The Church as Moral Teacher

The Church as Moral Teacher

I. How do we know those things which we need to know to be saved (saving truth and the moral conduct that leads to, not away from, God).

A. Answer of Classical Protestantism: from Scripture alone; the Holy Spirit guides the individual believer in his reading of Scripture.

B. Catholic answer: Christ gave his Holy Spirit to the apostles (and to their successors, the bishops) to remind them of all that he taught and to preserve them in the truth. Cf. John 16.12-15 (RSV): "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

1. The bishops of the Church are the successors to the Apostles – that is, apostolic authority has been passed on to them through the laying on of hands

2. The teaching office of the Church is called the Magisterium. This office resides in the pope and bishops – the successors to the apostles.

a. It does not reside in the parish priest who, however, is obliged to preach and teach in a way that accords with the Magisterium.

b. It does not reside in the theology instructor at the local Catholic college who, however, is obliged to teach in a way that accords with the Magisterium – that is, we may not present as Catholic that which is not Catholic. .

II. There is one source of Revelation – God alone, but this revelation comes to us in two ways:

A. Scripture

B. Tradition – it is by tradition, for example, that we know which ancient texts are Scripture and which are not.

III. The Church has a moral obligation to teach the faithful to believe and to live according to the mind of Christ. This includes

A. The truths which pertain to salvation.

B. And the modes of conduct which put this teaching into practice – as well as particular applications of the natural law.

C. NOTE: The Church does not have the authority to decide what is right or even understand herself to have this authority. What she does have is the obligation to teach those things that correspond to the Gospel of her Lord.

Which is to say, it is not that the "Catholic Church won’t let Catholics do such as so" but rather that the "Catholic Church does not have the authority to do this or that, or allow this or that, or forbid this or that."

If the pope were to announce tomorrow that Jesus did not die for our sins -- that is, deny a truth of Christian faith, he would be out of the job in a New York second.

IV. Precepts of the Church

A. Their purpose: to guarantee the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer, the sacramental life, moral commitment and growth in love of God and neighbor.

B. Which are they (these are to be memorized)

1. To attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation

2. To confess one’s sins sacramentally once a year.

3. To receive Holy Communion during the Easter Season (from the first Sunday of Lent to Pentecost Sunday)

4. To fast and abstain from meat on the days appointed. (Abstinence from meat is required on all the Fridays during Lent; a fast is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In addition, all Fridays of the year are days of Penance).

5. To contribute according to one’s means to the material support of the Church. See CCC 2042.

C. In the United States, the Holy Days of Obligation are six:

[Those marked with an * are always days of holy days of obligation in the United States. Those which do not have an * are not days of obligation if they fall on a Saturday or Monday. In some areas of the United States, however, many of these feasts are celebrated on Sunday. European countries have different holy days of obligation -- some as many as twelve.]

*Nativity of the Lord (Dec 25)

Solemnity of Mary Mother of God (Jan 1)

Ascension Thursday (forty days after Easter), celebrates the Christ's return to heaven in his resurrected body

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (Aug 15), celebrates Mary's being taken body and soul to heaven. That Mary is in heaven with her body is a belief held by Catholics but not by Protestants.

All Saints (Nov 1), celebrates all those who are in heaven -- whether canonized saints or not.

*Immaculate Conception (Dec 8), celebrates Mary's having been conceived without original sin. That is, Catholics (but not Protestants) believe that, through the merits of Christ (later) death on the cross, his mother, through a special grace from God given in anticipation of her divine motherhood, was preserved from original sins.*

V. What about conscience?

A. In the section on conscience we learned

1. Parents have a duty to educate the consciences of their children according to the truth.

2. Every person has an obligation to educate his own conscience according to the truth – and that this is a life-long task.

3. Every person has an obligation to follow his conscience when it is certain. For not to do so would be to go against one’s very own self. This is the constant teaching of the Catholic faith.

B. So what is a person to do when the Church teaches X and his conscience tells him X is wrong, sinful – and, after prayer and consultation, the person is certain that X is wrong? There are different kinds of things about which this could be the case and the answer and the answer is different according to the kind of thing. The Church has two different kinds of teaching (or, it is better to say, she teaches with two different levels of authority in her voice), and the each requires something different of the Catholic conscience.

1. Extraordinary teaching – for example, the truths summarized in the creeds. At the beginning of the course we studied the Apostles’ Creed (CCC pp. 49-50). If a person were to come to conclusion that something that the Church calls extraordinary teaching were false – for example, that Jesus was not conceived of a virgin, did not rise from the dead, or that our bodies will not be raised at the end of time – well, then, if such a person cannot find a way to assent to these truths and truly believes doing so would be wrong for him, then he is obliged to follow his conscience but ought not call himself a Catholic. Creeds spell out the indispensable minimum for believing and belonging -- those who belong believe these things in common.

2. Ordinary teaching. Most of Catholic teaching falls under the category of ordinary teaching, including much of the Church’s moral teaching. The faithful Catholic is morally obliged to bring to this teaching what is called "submission of mind and will." That is, a Catholic is obliged to assent in faith to the teaching, to try to understand it, to pray for light concerning it and to seek wise human counsel if one encounters difficulties, and obey the teaching if moral precepts are involved. But, in the end, the person’s first responsibility is to his conscience – that is, he must follow his conscience when he has done all he can to make sure it is correctly formed and finds it is "certain." Nonetheless the following applies: there is a difference between not agreeing with Church teaching on a particular moral matter and being convinced that to obey the teaching is morally wrong. One is obliged to obey unless one firmly believes obeying is morally wrong. One can never do what one believes is morally wrong; but one is not, morally speaking, permitted to disobey a law one disagrees with if one is not convinced obeying it is sinful.

Last point Any is a difference between not agreeing with Church teaching on a particular moral matter and being convinced that to obey the teaching is morally wrong. One is obliged to obey unless one firmly believes obeying is morally wrong. One can never do what one believes is morally wrong; but one is not, morally speaking, permitted to disobey a law one disagrees with if one is not convinced obeying it is sinful.