Roman Catholic ethics ‘cheat sheet’
This post deals with ethical issues. Keep your cool and don't get into an ethical pickle! Remember, others have different points of view; use the comments.
As mentioned previously, one in five people are Catholic. That’s a staggering number of people to co-ordinate so a deontological structure has been set up around Catholicism. Some people would argue this is a bad thing, personally I think we need rules to flourish. However, it can be quite difficult to know what to do in a given situation sometimes, so I’ve put together this wee ‘cheat sheet’ you can use.
A brief introduction to the types of ethics
On one hand, we have legalism – too many laws; on the other, anti-nomianism – too few laws. We can re-describe this as “moral absolutism vs. moral relativism”.
Moral absolutists believe that there are a set of rules that apply to everyone, regardless of who they are or the situation they’re in. So, murder would be wrong in every case.
Moral relativists believe that the rules that apply depend on who it is and what the situation is. So, murder may be justifiable if the murder of one person could say the lives of millions of others.
Catholic ethics are derived from Aquinas’ Natural Law. They are, for the most part, moral absolutes and the Pope discourages the moral relativism of the twenty-first century…
“Relativism, by indiscriminately giving value to practically everything, has made ‘experience’ all-important. Yet experiences, detached from any consideration of what is good or true, can lead not to genuine freedom but to moral or intellectual confusion, to a lowering of standards, to a loss of self-respect. ”
“A new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed.”
Situation ethics was a term coined by Joseph Fletcher in 1960. This is a good example of moral relativism, there is only one rule, agape (love), and we should aim to do the most loving thing in each situation. Of course, this leads to problems. Watch the SlideShare presentation online by Pisp.co.uk…
This post isn’t meant to be a full-on discussion of ethics, although I may publish one in the future. This post is meant to be a brief guide to Catholic ethics, not intended as a replacement for proper prayer and reflection, or advice from a parish priest.
On contraceptives
| Modern society | Roman Catholic Church |
| Contraceptives are intrinsically evil. Why? First, we believe human life is scared as we are made imago Dei (in the image of God)... not like we look like him (since God is transcendent), but that we were all once in the divine mind. God had a plan and we were part of it. Sounds a little crazy so far, I know. Second, we follow Natural Law. Humans are meant to produce offspring... it's just nature. By using a contraceptive, you're putting a barrier there, preventing babies from being made. Of course, this has a lot of implications. What about family planning? The Church has an answer to that: there are apparently times in the, uh, lunar cycle when a woman isn't likely to conceive... get busy then. The other thing is, of course, what about LEDCs that are stricken by AIDS? I'm not sure what the church says to that. |
On abortion
| Modern society | Roman Catholic Church |
| The reasons here overlap with the one's mentioned previously, so I won't re-explain them. (1) Natural Law, you're preventing offspring. (2) Imago Dei, that foetus was made in God's image. Okay, with that out of the way... the Church believes that life starts at the moment of conception. That imago Dei life starts when the sperm fertilises the ovum. If you abort, you're killing a life. It is a human, not a group of cells with the potential to be a human. Natural Law also states that we all have the right to live, hence abortion is murder. There's also something called the principle of double effect, which means that abortion is right in the case of a risk to the mother’s health It’s more relevant with Euthanasia so I'll discuss there. |
On euthanasia
| Modern society | Roman Catholic Church |
| Again, this overlaps with the previous two since they're all connected to issues on the sanctity of life. Life is imago Dei and ending life is contrary to Natural Law. The church believes that since life is imago Dei, it's not our choice whether or not that life is ended. Every life is scared--from God. Similarly, every person has dignity by virtue of their existence; they are human, created by God. Interestingly, passive euthanasia, where a terminal patient might be administered a drug to relieve pain but it may also provoke or speed up death, is OK with us if all other methods have been exhausted. This is double effect in action: the intention is to relieve pain (a good intention), but a consequence is that death is sped up. |
On divorce
| Modern society | Roman Catholic Church |
| For Catholics, marriage is something special. I'm not trying to say it's not special for non-Catholics, but for Catholics it's extra-special. It's not just a bit of paper, it's a promise that's taken between two people and God. You have to mean what you say, since you're entering into an agreement with the big G [see CCC 1639]. Break the promise by divorcing or committing adultery, then you're breaking a promise with God. That's not on... you don't mess with the almighty. But, things do go wrong. The church is quite hot on counselling, so you'll be put through your paces on like a marriage course before the marriage, and then in the event of a problem. This isn't always enough, so the church understands that sometimes couples have to separate. This is separation, not divorce. Technically, in the eyes of the church (and by extension, God), you're married... you made that promise and you've gotta keep it even though you're not living together. This means that re-marriage is counted as adultery. What about annulment? Yep, the church does this and it basically voids the marriage. You're made to stand in front of a group of people from the church and they'll judge whether or not there's a case for annulment. The idea is that you were lying when you took those vows, (e.g.) you didn't really love the person with your heart at the time, but you said "I do" anyway... perhaps out of guilt, or in cases of domestic violence, fear. Since the promise is between the couple and God, God will know that you weren't being honest and the marriage won't be recognised by him, but the priest will continue as normal with the marriage. |
On premarital sex
| Modern society | Roman Catholic Church |
| Pre-marital sex should be avoided because of Catholic teaching on the marriage and the family. Sex is only for procreation... not fun! Using contraceptives are against Natural Law, as mentioned above. The best place for a child is within marriage as it provides a stable environment for them to develop physically, emotionally and spiritually. |
On homosexuality
| Modern society | Roman Catholic Church |
| Surprisingly, the church isn't all that bothered about gays. People think of the RCC as some sort of gay-hating organisation, but the truth is that a lot of the priesthood must have been made up of gays at some point. Think about back in the middle-ages... you're a man so you're expected to marry, but you're gay. What do you do? Priesthood. Notice that as acceptance and tolerance of gays has increased, the number of Catholic priests has declined. Just a theory. Today, the church recognises that homosexuality isn't a disease and that it's just something that you're born with as there's too many homosexuals ("it's not negligible"). In fact, if you're gay you're welcome to have a partner, but you cannot marry them or get it on with them. Since contraceptives aren't acceptable since no life can come from protected sex, gay sex isn't acceptable since there's no chance that life can form. It's guy + guy or a girl + girl, and for baby-making you'll need guy + girl. This is a lot different from some other Christian denominations who try to 'fix' the gays. |
On conscience
Catholic teaching on conscience dictates that when a conflict arises between a person's conscience and moral teaching, it is conscience that takes priority. At my Catholic school, we had the phrase “Conscience is man's most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.” drilled into us in religious studies. It's from Guadium et Spes and is mirrored in the CCC. If after spending careful time reflecting, praying and discussing (perhaps with a priest) your conscience is telling you to do something then you should do it. In fact it's a sin not to obey your conscience in these occasions, and it's a sin for someone to prevent you doing so as well. The key point is that your conscience must be well-informed.
This is how I understand the Catholic Church in the 21st Century. We're a little conservative, yet we can justify ourselves, unlike some Christian groups that simply point to the bible. We're open to change and we're gradually accepting it.
If I’ve made any mistakes or you’d like to discuss this further, the comments are open.
Labels: abortion, conscience, contraceptives, divorce, ethics, euthanasia, homosexuality, pre-marital sex
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