Morality Ch. 2

Why do Christians have a greater moral responsibility?

• Because of Baptism

• Through Baptism, a Christian becomes a child of God and part of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.

What are Christians called to do?

• To treat others with a supernatural, unconditional love

• Love even the unlovable (moral taught by Christ in the Parable of the Good Samaritan)

Why does Christian morality involve both personal and social obligations?

Because man is a social being

Where are the higher standards of Christian moral responsibility revealed by Christ found?

In the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, and in the New Commandment of Love

Where does Christ perfect the Commandments of the Old Law?

Christ perfects the Commandments in Matthew 5:18–48

How did God perfect the Commandments of the Old Law?

• Taught that it was not sufficient for Christians just to avoid murder, but they should not even give in to anger.

• Not sufficient just to avoid adultery, but a man should not even look at a woman with lust.

How can a person merit an increase of grace?

By freely cooperating with grace, a person can merit more grace.

How is man a social being?

Made to live with others and relate to them.

How does Baptism and the Eucharist have both individual and communal characteristics?

• Baptism takes away Original Sin and actual sins and makes the recipient a child of God. Baptism makes one a member of the Church

• The Eucharist nourishes the one who receives it with the very life of Christ and the Eucharist unites all the members of the Church.

Why is social teaching of the Church important?

Important because every person has social obligations, and people have the tendency to let their individual interests overshadow their social duties.

Where are the principles of moral theology drawn from?

• Deposit of Faith

  • Consists of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition

Who interprets and teaches the principles of moral theology?

Magisterium

What does Sacred Tradition do?

Sacred Tradition transmits the entire Word of God to the successors of the Apostles so they may preserve, expound, and spread the Gospel.

What is the source of moral theology?

The life and teachings of Christ

How can the sciences can be useful in aiding moral theology in finding the truth?

• Philosophical ethics analyzes and explains good human behavior.

• Rational psychology explains how people form ideas and make choices.

• Anthropology, biology, and medicine can also corroborate and support the moral teachings of the Church.

What is the ongoing work of Catholic moral theology?

The Church applies the moral truths revealed by God to specific situations that need moral evaluation or clarification.

How is the Bible without error?

God inspired the sacred writers to record what he wanted them to record so that every person could find salvation.

Where is Christian morality drawn from?

The teachings of Christ as found in the New Testament.

What are the principal sources of Christian morality found in the New Testament?

• The Gospels

  • contain the life of Christ and the teachings of Christ

What does tradition mean?

¨To pass on

Sacred Tradition

• Transmits the entire Word of God to the successors of the Apostles so they may preserve, expound, and spread it.

• Found in the record of liturgical practice, in personal piety, and in interpretations and clarifications of the apostolic teachings that the early Church Fathers left us.

Magisterium

• The doctrinal and moral teaching authority of the Pope and the bishops united to him.

• Interprets and teaches from the Deposit of Faith.

  • Christ founded a Church and entrusted it to St. Peter and the Apostles and their successors, the Pope and bishops united to him.

• Authentic interpretation of the Scriptures is entrusted to the Magisterium alone.

What can the sciences never do?

Human sciences cannot substitute for or diminish the authority of Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium.

Catholics need to have a good understanding of the Catholic Faith

• The Holy Spirit guides the Church in developing and safeguarding her teachings, believers enjoy a certainty that they possess objective moral truth without the possibility of error.

• This truth should then guide Catholic lives and be a help to those around them who need moral guidance.