Catholicism 101– Class #8
Introduction to Catholic Morality and Conscience
Marcel LeJeune
Grace - The free, undeserved gift of God.
Sanctifying Grace - God’s divine life given to us that enables us to live in his Love. Ticket to heaven.
Actual Grace - The disposition God gives us to help us seek His we get in Baptism. Cannot be lost.
Charity - The virtue where we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbors as ourselves
because we love God.
Original sin - The sin by which mankind fell from God’s grace as well as the fallen state of all of humanity.
Concupiscence - Disordered human desires due to original sin, which makes us inclined to sin.
Conscience - The interior voice of God. Do good avoid evil.
Sin - a deliberate thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the eternal law of God.
Venial sin - a sin that diminishes and wounds, but does not destroy sanctifying grace.
Mortal sin - A sin that destroys sanctifying grace and kills the life of God within one’s soul. 3 conditions:
1) grave matter 2) full knowledge
3) full consent
I. Free Will
-Begins with being created by God out of love
-Gives us-Freedom to do as we desire
-Out of his love he gave free will
-We have a choice to choose to follow Christ or not
-We look towards a good
-Not merely a choice between good and evil
-We would not do it if we did not think there was a good in it for us
II. Responsibility
-Freedom makes us responsible for our acts
III. Actions
-Actions we do are to be directed towards knowing and loving God
-We respond with fidelity to the God of the covenant. Through repentance and discipleship
-Actions which brings us closer to God vs. actions which pull us away from God
-We respond to Jesus through our actions
IV. Choices
-We can choose which actions we desire
-Sometimes our deliberate actions are choices away from God
-SIN-an action by which I refuse to do what I believe God wants me to do/turning away from God
-Thereby I injure myself and my neighbor-sin is an act
V. Guidance
-To make the decisions/choices we need guidance - Religion-“to bind together”
-To help us see what is right/wrong
-All is done to help work towards the goal of union with God
- Based on imitating Christ and is from script and the church
A.
B.
Scripture
1.
Scripture does not cover all moral questions.
2.
Yet Scripture is binding on us.
3.
Foundational principles are enduring, but particular concrete norms can be rethought (Jesus' summary
of the Law in Mark 12:28-31 vs. wearing veils in worship in I Cor. 11:4-7)
Tradition
1.
The moral wisdom of the community, based on an ongoing lived experience of Gospel.
2.
After 2,000 years the Church has something to say about these issues.
C.
D.
Living Magisterium
1.
The living teaching authority of the Church.
2.
1 Tim. 3:15 - "It is the Church of the living God which is the pillar and bulwark of the truth."
3.
What do you DO with Church teachings?
a.
Listen to the teaching, be informed.
b.
Ask what are the values it seeks to protect and promote.
c.
Allow yourself to be challenged by it, as it brings light to your ethical blind spots.
Reason / Natural Law
1.
We try to understand the truth and apply it to our particular circumstances.
VI. Human Action
1.
the act itself
2.
circumstance
3.
intention
A.
The end in view, or the intention
a.
Honorable intentions: to grow closer to God, to help another
b.
Selfish intentions: to obtain a favor, to boast about it.
B.
The circumstances of the action
a.
Consequences (kiss of Judas)
b.
Freedom to do otherwise (refugee in camp, forced sex)
c.
Emergency (running red light on way to emergency room)
C.
The act itself
a.
Some behaviors are intrinsically wrong, regardless of the circumstances or the
intentions.
b.
Examples: lying, blasphemy, torturing the innocent, intentionally taking an innocent
human life.
Example: murder in self-defense
VII. Sin
-Sin-break in relationship with God
-Three categories of sin:
1. original
2. actual sin/personal sin
a. venial
b. mortal
3. social sin
-Sin can be a thought, a word, an action, an omission, a desire, an attitude.
A.
We should always distinguish between:
1. Objective morality of an action (universal)
2. Subjective culpability of a person in a particular situation (particular)
-What makes something MY SIN:
1. I know it is wrong.
2. I am free to do otherwise.
3. I deliberately choose to do it anyway.
-Mortal sin-person turns away from God and sees something else more important than God
-Venial-one turns toward a created good but does not severe the relationship with God
3 conditions for mortal
a. the act-grave matter- serious matter
b. knowledge- you have to fully know that the action is in opposition to the law of God
c. freedom- freedom we have in deciding as person - it is between the individual and God
i. it is your own personal choice
ii. factors which could diminish the culpability of the offense include:
-external pressures, pathological disorders, or the influence of feelings or passions.
VIII. Social
-Responsibility for all
-Many things/idea/acts to consider how do we go about make a decision?—conscience
-Social sin: when a society or a community as a whole sins.
1.
Examples: slavery, apartheid
2.
We have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate with them, by
participating, approving, advising, etc.)
(Example: advising someone to get an abortion, helping pay, drive them there, etc.)
IX. Conscience
-Catechism, no. 1776: “Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but
which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at
the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man's most secret core
and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.”
-Well-formed conscience is needed to make correct moral decisions
-We have an obligation to continually educate and develop our conscience, so it will grow in sensitivity. If we
have difficulty seeing clearly, we wear glasses or contacts to correct our vision, so that we can perceive
things accurately. In a similar way, we sometimes need to correct our conscience.
-Conscience is not:
-Guilt
-Following law or popular custom
-Following feeling of the moment
-Blind obedience to God’s inspiration
Simple choice
-Freedom to act, nothing is binding
 Guilt is not always a reliable guide
 Morality based on guilt is not always true
 Emphasis on guilt can lead to destruction of one’s self-worth
 Focus is on evil not good
 Strong emphasis on guilt can lead to depression
-Conscience is before the act, not after
A. Conscience – Stage 1 – before act – tend toward the good
 Forces person to search for the good
 We have opinions on what is right and wrong-recognize that it does
 makes a difference as to what we do
B. Conscience – Stage 2- before act - “the search” “I wonder what I should do”
 reflection/discernment period
 Process of finding the good
 Looking for truth
 Mistake can occur
 Listen to others / Church
-At this stage we may experience difference and disagreement
-Example: it is OK to withhold taxes because it is used for unjust war
-There can be error - We seek guidance from outside sources
C. Conscience - Stage 3-“an event”
 Specific judgment about an act
 Can be objectively wrong
 Does not create the truth
-Make decision to accept or refuse the demand of conscience3
-The person engages in the act of sanctity or sin
-To make a decision/choice we must use our well-formed conscience to make a decision