God gave us life and made us stewards of that life, as well as of the lives of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. In the “Gospel of Life”, Pope John Paul II affirmed the value of human life and appealed to every person to respect, protect, love, and serve every human life (#29). He pointed out that we are in the midst of a conflict, a clash between good and evil, between life and death. We all have an inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life (#28). The basic principles which guide Catholic life have been given to us in the great commandments: love of God and love of neighbour. To be faithful to our covenant with God requires keeping these commandments. The questions that follow are crucial: How are we to express this love of God and practice this love of neighbour? This means living as adopted sons and daughters of God, made possible by the redemptive activity of Jesus Christ. It means living freely, participating in God’s own life, in ways that God’s grace, His free gift, makes possible. For all who accepted the invitation of Jesus to live a new life this implied a change of heart, a conversion repenting of our sins, doing all that love requires, and accepting our moral obligations.
Pope Benedict XVI, speaking of practical commitment (agape), refers to the Last Supper (Jn 6:31-33) and Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) to understand Jesus’ teaching on love, the dynamic of self-giving that is experienced in Communion becoming “one body”, with love of God, and love of neighbour truly united. “Faith, worship, and ethos are interwoven as a single reality which takes shape in our encounter with God’s agape. Here, the usual contraposition between worship and ethics simply falls apart. “Worship” itself, Eucharistic communion, includes the reality both of being loved and of loving others in turn.... Love becomes the criterion for the definitive decision about a human life’s worth or a lack thereof... in the least of the brethren we find Jesus Himself, and in Jesus we find God” (Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2006, p. 17).
Some of the specific obligations that we have are outlined in a science known as “Moral Philosophy” or ethics. Ethics is a natural science that employs human reason, which guides our judgment concerning the morality of human acts. It also draws upon personal experience as well as on the contemporary and historical experience of others. Ethics defines the just and equitable act in our relations to each other. The material object of ethics consists of human acts and its’ formal object is the moral rectitude of human actions in relation to our natural end. Whereas ethics directs the disposition of goods and duties in justice, justice demands we give each one their due.
“Moral Theology” is a supernatural science, based on faith as well as reason and recognizes a supernatural end. It utilizes human reason, divine revelation, and experience. Ethics can be considered the science of ideals and morals as the application of ethics, human conduct in the light of ethics. A person that has good ethics and bad morals is someone who knows the ethical principles but fails to apply them in concrete situations. Ethical principles, in conformity with truth and good moral conduct, are both essential.
The fundamental truths of ethics are many and varied:
• God exists and He is just; human reason can discover some truths.
• Humans have souls that are immortal with faculties of intellect and will.
• Truth is the object of the intellect and goodness is the object of the will.
• An act is good when it conforms to right reason and evil when it does not conform to right reason.
• Humans have free will and are capable of moral good or moral evil.
• Humans are to do good and avoid evil.
• Humans who live a good life merit God’s reward.
• Humans who live an evil life merit God’s punishment.
Pope John Paul II, in Veritatis Splendor, helps us to understand about making good moral choices. “The commandments... are meant to safeguard the good of the person, the image of God, by protecting His goods” (#13). There are acts which are always ‘intrinsically evil’ (#80). There are also absolute moral norms that admit of no exceptions (e.g.: prohibiting adultery; abortion, euthanasia, etc.). We must oppose the moral theories of proportionalism and consequentialism, which treats the principle of lesser evil as the single basic moral principle, rejecting the moral absolutes taught by the Magisterium. We must apply the ‘natural law approach’ as found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which insists on the truth and centrality of moral absolutes (#1954-1960). We must be persons with informed and well-formed consciences, so that by judgment of reason, we will be able to recognize the moral quality of a concrete act:
• What we must do or not do.
• Love and do good and avoid evil.
• Love God and neighbour.
The well-formed conscience draws its light from Scriptures and Christian tradition as taught by the Magisterium and witnessed by the lives of good Christian people. Our judgments must be in accord with the moral order of which God is Creator. The basic principles in judging the morality of a specific action are outlined in Veritatis Splendor (#71-83) and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#1749-1761).
We can do our ethical duty if we stand firm on the ground of revelation, right reason, and tradition. For people of faith it is a question of moral truth. The natural law, a law of prudence, can live only in the moral, in relation to how a human lives. The natural law for humans is from God, in their relationship to one another. We must be aware and make others aware about “the natural” as being authentically of life and for life, for anything in nature is there by God’s design for our good. The ethic in ethics must stand for the human being. The value of the life of a human being is an absolute value. We must beware of the relativization of the value of life as found in abortion, euthanasia, and the disposal of new life in the use of embryos for the service and convenience of others. The immoral manipulation of the natural must be named for what it is. False ethics is evident in reproductive technology with genetic engineering of human life for eugenics, cloning, and transgenics. It is evident also in: sexual ethics with sex on demand; with 80%+ of Catholics practicing contraception, frustrating natural ends; with a breakdown of marriages (divorces: 1 in 3 in Canada) resulting in dysfunctional families; and the promotion of unnatural sex practices, as in same-sex unions. It is especially evident in the moral ambiguity of euthanasia, in which Article seven of the Nuremberg Code (informed consent) was discarded in 1999 in Holland when close to 2000 individuals were euthanized without their foreknowledge and consent.
We, as pro-lifers, need to make clear the objective truth of Catholic moral teaching. We must instill a desire for holiness and a love for chastity. The teaching of ‘Natural Family Planning’ must be accessible to engaged as well as married couples. Families must be centered around the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Prayer must be recognized and practiced as indispensable to a healthy Catholic life. Scripture and the Catholic Catechism are available for guidance. Parents must recognize and practise their role as the primary educators of their children. Pope John Paul II has made it clear that Mary is to lead us in this millennium. The Holy Spirit is always present to help us to choose life and in walking and living the way of love, justice, and peace. +
Suggested Reading:
Catholicism & Ethics, Rev. Ed Hayes, Rev. Msgr. Paul Hayes, Dorothy Ellen Kelly, RN, James Drummey, CR, Publ. Norwood, MA, 1997, 201 pp.
Ethics and Human Life, Joseph M. Mauceri, M.D., Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, 2001, 134 pp.
Catholic Sexual Ethics, Rev. Ronald Lawler, O.F.M., Cap., Joseph Boyle, Jr., William May, Our Sunday Visitor Inc., Huntington, Indiana, 1998, 335 pp.
Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City, publ. in Canada by CCCB Publications Service, Ottawa, 2006, 45 pp.
from the Catechism of the Catholic Church...
The Morality of Human Acts
II. GOOD ACTS AND EVIL ACTS
1755 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 (such as praying and fasting "in order to be seen by men").
The object of the choice can by itself vitiate an act in its entirety. There are some concrete acts - such as fornication - that it is always wrong to choose, because choosing them entails a disorder of the will, that is, a moral evil.
1756 It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context.
There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder and adultery. One may not do evil so that good may result from it.
IN BRIEF
1757 The object, the intention, and the circumstances make up the three "sources" of the morality of human acts.
1758 The object chosen morally specifies the act of willing accordingly as reason recognizes and judges it good or evil.
1759 "An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention" (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6). The end does not justify the means.
1760 A morally good act requires the goodness of its object, of its end, and of its circumstances together.
1761 There are concrete acts that it is always wrong to choose, because their choice entails a disorder of the will, i.e., a moral evil. One may not do evil so that good may result from it.