CLE

• Root of our individual and social ill:

  • Anything that distracts our attention to the light
  • Temptations
  • Limitations
• Issues related to the present context of our moral living:

  • Advances in Medical Research
  • Beginning of information age
  • Greater ecological awareness
  • Increased access to media
  • Diversity of beliefs and ideas
• The Rich Young Man (Lk. 18:18-23):

  • Asked "What good must I do to gain eternal life?"
  • Jesus advised him to sell what he has, give to the poor, and follow Him
  • He was seeking the meaning of life, fulfillment, purpose, freedom, and happiness
• Christian Morality:

  • Christian: a person who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ
  • Morality: a doctrine or system of moral conduct considered as right and good act
  • Application of God's laws in daily life, following Jesus Christ based on Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Traditions
• Source and norm of our goodness:

  • Source: God loves us first, forgives us, calls us to be holy
  • Norm: Model of goodness, "Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect", "Love one another"
• Key message:

  • Love God completely and love everyone else as much as you love yourself
• Christian Ethics involves the practical application of belief
• Relationships in Christian Ethics:

  • With God
  • With one’s neighbours
  • With self
• Christian Ethical Stance:

  • God loves people as they are
  • Seen in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
  • Christians respond by trying to live in accordance with God’s commands
• Moral Dilemmas in Christian Ethics:

  • A Christian's decision may align with someone of another faith or no faith
  • The difference lies in the reason for making the decision
• Christian Ethics reframes the basic moral question as a question of imagination, reason, and ultimate love
• Ethics within the scope of freedom:

  • Morality begins with the notion that there are good and bad, right and wrong, better and worse ways of using human capacities/potential (freedom)
• Morality:

  • Our lived experience of human freedom
• Ethics:

  • Trying to use our freedom to live well or discovering what is worth living for and trying to live accordingly
  • Note: moral practice may differ from moral aspirations
• Morality:

  • Critical reflection on morality
• Ethics:

  • Stepping back to examine, analyze, and organize morality to enhance it
  • Looks for consistency, logic, order, coherence, conflicts, etc.
• Ethics questions:

  • Is it right?
  • Is it good?
  • Is it just?
  • Why?
• Morality questions:

  • What should I do?
  • What should I become?
• Ethics involves reflection while morality involves experience
• We have intellect and free will, allowing us to choose from alternatives and think about our choices
• Sometimes moral decisions are made automatically without much thought, like doing assignments or listening to a friend
• Occasions requiring careful moral decisions may involve conflicting values, uncertainty, peer pressure, or possible negative consequences
• Even when we know the good we should do, we may fail to do it immediately
• Educating and following our conscience is essential in making moral judgments
• Ways people make moral decisions:

  • "TOSSED COIN" decision: based on chance or external events
  • INDIVIDUALISTIC decision: based on personal prejudices without considering others
  • PASSIVE CONFORMIST decision: relying too much on others' opinions without considering emotions or conscience
• Important steps to make a moral decision:

  1. INVESTIGATE the facts of the moral act, including the object, intention, and circumstances

  2. INQUIRE about the moral norms affecting the act

  3. IMAGINE alternatives and consequences

  4. INTROSPECT by listening to emotions

  5. IMPLORE God's help in prayer

  6. IMPLEMENT the decision with courage and resolve
• Principles for moral judgment:

  • Principle of the end and means: the end does not justify the means
  • Principle of Double effect: one action can have both good and evil effects
  • Principle of Cooperation: formal (with approval) and material (no approval) involvement in an act
  • Principle of Occult Compensation: taking what is due secretly
  • Principle of Totality: right to life and integrity
  • Principle of Reference: choosing higher or more urgent values
  • Principle of Proportionate Reason: choosing what is more reasonable
  • Principle of Blameless Self-Defense: conditions for self-defense without revenge
• Freedom ought to be limitless for some people, even if it may harm the freedom of others
• The Decalogue, also known as the Ten Commandments, summarizes our basic duties and rights by prohibiting worship of false gods, killing, stealing, lying, or committing adultery
• True freedom is relational, as we are individuals in a community, and our freedom is always connected to others
• Authentic freedom involves:

  • Freedom from everything that opposes our true self, such as ignorance, disordered desires, fears, doubts, negative habits, violent force, threats, human rights violations, poverty, peer pressure, media influence, and lack of parental supervision
  • Freedom for growing as full persons and disciples of Jesus, with a genuine concern for the good of others and the freedom to grow in the likeness of God
• Two levels of freedom:

  • Free Choice: the freedom to choose among alternatives
  • Fundamental Freedom: the type of person we become through our individual choices

  Relationship between the two levels:

  • Our free choices shape the kind of person we become
  • The kind of person we are shapes the choices we make
• Ways to grow in freedom:

  • Become more aware of how we freely choose and act, identifying inner obstacles to authentic human freedom
  • Act considering the welfare of others
  • Reflect on and identify personal values
  • Nurture a life of prayer
  • For Christians, growing in freedom involves a lifetime commitment to follow Christ
• Key Concepts:

  • True Freedom is relational
  • True Freedom is "doing good" and "acting the way Jesus did"
  • Freedom as both "freedom from" obstacles to loving and "freedom for" genuine love
  • Interior and exterior obstacles to true freedom
  • Free choices and fundamental freedom