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.

An Act of State Terrorism 

August 9, 2023 is the 78th anniversary of the destruction of the oldest, largest and most historic Catholic community in Japan, that of the Urakami District of Nagasaki, whose Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception lay 1,650 feet beneath the airburst … Continue reading

Bless God at All Times!

The following is the speech I gave at IHM School’s graduation yesterday. Readers should know that our school in rural southern New Hampshire is very small. We had one graduates this year (we had three last year!).  HERE we are once more in the month of … Continue reading

Fortes in Fide (Again)

The true religion is not reducible to a bumper sticker or “meme,” but there is a venerable tradition, rooted in the Old Testament wisdom literature, of packaging hefty drafts of divine truth in small shots. These proverbs or aphorisms have … Continue reading