Category: Morals

The First Vatican Council pronounced that the pope, in or out of council, would be protected by God with the gift of infallibility whenever he should define a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. Matters of Faith can only involve religious propositions and the matter of those propositions are true or false judgments. A moral definition would involve a proposition that is right or wrong, rather than true or false. The difference between the two involves the end being sought. A doctrinal pronouncement defines a religious truth, which is the object of the intellect. A moral pronouncement defines a good, which is the object of the will. One could say that Faith engages intellectual belief, morals engage voluntary action.

A moral act is a human act performed with knowledge and free will. Every consciously deliberate action is a moral act, and each one is either morally good or morally evil. If it leads us to our final end, eternal salvation, it is a morally good act. If it takes us away from salvation, it is a morally evil act, a sin. Morals, therefore, pertain to human conduct.

Articles in this section treat of a wide variety of issues that, immediately, proximately, or remotely, deal with the morality of human acts, whether individually or as a society.

The Aftermath of Humanae Vitae

Humanae vitae, Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical reaffirming the Church’s defense of the sanctity of human life, was promulgated fifty years ago this year. It was dated July 25, 1968. When July rolls around later this year I shall have … Continue reading

The Childslayers

When Brother Francis was teaching me Christology, he would constantly repeat something that Father Leonard Feeney often said to him. Holding an icon of the Mother and Child at the beginning of each class, he would say, “Here is the … Continue reading

A Tale of Three Revolutions

Last night I attended a meeting of the Alhambra Historical Society, at which Joyce Amaro, president of the Alhambra Preservation Group, gave a presentation on the formerly Episcopalian chapel of Ss. Simon and Jude and her organisation’s thus far successful … Continue reading