Mark 10:17-22

To be happy, we must

1)Go to God and hear His voice

2)Do what God tells us

Living a life of good moral decisions leads to happiness.

What is morality?

The American satirist H.L. Mencken says that morality is “the theory that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that 99 percent of them are wrong.”

“About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.”

Ernest Hemingway

“Love and do what

you will.”

St. Augustine

Traditional definition:

“The science of what humans ought to do by reason of who

they are.”

“…by reason of who they are”

A proper view of the human person is the critically important starting point in deciding what is the moral way to respond. This proper view is that every human being has dignity.

Dignity is the respect due to each human being because we are all made in God’s image.

Human dignity cannot be earned or taken away. It is a quality of

being human.

Science

Catholic morality draws on three main sources of knowledge to reach conclusions about how we should act (see salmon-colored handout)

To say that morality is a science is to say that we can use

knowledge to make informed decisions. Therefore, morality is

not strictly a matter of opinion and is not based on a “feeling.”

Catholic/Christian Morality is doing the right thing (God’s Plan) that will lead to our ultimate happiness

Christian morality is living our lives in response to Jesus. Christian morality is based on a relationship.

• Moral: that which is good, promotes human welfare

• Immoral: that which is bad, harmful, destructive

• Amoral: neutral / also, “an amoral person” meaning without morals, no sense of right or wrong

Changes in morality:

Child…

Adolescent…

Adult…

• Child: moral decisions are whether or not to obey the dictates of adults; it was a question of obedience

• Adolescence: searching through what you have been taught and come to your own conclusions

• Adults: a morality lived out of personal conviction because it has been sorted through