PHILO 5: CHRISTIAN ETHICS:

Course Description:

The course provides an overview of Christian Ethics which is designed to help students begin answering some
fundamental question about Christ-centered life and what makes it worth living.

Three Parts:
1. Human Persons Ethics of Being and Doing introduces one to realities of moral life, to an
analysis of the moral process (constituents: sources and modifiers of human acts), to the relationship
of ethics and morality to religious faith, and to the specific nature of Christian morality.
2. Realizing Human Dignity and Genuine Freedom deals with the human person as a moral agent,
human freedom, conscience, sin and moral obligation in the light of the Word of God in the Sacred
Scriptures and in the Teachings of Church enshrined in Her Traditions, Pronouncement and
Documents.
3. The Christian Response to Some Special Contemporary Moral Issues give special attention to
the Ten Commandments in highlighting the moral principles and virtues vis--vis some contemporary
moral issues.

Objectives:
1. Examine and scrutinize our contemporary moral contexts, values, and queries.
2. Analyze the constituents, sources, and modifiers of human acts that will help students make their
moral evaluation regarding ones accountability, culpability, and even liability.
3. Critically interpret and evaluate conflicting positions and arguments about contemporary issues in the
light of the Word of God in the Sacred Scriptures and in the Teachings of the Church enshrined in her
Traditions, Pronouncement and Documents.
4. Choose the path that will uphold and realize human dignity and genuine freedom
5. Uphold the Christian ethic-moral principles, ideals and teachings in their attitudes and commitments to
living the challenges and demands of faith in their contemporary setting.
6. Share, explain, and when called for, defend the moral principles and position of the Catholic Church
especially concerning special moral issues, realizing that these principles and position are truly good,
ethical, moral, above all the will of God.
7. Seek to grow in grace and virtues by exercising a regular prayer life and sacramental life especially
the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation in their constant struggle for conversion to Christ.

Expected Christian Value:
Embraced a Christ centered life characterized by:
1. Authentic freedom and moral accountability
2. Full appreciation of the dignity of human life, and
3. Selfless and Unconditional Love



I. THE HUMAN PERSONS ETHICS OF BEING AND DOING

THE SCIENCE OF ETHICS:

The science of Ethics is the answer to the questions pertaining to the last end of man and the meaning of his
life. Ethics points out the right way to mans ultimate destiny. In our social organization each man has a
special mission to fulfill for which he ust be prepared by technical education or by special vocation.

Consequently, the greatest accomplishment of man in the world is to know the purpose of his existence, and
the consequence of his actions as a whole.

Some people think that life is a meaningless tragedy. Others do not bother to find out its meaning, or simply
consider the problem not pertinent to successful living.

The attainment of this end is closely bound to mans action, and it is through Ethics that we learn when and
why our actions are good or bad, right or wrong with regard to the ultimate end.


Etymological Meaning of Ethics and Morality:

Ethics - is derived from the Greek word Ethos, which means custom or particular behavior.
Moral come from the Latin word mos, moris, which means custom.

The human customs studied in Ethics are not the social manners, conventions and fashions which differ
according to nations and which change from time to time.

In Traditional Ethics, the word custom means a more or less permanent Moral Behavior in accordance with the
precepts of the natural moral law which is universally known and common to all men. (e.g.,. telling the truth,
paying debts, honoring ones parents, respect)


Definition and Purpose of Ethics:

Ethics is the study of the Moral Behavior or conduct of man as viewed from ultimate principles insofar as these
principles are known by human reason.

Ethics is a philosophical science dealing with the Morality of the Human Act.

The science of logic guides the intellect in the acquisition and application of the Moral Principle.

Ethics does not only points out the way to right thinking, it also compels man to follow the direction to his
ultimate destiny.


Material and Formal Object of Ethics:

Human Acts are the material object, the subject matter of the science of Ethics investigation.

The formal object of Ethics is the right conduct of man, the rectitude of his actions.

Ethics and Other Sciences Dealing with Man:

a. Biological Sciences treat man as a Living Organism. Ethics consider man as a moral being, subject to
moral duties and possessor of moral rights.
b. Anthropology investigates the origin of the human body and the behavior of the primitive man. Ethics
deals with the principles of right conduct as applied to men of all times.
c. Sociology describes the general structure and attitude of social groups: the family, government, the
working classEthics studies the social groups with reference to the moral social behavior.
d. Psychology discusses mans intellect and free will. Ethics directs the intellect to know, and the will to
practice the moral truths.
e. Logic is the science of correct thinking. Ethics is the science of correct doing.
f. Jurisprudence is the knowledge of the origin and interpretation of laws. Ethics is the knowledge of the
natural or moral law, common to all.
g. Christian Moral Theology studies human conduct but puts particular emphasis on the supernatural
means given to man for the attainment of his supernatural end, the union with God.
The revelation of God as contained in Holy Scripture is the main source of information in Moral
Theology while Ethics principles and conclusions are derived from human reason alone.

Ethics is based neither on the revealed word of God nor on the traditional teachings of the Church. Religion
may shed light upon certain problems which reason alone can never discover, such as original sin, or the
beatific vision of God.

Ethics should not be confused with religion, for it is an independent philosophical science.

Truths Presupposed in Ethics:

a. The Existence of God God is the Creator of man and his last End. God is also the Author of the
natural and moral law, the Supreme Judge of all human actions.
b. The Dignity of the Human Person together with the duties and rights given to man to fulfill his
destiny in the world.
c. The Immortality of the Soul the hope for eternal life and eternal rewards sustains in his struggle
against evil.





Historical Introduction:

Philosophical discussions on moral problems began in Athens during the period of Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle.

Aristotle Know thy Self. A man of moral integrity and courage, who spent his life teaching the beauty and
necessity of virtue.

Plato in his Dialogues, he discusses extensively and profoundly the nature of good and evil, happiness and
virtue. For him, happiness is found neither in material things nor in the pleasures of this life, but in making
the soul like God.

Aristotle wrote the first treatise on Ethics, the Nichomachean Ethics, dedicated to his son Nichomacheon.
The Eudemian Ethics is a compilation of the lectures of Aristotle by a disciple called Eudemeus of Rhodes.

The Moral Principles laid down by Aristotle were, in the main, adopted by the great philosopher and theologian
of the thirteenth century, St. Thomas Aquinas, who corrected some errors of Aristotle and clarified many of his
principles.


Importance of Ethics:

1. Ethics importance is derived from the significance of its material and formal object.
2. There is nothing more important to the individual person than the acquisition of the ultimate purpose
of life, and the way to it is shown by Ethics.
3. Life in society is only possible by practicing the moral principles regulating human relations.
4. The study of Ethics deserves a careful consideration by individuals who are not familiar with the
teachings of Jesus Christ. In fact, most pagan philosophers after the great Plato and Aristotle attended
principally to the moral problems of man and society.

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Concept of Christian Morality:

I. Bible and the Church:

The Bible as Prime Source of Christian Identity:

The Bible is the prime source for the basic values, virtues and vision which give Christians and the
community of faith their particular identity.

Scriptures are considered by the early Church a reliable guide in matters of faith and life.

Direct Moral Exhortations, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, Pauline
Instructions.

In both the Old and the New Testaments doing is intimately tied to being.

The Bible resolutely tells us that what we do is dependent on who we are called to be. According
to the Bible, we cannot separate doing and being.

Scripture acts as a shaper of character as well as of conduct. This formation requires the long-
term nurturing of faith and of the moral orientation flowing from it.

The Bible is to known for its basic values, ideals and orientations as well as for its practical
applications to concrete moral issues.

Direct Moral Exhortation is contained in the Biblical Writings
Scripture is a source of Moral Imperatives
Moral formation is achieved by Scripture in indirect ways.
Psalms, foster certain senses which take the form of virtues: a sense of gratitude,
dependence, responsibility, humility and awe.
The Parables, the Oracles and the Dreams of the Prophets

The Scripture in the life of Christian community has moral vocation, to shape the personal moral
identity of community members in keeping the ways of God.

II. Jesus Christ:

The truth that all life is placed under the dominion of God finds likewise expression in the theme of
the kingdom of God. God reigns as a righteous and compassionate king, and men are accountable
to him for the things they do.

In the Old Testament God is described as a king who rules over the world (Ps 47; 93; 95-99;
Isaiah 52, 7; Zeph 3, 15).

In Jesus Teaching the reality of the kingdom of God obtains a dominant role. It pertains to the
nature of a kingdom that it claims authority and obedience. One cannot have a kingdom of God
among men unless the rule of God has been accepted.

The proclamation of the kingdom implies that the will of God must be done in all the spheres of
life, everywhere.

Thy Kingdom Come the primary object of Jesus prayer.

In many parables of Jesus points out the need to become worthy of the kingdom.



III. Christian Challenge:


The Moral Life of Christians is more radically measured by the person of Christ than by general
laws and principles. In Him they find the most perfect model of a life in the service of the
kingdom, the following of Christ and the grateful devotion to him as friend and savior has at all
times exercised the greatest influence upon the Christian believers.

Paul uses the example of Christs love, forbearance and self-sacrifice as motive for his exhortation
to love, faithfulness and disinterested service.

It should be quite clear that the idea of imitating and following Christ is not to be understood in
the limited sense of an external imitation, but as a sharing in Christs life, destiny and spirit of
love.

Putting on Christ Pauls thought of sharing like Christ, and the foundation for it is the new life
Christians have received through faith and baptism.

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Some Philosophical Views:

I. Ancient Thinkers: Plato, Aristotle and other Greek Philosophers

Socrates - The historical Socrates was, of course, not the first to question the Greek way
of life. Pre-Socratic philosophers such as Heraclitus or Xenophanes had been critics of their
times, and the sophists had argued that, contrary to the nave view, it is custom and
convention, rather than nature that set the standards for what is deemed right or wrong,
good or bad, in every society. But if other thinkers had preceded Socrates with moral and
social criticism, he was certainly the first to challenge his fellows on an individual basis on
the ground that the unexamined life is not worth living (Ap. 38a)

In the eyes of conservative Athenians Socrates' questioning undermined the traditional
values of their society, while he regarded it as his mission to instigate a re-valuation of
those values. The virtues, the social skills, attitudes, and character-traits that
characterized most of the citizens of his time, were all too often geared to their
possessors' wealth, power, and self-indulgence, to the detriment of public morality and the
community's well-being.


Platos Ethics:

Like other ancient philosophers, Plato maintains a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception
of ethics. That is to say, human well-being (eudaimonia) is the highest aim of moral
thought and conduct, and the virtues (aret: excellence) are the requisite skills and
dispositions needed to attain it.

Platos Conception of Happiness:

1. First, his conception of happiness differs in significant ways from ordinary views. In his
early works his approach is largely negative: Socratic questioning seems designed to
undermine the traditional values rather than to develop a positive account of his own.
2. Second, the positive accounts contained in his later works, especially that of the
Republic, treat happiness as a state of perfection that is hard to comprehend because
it is based on metaphysical presuppositions that seem both hazy and out of the realm
of ordinary understanding.
3. Third, in crucial texts Plato's moral ideals appear both austere and self-abnegating:
the soul is to remain aloof from the pleasures of the body; communal life demands the
subordination of individual wishes and aims.

This changes with a growing interest in an all-encompassing metaphysical grounding
of knowledge in Plato's middle dialogues, a development that leads to the positing of
the Forms, as the true nature of all things, culminating in the Form of the Good as
the transcendent principle of all goodness.

Plato largely confines himself to the depiction of the good soul and the good for the
soul, evidently on the assumption that the state of the soul is the condition of the
good life, both necessary and sufficient to guarantee it.

All human actions serve some end or purpose. Whether these purposes are judged
right or wrong depends on their overall aims. At least for secularists, the attainment of
these overall aims constitutes the quality of life. What we regard as a life worth living
depends on the notion we have of our own nature and of the conditions of its
fulfillment. This in turn is determined, at least in part, by the society we live in, its
values and standards.

In addition, attainment of these ends depends in part on external factors such as
health, material prosperity, social status, or even good looks or sheer luck.




Aristotles Ethics:

We study ethics in order to improve our lives, and therefore its principal concern is the nature of human well-
being. Aristotle follows Socrates and Plato in taking the virtues to be central to a well-lived life. Like Plato, he
regards the ethical virtues (justice, courage, temperance and so on) as complex rational, emotional and social
skills.

But he rejects Plato's idea that a training in the sciences and metaphysics is a necessary prerequisite for a full
understanding of our good. What we need, in order to live well, is a proper appreciation of the way in which
such goods as friendship, pleasure, virtue, honor and wealth fit together as a whole.

Practical wisdom, as he conceives it, cannot be acquired solely by learning general rules. We must also
acquire, through practice, those deliberative, emotional, and social skills that enable us to put our general
understanding of well-being into practice in ways that are suitable to each occasion.
Though the general point of view expressed in each work is the Aristotle wrote two ethical treatises: the
Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics. He does not himself use either of these titles, although in the
Politics (1295a36) he refers back to one of themprobably the Eudemian Ethicsas ta thikahis writings
about character. The words Eudemian and Nicomachean were added later, perhaps because the former
was edited by his friend, Eudemus, and the latter by his son, Nicomachus. In any case, these two works cover
more or less the same ground: they begin with a discussion of eudaimonia (happiness, flourishing), and
turn to an examination of the nature of aret (virtue, excellence) and the character traits that human
beings need in order to live life at its best. Both treatises examine the conditions in which praise or blame are
appropriate, and the nature of pleasure and friendship; near the end of each work, we find a brief discussion
of the proper relationship between human beings and the divine.
The Human Good:

The principal idea with which Aristotle begins is that there are differences of opinion about what is best for
human beings, and that to profit from ethical inquiry we must resolve this disagreement. He insists that ethics
is not a theoretical discipline: we are asking what the good for human beings is not simply because we want
to have knowledge, but because we will be better able to achieve our good if we develop a fuller
understanding of what it is to flourish. In raising this questionwhat is the good?Aristotle is not looking for
a list of items that are good. He assumes that such a list can be compiled rather easily; most would agree, for
example, that it is good to have friends, to experience pleasure, to be healthy, to be honored, and to have
such virtues as courage at least to some degree. The difficult and controversial question arises when we ask
whether certain of these goods are more desirable than others. Aristotle's search for the good is a search for
the highest good, and he assumes that the highest good, whatever it turns out to be, has three
characteristics: it is desirable for itself, it is not desirable for the sake of some other good, and all other goods
are desirable for its sake.
Aristotle thinks everyone will agree that the terms eudaimonia (happiness) and euzn (living well)
designate such an end. The Greek term eudaimon is composed of two parts: eu means well and
daimon means divinity or spirit. To be eudaimon is therefore to be living in a way that is well-favored by
a god. But Aristotle never calls attention to this etymology in his ethical writings, and it seems to have little
influence on his thinking. He regards eudaimon as a mere substitute for euzn (living well).

No one tries to live well for the sake of some further goal; rather, being eudaimonis the highest end, and all
subordinate goalshealth, wealth, and other such resourcesare sought because they promote well-being,
not because they are what well-being consists in. But unless we can determine which good or goods happiness
consists in, it is of little use to acknowledge that it is the highest end.

To resolve this issue, Aristotle asks what the ergon (function, task, work) of a human being is, and
argues that it consists in activity of the rational part of the soul in accordance with virtue (1097b22
1098a20).
One important component of this argument is expressed in terms of distinctions he makes in his psychological
and biological works.
The soul is analyzed into a connected series of capacities: the nutritive soul is responsible for growth and
reproduction, the locomotive soul for motion, the perceptive soul for perception, and so on. The biological fact
Aristotle makes use of is that human beings are the only species that has not only these lower capacities but a
rational soul as well.
The good of a human being must have something to do with being human; and what sets humanity
off from other species, giving us the potential to live a better life, is our capacity to guide ourselves
by using reason. If we use reason well, we live well as human beings; or, to be more precise, using
reason well over the course of a full life is what happiness consists in. Doing anything well
requires virtue or excellence, and therefore living well consists in activities caused by the rational
soul in accordance with virtue or excellence.
He says, not that happiness is virtue, but that it is virtuous activity. Living well consists in doing something,
not just being in a certain state or condition. It consists in those lifelong activities that actualize the virtues of
the rational part of the soul.
At the same time, Aristotle makes it clear that in order to be happy one must possess others goods as well
such goods as friends, wealth, and power. And one's happiness is endangered if one is severely lacking in
certain advantagesif, for example, one is extremely ugly, or has lost children or good friends through death
(1099a31-b6).
To some extent, then, living well requires good fortune; happenstance can rob even the most
excellent human beings of happiness. Nonetheless, Aristotle insists, the highest good, virtuous
activity, is not something that comes to us by chance. Although we must be fortunate enough to
have parents and fellow citizens who help us become virtuous, we ourselves share much of the
responsibility for acquiring and exercising the virtues.

II. Western Thinkers:
Age of Enlightenment:

The Enlightenment is the period in the history of western thought and culture, stretching
roughly from the mid-decades of the seventeenth century through the eighteenth century,
characterized by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics; these
revolutions swept away the medieval world-view and ushered in our modern western
world.

Enlightenment thought culminates historically in the political upheaval of the French
Revolution, in which the traditional hierarchical political and social orders (the French
monarchy, the privileges of the French nobility, the political power and authority of the
Catholic Church) were violently destroyed and replaced by a political and social order
informed by the Enlightenment ideals of freedom and equality for all, founded, ostensibly,
upon principles of human reason.

The Enlightenment begins with the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. The rise of the new science progressively undermines not only the ancient
geocentric conception of the cosmos, but, with it, the entire set of presuppositions that
had served to constrain and guide philosophical inquiry.

Kant defines enlightenment as humankind's release from its self-incurred immaturity;
immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of
another.

Enlightenment is the process of undertaking to think for oneself, to employ and rely on
one's own intellectual capacities in determining what to believe and how to act.
Enlightenment philosophers from across the geographical and temporal spectrum tend to
have a great deal of confidence in humanity's intellectual powers, both to achieve
systematic knowledge of nature and to serve as an authoritative guide in practical life.

This confidence is generally paired with suspicion or hostility toward other forms or
carriers of authority (such as tradition, superstition, prejudice, myth and miracles), insofar
as these are seen to compete with the authority of reason.

Enlightenment philosophy tends to stand in tension with established religion, insofar as
the release from self-incurred immaturity in this age, daring to think for oneself,
awakening one's intellectual powers, generally requires opposing the role of established
religion in directing thought and action.

The faith of the Enlightenment if one may call it that is that the process of
enlightenment, of becoming progressively self-directed in thought and action through the
awakening of one's intellectual powers, leads ultimately to a better, more fulfilled human
existence.

(Smith, Rousseau),

Ideology (Marx, Nietzsche),

For Marx, values do not have inherent worth because there is no universal human nature.
His criticism of capitalism begins with the declaration that the essence of man belongs not
to a nonphysical realm or a conceptual plane, but instead, to the immediate world around
us.

For Marx, the real existence of man has become practical, sensuous and perceptible
(78). Different cultural and social contexts account for legitimate variation in values.

The struggle for each individuals freedom to pursue their own values is the focus of
Marxs materialism; it is the antithesis of transcendental idealism; a philosophy that
operates independent of experience. Such a philosophy might claim that a product or idea
contains inherent value, but this would rely on there being overlap between the
preferences of each individual. Because Marx is skeptical of a single human nature, he
does not believe that any given thing can have universal worth as an object or concept.

Like Marx, Nietzsche is skeptical of a consistent human nature, primarily because he
cannot identify a clear human purpose. The human animal had no meaning so far. His
existence on earth contained no goal (Genealogy of Morals 162). Nietzsche argues that
religion has been an attempt to create a purpose for humanity. He traces the ascetic ideal
back to the relationship between a creditor and a debtor. Christian morality, Nietzsche
contends, is based on the idea that humans are in infinite debt for their own existence.
Nietzsche traces this notion using etymological examples, clues to the way that past
people used to think. At one point, Nietzsche says, that which was good was equated with
that which was noble or powerful.

This shift of moral systems demonstrates one of Nietzsches central points: disbelief in
moral facts. Moral judgments are therefore never to be taken literally- so understood,
they always contain mere absurdity. Semiotically, however, they remain invaluable: they
reveal, at least for those who know, the most valuable realities of cultures (Twilight of the
Idols[2]). Nietzsche does not think that any moral tenets are absolutely binding. Because
moral language does not refer to anything in the world, it can only reflect the historically
contingent culture of a group of people. Even purely scientific knowledge is disillusioned if
it pursues truth. The truthful man, in the ultimate sense presupposed by the faith in
science, affirms another world, and den[ies] our world (Genealogy of Morals 152).
Nietzsches denial of intangible truth is notably similar to Marxs discomfort with a
metaphysical human nature. Both philosophers insist that our immediate material lives
must supercede a search for so-called universal truth. Because Nietzsche does not believe
in a universal man with moral qualities that transcend any particular era, he rejects
morality as an absolute, binding code.

For Nietzsche, claims about the truth of morality exclude the creation of individual moral
values. Whether it consists of or good vs. bad- before the slave revolt in morality- or good
vs. evil- after the slave revolt- morality has been counter-productive. Moral systems have
permitted cruelty while justifying the will of the powerful. Nietzsche sees morality as
bound up with power. Just and unjust exist only after the institution of the law. To
speak of just or unjust in itself is quite senseless (76). Absolute moral values are, for
Nietzsche, replaced by a relationship of ressentiment.

Modernity (Freud)

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was a physiologist, medical doctor,
psychologist and influential thinker of the early twentieth century. Working initially in close
collaboration with Joseph Breuer, Freud elaborated the theory that the mind is a complex
energy-system, the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology.

He articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and
repression, and he proposed a tripartite account of the minds structureall as part of a
radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of
human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions.

Freuds innovative treatment of human actions, dreams, and indeed of cultural artifacts as
invariably possessing implicit symbolic significance.

Freuds self-analysis, which forms the core of his masterpiece The Interpretation of
Dreams, originated in the emotional crisis which he suffered on the death of his father and
the series of dreams to which this gave rise. This analysis revealed to him that the love
and admiration which he had felt for his father were mixed with very contrasting feelings
of shame and hate (such a mixed attitude he termed ambivalence). Particularly revealing
was his discovery that he had often fantasized as a youth that his half-brother Philip (who
was of an age with his mother) was really his father, and certain other signs convinced
him of the deep underlying meaning of this fantasythat he had wished his real father
dead because he was his rival for his mothers affections. This was to become the personal
(though by no means exclusive) basis for his theory of the Oedipus complex.

Personality Structure:

Freud distinguished three structural elements within the mind, which he called id, ego, and
super-ego. The id is that part of the mind in which are situated the instinctual sexual
drives which require satisfaction; the super-ego is that part which contains the
conscience, namely, socially-acquired control mechanisms which have been internalized,
and which are usually imparted in the first instance by the parents; while the ego is the
conscious self that is created by the dynamic tensions and interactions between the id and
the super-ego and has the task of reconciling their conflicting demands with the
requirements of external reality.

It is in this sense that the mind is to be understood as a dynamic energy-system. All
objects of consciousness reside in the ego; the contents of the id belong permanently to
the unconscious mind; while the super-ego is an unconscious screening-mechanism which
seeks to limit the blind pleasure-seeking drives of the id by the imposition of restrictive
rules.

There is some debate as to how literally Freud intended this model to be taken (he
appears to have taken it extremely literally himself), but it is important to note that what
is being offered here is indeed a theoretical model rather than a description of an
observable object, which functions as a frame of reference to explain the link between
early childhood experience and the mature adult (normal or dysfunctional) personality.

Freud also followed Plato in his account of the nature of mental health or psychological
well-being, which he saw as the establishment of a harmonious relationship between the
three elements which constitute the mind.

If the external world offers no scope for the satisfaction of the ids pleasure drives, or
more commonly, if the satisfaction of some or all of these drives would indeed transgress
the moral sanctions laid down by the super-ego, then an inner conflict occurs in the mind
between its constituent parts or elements. Failure to resolve this can lead to later
neurosis.

A key concept introduced here by Freud is that the mindpossesses a number of defense
mechanisms to attempt to prevent conflicts from becoming too acute, such as repression
(pushing conflicts back into the unconscious), sublimation (channeling the sexual drives
into the achievement socially acceptable goals, in art, science, poetry, and so forth),
fixation (the failure to progress beyond one of the developmental stages), and regression
(a return to the behavior characteristic of one of the stages).


III. Ethical Trends Prevalent in Our Times:(Creative Group Report)
a. Relativism

Relativism is not a single doctrine but a family of views whose common theme is that
some central aspect of experience, thought, evaluation, or even reality is somehow
relative to something else.

For example standards of justification, moral principles or truth are sometimes said to
be relative to language, culture, or biological makeup.

Although relativistic lines of thought often lead to very implausible conclusions, there
is something seductive about them, and they have captivated a wide range of thinkers
from a wide range of traditions.

b. Individualism

Individualism, political and social philosophy that emphasizes the moral worth of the
individual.

Following the upheaval of the French Revolution, individualisme was used pejoratively
in France to signify the sources of social dissolution and anarchy and the elevation of
individual interests above those of the collective.

The French aristocratic political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville (180559) described
individualism in terms of a kind of moderate selfishness that disposed humans to be
concerned only with their own small circle of family and friends.

Tocqueville wrote that by leading each citizen to isolate himself from his fellows and
to draw apart with his family and friends, individualism sapped the virtues of public
life, for which civic virtue and association were a suitable remedy. For the Swiss
historian Jacob Burckhardt (181897), individualism signified the cult of privacy,
which, combined with the growth of self-assertion, had given impulse to the highest
individual development that flowered in the European Renaissance.

Individualism as Tocqueville understood it, with its endorsement of private enjoyments
and control of ones personal environment and its neglect of public involvement and
communal attachment, has long been lamented and criticized from both the right and
the left and from both religious and secular perspectives. Especially notable critiques
have been made by advocates of communitarianism, who tend to equate individualism
with narcissism and selfishness.

c. Empiricism and Secularism

A term used for the first time about 1846 by George Jacob Holyoake to denote "a form
of opinion which concerns itself only with questions, the issues of which can be tested
by the experience of this life" (English Secularism, 60).

More explicitly, "Secularism is that which seeks the development of the physical,
moral, and intellectual nature of man to the highest possible point, as the immediate
duty of life which inculcates the practical sufficiency of natural morality apart from
Atheism, Theism or the Bible which selects as its methods of procedure the
promotion of human improvement by material means, and proposes these positive
agreements as the common bond of union, to all who would regulate life by reason
and ennoble it by service" (Principles of Secularism, 17). And again, "Secularism is a
code of duty pertaining to this life founded on considerations purely human, and
intended mainly for those who find theology indefinite or inadequate, unreliable or
unbelievable.

Its essential principles are three:
1. The improvement of this life by material means.
2. That science is the available Providence of man.
3. That it is good to do good. "Whether there be other good or not, the good of the present life is good,
and it is good to seek that good" (English Secularism, 35).
d. Hedonism

The word hedonism comes from the ancient Greek for pleasure. Psychological or
motivational hedonism claims that only pleasure or pain motivates us. Ethical or
evaluative hedonism claims that only pleasure has worth or value and only pain or
displeasure has disvalue or the opposite of worth.

Jeremy Bentham asserted both psychological and ethical hedonism with the first two
sentences of his book An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation:
Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain,
and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to
determine what we shall do.

e. Utilitarianism



f. Consequentialism

Consequentialism, as its name suggests, is the view that normative properties depend
only on consequences. This general approach can be applied at different levels to
different normative properties of different kinds of things,

But the most prominent example is consequentialism about the moral rightness of
acts, which holds that whether an act is morally right depends only on the
consequences of that act or of something related to that act, such as the motive
behind the act or a general rule requiring acts of the same kind.

g. Situationalism
h. Darwinist Ethics
i. Nazism
j. Communism

Communism, the political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private
property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of
at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the
natural resources of a society.

Karl Marx identified two phases of communism that would follow the predicted
overthrow of capitalism: the first would be a transitional system in which the working
class would control the government and economy yet still find it necessary to pay
people according to how long, hard, or well they worked; the second would be fully
realized communisma society without class divisions or government, in which the
production and distribution of goods would be based upon the principle From each
according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Although the term communism did not come into use until the 1840sit is derived
from the Latin communis, meaning shared or commonvisions of a society that
may be considered communist appeared as long ago as the 4th century bce. In the
ideal state described in PlatosRepublic, the governing class of guardians devotes itself
to serving the interests of the whole community.

Because private ownership of goods would corrupt their owners by encouraging
selfishness, Plato argued, the guardians must live as a large family that shares
common ownership not only of material goods but also of spouses and children.

k. Materialism
l. consumerism

-------------------------End of the Lesson------------------------------------



II. THE HUMAN PERSON:

Christian Concept of the Human Person:

For Christians, Moral Living is simply following Christ. Yet when morality is mentioned, the
first thing we often think about is laws, commandments, a series of dos and donts, and dire
punishment if we fail.

Fullness of life here on earth means that, in all the innumerable actions, events and problems of
daily life, we walk with Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the
Life. (Jn 14:6) CFC 674

Christian Moral Life, then is about the Gospel. It is about growing in love and holiness. It is
the process of becoming authentically human (cf. RH 14).

The Christian Moral Person is one who experiences the liberating and transforming presence of
Christ, through the grace of His Spirit (cf. 2Cor 3:17; Jn 8:32).

For Christ is he from whom we go forth, through whom we live, and toward whom our journey
leads us (LG 3).

Following Christ is not easy from the very dawn of history humankind enticed by the evil
one, abused their freedom. They set themselves against God and sought to find fulfillment apart
from God. Their senseless mind were darkened and they served the creature rather than the
Creator.

Left to ourselves, we have no power to fulfill Christs command: Be Perfect, just as your Heavenly
Father is Perfect (Mt 5:48). Yet God strengthen us by letting us share the life of Christ Jesus,
through the Holy Spirit received in Baptism (cf. Rom 6:4).

Thus as a disciples of Christ, mutually supporting one another through the grace of the Holy Spirit,
we come to exercise Responsible Freedom according to Gods loving design, as grasped by our
gradually formed Christian Conscience.

1. Natural, Revealed and Human Law.

Nature of the Moral Law:

If man has been given an objective final end by the Creator, he will be under the obligation to make
this objective end his subjective end in other words, to strive after it. And when he looks to that
end, an order which has to be followed will become visible to him: the Moral Order. This Moral Order
is shown to us through the Moral Law.

Norms and Law are often experienced as burdensome and limitations of mans freedom.

Norms and Laws are indispensable aids for man in his endeavor, to give a meaningful order to his life
and to protect it from chaos.

Norms and Laws represents the accumulated wisdom of the ages. Evaluated in this light, the written
moral law is not primarily a burden, but rather a relief which frees the person from the arduous task of
elaborating the moral norms for himself/herself ever new.

Originally and primarily, Moral law is an unwritten law, inherent in the structure of mans being and of
the world around him.

Man must know the written moral law and respect it in order to lead a good life.

Moral Theology deals with laws which result from mans obligation to orient all his activity towards the
ultimate goal.

Moral law in its most universal meaning is a directive ordering of mans activity towards the ultimate
good. this includes obligatory demands as well as counsel, recommendations, permissions. It
comprises common laws, concerning all men or groups of men, and personal commands, resulting
from an individual call addressed to an appointed person. It includes permanent rulings, e.g. the duty
to honor contracts, and temporary, singular orders, prohibition of public gatherings during the time of
epidemic.

Every genuine moral law must be good and holy in the sense that it must guide human activity to
contribute to the realization of the final goal of human history and of creation, and that it prevents
men from obstructing the attainment of this end. for even our daily works and ordinary every day
activities are expected to contribute to the fulfillment in history of the divine plan (GS 34).

A norm, which results in frustration of the ultimate goal is morally evil and its observance unlawful.

With regard to the obligatory character of moral law, Moral Theology is not exclusively concerned
with the obligatory but also with the advisable, expedient and permissible. Nevertheless the obligatory
rules constitute a very weighty part of the moral directives, and they alone are usually called laws.

Natural, Revealed and Human Law:

Law as the moral norm of human activity is distinguished in Natural Moral Law, the Revealed Law
of the Old and New Testament, and the Human Law.

a. The Natural Moral Law or simply the natural law is that moral order which arises from the
nature of man and creation and which can be recognized by mans reason. It is also called Divine
Natural Law, because its origin is ultimately traced back to the will of God who created nature
and who therewith also willed the laws resulting from it.
b. Revealed Divine Law the Norms contained in the word of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and
the New Testament.

The Ten Commandments, the Ceremonial Law in the Old Testament, the Orders of the Apostle
Paul in the New Testament

The language of the revealed divine law however needs clarification.

c. Human Law distinguished from divine law, whether natural or revealed is human law. Its
immediate source of origin is human authority. Human law may also reaffirms obligations of
natural law, e.gthe prohibitions of murder or stealing.

Yet in many other cases it contains regulations which are not direct requirements of natural law,
but which to a certain extent depend on the free, though reasonable will of the lawgiver, e.g. the
voting age or the time needed for the prescription of a debt.

They can and do vary according to the judicious will of the legislator. Also the very choice of the
natural laws which shall be included in the penal and civil code to a considerable extent depend on
his will.

All human laws therefore owe their existence to some extent to an act of will of the lawgiver, by
which they are posed and put into force. They pertain to the category of positive laws.

Human Laws is subdivided into the Civil Law of the State and the Ecclesiastical Law of the
Church, which in the Catholic Church is called Canon Law.

Human law and Moral law are related to each other, but still different.

The OBJECT of Human law is the Common Weal and the Public Order. Human Law touches solely
external acts.

From the Moral point of view, therefore, not everything is permitted which is not forbidden by the
human law.

Moreover human law do not always fully agree with moral laws.

Unjust laws however do not oblige in conscience, and often it is not even lawful to obey them. This
means that from the moral point of view they are not valid laws at all.

Just human laws on the other hand bind in conscience. For this reason moral manuals have always
included human law in the treatise on law as the objective norm of morality.


Catechism of the Catholic Church:
GODS SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE:

Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help
comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him: (CCC:
1949)

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and
to work for his good pleasure, 1Phil 2:12-13
The Moral Law is the work of divine Wisdom. Its biblical meaning can be defined as fatherly
instruction, Gods pedagogy. It prescribes for man the ways, the rules of conduct that lead to the
promised beatitude; it proscribes the ways of evil which turn him away from God and his love. It is
at once firm in its precepts and, in its promises, worthy of love. (CCC: 1950)

Law is a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common
goodestablished among humankind for their good and to serve their final end, by the power,
wisdom, and goodness of the Creator. (CCC: 1951)

All law finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law. (CCC: 1951)

The Moral Law finds its fullness and its unity in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is in person the way of
perfection. He is the end of the law, for only he teaches and bestows the justice of God: For
Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who has faith may be justified. (CCC: 1953)

The Natural Moral Law:

Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of God who gives him mastery over his acts and the
ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good. The Natural Law expresses the
original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and
the lie: (CCC: 1954)

The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human
reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sinBut this command of human reason
would not have the force of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher reason to which
our spirit and freedom must be submitted. Leo XIII, LibertasPraestantissimum, 597.

The divine and natural law shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his
end. CCC: 1955

Where then are these rules written, if not in the book that light we call the truth? In it is written
every just law; from it the law passes into the heart of the man who does justice, not that it
migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it, like a seal on a ring that passes onto a wax,
without leaving the ring. St. Augustine, De Trinitate 14, 15, 21.

The Natural Law is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it
we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the
creation. St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. Praec. I

The Natural law provides revealed law and grace with a foundation prepared by God and in
accordance with the work of the Spirit. (CCC: 1960)

2. Biblical Concept: The Law of God in Holy Scripture

I. Law of the Old Testament:

a. Historical Reality of Israels Law when the Old Testament speaks of the laws,
precepts and commandments of the Lord, or when the New Testament refers to the law of
the Old Covenant, they always have in mind the collection of laws which is called the
Torah.

Torah the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, whose author
according to ancient tradition is Moses. Therefore it is also called the Mosaic law.

The Torah contained 613 precepts and prohibitions. They are religious, social and
moral nature. Besides norms of natural law, they comprise numerous cultic prescriptions
and regulations of civil law, which have the character of positive laws.

Israels Distinctive Character the distinctive character of Israels Morality and law
must be first drawn to the consistency with which the entire law and all spheres of human
life are placed under the Absolute Rule of Yahweh.

a. Moral Action in Israel inseparably bound with the worship of God. This means that God
regards obedience to the law equally important as the worship of himself.

Consequently every faithful performance of a duty acquires the nobility of an act of
worship.

b. Israels Monotheism provides a principle of absolute unity for the moral and legal
order: one Judge of all the earth with one law for all.
c. Israels high regard for the human person which manifest in the absence of gross
brutality in the punishment of the guilty.

The Code of Hammurabi/Assyrian Law though are not unusual during their time, but
they are not customary in Israel. For God who created man after His own image and
therefore protects him, even when he is liable to punishment.

II. Moral Law in the New Testament:

According to the letter to the Hebrews, the death of Christ was the point of time when the New
Testament took its beginning and the new covenant was inaugurated(Hebrew 9: 15-17).

a. Nature and Character of the New law the New Law is primarily an internal law. The
main stress is on mans internal responsibility before God and the law of the Spirit.

St. Paul finds a particularly striking difference and even opposition between the Old and
the New Law; Moses Law is an external, written code, whilst the law of Christ is a law of
the Spirit. For the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life (2Cor 3:6).

The New Testament is a covenant in the Holy Spirit who has been poured forth into the
hearts of men (Rom 5:5), who leads and teaches them from within (Rom 8:14).

From the living communion with Christ flows the law of Christ as an inward law.

Through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:2), Christians know the just
requirement of the law and also fulfil them (Rom 8:4).

Moral norms were formulated as a protection against the carnal man from within. They
serve as aids for a peaceful life and provide an orientation on the way to perfection.

Ethical directives are given in the Bible by way of commandments and precepts, but also
in images, examples and parables.

b. Concrete Precepts and Commandments:
1. Moral Precepts: Jesus Teachings:
A) Give to Everyone Who Asks
B) Leave your Father and Mother, wife and children, and hate your own soul.
C) If your hand or eye is leading you astray, cut it off and cast it away.
D) Never worry about food and drink. The morrow will look after itself.
E) Do not invite your friends or your brothers. Invite the poor, the maimed, the lame
and the blind.
2. Moral Precepts of the Apostles:
a) Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.
b) Repay not evil for evil
c) Children, obey your parents in everything
d) Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
e) Let every person be subject to the governing authorities
f) Your Elders, tend the flock, not as domineering over those in your charge but
being examples to the flock
g) You that are younger be subject to the elders
h) Clothes yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another

As to the social status of women, Paul teaches that wives should be subject to
their husbands, although in the same breath he also exhorts husband to love their
wives as Christ loves his Church.


Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The Old Law:

God, our Creator and Redeemer, chose Israel for himself to be his people and revealed his Law to
them, thus preparing for the coming of Christ. The Law of Moses expresses many truths naturally
accessible to reason. These are stated and authenticated within the covenant of salvation. (CCC:
1961)

The Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel. The Law is a pedagogy and a prophecy of things to come.
It prophesies and presages the work of liberation from sin which will be fulfilled in Jesus
Christ(CCC1964)

The New Law of the Law of the Gospel:

The New Law of the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and
revealed. It is the work of Christ and is expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. (CCC1965)

-----------------------------------Movie of the Sermon on the Mount---------------------------


It is also the work of the Holy Spirit and through him it becomes the interior law of charity: I will
establish a New Covenant with the house of IsraelI will put my laws into their minds, and write them
on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (CCC 1969, Jer31: 31-34).


Moral Task: Jesus Christ as Moral Prototype:

a. Jesus and the Law

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets: I have come not to abolish but to
fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter,
will pass from the law, until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these
commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but
whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5: 17-
19).

Jesus, Israels Messiah and therefore the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, was to fulfill the Law by
keeping it in its all-embracing detail according to his own words, down to the least of these
commandments. He is in fact the only one who could keep it perfectly.


--------------------End of the Lesson---------------------------



III. Human Acts:

Morality is based on the freedom of the will and freedom presupposes rational knowledge. As
volition precedes human actions, knowledge precedes volition. Therefore a voluntary act is the
human act which proceeds from the will with some knowledge of the end intended.

a. A human act must be a knowing and deliberate act. Knowledge is advertence of what the
moral agent is doing, thinking and willing.

Knowledge is awareness or consciousness of the conditions and implications of our actions.
(An act performed during sleep or when a person is insane or completely distracted is not
a human act.)

b. A human act must be free. Every human act is a free act for it is under the control of the
will. An act which the will does or leaves undone is a properly a free act.

Freedom is the power to choose between two or more courses of action without being
forced to take one or the other by anything except our own will.

Man walks to his final end by his free activity, selecting the means for his intended ends.

Freedom if a human prerogative. But within man there is fear, concupiscence, and
ignorance which can weaken or even destroy mans freedom. Outside man there is force
or violence used by external agents against mans will.

c. A human act is a voluntary act. Voluntariness is a formal quality of human acts whereby
any action or omission results from a principle within the agent, and from knowledge
which the agent possesses of the end.

When a man knows the end of his work to the greatest degree and moves toward it, the
voluntary character of his actions is present to the greatest degree.


Definition of Human Acts and its Distinction from Acts of Man:

Human acts are those acts which proceed from man as a rational being. They are the very
means man possesses in order to arrive at his moral perfection.

For only man is intellective, moral and religious.

Only man is responsible for his actions: he alone is aware of what he is doing and is free to
act and not to act.

When he does not know what he is doing or when he is no longer free to act, the responsibility
for his actions is no longer attributed to him.

(Actions committed by unconscious and insane persons, by infants, or those who are
physically forced to do something, are not considered human acts but acts of man.)

Only acts performed with knowledge and freedom are properly human and consequently
moral, for only then are they neither good or evil.

Acts of Man actions which merely happens in the body or through the body without the
awareness of the mind or the control of the will are acts of man.

(To see, to hear, to touch, to scratch oneself, when these acts are done without deliberation,
are called acts of man.

Division of Human Acts:

1. Elicited Acts:
Are those acts produced directly by the will, (they begin and end in this faculty without
transcending to other faculties, as the act of love, hate, or desire.)

Commanded Acts:
Are those acts which although originated in the rational will, are completed through the
internal or external powers of man under the control of the will, as the act of thinking
(internal), and acts of walking, talking, writing (external).

2. Internal and External Acts:
Internal Acts is performed by the internal faculties of the soul, as the acts of thinking and
loving.

External acts, properly called actions are produced by different organs and senses of the
body under the command of the will, as the act of studying, cheating, stealing, act of
mercy.

An external act which is beyond the command and control of the will is no longer a human
act, but an act of man.

3. Good, Bad, and Indifferent Acts:
Are those acts which agree, disagree, or stand in no positive relation respectively, with the
dictates of right reason or rules of morality.

4. Natural and Supernatural:
Acts are those which proceed from the natural powers of human nature alone or from the
supernatural aids given to man such as the sacraments, grace, faith, etc.

5. Valid and Invalid Acts:
The Valid acts possess all the moral requirements to produce proper effects. The Invalid
acts lack one several of the required moral conditions. The classification is very important
in human contracts and transactions.


Analysis of the Human Acts:

The psychological process involved in the different steps towards the completion of the moral or human acts
was carefully analyzed by St. Thomas Aquinas. Six of these steps emanate from the formal causality of the
intellect; the other six, from the causality of the will.










St. Thomas Aquinas
On the Human or Moral Act:

Intellect Will
With regard to END: 1: Apprehension of End 2: Wishing the End
3: Judgment of Attainability 4: Intention of End
With regard to MEANS: 5: Deliberation of Means
7: Judgment of Choice
6: Consent of Means
8: Choice or Election
With regard to
EXECUTION:
9: Command
11: Apprehension of Suitability
10: Use
12: Fruition or Enjoyment


The Seven Most Important Steps Which Complete the Human Acts:

Volition: Is a mere desire or inclination of the will towards any good object
known by the intellect.
Intention: Is the active desire for a particular good after the intellect has
convinced the will that this particular good should be obtained
through a personal action.
Deliberation or Counsel: Which sets in motion a series of thoughts and judgments concerning
the most suitable means towards the attainment of the desired good
or end.
Consent: Which is a definite decision as to what a means should be. The will
is finally attracted to the result of the process of counselling.
Choice or Election: By which the agent actively commits himself to follow the last
particular judgment of the intellect. The will finally accepts by choice
the particular means proposed in order to get the desired good.
Command: To command is primarily an act of the intellect. The intellect points
out and the will moves other executive powers of man, internal and
external, to act and get the intended object.
Enjoyment or Fruition: Consists in the actual attainment for the desired good.
Fruition pertain to the love or the delight which one possesses
concerning the final result that is looked for, which is the end.


Freedom and Morality:

Although many factors can affect our free will and moral conduct, nevertheless, freedom is one of the most
evident facts of human life.

Man makes a selection among several means to attain the end.

The whole moral life revolves around the use of freedom. The good use of freedom guarantees man the
affirmation of his better self and the achievement of the purpose of life.

The abuse of freedom is the origin of mans guilty conduct. True liberty dignifies man; misuse of liberty
debase him.

MANS FREEDOM: Catechism of the Catholic Church:

God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his
own actions. God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel, so that he might of his own
accord seek His Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him. (CCC: 1730)

Freedom and Responsibility:

Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when
directed toward God, our beatitude. (CCC: 1731)

Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary. Progress in virtue,
knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the mastery of the will over his acts. (CCC: 1734)

Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created in the image of
God has the natural right to be recognized as a free and responsible being. (CCC: 1738)

IV. The Morality of Human Acts:

Freedom makes man a moral subject. When he acts deliberately, man is, so to speak, the
father of his acts. Human acts, that is, acts that are freely chosen in consequence of a
judgment of conscience, can be morally evaluated. They are either good or evil. (CCC: 1749)

The Sources of Morality:

The Morality of Human Acts depends on:

a. The Object Chosen;
b. The End in View or the Intention;
c. The Circumstances of the action.

The object, the intention, and the circumstances make up the sources, or constitutive
elements, of the morality of human acts.

1. The Object Chosen is a good toward which the will deliberately directs. It is the matter
of a human act. The object chosen morally specifies the act of the will, insofar as reason
recognizes and judges it to be or not to be in conformity with the true good.
2. The Intention is an element essential to the moral evaluation of an action. The end is
the first goal of the intention and indicates the purpose pursued in the action.

The Intention is a movement of a will toward the end: it is concerned with the goal of the
activity. It aims at the good anticipated from the action undertaken.

3. The Circumstance including the consequences, are secondary element of a moral act.
They contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human acts.

They can also diminish or increase the agents responsibility.

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.

Good Acts and Evil Acts:

A Morally Good Act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the
circumstances together.

An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is good in itself.

It is therefore wrong to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention
that inspires the act or the circumstances, which supply their context.


V. The Modifiers of the Human Acts:

Since knowledge and freedom are necessary conditions for the voluntary act, it follows that
human actions performed without perfect knowledge and full freedom are not perfect
voluntary, and no person can be held wholly responsible for such actions.

Since knowledge and freedom admit various degrees it follows that moral responsibility is in
proportion to the degree of knowledge and freedom.

The greater the knowledge and freedom, the greater the voluntariness and moral
responsibility involved.

Common Obstacles to Human Acts:

1. Ignorance in Ethics ignorance is lack of the knowledge which man should have of his
moral duties.

A childs ignorance of the lawyers duties is only a negative ignorance, for it is absolutely
involuntary.

A doctors ignorance of the immorality of abortion is a positive ignorance since a doctor
should know his professional ethics.

Degrees of Ignorance:

a. Invincible ignorance is that which cannot overcome either because a person does
not realize his own state of ignorance, or it is because it is almost impossible for him
to acquire the proper knowledge of the matter.

If ignorance be such that it is altogether involuntary, either because it is invincible, or
because it pertains to what a man is not obliged to know, then such ignorance
completely excuses man from wrong doing. St. Thomas Aquinas

(***obligation to resolve the kind of ignorance***)

b. Vincible Ignorance is that which can be removed by ordinary efforts. When hardly
any effort has been used to dispel ignorance, it is called crass or supine ignorance.

Vincible Ignorance does not destroy, but it does lessen the voluntariness and
responsibility of an act, in as much as the effect of that ignorance are not clearly
perceived and are not willed by the person who does not possess direct and perfect
voluntariness>

Ex: A nurse who has a strong doubts about the medicine administered to apatient
upon a doctors order and yet does not consult the doctor when it could be easily done,
will be held partially responsible for the death of the patient or for any other bad effect
resulting from the wrong medicine.

The Degree of Culpability of Invincible Ignorance depends on:
a. The amount of effort put forth to get proper information
b. The importance of the matter and,
c. The obligation of the agent to acquire proper knowledge on the matter

Affected or pretended ignorance does not excuse a person from his bad actions; on
the contrary, it actually increases their malice.

In a Legal Sense, Ignorance is Divided into:

Ignorance of the Law is exemplified when a bar-keeper sell liquor to minors
because he is not aware that it is illegal to do so.

Ignorance of the Fact might happen when the bar-keeper sells liquor to a minor,
thinking he is an adult.

2. Passion or Concupiscence:

Passion are strong tendencies towards the possession of something good or towards the
avoidance of something evil.

Passion also receive other names such as emotions, affections, feelings, sentiments,
desires.

Eleven Chief Passions:
a. Love is a tendency towards a desirable good, either present or absent.
b. Hatred is the aversion for a sensible evil, either present or absent.
c. Desire is a tendency towards a sensible good that is absent
d. Horror is a turning away from a sensible evil that is absent or foreseeable in the
future.
e. Delight is a joy produced by the presence and possession of the desired good.
f. Sadness is a sorrowful experience produced by the presence of evil.
g. Hope is the reaching out towards a future good whose attainment is possible.
h. Despair is the turning away from a good that is impossible to attain.
i. Bravery is the courage to attack an evil that is possible to conquer.
j. Fear is a state of anguish resulting from the thought that a threatening evil cannot be
possibly overcome.
k. Anger is a state of displeasure excited by a feeling of having been insulted or by a
desire to avenge an injury.

















Diagram of the Passion:

Appetite Object Passions Sensible Movement of Appetite
Love Like of Object
Good Desire Approach to Object
Delight Possession of Object
Concupiscible ______________________________________________________________
Hate Dislike of Object
Evil Aversion Retreat from Object
Sadness Possession of Object

Hope Approach to Object
Difficult which is attainable
Good Despair Approach to Object
which is unattainable
Irascible ______________________________________________________________
Daring Approach to an evil
which is an obstacle
to a desired good
Difficult Fear Retreat from an evil
Evil which is an obstacle
to a desired good.

The Morality of Passion:

From the moral point of view, passions are neither good nor evil, but indifferent. Passions are provided by
nature to spur and to strengthen the will.

They may be used by man for good or for bad purposes:

a) Passions may be called Good when ordered by rational will to help man in the practice of virtue, or
in the attainment of that which is morally good.
b) Passions may be called Bad when used by the rational will to accomplish morally evil actions.
(Making love to a girl with intentions other than marriage)
c) Passions may be Deliberately Aroused by the will in order to ensure a more prompt and willing
operation.

(By continuously imagining and brooding over an insult received from an enemy, a person may build
himself up to such a state of frenzy that he finally attacks and kills his enemy).

This kind of passion are called Consequent because they come after the awareness of the mind and
free choice of the will.

3. Fear fear is a disturbance of the mind caused by the thought of a threatening evil.

Fear may be considered as a passion which arises as an impulsive movement of avoidance
of threatened evil, ordinarily accompanied by bodily disturbances.

As a type of experience of mental character fear is a separate modifier of human
voluntariness. (A person may lie because he fears future disgrace).

a) Acts done with fear or in spite of fear as when a person climbs a dangerous mountain
at night. Fear in this case accompanies an act which in itself is voluntary.
b) Acts done from or through fear, or because of fear, as when a person is threatened
with a gun yields his wallet to a thief.
c) Fear may be slight or grave according to the amount or to the proximity of the
impending evil.

Effects of Fear on the Voluntariness of Human Acts:

a. Acts done with fear are voluntary, although they are not pleasant to the individual.
b. Acts done from fear or through fear are simply and absolutely voluntary for such acts
are performed with deliberation and are chosen by the moral agent as the most
convenient alternative under the present circumstances.
c. Fear as a disturbance of the mind lessens the voluntariness but it does not destroy it
fear lessens the voluntariness inasmuch as more or less it hinders the freedom and
the reasoning power of man and it weakens the consent of the will.
d. Fear considered as an ordinary passion may increase or diminish the voluntariness of
the human acts according to the rules established in the preceding section the
passion of fear may even destroy voluntariness because it may throw a person into
such a panic that he may become powerless to think, to run or attack as when a
defenseless person is suddenly confronted by an angry rattlesnake.

4. Violence violence or compulsion is the application of external force on a person by
another free agent for the purpose of compelling him to do something against his will.

Violence is different from fear which consist in a mental apprehension.

5. Habit a habit is a constant and easy way of doing things acquired by the repetition of
the same act.

Habits form in man like a second nature.

Once a habit is acquired, it is difficult to rid oneself of it. They greatly influence human
voluntariness and freedom.

6. Inordinate Attachment
7. Disposition and Other Psychological Factor


Reflections:

1. Which of these Common Obstacles to Human Acts do you consider most
influential?
2.


--------------End of the Lesson-----------------------


VI. Norms of Morality

Law: Objective Norm of Morality:

Human acts are directed to the last end by law as applied by conscience. Law nad conscience
are the directives, the norms of morality, and man has an obligation not only to obey them
but also to know them.

St. Thomas Definition of Law:

A Law is an ordinance of reason directed towards the common good and promulgated by the
one who has the care of the community.

a. A law is an Ordinance or Mandate because it contains a decisive command to perform or
to avoid the performance of something

A law differs from a plea or advise, for these do not demand obedience.

Regulations are local ordinances given to a group of individuals according to the demands
of particular circumstances.

But the law is more or less permanent and universal.

b. Reason should dictate the law. The despotic desire or momentary whim of an authority
cannot become a true law.
c. A just law takes into consideration the Common Good of all citizens and not the exclusive
benefit of some favored groups.

The common good is sometimes identified with the welfare participated in by each
member of the community.

St. Thomas, points out another meaning of the common good; that is, the universal
happiness all men seek. The law must need concern itself properly with the order
directed to universal happiness.

d. A law should be promulgated, officially published.
e. Laws are enacted by the Competent Authority of the legislative body of the nation and
are finally approved by the President or by anyone who has the care of the community.

Different Kinds of Law:

1. The Eternal Law St. Augustine defined the eternal law as The divine reason or the will
of God commanding that the natural order of things be preserved and forbidding that it be
disturbed.

St. Thomas defined it as, The exemplar of divine wisdom as directing all actions and
movements.

The plan of government God has in mind bears the character of a law, and because it is
conceived in eternity and not in time it is rightly called the Eternal Law.

The eternal law has all the elements of a true law as contained in the definition of law by
St. Thomas.

Properties of Eternal Law:

a. Eternal Law is Eternal and Unchangeable as the author himself, God as part
of the divine plan, eternal law existed from all eternity in the mind of God even before
the creation of the universe. But it was known in time by man.
b. Eternal Law is Absolutely Universal for it rules all things and actions, either free,
contingent, or necessary.

2. The Natural Law our universe is composed of an infinite variety of beautifully arrange
things. Indeed, nature shows a constant order which is the result of a universal plan and
of immutable laws.

To these natural law are subject all the movements and energies of the world, its
behavior, its course its growth and decay, its transformation, and the continuous change
of energies and forces and other natural phenomena studied in the natural sciences
physics, chemistry, biology, mechanics

Man is included in this universal plan. As a living organism he follows the natural laws. As
a rational and intelligent being he alone recognizes the laws governing nature and the laws
especially designed for him, which we call the natural moral laws.

Meaning of Natural Law:

Mans share in the Eternal law of God is called Natural law.

Such participation is obviously manifested in man through his reason.

It is evident, that all things partake in some way in the eternal law, in so far, namely
from its being imprinted on them, they derive their respective inclinations to their proper
acts and endsthe light of natural reason, whereby we discern what is good and what is
evil, which is a function of the natural law, is nothing else that an imprint on us of the
divine light. It is therefore, evident that the natural law is nothing else than the rational
creatures participation of the eternal law. St. Thomas Aquinas

The Natural Law is a Corollary of the Eternal Law it is an extension of the divine
order of things as apprehended by human reason.

Man is born with a natural disposition to follow the natural law, for he uses the necessary
means to preserve his life, he lives in society, begets and educates children, he enjoys
companionship and mutual assistance.

Man is also born with a natural facility to know the basic truths or principles of the moral
order as the good is to be done and promoted and the evil is to be avoided.

But man is not born with a full knowledge of these principles. He finds them by way of
reasoning, of making general or particular inferences from the most universal axioms of
the moral law.

The practical judgments by which man is aware of his moral obligations are the actual
instruments by which God promulgates his eternal law in men.

Therefore the natural law can be described as a disposition of the human mind to discover
the moral meaning of our actions in relation to the final end.

Man discovers the moral order not by a long mathematical process but by simple process
of his reason, by the examination and recognition of mans destiny in the universe, his
relation to God, to himself and his fellow men.

The Natural Law are Written in the Hearts of Men. They are impressed in Human Nature by
the Author of nature.


Properties of the Natural Law:

1. It is Universal men of all ages are subject to the precepts of the natural law.
2. It is Obligatory it imposes upon men the moral obligation to follow it as necessary
condition to attain the last end or happiness. It declares to man his duty; it speaks
with the voice of authority.
3. It is Recognizable it cannot fail to be known and it cannot be forgotten by man; it
is impressed in his reason.
4. It is Immutable or Unchangeable it share the immutability of the eternal law;
human nature remains essentially the same, and God, the author of both human
nature and natural law, wills that we live according to our human nature.

3. Human Positive Law:

1. Divine Positive Law
2. Human Positive Law

1. Divine Positive Law is promulgated by a special command of God. Divine laws
were given to men by God to supplement the observance of the natural law and to
direct human life to the supernatural order.

The Divine Law cannot be replaced by human law, for it is unique in two ways:
a. Only Divine Laws regulate human inner acts, i.e the intention of man.
b. Only Divine Laws are able to punish all evil committed by men and completely
restore the moral order.

Two Kinds of Positive Divine Law:

a. Natural Laws given to men by God to remind them of natural moral laws
which, although knowable by human reason faded through ignorance, passion,
custom, and bad example.
b. The Supernatural Law lead man to the fullness of grace through Christ in
order to achieve the supernatural destiny of man, i.e. the beatific vision.

2. Human Positive Law Human positive law are the laws which proceed from a
properly constituted authority as the state or the church and serve to supplement the
provision of the natural law in view of the special needs of the community.

The laws of the state are contained in the constitution and in the code of Civil law. The
laws of the Church are compiled in the Canon Law.

Human Laws are Necessary:

a. Positive laws are official determinations and applications of the natural moral
principles which in themselves are universal, broad and indeterminate.

Every human law has just so much of the nature of the law as it is derived from
the law of nature. But if, at any point, it departs from the law of nature, it is no
longer a law but a perversion of law. St. Thomas Aquinas

The natural law declares that murder is forbidden and should be punished.

b. The society of good men must be protected against some depraved members of
the community who, under evil influence and lack of education, have perverted the
natural judgment of their reason.

Decisive and expressed law are need to protect the good and to restrain the
wicked by the threat of punishment.

Legal sanctions are an addition to the natural law. They certainly are required to
preserve society and the moral order.

c. Human laws are necessary to adjust the natural law to an ever-changing society
and to determine the manifold duties of men in relation to other private
individuals, to the government, and to the common good.

To prevent confusion in social problems and to further the cause of peace, the
common good, and a dynamic progress, new visions by new laws are constantly
required.

Moral Binding Power of Human Laws:

Since human laws are declarations and determinations of the principles of the
natural law and since the natural law is derived from the eternal law of God, it
logically follows that man should obey human laws for the same reason that he
obeys the divine law, temporal and eternal.

All citizens are morally bound to obey the laws enacted for their own material,
social, and spiritual welfare. For the purpose of human laws is to promote the
happiness of men, to enforce peace and order, to defend the innocent and to
restrain the evildoer.

--------------End of the Lesson-------------


VII. Conscience: Subjective Norm of Morality

Conscience is metaphorically known as the inner or little voice of God crying out mans moral
obligations and telling him what to do and what to avoid in the moral order.

Conscience has been compared to government three powers:
a. Legislative
b. Judicial
c. Executive

Indeed, the role of conscience is to investigate, to judge, and to pass sentence on our moral
actions.

Conscience approves and commends; reproaches and condemns, forbids and commands,
accuses and absolves.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 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 avoid evil, sounds
in his heart at the right moment

For man has in his heart a law inscribed by GodHis conscience is mans most secret core and
his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.


Definition of Conscience:

Conscience is defined as an act of the practical judgment of reason deciding upon an individual
action as good and to be performed or as evil and to be avoided.

Conscience Differs From:

a) Moral Science which is a systematized and formulated knowledge of the conclusions
drawn from the moral principles and positive laws, while Conscience is the act of the
practical judgment deciding the moral quality of our actions and thought.
b) Law which consists in the objective rules and conduct formulated by an authority and
enforced by sanctions. Conscience is a subjective guide, and internal law.
c) Consciousness which is a psychological awareness by which we perceive our states
and acts and are mentally awakened to the things around us. Conscience is concerned
with the moral judgment of our individual actions, the goodness and blameworthiness of
mans conduct.
d) Prudence which is a virtue timing the use of conscience, and regulating the application
of the universal principles of morality to particular actions.
e) Council which is concerned with the right means and ways to carry on our moral
decisions.
f) Synderesis which is the understanding of the principles and axioms of morality. These
principles are con-natural to mans rational nature; they only need to be developed
through education and experience. (Do good and avoid evil.)

Synderesis is a word used by Scholastic philosophers to express the quality by which man
naturally perceives the truth of the self-evident principles of the moral order. It serves as
a guidepost pointing out to man the infallible way to his destiny and to the social order.

Different Kinds of Conscience:

a) Antecedent or Consequent according as the judgment is passed before an action
is performed or only after the action is done. The main function of the antecedent
conscience are to command, forbid, to advice and to permit. The two opposite effects
of the consequent are internal peace or remorse.
b) Right or True Conscience judges what is really good as good and what is really
evil as evil according to the true principles of morality.
c) Erroneous or False Conscience judges what is really bad as good and vice versa
according to the false interpretation of the moral principles.

An erroneous conscience is either culpable or inculpable, vincible or invincible.

d) Certain Conscience is a subjective assurance of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of
certain actions to be done or to be omitted.

This kind of conscience should always be followed by man, although it may happen
that his subjective conviction are not in conformity with the reality of things
commanded or forbidden on account of an involuntary error.

e) Doubtful Conscience suspends judgment on the lawfulness of an action and
therefore, if possible, the action should be omitted.

Doubtful conscience may occur in business transactions, surgical operations, and other
professional practices.

f) Scrupulous Conscience is that which is extremely rigorous, constantly afraid of
committing evil.

A scrupulous conscience is frequently the result of a stubborn character. But in some
people a scrupulous conscience merely means a serious concern about moral
perfection.

g) Lax Conscience tends to follow the easy way and to find excuses for omission and
mistakes. This kind of conscience is dangerous.

Guilty Conscience a subjective state of remorse or dissatisfaction which follows a
bad action. A guilty conscience is a disturbed conscience trying to restore good
relations with God by means of sorrow and repentance.


Obligatory Force of Conscience:

The practical judgment of reason or conscience binds man with a moral obligation.
When conscience is objectively correct and subjectively certain, obligation is clear and
difficulties do not exist.

But in some cases, the conscience of a moral agent may be objectively wrong and
subjectively doubtful or certain, and thus decide a good action as evil to be omitted or
an evil action as good to be performed.

How then should the moral problem be solved?

In general, man should follow the practical judgment of his
consciencewhenever he sincerely, thoroughly, and certainly believes that he must
perform or omit an action, be this action good, bad or indifferent in itself.

(Giving alms good, Playing basketball indifferent, Telling Lies Evil, lawful to lies
to help somebody, not playing basketball to help someone, not giving alms to a
drunkard)

St. Thomas Aquinas Every conscience, whether right or erroneous, whether with
regard to acts which are evil in themselves or acts which are indifferent, is obligatory,
so that he who acts in opposition to his conscience, does wrong.

To Choose In Accord With Conscience: Catechism of the Catholic Church 1786

Man is sometimes confronted by situations that make moral judgments less assured
and decision difficult. But he must always seriously seek what is right and good and
discern the will of God expressed in the divine law.
The Golden Rule:
Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.

Charity always proceeds by way of respect for ones neighbor and his conscience:
thus sinning against your neighbor and wounding their conscienceyou sinned against
Christ.

Education of Conscience it is very important for man to educate his conscience, for
his eternal destiny depends mainly on the kind of conscience he himself develops in
the world.

Great moral blunders can be committed because of a false training of conscience.

Let us remember that conscience is not independent of external law and authority. Its
function is to apply the law. Therefore, the guiding hand of conscience is the law.

The first step to take in order to educate our conscience is to overcome ignorance
and error by applying ourselves to the study of our moral, civil, and Churchs laws
and regulations.

The second step in the education of conscience is to overcome doubts in moral
matters by forming good habits of reasoning or by consulting prudent and virtuous
persons.

The Formation of Conscience: Catechism of the Catholic Church 1784

The education of the conscience is a lifelong task. From the earliest years, it awakens
the child to the knowledge and practice of the interior law recognized by conscience.

Prudent education teaches virtue; it prevents or cures fear, selfishness and pride,
resentment arising from guilt, and feeling of complacency, born of human weakness
and faults.

The education of the conscience guarantees freedom and engenders peace of heart.

In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our pathwe 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.

The Lost Conscience it is the dulling of conscience.

Peace of Soul and Guilty of Conscience there are two kinds of conscience: The
one given to us by our Creator and the one we ourselves provide for our unreasonable
desires.

The first produce peace of soul; the second produce remorse and disgust, worry and
anxiety.

The Judgment of Conscience: Catechism of the Catholic Church 177

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.

It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which
the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments.

When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking.

In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just
and right.

It is the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the
prescriptions of the divine law.

The requirement of interiority is really necessary as life often distracts us from any
reflection, self-examination, or introspection.
Conscience enables one to assume responsibility for the acts performed.

The verdict of the judgment of conscience remains a pledge of hope and mercy. In
attesting to the fault committed, it calls to mind the forgiveness that must be asked,
the good that must still be practiced, and the virtue that must be constantly cultivated
with the grace of God.

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 be
prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters.

--------------------End of the Lesson---------------------
A. Some Principles in Making Moral Decisions
1. The Principle of Double Effect

The doctrine (or principle) of double effect is often invoked to explain the permissibility
of an action that causes a serious harm, such as the death of a human being, as a side
effect of promoting some good end.

It is claimed that sometimes it is permissible to cause such a harm as a side effect (or double effect) of
bringing about a good result even though it would not be permissible to cause such a harm as a means to
bringing about the same good end. This reasoning is summarized with the claim that sometimes it is
permissible to bring about as a merely foreseen side effect a harmful event that it would be impermissible to
bring about intentionally.
Formulations of the principle of double effect:
Thomas Aquinas is credited with introducing the principle of double effect in his discussion of the permissibility
of self-defense in the Summa Theologica (II-II, Qu. 64, Art.7). Killing one's assailant is justified, he argues,
provided one does not intend to kill him. Aquinas observes that Nothing hinders one act from having two
effects, only one of which is intended, while the other is beside the intention.
Accordingly, the act of self-defense may have two effects: one, the saving of one's life; the other, the slaying
of the aggressor. As Aquinas's discussion continues, a justification is provided that rests on characterizing the
defensive action as a means to a goal that is justified: Therefore, this act, since one's intention is to save
one's own life, is not unlawful, seeing that it is natural to everything to keep itself in being as far as possible.
However, Aquinas observes, the permissibility of self-defense is not unconditional: And yet, though
proceeding from a good intention, an act may be rendered unlawful if it be out of proportion to the end.
Wherefore, if a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful, whereas, if he repel
force with moderation, his defense will be lawful.
In contrast, Augustine had earlier maintained that killing in self-defense was not permissible, maintaining that
private self-defense can only proceed from some degree of inordinate self-love.
Later versions of the double effect principle all emphasize the distinction between causing a morally grave
harm as a side effect of pursuing a good end and causing a harm as a means of pursuing a good end.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia provides four conditions for the application of the principle of double effect:
1. The act itself must be morally good or at least indifferent.
2. The agent may not positively will the bad effect but may permit it. If he could attain the good effect
without the bad effect he should do so. The bad effect is sometimes said to be indirectly voluntary.
3. The good effect must flow from the action at least as immediately (in the order of causality, though
not necessarily in the order of time) as the bad effect. In other words the good effect must be
produced directly by the action, not by the bad effect. Otherwise the agent would be using a bad
means to a good end, which is never allowed.
4. The good effect must be sufficiently desirable to compensate for the allowing of the bad effect (p.
1021).
2. The Principle of Totality:

The principle of totality views the human body as sacred.

The Principles of Totality come from the philosophical ideas of Thomas Aquinas.
Aquinas believed that every object was organized to serve a purpose or goal. Through
reason, humanity can achieve these goals. One worthy goal for Aquinas was totality,
which is the unity of the human body.

Theological concepts such as the principle of totality are sometimes incompatible with
clinical practices. Abortion might be seen as in conflict with the principle of totality,
since abortion leads to the destruction of faculties or powers in the fetus.

Medical:
Treatments that cause injury to patients are only justified when they will medically
benefit the patient, especially if the treatment will preserve the entire body. Medical
professionals must consider the individual's intellect, conscience and will. Every part of
the body is there for the sake of the whole. A part of the body can only be sacrificed if
that sacrifice is necessary to preserve the whole. For example, if a foot develops a
severe infection that could threaten the life of the patient, amputating the foot is
justifiable under the principle of totality. When the destruction of the organ does not
serve to preserve the life of the person, the destruction should be avoided. For
example, the patient should never arbitrarily have a foot amputated if the amputation
is not needed to preserve the person's life.

Organ Donation:
Organ donations serve as one example. Under the principle of totality, organ
donations are allowed if the organ donation would save another from a serious
physical threat, if the donation does not diminish the functional integrity of the person
and if the organ donation was an act of charity with free and informed consent from
the donor. Under the principle of totality, human life is considered sacred. Since acts
to preserve human life are considered sacred, the principle of totality encourages
organ donation as an act of charity and love, especially blood donations. Donations
post-mortem --- such as the donation of the heart --- are also allowed since they
preserve life.

Society:
The Principle of Totality extends beyond the body into society in general. The principle
holds that the good of the nation is more "godlike" than the good of the individual
person. Therefore, people should be willing to give themselves up for the good of the
entire society, such as when a firefighter risks his life to save someone from a burning
building, possibly being mutilated in the process. Pope Pius XII argued that under the
Principle of Totality, an individual cannot be used by society for evil purposes. For
example, people shouldn't be mutilated so that societies can develop more effective
ways of injuring their enemies.

3. The Principle of Epikeia
An interpretation of the human law not according to its letter but according to its spirit
in those border cases which have not sufficiently been taken into consideration by
positive law. St. Thomas regards epikeia as a virtue, the daughter of prudence and
equity. epiky as readily inclines one to accept burden and purpose and the common
good demand it, as to hold oneself free from the onus, when one must assume in all
fairness that the lawgiver does not will to impose such a burden in altogether singular
circumstances or at least not in the specific manner prescribed by the letter of law.
Therefore if a law provides for a minimum wage which is too low, or has become too
low because of inflation, the true spirit of epikeia will move the employer to pay more
than the letter of the law requires, if not by raising the wage, then at least in the form
of other benefits.

Christ himself practiced and taught the virtue of epikeia. (Mk 2:27; Mk 3:1-5; Lk
13:10-17; 14:1-6; Jn 5:1-16; 7:21-24;9; Mt 12:1-8; Mk 2:15-17; Lk 15:1f)

Epikeia must be justified by the superior needs of the common good and ultimately by
the demands of the ultimate end of mankind. One has to weigh against each other, on
the one side, the importance of a law for the common weal as well as the negative
consequences resulting from its disregard and, on the other side, the hardships and
detriments accruing from its fulfillment.

Epikeia is usually thought of as a right applying only to the individual and private
sphere. Yet the right of epikeia exists no less in the realm of public law. In a state of
emergency the government of a democratic community is entitled to measures
exceeding the powers provided in the constitution, if this is necessitated for the
safeguarding of essential ends of the community. Nevertheless the government
remains bound to give an account of its actions to the legislative authority as soon as
possible.

4. The Principle of Stewardship

We are called to exercise responsible stewardship over all creation. Such a
stewardship is exercised in our daily activities which we can rightfully consider as a
prolongation of Gods continuing work of creating, and a service to our fellow men and
women. One sign of living faith is that we realize Gods graceful, supporting
presence in all our good thoughts, words, and deeds. Far from being in competition
with God, we recognize in the depths of our hearts and minds, the truth of Christs
simple assertion: apart from me you can do nothing (Jn 15:5)

The ecology crisis today highlights further our moral obligation, flowing from our God-
given stewardship over the earth, not only to use its goods responsibility, but to treat
them with real respect as gifts from our Creator. The tremendous advances in modern
science and technology have heightened this moral responsibility immeasurably, since
now, for the first time in history, we have the physical capacity to improve or
completely destroy our earthly home. PCP II has called for a comprehensive theology
of STEWARSHIP which makes ecology a special concern of the social action
apostolate in view of making everyone a true steward of Gods creation (PCP II
Decrees, Art. 31,1).

5. The Principle of Subsidiarity

One of the key principles of Catholic social thought is known as the principle of
subsidiarity. This tenet holds that nothing should be done by a larger and more
complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller and simpler organization.

In other words, any activity which can be performed by a more decentralized entity
should be. This principle is a bulwark of limited government and personal freedom. It
conflicts with the passion for centralization and bureaucracy characteristic of the
Welfare State.

John Paul II took the social assistance state to task in his 1991 encyclical
CentesimusAnnus. The Pontiff wrote that the Welfare State was contradicting the
principle of subsidiarity by intervening directly and depriving society of its
responsibility.

This leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies
which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for
serving their clients and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in
spending.

6. The Principle of Scandal
Scandal is distinguished as active or passive scandal. Active scandal is a conduct which
gives rise to the sin of another. Passive scandal is the taking of scandal at the
provocative action of another, be this action unbecoming and sinful or be it lawful and
good.

A. Active scandal in the strict sense is an unbecoming conduct that gives occasion of
sin to others. While seduction intentionally causes another to sin, scandal in the proper
sense only gives an occasion to sin and permits the sinful deed following therefrom.

The unbecoming conduct can be a sinful deed, but it can also be an objectively correct
action which however ought to be omitted because of the weakness or ignorance of
those who witness it without sufficient understanding.

B. Passive Scandal can be due to bad example, or it can be a scandal of the weak, or a
pharisaic scandal.
The scandal due to bad example is the most frequent one. It is caused above
all by sinful, evil deeds; thus the dishonesty of an official in money matters or his
sluggish indolence in his work will induce the subjects to a similar usage and behavior.
This kind of scandal can also be caused by neglect of love and lack of true piety of
those who should know better. This is the scandal of a specific legal minimalism and
formalistic piety which hinders men to find the way to Christ or which makes them
scorn the Church.
The scandal of the weak (scandalum pusillorum) is caused by objectively
lawful actions which however have the appearance of evil and are apt to disturb a
weak conscience.

Sinfulness of scandal. Scandal in the strict sense is an offense against the love of
neighbor. Although the scandal does not intend the sin of the neighbor directly, as this
is the case with seduction, one nevertheless allows the temptation to sin, although one
could and should avoid it. The scandal is likewise an offense against the good of the
community because it can weaken the consensus in it. The gravity of the scandal
depends on the gravity of the evil to which it gives culpable occasion. Hence, if the
circumstances are such that only a light scandal is justly to be expected, the
unbecoming action is not more than a venial sin even if somebody, because of his
particular evil disposition, takes it as an occasion for a grave sin. No scandal at all is
had if those who witness an unbecoming action are either so good or so corrupt that
they cannot be depraved by it.

Permissible admission of scandal. Not every admission of a scandal is devoid of
justification. An obvious example is the face of Christ. For the scandal can have its
source in the sinful disposition and obduracy of those who take the offence or also in
the moral weakness culpably brought on by the person scandalized. The following
norms give orientation for the lawful admission of scandal.
1. Rightful actions which do not have the appearance of evil, but which nevertheless
give others occasion to sin, need not be omitted if one has a reasonable cause to act.
2. Lawful actions which have the appearance of evil and give others occasion to sin
ought to be omitted if one can easily do so.
3. The observance of a positive law may be omitted to avoid scandal.
4. For a proportionately gave reason it is lawful to afford an occasion of sin, if the
action itself is either good or indifferent.

7. The Principle of Cooperation
8. The Principle of Just Remuneration
9. The Principle of Solidarity
The social order must constantly yield to the good of the person (GS 26; cf.9). The
welfare of the human person comprises the fulfillment of the basic needs of food,
clothing, housing and a life in peace and liberty. It involves that a person finds a
certain measure of social recognition and does not constantly experience the rejection
and contempt of others. And finally it pertains to the weal of the person that someone
can trust, believe, hope and love inclusive of the dimension of the religious sphere; it
contradicts the welfare of the person to be compelled to live in such conditions that
those ways of acting are impossible to him.

The commitment to the progress of the earth furthermore involves participation in the
life of social groups and promotion of the union of love among mankind. Indeed man
cannot even find his full humanity except through a sincere gift of himself (GS 24;57).
It devolves on him to foster the process of wholesome socialization in the civic,
economic and political realms and this on the national level as well as on the level of
mankind as a whole. For God did not create man for life in isolation, but for the
formulation of social unity. This solidarity must be constantly increased until that day
when it will be brought to fulfillment; on that day mankind, saved by grace will offer
perfect glory to God as the family beloved of God and of Christ their brother (GS 32).

How is the solidarity of Christians with other people expressed?

Christians are committed to just societal structures. Part of this is universal access to
the material, intellectual, and spiritual goods of this world. Christians also make sure
that the dignity of human work is respected, which includes a just wage. Handing on
the faith is also an act of solidarity with all mankind. [1939-1942, 1948] (YouCat 332)

Solidarity is the practical hallmark of a Christian. Practicing solidarity is not just a
command of reason. Jesus Christ, our Lord, identified completely with the poor and
the lowly (Mt 25:40). To refuse solidarity with them would be to reject Christ. (YouCat
332)

A principle of Catholic social teaching that aims at strengthening community and
promoting a civilization of love. (St. Pope John Paul II)


10. The Hierarchy of Rights and Values

------------------ End of the Lesson--------------------------


I. Sin and Conversion

Definition of Sin: Catechism of the Catholic Church 1849

Sin is an offense against God: Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is
evil in your sight. Sin sets itself against Gods love for us and turns our hearts away from it.

Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become like
gods, knowing and determining good and evil.

Sin is thus love of oneself even to contempt of God. in this proud self-exaltation, sin is
diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.

Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for
God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods.

It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as an
utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law. (CCC)

The infringement must be freely willed, it must occur knowingly and with free consent. Only
then is wrongdoing a formal, imputable sin.

An unintentional involuntary offence against the moral law is not sufficient to constitute a
subjective, imputable sin.

Since there can be no guilt without a free human act, the notion of collective guilt must be
rejected. Guilty are the members of a community to the extent that that they were drawn in
an injustice through their own choice or at least through their negligence and indifference.

Christianity resists the unhealthy illusion of innocence that has become so widespread in
contemporary society and to the practice of attributing guilt and failure, if their presence is
acknowledged at all, to others and other causes...

We attribute success and victories to ourselves, but for the rest, we cultivate the art of
denying our human condition and are always in search of new alibis.

Change of heart and healing is possible only through recognition and admission of guilt.

A. Nature of Sin

The concept of sin is very closely related to that of guilt. Sin and moral guilt designate the
same reality, though under different aspects.

Sin always involves moral guilt, and moral guilt always presupposes sin. Both always exist
together.

Sin expresses the truth that a wrongful act is morally evil and an offense against God.

Moral guilt must be distinguish from guilt feelings:

Guilt feelings can also be the result of unwarranted prohibitions of the superego, resulting
from wrong education and social taboos, or of morbid psychic disposition.

The more tender a persons conscience, the more readily will it react with guilt feelings at
a persons sin.

Nevertheless not every moral guilt is accompanied by guilt feelings, especially if a persons
conscience is dull.

Moral guilt must be distinguished from juridical guilt.

Juridical guilt is incurred by a merely factual offence against the existing legal order. It is
imputed to a person even if he has violated the law out of forgetfulness, distraction, or
ignorance.

Moral guilt presupposes insight into the evil of ones doing and consent of free will.

Biblical Delineation of Sin:

The Bible always conceives of sin in the framework of mans relationship to God. Its
deepest nature appears as refusal to respond to Gods salvific will.

a) The Old Testament often looks upon sin as a transgression of God law and will. It is
disobedience against the commandment of the Lord (Lev 26:14-39; Deut 11:26-28)
The third chapter of Genesis describes Adam and eves sin in paradise as the deliberate
transgression of a divine order.

Internally their rebellion against God proceeded from the presumptive desire to have and to
be more than God had conceded them. The result was a rift between God and men.

The most characteristic outlook of the Old Testament on sin results from the covenant
relationship which Scripture sees established between God and man.

God offers man his benefits and his grace always. In response he expects man to be faithful to
his commandments. Yet he disobeys Gods commandments and breaks the covenant.

Yet the Lord is always ready for mercy and reconciliation if man repents of his evil ways.

b) The New Testament calls upon men to repent of their sin and to convert their hearts and
ways.

The parable of the lost son, sin is considered as ungrateful desertion of the Lord.

In other parables sin is represented by the loss of the very meaning of existence and by
separation from God.

The Lost Sheep is perishing in Isolation and the Lost Drachma foils the meaning of its
existence to be of service to men (Lk 15).

He who separate himself from the saving will of God is lost and frustrates the very meaning
of his existence.

At other times sin is presented as the antithesis to charity and an offense against love,. As
selfishness and hatred

In the writings of John and Paul, sin is regarded as refusal of the light, (Jn 3:19f; 1Jn 2:8-11;
Eph 5:8-14) and of the truth (Jn 8:44; Rom 1:18-25).

The epistle of Paul add further aspects to the biblical concept of sin. He sees in mans
wickedness a denial of the glorification due to God and the presumptive attempt to be ones
own lord.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to Gods law, indeed
it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:7f)

The teaching of the New Testament about sin is always accompanied by the idea of
forgiveness.

Christ calls to conversion and to faith in the Gospel, and charges his Church to continue the
forgiveness of sins on earth.

Threefold Dimension of Sin:

The possibility of sin lies in the character of mans free will during his earthly pilgrimage. In all
his free activity, man necessarily strive after goodness.

Indeed man is so bent on this good that even where he wants to do evil he can do it only
under the appearance of good.

So man can deceive himself. He can regard the true good as less valuable and prefer the
lesser and illusory good, even while he knows in the depths of his conscience that it is only a
transitory, evanescent value and not the real, lasting good.

Every sin contains a triple injury: an injury against the sinner himself, against fellow-men, and
against God.

a) The Personal Dimension of Sin:

Man cannot find his happiness and fulfillment in goals for which he is ultimately not meant and
created.

By sinning a man misses his proper destiny, and this failure must inevitably result in
disharmony and frustration (cf GS 13).

The sinner deprives his life of its meaning or at least give it less meaning.

He who finds me finds life and obtains favour from the Lord; but he who misses me injures
himself; all who hate me love death (Prov 8:35)

Viewed from another aspect, sin is the refusal to grow up to ones full stature and maturity. He
must slowly become what he has called to.

Depth psychology and Existentialism see guilt precisely under this aspect of the personal
dimension. The guilt of man consists in his remaining enthralled by his unauthentic existence
and not willing to progress further; he deviates in his development and falls short of what he
should be. He refuses to become his true self.

b) The Social Dimension

If any one says, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his
brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen (1Jn 4:12).

Many sins affect our fellow-men more or less directly by causing harm to them.

This is true for all the sins of lovelessness and injustice, of scandal and evil cooperation.

Every sin constitute an impairment of the realization of the common ultimate task. For the
sinner refuses in every sin to work for this task and instead strives after different goals of his
own liking.

According to Paul, Christians are the body of Christ and individually members of it (1Cor
12:27). All the members of body depend upon each others and if one members is sick or
does not function, all the others suffer from it (1Cor 12:26; cf. 5:6f).

That is why we confess our sins daily before the altar not only to God but also to all our
brothers and sisters.

c) Sin as Rejection of God:

Sin is ultimately and essentially rejection of God and his divine plan.

The injury against God contained in sin results from our personal defiance.

Sin as refusal to cooperate with Gods plan is impairment of the divine glory and loss of the
participation in the divine life.

In sin man refuses to accept his dependence on God, which demands that he orientate himself
with unwavering determination towards the divine goal.

The experience of God, who gives peace and joy, consolation and security, is for the sinner no
longer a reality of life.

According to Catholic Theology: there is no such thing as merely philosophical sin:
a) No man in use of is reason is completely without knowledge of his ultimate end; at least in
an implicit and unreflective way he knows about it.
b) Further, if a man experiences his actions against his right reason as morally wrong, he
must be aware of an instance which forbids such contradiction against reason with
absolute authority.


Mortal, Grave and Venial Sin:
In the practical judgment, everybody knows that not all sins are of the same gravity, and he
acts on this basis

The teaching of the Church has always distinguished between grave offences against God and
the Church community and smaller faults.

This is especially obvious in the history of the sacrament of penance.

Ecclesiastical and Sacramental penance was required for serious sins, while forgiveness of
lighter sins must be obtained by means of private practices of penance, such as prayer, fasting
and almsgiving.

The present distinction between mortal and venial sin is expressly taught by the Council of
Tent. It declares that All Mortal sin must be confessed, because those who are guilty of such
sins are children of wrath (Eph 2:3), while Venial sins must not be confessed, although it is
recommendable to do so (DS 1680)

For venial sin does not destroy the state of grace.

a) Mortal and Venial Sin Defined:

Mortal Sin we commit mortal sin when we transgress Gods law in an important matter
with full advertence and with a wholly free will;

Venial Sin when we transgress Gods law in a small thing or when we transgress Gods
law in an important thing, but without full knowledge or without full freedom of the will.

Two Factors or Conditioned of Venial Sin:

Potency of Commitment the potency of commitment in a morally wrong decision can be
broken, one either because of lack of clear insight, which is also includes insufficient
awareness of the consequences involved in a sinful act; or because of imperfect consent of
the will. In these instances the sin committed is a venial sin.

Importance of the Matter there are inconsequences and disorder which a man may
consider as unimportant for the goal of his life and which in many cases are in fact also
objectively small matters of minor import on the realization of mans true goal and Gods
eternal plan.

As a rule they are not apt to evoke a fundamental decision against Gods will, and this
above all because objectively no such radical opposition to the divine plan is involved.





B. Sources of Sin

Temptation, Seduction, Scandal and Structures of Evil in the World

Temptation is the incitement acting upon a person to do evil. It is the attraction by a
good which in a larger context of the entire hierarchy of values constitute an evil.

There two principal means for combatting temptation, prayer and penance.

Seduction is the deliberate effort to lead others to sin.

It constitutes a twofold sin, first a sin against chastity, and second a sin against the moral
duty whose violation is caused.

However one cannot speak of seduction in cases in which a person suggests to somebody
a sinful deed to which he is already disposed prior to suggestion.

A Seduction presupposes that the seduced person is led to an action which stands in
contradiction to his or her original personal intention and mind.

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for
him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of
the seas (Mt18:6)

Woe to the world for temptations to sin. For it is necessary that temptation come, but
woe to the man by whom the temptation some! It is better for such a man to cut off his
hand or foot or to pluck out his eye than to be the cause of sin (Mt 18:7-9)

Active and Passive Scandal is understood as conduct of individuals or groups by
which they temp others to evil more or less imputably.

Active Scandal is a conduct which gives rise to the sin of another.

Is an unbecoming conduct that gives occasion of sin to others, in the proper sense it gives
an occasion to sin and permits the sinful deed following there from.

In the wider sense it is a conduct which gives rise to another persons sin, even if this
conduct is lawful and justified.

Passive Scandal is the taking of scandal at the provocative action of another, be this action
unbecoming and sinful or be it lawful and good. This can be due to bad example, or it can
be a scandal of the weak, or a pharisaic scandal.

C. Kinds/Degrees of Sin

The main reason for this is the demand of the Council of Trent that all grave sins must be
confessed by species and numbers (DS 1679 1681; 1707)

Different Kinds of Internal Sins:

Internal sins are sins which are consummated in the mind.

They are sins of the heart, usually called bad thoughts.

Tradition Distinguishes Three Kinds of Internal Sins:

Mental Complacency in Sinful Imagination takes pleasure in sinful fantasies and
thoughts without the desire to bring them into act.

Sinful Joy in an Accomplished Evil Deed be it ones own or another persons sin, and
sinful regret of not having performed an evil act are imaginations which imply an approval
of the respective evil deeds.

Evil Desire is the wish to perform a sinful action. An evil desire is efficacious if it
constitutes a firm intention or resolution.

Prejudice or Bias is the tendency to eliminate from ones consideration and decisions
data which are perceived to be a potential threat to ones well being or to that of the
group to which one belongs and to the accustomed ways of viewing the world.

Obviously the failure to account for significant data will have negative effects on the
development of the individual and on the just ordering of society.

Prejudice may be individual bias or group bias.

Individual bias induces a person in a short-sighted way to pay attention the satisfaction of
personal needs and desires, while eliminating from consideration the consequences the
action has on the needs of others and the common good.

Group bias strives to protect the well-being of a group. The decision making becomes bias
when there is a refusal to consider the effects which such decisions may have on people
who do not belong to that particular group and on other groups

Those in the dominant group becomes <<blind>> to the suffering of others and its causes
and become unable to conceive of new possibilities for a more just social
ordering(Racism, Sexism, Imperialism)

Sins of Omission and Commission:

Sin of Commission a sin of commission is the performance of a forbidden act. It is an
offence against a negative precept, such as, You shall have no god before me, You shall
not kill

Sin of Omission is the failure to perform an obligatory act. It is an offence against a
positive precept, such as Remember the Sabbath Day, Love one another as I loved
you.

The possibilities of omission neglect of ones professional, social and religious duties;
neglect to reform oneself; neglect to fight deficient and evil public conditions; neglect to
show concern and fraternal love for ones neighbor.

An Omission is only culpable if one has realized the duty to act.

The Capital Sins:

They are called Capital Sins not because they are always necessarily grave, but because
they easily become vices and sources of many other sins.

Gregory the Great (604) drew up a list of seven:

Pride or Vainglory is an inordinate desire of honour, distinction and independence. It is
opposed to the virtue of Humility.

Avarice is the inordinate pursuit of material goods and is contrary to the virtues of
Liberality and Equity.

Envy is discontent over the good of ones neighbor, which is considered as a detriment to
ones own person. It offends against Brotherliness and Magnanimity.

Lust is the inordinate craving for sexual gratification and is against the virtue of Chastity.

Gluttony is excess in the enjoyment of food and drink; the opposite virtues are
Temperance and Sobriety.

Anger is the intemperate outburst of dislike with the inordinate desire for anothers
punishment. It is contrary to Patience and Meekness.

Sloth in the wider sense is laziness and is opposed to Diligence.
(In the narrower sense it means spiritual sloth, a turning away from spiritual things
because of the effort which they require.) It contradicts the virtue of Piety and Love of
God.

Parallel to the Seven Capital Sins, tradition also lists Seven Main Virtues: the Three
Theological Virtues; Faith, Hope and Love, and the Four Cardinal Virtues; Prudence,
Justice, Fortitude and Temperance.

D. Responsibility for the Sins of Others and Sinful Cooperation

E. The Call and the Way to Genuine Conversion

Man, who is estranged from God and from his true calling, receives the earnest yet joyous
invitation to turn away from his evil ways and to convert himself to Gods salvific will.

Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand (Mt 4:17)

The Call to Conversion in Holy Scripture:

The Old Testament leads the sinner to atonement for his sins and prepares the way to
conversion by various forms of cultic-ritual repentance.

These were fasting (1 Sam 7:6; 2 Sam12:16; Jonah 3:7), wearing of sackcloth and sitting
in ashes (2Kings 19:1f; Is 22:12; 58:5; Jonah 3:5-8), washings (Num 8:7; 19:9-10) and
other expiatory rites (Lev 4; 16:20f).

This need of interior conversion is implied in the word schub, which is the term most
commonly used for the reality of conversion.

Schub in a religious context, it means to be turned away from what is bad and to be
turned toward God.

That implies a change of conduct, a new orientation of the whole being. The sinner is
invited and urged to return to the Lord in order that he may be healed and live before him.

The Psalms return more than once to the theme of conversion, confession of sin and
divine forgiveness.

Psalm 51 the most perfect expression of Miserere, where the prophetic teaching of
conversion runs through a prayer, in the form of dialogue with God: an admission of
faults, a demand for interior purification, a plea for grace which alone can change the
heart, an orientation toward a fervent life.

In the New Testament conversion is one of the basic demands. The summons to
conversion is at the heart of the preaching of John the Baptist. He calls upon his listeners
to turn away from sin, to obey the commandments and to do works of brotherly love.

By this change of hearts they are to prepare the way of the Lord and to straighten his
paths.

Johns baptism is the outward expression of the inner readiness and desire for conversion.

The gospel describe it as a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Lk 3:3).

The call to conversion equally stands at the very beginning of Jesus preaching, though at
the same time linked with the other demand of faith in his message and person.

Conversion is the condition for entering the kingdom of God.

The apostles continue the preaching of the Lord on conversion, as can be seen from the
Acts of the Apostles.

Paul puts conversion at the beginning of the Christian life (2Cor 5:20f)

The necessity of conversion is however not limited to individual alone. Conversion happen
to many and they can form a community to sustain one another in their self-
transformation, and to help one another in working out the implications, and in fulfilling
the promise of their new life.

-------------------------------End of the Lesson--------------------------------------


II. Grace and Virtue
A. Life of Grace: Catechism of the Catholic Church 1996

Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian
life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his body.

Our justification comes from the grace of God.

Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to
become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own, infused by the
Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying
grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification.

B. Virtues

Virtues constitute an essential part of a persons character, just of course as do bad
habits.

Virtues however in the sense of a morally good quality must be directed towards what is
morally good and as such presupposes the right fundamental option.

The word virtue comes from the Latin virtus, manliness

Virtue is a habit that gives both the inclination and the power to do readily what is morally
good.

One must also possess the dominion over ones spiritual and sensual drives and passions,
so as to be readily able to do the good which one esteems and loves.

The virtues are qualities which benefit the person and increase his or her capabilities.

Genuine virtue flows from the correct fundamental option. It must be grounded in the
unequivocal and definite orientation towards the supreme goal, which is the glorification of
god and the realization of his salvific plan for men and the world.

Virtue must center in the Love of God.

Christian virtue takes its orientation from Christ and finds in him its fulfillment.

The doctrine on the infused moral virtues clearly reveals the source and goal of Christian
value. The source if the Holy Spirit with is transforming grace; the goal is the glorification
of the Father and imitation of Christ.

1. Theological Virtues: Catechism of the Catholic Church 1812

The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt mans faculties
for participation in the divine nature: fort theological virtues relate directly to God.

They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the
One and Triune God for the origin, motive, and object.

The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it
and give its special character. They inform and give life to the moral virtues.

They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting
as his children and of meriting eternal life.

They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the
human being.

There are three theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity.
a) Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he
has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because
he is truth itself.

By Faith man freely commits his entire self to God. For this reason the believer
seeks to know and do Gods will.

Living Faith works through Charity.

But faith apart from work is dead: when it is deprived of hope and love, faith
does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member
of his body.

The disciple of Jesus must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it,
confidently bear witness to it, and spread it.

Service and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation.

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before
my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny
before my father who is in heaven.

b) Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and
eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christs promises and relying not
on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed
in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire mens activities and
purifies them so as to order them to the kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from
discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up is heart
in expectation of eternal beatitude.

Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that
flows from charity.

Christian hope unfolds the beginning of Jesus preaching in the proclamation of the
beatitudes.

The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they
trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus.

c) Charity/Love is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for
his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own to the end he
makes manifest the Fathers love which he receives.

By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they
themselves receive.

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in meThis is my
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Christ died out of love for us, while we were still enemies.

Charity is patient and kind, is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.
Charity does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not
rejoice in wrong, but rejoice in the right. Charity bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, if I have not charity, I gain
nothing.

Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues; So
faith, hope and charity, abide these three. But the greatest of these is charity.

The practice of all virtues is animated and inspired by charity which binds
everything together in perfect harmony;

It is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is
the source and the goal of Christian practice.

Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the
supernatural perfection of divine love.

The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy;

Charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence

It foster reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous

It is friendship and communion

Love itself is the fulfilment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run,
we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.

2. Moral/Cardinal Virtues
a) Prudence
b) Justice
c) Fortitude
d) Temperance
C. Saints: Men and Women of Virtues, the Triumph of Grace

UNIT 3: THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO SPECIAL MORAL ISSUES
I. The 10 Commandments: Its Moral Vision
A. The First, Second, and Third Commandments
The First Commandment: The Worship of God

The first commandment of God is: I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.
(Ex. 20:2)

By the first commandment, we are obliged to offer to God alone the supreme worship that is due him. We
worship God by acts of faith, hope and charity, and by adoring him and praying to Him. (CCC # 2084)

Sins against the first commandment:

1. Atheism One does not all perceive, or explicitly reject, this intimate and vital bond of man
to God.
2. Divination (Horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the
phenomenon of clairvoyance)
3. Idolatry The worship of many gods, also know as polytheism. It also refers to false pagan
worship where ones divinizes what is not God whether this be god of demons, power,
pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc.
4. Superstition a person sins by superstition when he attributes to a creature a power that
belongs to God alone, as when he makes use of charms or spells, believes in dreams or
fortune-telling, or goes to spiritists.
5. Sacrilege a person sins by sacrilege when he mistreats/disrespects sacred persons, places
or things.
6. Simony It is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things.

Faith obliges us:
First, to sincerely find out what God revealed;
Second, to believe firmly what God has revealed;
Third, to profess our faith openly whenever necessary.

Sins against Faith:

1. Apostasy The total repudiation of the Christian faith.
2. Heresy The obstinate post-baptismal denial or doubt of some truth which must be believed
with divine and catholic faith.
3. Incredulity The neglect of revealed truth of the willful refusal to assent to it.
4. Religious Indifferentism The mistaken understanding that one religion is as god as any
other religion as such one is no longer compelled to seek out the truth about what God has
revealed.
5. Taking part in non-Catholic worship The act itself is not sinful but a person places his
faith in great danger when he is not well acquainted with his belief due to lack of proper
understanding of those who go to other places of worship sufficient reason or proper
authorization.
6. Voluntary Doubt One disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the
Church proposes for belief.
7. Involuntary Doubt It refers to the hesitation in believing, difficult in overcoming objections
connected with the faith, ot also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated,
doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.
8. Schism The refusal of submission to the Roman of communion with the members of the
Church subject to him.

Hope obliges us to trust firmly that God will give us eternal life and the means to obtain it.

Sins against Hope:

1. Presumption a person sins by presumption when he trust that he can be saved by his own
effort without Gods help, or by Gods help without his own effort.
2. Despair a person sins by despair when he deliberately refuses to trust that God will give
him necessary help to save his soul.

Charity obliges us to love God above all things because he is infinitely good, and to love out neighbor as
ourselves for the love of God.

We sin against the love of God by all sin, but particularly by mortal sin
3,
which is a grievous offense
against our loving God, committed when one consciously and freely, for whatever reason, chooses something
seriously against Gods law.

Sins against Charity:

1. Indifference - One neglects or refuses to reflect on divine charity; it fails to consider
its prevenient goodness and denies its power.
2. Ingratitude One fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him
love for love.
3. Lukewarmness - The hesitation or negligence on responding to divine love; it can
imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity.
4. Acedia (Spiritual Sloth) One goes so far as to refuse the jot that comes from God
and to be repelled by divine goodness.
5. Hatred of God It comes from pride and is contrary to love God, whose goodness
denies, and presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts punishment.

Honoring Mary, the Angels and Saints, their Relics and Images

The first commandment does not forbid us to honor the angels and the saints in heaven, provided we
do not give them the honor that belongs to God alone. We honor the saints in heaven because they practiced
great virtue when they were on earth, and because in honoring the saints by imitating their holy lives, by
asking them to intercede with God for us and by showing respect to their relics and images. When we appeal
to the intercession of the Angels and saints, we ask them to offer or prayers to God for us. We know that the
angels and saints will intercede with God for us because they are with God and have great love for us. (CCC #
828,956-957, 1173, 2683)

Two (2) Kinds of Worship:

1. LATRIA or Adoration It refers to the worship that is accorded to God only.
2. DULIA or Veneration It refers to the honor and respect accorded to Mary, the Angels and
the Saints

Two Kinds of DULIA or Veneration:

1. Absolute Dulia The honor and respect to the person of Mary and the Saints, and the
Angels. This concept refers to DULIA itself.

Two Kinds of Absolute Dulia:
a) Hyperdulia - The special veneration that is given to Mary in view of her dignity as
the Mother of God and her fullness of grace.

Scriptural Sources of this special veneration for Mary:
Luke 1:28 Hail, full of grace the Lord is with you.
Luke 1:42 Blessed are you among women, filled with the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:48 Behold, from now on all generations shall call me blessed.

b) Dulia The veneration rendered to the saints and angels.

2. Relative Dulia The honor shown to the relics of the saints

RELICS these are remains from the bodies (e.g. hair) of the saints or objects (e.g. clothes)
connected with the saints or with our Lord.

It is right to show respect to the statues and pictures of Christ and of the saints, just
as it is right to show respect to the images of those whom we honor or love on earth. We
honor Christ and the saints when we pray before the crucifix, relics and sacred images
because we honor the persons they represent; we adore Christ and venerate the saints. But
we need to understand that we do not pray directly to the crucifix of the images and relics of
the saints, but to the persons they represent. (CCC # 1674, 2132, 2141)


The Second Commandment: Honor Gods Name

The second commandment of God is: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. (Ex.
20:7, Dt. 5:11)

By the second commandment, we are obliged to speak with reverence of God, of the saints and of all holy
things, and to keep our lawful oaths and vows. By taking Gods name in vain is meant that the name of God or
the holy name of Jesus Christ is used without reverence or respect. It is a sin to take Gods name in vain;
oftentimes it is a venial sin
4
due to lack of reflection. (CCC # 2146)

Oath the calling on God to witness the truth of what we say.
Three (3) things necessary to make an oath lawful:
1. We must have good reason for taking an oath.
2. We must be convinced that what we say under oath is true.
3. We must not swear or take an oath to do what is wrong.

Vow a deliberate promise made to God by which a person binds himself under pain of sin to do
something that is especially pleasing to God.

Sin against the second commandment:

1. Perjury a person sins by perjury when he deliberately calls on God to bear witness to a lie.
2. False, rash unjust and unnecessary oaths
3. Blasphemy insulting language which expresses contempt for God, either directly or indirectly or
through his saints and holy things.
4. Cursing the calling down of some evil on a person, place or thing.
5. Profane words (Profanity)
6. Breaking of lawful oaths and vows

The Third Commandment: Sunday is the Lords Day

The third commandment of God is: Remember to keep holy the Lords Day. (Ex. 20:8 ; Dt. 5:12)

By the third commandment, we are obliged to worship God in a special on Sunday, the Lords Day. The
Church commands us to keep Sunday instead of the Sabbath as the Lords Day because the Sabbath which
represented the completion of the first creation (Genesis account), has been replaced by Sunday which recalls
the new creation by the Resurrection of Christ (CCC # 2174, 2190-2191). Hence, the Church commands
us to worship God on Sunday by attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This commandment corresponds as
well to the first Law or Precept of the Catholic Church: You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy
days of obligation and rest from servile labor.

Holy Days of Obligation are special days that should be kept holy even if they do not fall on
a Sunday, and which are dedicated to the Lord and his saints to commemorate some outstanding
mystery of the faith. These days are different from each country or place and are determined by the
local jurisdiction of the conference of bishops. As determined by Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) in line with C.I.C., n. 1246, all the faithful are granted dispensation from the
obligation to hear Mass and to abstain from servile work on the Holy Days that fall during the week,
except the following:

Holy Days of Obligation (in the Philippines only):

1. Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God / Octave Day of Christmas (January 1)

Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man. Being the Mother of God,
Mary is endowed by God with special privileges: she is free from all sins, and she was
assumed into heaven body and soul. The redemption began with Marys fiat (yes) to the word
of God, when she accepted her roles as the Mother of the Son of God. Jesus came through
Marys faith, who received the divine plan as the handmaid of the Lord, (Ancilla Domini) fully
devoted to fulfilling his will.

2. Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8)

Originating in the 7
th
century feast of Conception of Mary by St. Anne, Pope Clement XI, in
his Bull, Commissi Nobis, established this solemnity for the entire Church in 1708. For
Filipinos, this special title of the Blessed Virgin Mary is given importance by virtue of being the
Principal Patroness of the Philippines, as declared by Pope Pius XII in 1942. As such, on this
day in all Cathedrals and parish Churches, the consecration of the Philippines to Mary
Immaculate is to be prayed according to the approved formula (Cf. Conc. Plen. N. 562, 1 and
App. III)

3. Christmas, Solemnity of the Lords Birth (December 25)

Proper Feasts for the Philippines:

1. Feasts of the Santo Nio (third Sunday of January)
2. Feasts of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (September 28)

San Lorenzo was a devoted husband and father of three children in the Philippines during the
seventeenth century. After he was unjustly accused of murder, he fled with Christian missionaries to
Japan where he was tortured for faith and died professing: I shall die for God, and for him I would
give many thousands of lives if I had them.

Rest from Servile Labor

The third commandment forbids all unnecessary work or business that would hinder the
rendering of due worship to God, the joy proper to the Lords Day, and the required
relaxation of mind and body. Therefore, the Church has decreed that Christians should
observe Sunday as a day of rest because some relaxation at regular times is required both
by religion and our health. It is a grave sin to work on Sundays in contempt of the law or
when the work gives grave scandal to others. However, non-observance of Sunday rest is
allowed when the activity is practically necessary as a means of livelihood or when
required in strict justice or charity, or by the public good. (CCC # 2184-2185, 2193-2194)




B. The Fourth Commandment: Obedience, Love and Respect for Parents

The fourth commandment of God is: Honor your father and your mother. (Ex. 20:12, Dt. 5:16)

By the fourth commandment, we are obliged to respect and love our parents, to obey them in all that is not
sinful, and to help them when they are in need.

Children should show a special love for their parents because, next to God, they are most
indebted to their father and mother. They must respect and obey their parents because God himself
is the source of parental rights. On the other hand, parents must provide for the spiritual and bodily
welfare of their children. Parents should deals with their children as children of God and respect them
as human persons. As the first and foremost educators of their children, they train them in the
fulfillment of Gods law through their own example of obedience to the will of God. (CCC# 2197, 2214,
2215, 2216, 2228, 2258, 2222-2223)

The fourth commandment obliges us to respect and obey not only our parents but also all out lawful superiors.

According to their varying degrees of responsibility, superiors must care for those entrusted to
them. In case of between employers and workers, they must treat each other as brothers in Christ
and promote each others welfare; employers must pay just wages and provide suitable working
conditions and workers must do their work conscientiously. (CCC# 2430)

The fourth commandment forbids disrespect, unkindness and disobedience to our parents and lawful
superiors.

THE FAMILY
the community of parents and children
it is in the family that moral and religious life of man and his capability to love are first
awakened

The Purpose and Task of the Family:
A. upbringing of the children
B. care for the daily needs of its members

Three Basic Functions of the Family
A. Economic function
the family provides for mans everyday needs in food, shelter and clothing
B. Educational function
the intellectual and moral development of the human person depends decisively
on the education within the family
the two most important social virtues of charity and justice are basically taught
in family life
C. Spiritual function
the family provides the most important spiritual home for its members
the family gives a sense of belonging and acceptance

The family is likewise the household of faith called to pass on the faith of the
ancestors, to cultivate the religious traditions and to translate its religious convictions into
daily life. These traditions and celebrations give the family a sense of religious belonging and
identity.
Parents and Children
I. Parental Rights
The responsibility of parents to their children arises from the fact they have given life
to them and that the young human beings come helpless into the world, entirely dependent on
their loving care.
Parents may lose their rights over their children if they neglect them or prove unable
to provide suitable education. However, forfeiture of parental rights does not automatically
absolve from parental duties.
II. Parental Duties
Responsible assumption of parenthood-the primary duty of parents
Parents may only bring a child into the world if they have reasonable hopes that they
will be able to rear and educate him/her in a way worthy of a human being.
A. Well-Ordered Love
Love is the fundamental obligation of parents.
It is a tragedy if children do not experience being loved at home.
Children need guidance, correction and limits. They also need clear and
consistent direction.

Attitudes of parents that are against love:
1. Pampering
2. Too great leniency
3. Undue preference/favoritism

B. Provision for life, health and material well-being
Parents must care for the childs well-being already before his/her birth.
During the time of pregnancy, they must avoid everything injurious to the
unborn child.
The mother must also shun every type of violent exertion and emotional
upheaval, while the husband must show still greater consideration for his wife
than usual.
Parents have the serious duty to look after their children in a manner worthy of
human beings. They have to provide them with their basic needs.
They must also procure some degree of material security for their childrens
future and help them to find their own homes when the time comes.
C. Education
Parents are absolutely bound to educate their children to the best of their
abilities and to look after their spiritual welfare.

Requirements of the educational task of the parents:
1. Parents must look after the moral and personal development of their children.
2. Parents are also to teach the young child the knowledge and worship of God.
3. Parents have the duty to provide for schooling and formation, making the best of
their childrens capabilities.
4. Parents are also the advisers of their children regarding the choice of state and
vocation. Although they may not interfere with the childrens right to free
decision, parents or guardians should by prudent advice provide guidance to their
young with respect to founding a family, and the young ought to listen gladly.

III. Duties of Children to the Parents
The childrens obligation of love and reverence towards their parents is based on the
fact that the parents are, after God, the second source of life, growth and education.
A. Reverence and Honor
The fourth commandment of the Decalogue directly stresses the childs duty
to revere and honor his/her parents.

Offenses of children against the honor due to parents:
1. ashamed of them and disown them because of their humble state of poverty
2. children using offensive speech to their parents
3. treating them contemptuously
4. raising their hands against them

It is however not against reverence to restrain ones parents in a case of
necessity even by force, if they are insane, intoxicated, or for some other reason out
of control.
B. Obedience
The entire development of children requires the help and guidance of parents
and educators and therefore enjoins obedience upon them.
As long as children need parental guidance and are not yet fully able and
competent to make their own decisions, they must obey parents in all good
and lawful matters related to their education and training.

Offenses of children against obedience due to parents:
1. when children disobey their parents just commands, more or less seriously
according to the importance of the matter
2. obeying but grudgingly and with harsh retorts
3. leaving home prematurely without good reason in order to escape parental
authority
4. scorning or disrespecting their good counsel

The child is not obliged to obey his parents in matters that are immoral.
C. Love and Gratitude
Filial love must above all be a grateful love, since children owe to their
parents their life, livelihood, education, and many other benefits.
Naturally, love and gratitude increase with the magnitude of the benefits
received.

Offenses of children against the love due to parents:
1. fostering sentiments of hatred: refusing to speak, to write or to see them
2. cursing or speaking ill of them
3. refusing to support them when they are old and indigent
4. showing no concern for a decent burial
5. failing to pray for them

Every family member should cooperate in the family welfare and be concerned with safeguarding the family
name and honor.
II. Special Moral Issues: 5-10 Commandments

The Fifth Commandment: Human Life is Sacred

The fifth commandment of God is: You shall not kill. (Ex. 20:13, Dt. 5:17)]

By the fifth commandment, we are obliged to take proper care of our own spiritual and bodily well-being, and
that of our neighbor. (CCC# 2280, 2288)

Human life is sacred because it begins by the creative act of God; it is capable of knowing and
loving God; it has been redeemed by the Passion and death of the Son of God, and is destined to
possess God for all eternity. As such, it forbids unjust killing and any harm to the integrity of our own
body and soul and those of our neighbor. (CCC# 2258 & 2319)

Sins against the fifth commandment:

1. Deliberate Abortion the direct killing of an unborn child. It is an extremely grievous form of
murder because aside form destroying the life of an innocent, defenseless victim, it also deprives
that soul of Gods grace for all eternity. The Church imposes excommunication on all those who
have helped procure an accomplished abortion.
2. Euthanasia also known as mercy killing and is the deliberate termination of the lives of the
hopelessly ill, the aged, and social misfits who are considered as a burden to society. It is never
permissible, since it is always either willful murder or suicide.
3. Murder the direct and deliberate taking of an innocent persons life.
4. Suicide the deliberate taking of ones life. It constitutes a serious disorder in itself, therefore,
no circumstances can never justify it.
5. Direct Sterilization (vasectomy for men and Tubal ligation for women)
6. Quarrelling
7. Anger a desire for revenge
8. Deliberate Hatred it is contrary to charity when one deliberately wishes someone evil or when
one deliberately desires someone grave harm.
9. Revenge
10. Drunkenness the abuse for alcohol
11. Drug Addiction the use of prohibited drugs is a sin because of its pernicious effects of ones life
and health, as well as the grave crimes to which it leads
12. Reckless Driving one endangers oneself or others safety on the road, at sea or in the air for
love of speed.
13. Scandal any sinful word, deed or omission that disposes other to sin or lessens their respect for
God or religion.

JUST WAR

A war is considered just when it is declared by the proper authority in defense of a nations
right in a grave matter, when it is undertaken only as a last resort after all the possible methods of
settling the dispute have been tried, and when the war is waged, using no more destructive means
than are necessary to achieve an early and just peace. (CCC# 2308-2309)

DEATH PENALTY

Assuming that the guilty partys identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the
traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is
the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
However, if non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect the peoples safety from
the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with
the concrete conditions of the common good and more in inconformity with the dignity of
the human person. Today, in fact, cases in which the execution of the offender is an
absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically non-existent. (CCC# 2267)

The Sixth and Ninth Commandment: Purity of Heart and Body

The sixth commandment of God is: You shall not commit adultery. (Ex. 20:14, Dt. 5:17)

By the sixth commandment, we are obliged to be pure and modest in out behavior, that is, to use sex in
accordance with its holy purpose wanted by God, which is the procreation of human life in marriage alone:
(CCC# 2337, 2390 & 2395)

Chastity or Holy Purity is the moral virtue which rightly regulates all voluntary expressions
of sexual pleasure in marriage and excludes it altogether outside the married state. It requires the
integration of sexuality in the person and the practice of self-control. Everyone is called to a life of
chastity according to his own state in life. Married people practice chastity by using properly as a
sacred thing the rights that are theirs by marriage and by being faithful to one another. For the
unmarried, chastity requires total abstinence from the use of the power of procreation and form
everything else that leads to its misuse. (CCC# 2337, 2339, 2348-2349)

The sixth commandment forbids all impurity and immodesty in words, looks and actions, whether alone or
with others.

Sin against Chastity:
1. Lust The disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure
is morally disordered when sought itself, isolated from its procreative and punitive purposes.
2. Masturbation The deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual
pleasure.
3. Fornication (Pre-marital Sex) The carnal union between an unmarried man and an
unmarried woman.
4. Adultery It refers to marital infidelity where two partners, of whom at least one is married
to another party, have sexual relations even transient ones.
5. Contraception (condom, intra-uterine device [IUD], pills)
6. Pornography It consist in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the
partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties.
7. Prostitution It does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the
person to an instrument of sexual pleasure.

There is a nobility and dignity to our being male and female because the self-
giving of male and female in sexual love is the visible expression of the interior
moral structure of the human person. Pope John Paul criticizes pornography
in this context. Privacy is essential if sexual-giving is to be genuine mutual
self-donation. Pornography violates the right of privacy built into the moral
structure of human sexuality by turning what is most intensely personal and
subjective into public property, an object. This analysis is particularly
interesting in the U.S. context, in which the Supreme Court has declared
privacy a freestanding liberty right that legally justifies virtually any
consensual sexual activity. But this isprivacy devoid of moral structure; and
as such, it tends to destroy the intensely interpersonal nature of sexual love,
by turning the other into anonymous sexual object.
1


8. Rape The forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person.
9. Homosexual Relations Any obvert act which expresses ones inclination towards
homosexuality.


HOMOSEXUALITY

Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an
exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. Tradition has always
declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law.
They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual
complementarily. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial.
They must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in
their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill Gods will in their lives and, if they
are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lords Cross the difficulties they may encounter from
their conditions. (CCC# 2357-2358)

Chief Dangers to the Virtue of Chastity:

1. Idleness
2. Sinful Curiosity
3. Bad Companions
4. Excessive Drinking
5. Immodest Dressing
6. Indecent Publication, Plays, Movies and other forms of immoral entertainment.

Chief Means of Acquiring and Practicing the Virtue of Charity:

1
WITNESS TO HOPE, the Biography of Pope John Paul II, George Weigel, pp. 339 & 895.
Seeking Gods help through:
1. Prayer
2. Frequent Confession
3. Holy Communion and attendance at Holy Mass
4. Having a tender filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary
5. Striving to acquire a generous Spirit of Penance and Self-Denial
6. carefully avoiding all unnecessary dangers

The Ninth Commandment
The ninth commandment of God is: You shall not covet your neighbors wife. (Ex. 20:17)
By the ninth commandment we are obliged to strived for purity in thought and desire
In order to have purity in thought and desire, a Christian should strive to purify his heart and
practice temperance. Mere thought about impure things are not always sinful in themselves, but such
thought are dangerous. Thought about impure things becomes sinful when one consents to
them. (CCC# 2530)
In Catholic catechetical tradition, the Ninth Commandment forbids carnal concupiscence.
Etymologically, concupiscence can refer to any intense form of human desire. Christian
theology has given it a precise meaning: the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the
operation of the human reason. The apostle St. Paul identifies it with the rebellion of the flesh
against the spirit. Concupiscence stems form the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles mans
moral faculties and without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins. (CCC# 2515)
Purify of heart will enable us to see God: it enables us even now to see things according to
God. Purification of the heart demands prayer, the prayer of chastity, purity of intention and of vision.
Purity of heart requires modesty which is patience, decency and discretion. Modesty protects the
intimate center of the person. (CCC# 2531-2533)

The Seventh and Tenth Commandment: Respecting the Property of Others
The seventh commandment of God is: You shall not steal. (Ex. 20:15; Dt. 5:19)
By the seventh commandment we are obliged to respect what belongs to others, to live up to our business
agreements, and to pay our just debts.
The seventh commandments forbids all dishonesty, such as stealing, cheating unjust keeping of what belongs
to others, and unjust damage to the property of others.
Sin against the seventh commandment:
1. Stealing - the voluntary taking or keeping of something that belongs to another, against the
owners will
2. Cheating depriving another of his property by deceit or fraud

We are obliged to restore stolen goods or their value, as far as we know we are able;
otherwise, we cannot be forgiven. We are also obliged to repair the damage unjustly caused to the
property of others or to pay the amount of the damage, as far as we are able. (CCC# 2412, 2454,
2409)

The Tenth Commandment
The tenth commandment of God is: You shall not covet your neighbors goods. (Ex. 20:17; Dt. 5:21)
By the tenth commandment we are obliged to strive to be content with what we possess or can justly acquire,
ad to rejoice in our neighbors welfare.
The tenth commandment forbids all desire to take or to keep unjustly what belongs to others, and forbids
envy at their success.
Sins against the tenth commandment:
1. Covetousness (Avarice) it is an immoderate desire for temporal goods and also known as
greed.
2. Envy the sadness experienced in seeing the good possessed by another and the inordinate
desire of acquiring it.
We should practice detachment from things of this world because this virtue necessary for us to enter the
kingdom of heaven. (CCC# 2544, 2556)

The Eighth Commandment:
The eighth commandment of God is: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Ex.
20:16; Dt. 5:20)
By the eighth commandment, we are obliged to speak the truth in all things, but especially in what concerns
the good name and honor of others.
The eighth commandment forbids lies, rash judgment, detraction calumny and the telling of secrets we are
bound to keep.
Sins against eighth commandment:
These are the offenses against truth.
1. Lie a person is guilty of lying when he says something false in order to deceive another who
has a right to the truth.
2. Rash Judgment a person commits the sin of rash judgment when, without sufficient
reason, he believes something harmful to anothers character.
3. Detraction a person commits the sin of detraction when, without good reason, he reveals
the hidden faults of another.
4. Calumny or Slander a person who commits the sin of calumny or slander when by lying he
injures the good name of another.
5. Boasting or Bragging it is an offense against truth because we fabricate lies just to protect
our self or to create a better impression upon others which is not true.
6. Irony it is aimed at disparaging someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his
behavior.
RESPECT FOR THE TRUTH
The right to the commandment of the truth is not unconditional. Everyone must confirm his life
to the Gospel precept of fraternal love. Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to
every request for information or communication. The secret of the sacrament of Reconciliation is
sacred, and cannot be violated under any pretext
5
. Professional secrets - for example, those of political
office, soldiers, physicians and lawyers- or confidential information given under the seal of secrecy, must
be kept. (CCC# 2488-2491)
Secrets can only be divulged when:
1. Keeping the secrets is bound to cause very grave harm to the one who confided it, to
the one who received it or to a third party;
The very grave harm can be avoided only by divulging the truth.