Catholic Morality

Morality can be defined as being able to be good in character or conduct; virtuous according to civilized standards of right or wrong; each person has their own ‘moral standards’ which they consider to be right. The Catholic Church also has a version of what being moral entails. The church believes that every person must recognize; freedom of responsibility, conscience and sin, God’s love for us, human’s made in God’s image, need for one another and human rights and human dignity.

Each of the above goes hand and hand, freedom and responsibility along with conscience and sin refers to humanity’s liberty to make it’s own choices, whether they are moral or immoral, we must be able to take responsibility for our actions. Ones conscience enables them to make moral decisions based on what they know is right and wrong as well as to what the scriptures have told us about sins.

Love of god and man being made in God’s image relates to Jesus sacrificing his own son and sending him to Earth, setting an example of how we should live our lives. Through Jesus, God showed us how much he loves every one because we were all made in the image of God, therefore we should all respect one another, because by disrespecting one another we are in fact disrespecting God.

Our need for one another, being it between a man and a woman or just in times of need such as support of third world countries, is very important to God’s central message. God wants us to help one another and to compliment one another with our personal attributes. The sacrament of marriage, the union between a man and a woman is a perfect example of what God wants for us, together a man and a woman function creating a productive atmosphere because the two accept one another’s differences. In 1979, Pope John Paul II issued what the church today believes is moral:

The right to life, liberty and security of person: the right to food, clothing, housing, sufficient health care, rest and leisure the right to freedom of expression, education and culture; the right to freedom of expression of thought, conscience and religion…the right to property and work, to adequate working conditions and a just wage…the right to participate in the free choice of the political system of the people to which one belongs (Donovan 14).

With this, I fully agree, each person, no matter where they live or no matter what age they may be should be recognized as a human being and should be given certain rights such as these and more. Morality to me is ones conscience effort to make sure they are doing the right thing for themselves and for everyone around them.