1: 1-2
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In times past, God spoke in partial and
various ways to our ancestors through the
prophets;
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2in these last days, he spoke to us
through a son, whom he made heir of all
things and through whom he created the
universe,
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The
New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient
sources and the revised New Testament (Heb 1:1). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
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John 14:15
15“If you love me, you will keep my

commandments.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops,
& United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated
from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Jn 14:15).
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
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Romans 12:2
2Do not conform yourselves to this age but

be transformed by the renewal of your
mind, that you may discern what is the will
of God, what is good and pleasing and
perfect.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The
New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient
sources and the revised New Testament (Ro 12:2). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
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Morality is universal,
objective, absolute and
unchangeable.
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Man’s Conscience
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CCC 1776
1776 "Deep within his conscience man
discovers a law which he has not laid upon
himself but which he must obey. Its voice,
ever calling him to love and to do what is
good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart
at the right moment. . . . For man has in
his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His
conscience is man's most secret core and
his sanctuary. There he is alone with God
whose voice echoes in his depths."
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CCC 1777
1777 Moral conscience, present at the heart
of the person, enjoins him at the
appropriate moment to do good and to
avoid evil. It also judges particular choices,
approving those that are good and
denouncing those that are evil.
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CCC 1778
1778 Conscience is a judgment of reason
whereby the human person recognizes the
moral quality of a concrete act that he is
going to perform, is in the process of
performing, or has already completed. In
all he says and does, man is obliged to
follow faithfully what he knows to be just
and right.
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Freedom of Conscience
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CCC 1782
1782 Man has the right to act in conscience
and in freedom so as personally to make
moral decisions. "He must not be forced to
act contrary to his conscience. Nor must
he be prevented from acting according to
his conscience, especially in religious
matters."
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“The authority of the church, when she
pronounces on moral questions, in no
way undermines the freedom of
conscience . . . freedom of conscience
is never freedom from the truth but
always and only freedom in the truth”
(Splendor of Truth Encyclical)
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Original Sin
“Man’s history of sin begins when he . . .
himself wishes to be the one who
determines, with complete
independence, what is good and what
is evil.” (Splendor of Truth Encyclical)
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True Freedom
“True freedom isn’t the ability to do
whatever you want, but the ability to do
what you ought.” (Pope John Paul II)
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“I don’t need a Church to tell me I’m
wrong when I already know I’m wrong; I
need a Church to tell me I’m wrong
where I think I’m right.” (G.K.
Chesterton)
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CCC 2039
2039 Ministries should be exercised in a spirit of fraternal
service and dedication to the Church, in the name of the
Lord. At the same time the conscience of each person
should avoid confining itself to individualistic
considerations in its moral judgments of the person's
own acts. As far as possible conscience should take
account of the good of all, as expressed in the moral law,
natural and revealed, and consequently in the law of the
Church and in the authoritative teaching of the
Magisterium on moral questions. Personal conscience
and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral
law or the Magisterium of the Church.
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Duty to Educate Conscience
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CCC 1783
1783 Conscience must be informed and
moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed
conscience is upright and truthful... The
education of conscience is indispensable
for human beings who are subjected to
negative influences and tempted by sin to
prefer their own judgment and to reject
authoritative teachings.
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CCC 1785
1785 In the formation of conscience the
Word of God is the light for our path; we
must assimilate it in faith and prayer and
put it into practice. We must also
examine our conscience before the
Lord's Cross. We are assisted by the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the
witness or advice of others and guided
by the authoritative teaching of the
Church.
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Our Conscience is Prone to Err
Without proper formation,
our conscience is subject to error.
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CCC 1792
1792 Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel,
bad example given by others,
enslavement to one's passions, assertion
of a mistaken notion of autonomy of
conscience, rejection of the Church's
authority and her teaching, lack of
conversion and of charity: these can be at
the source of errors of judgment in moral
conduct.
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Final Interpreter of Moral Law
The Church is the final and infallible
interpreter of moral law. Its mission is
to conserve, protect and proclaim
objective truth as received from Jesus.
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FUNDAMENTAL
PRINCIPLES OF MORALITY
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The End Does Not
Justify the Means
We can never do evil
to bring about good.
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Romams 3:8
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And why not say—as we are accused and
as some claim we say—that we should do
evil that good may come of it? Their
penalty is what they deserve.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The
New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient
sources and the revised New Testament (Ro 3:8). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
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CCC 1753
1753 A good intention (for example, that of
helping one's neighbor) does not make
behavior that is intrinsically disordered,
such as lying and calumny, good or just ...
On the other hand, an added bad intention
(such as vainglory) makes an act evil that,
in and of itself, can be good (such as
almsgiving).
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CCC 1754
1754 The circumstances, including the
consequences, are secondary elements of a
moral act. They contribute to increasing or
diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human
acts (for example the amount of a theft). They
can also diminish or increase the agent's
responsibility (such as acting out of a fear of
death). Circumstances of themselves cannot
change the moral quality of acts themselves;
they can make neither good nor right an action
that is in itself evil.
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CCC 1756
1756 It is therefore an error to judge the morality of
human acts by considering only the intention
that inspires them or the circumstances
(environment, social pressure, duress or
emergency, etc.) which supply their context.
There are acts which, in and of themselves,
independently of circumstances and intentions,
are always gravely illicit by reason of their
object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder
and adultery. One may not do evil so that good
may result from it.
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The Principle of Double Effect
A good act may have evil side effect
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CCC 1737
1737 ... A bad effect is not imputable if it was
not willed either as an end or as a means
of an action, e.g., a death a person incurs
in aiding someone in danger. For a bad
effect to be imputable it must be
foreseeable and the agent must have the
possibility of avoiding it, as in the case of
manslaughter caused by a drunken driver.
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Choosing the Lesser Evil
We may choose the lesser of two evils
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CCC 1732
1732 As long as freedom has not bound
itself definitively to its ultimate good which
is God, there is the possibility of choosing
between good and evil, and thus of
growing in perfection or of failing and
sinning.
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Counseling the Lesser Evil
If one is determined to do evil and can
not be prevented from doing so,
counseling the lesser evil is moral.
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The Principle of Totality
… for the sake of overall health, may
mutilate, modify or remove organ or
body parts
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End
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How to Print
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Reference Books
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