Christian Ethics
Moral Theology
The moral life, has an essentially teleological character,
since it consists in the deliberate ordering of human acts to God,
the supreme good and ultimate end (telos)of man.
(n. 73) cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10 re: "Last Judgment"
Moral action concerns human will, the act of free choice.
A moral object is the object of human will.
Moral actions are those freely chosen acts that are ordered to the goods of human persons.
Human actions have an existential and religious significance
and are primarily specified by the object chosen.
The morality of the human act
depends primariliy and fundamentally on
the 'object' rationally chosen by the deliberate will.
(n. 78)
In order to be able to grasp the object of an act which specifies that act morally,
it is therefore necessary to place oneself in the perspective of the acting person.
The object of the act of willing is in fact a freely chosen kind of behavior.
To the extent that it is in conformity with the order of reason,
it is the cause of the goodness of the will; it perfects us morally....
By the object of a given moral act ... one cannot mean
a process or an event in the merely physical order, to be assessed on the basis of
its ability to bring about a given state of affairs in the outside world.
Rather, that object is the proximate end of a deliberate decision cf. Romans 3:8
which determines the act of willing on the part of the acting person
(n. 78).
The "object" primarily specifying an act morally is precisely
what one "chooses."
It is the "object" of one's choice,
of what one freely wills to do
and, by freely willing to do this specific deed,
one makes oneself to be the kind of person willing to do this.
Thus, if the object of my choice is knowingly to have intercourse with someone other than my spouse,
I freely choose to commit adultery and make myself to be an adulterer.
The "object" is not a mere physical event, a "piece" of behavior in the external world.
It is a moral object
only because
it is the object of human will,
the act of choice.
A human act is not a "thing" having a nature of its own independent of how any human will act.
A human act, precisely as human and moral, flows from a person's "heart,"
from a person's will.
How do moral norms protect human rights? cf. n. 96
Moral norms prescribe the free choice of acts ordered to the goods of human persons.
Human personhood holds inherent human dignity which is upheld by human rights.
Human rights are inviolable; if it is absolutely wrong to violate a person’s human rights,
than it is apparent that some objects of human choice are intrinsically evil.
Thus, the moral norms proscribing intrinsically evil acts must be absolute and without exception. cf. n. 80
Were there no absolute moral norms proscribing intrinsically evil acts, there would be no inviolable human rights
How does the Crucified Christ provide the answer to
why we must obey “universal and unchanging norms”?
Through His Crucifixion, Christ Jesus suffered evil rather than do it.
As Christians, we must be willing to be witnesses of His perfect example in our own lives.
Such witness can very well lead to martyrdom (martyr being the Greek word for witness).
Martyrdom is senseless unless there are absolute moral norms prohibiting evil acts.
It is false and illusory to attribute “human meaning” to an act morally evil in itself, even in exceptional circumstances.
To do so is a violation of any person’s “humanity.” cf. nn. 90-94
It seems humanly impossible, at times, to avoid doing evil to prevent some alleged greater evil.
At such times, what the Church teaches may appear to be harshly rigoristic.
How is the Church's teaching on human dignity and on moral absolutes NOT rigoristic or harsh?
The grace of God which has been made available to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Church's teaching on human dignity and, precisely because of the inviolable dignity of the human person, on moral absolutes always and everywhere prohibiting the free choice of acts intentionally opposed to the goods of human persons is not, as some maintain, rigoristic or harsh.
God never abandons us and will give us the grace to resist any temptation. cf. nn. 84-87
We are called to imitate Christ through faithful Christian witness.
Christ Jesus suffered evil rather than do it.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ makes the grace of God available to us.
God promises that He will give us the grace to resist the temptation to do evil
even when doing so is intended to prevent some alleged greater evil.
cf. nn. 102-105
Evangelization ... involves the proclamation and presentation of morality.
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