Deposit of Faith Series

Introduction to Veritatis Splendor

The Catholic Response to Moral Relativism

No absolution offered by beguiling doctrines, even in the areas of philosophy and theology, can make man truly happy: only the Cross and the glory of the Risen Christ can grant peace to his conscience and salvation to his life.[1]

Excursus 003

Opening Prayer

O Mary,
Mother of Mercy,
watch over all people,
that the Cross of Christ
may not be emptied of its power,
that man may not stray
from the path of the good
or become blind to sin,
but may put his hope ever more fully in God
who is “rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4).
May he carry out the good works prepared
by God beforehand (cf. Eph 2:10)
and so live completely
“for the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:12).

Introduction

            Due to the deep questionings of the fundamental bases of Christian morality, which spring from a radical subjectivization of moral norms and the rupture of the bond between truth and freedom, man finds himself today in a powerful crisis, not only of morality, but of the faith itself. Indeed, one’s concept of morality and one’s concept of faith can be seen as two sides of the same coin.

            Pope John Paul II stated in his 1993 Encyclical Veritatis Splendor, that the “teaching which represents the central theme of this encyclical, and which is being restated with the authority of the Successor of Peter,”[2] is twofold:

1.      The Pope recalls “the essential characteristics of freedom, as well as the fundamental values connected with the dignity of the person and the truth of his acts, so as to be able to discern in obedience to the moral law a grace and a sign of our adoption in the one Son (cf. Eph 1:4-6)”

2.      The specific arguments and evaluations of “certain trends in moral theology.”

One could say he wanted to discuss morality, and to do so, he studied human freedom, human acts, what truth has to do with both of these things, and how certain trends in moral theology lead man away from his freedom. He picked up this subject with faith that we are adopted sons in the Son of God, and he did so to show how obedience to the moral law is freedom, that obedience frees us, that obedience is a gift from God, and that obedience is a sign of the hope of our salvation.

It is obvious, therefore, that the Pope discerned in the world such a problem of disobedience to the moral law that he feared for our salvation so deeply that he wanted to write this encyclical. Furthermore, he saw that the rationalistic arguments that denied the truth were effective in leading us away from God’s will.

What better antidote to such a sickness, than to study the splendor of the truth; for, convinced of the truth, and of the saving power of the truth known both by reason and by faith, any good heart would be persuaded to leave all and follow Christ.

He begins his moral teachings with an analysis of the rich young man from Matthew 19, and finishes showing the Cross of Christ as the only thing powerful enough to secure man’s freedom. Indeed, he is the ideal after which the conscience strives.

The Encyclical

What’s an encyclical?

            The Pope typically communicates officially in one of these venues:

1.      Apostolic Exhortations

2.      Apostolic Letters

3.      Audiences

4.      Books

5.      Encyclicals, Letters, Bulls, Briefs

6.      Homilies   

7.      Motu Proprio’s, Rescripts

8.      Speeches

An encyclical is a letter written to the Bishops. The root of the word (from the Greek egkyklios, kyklos meaning a circle), we know that it is a “circular letter.” Encyclicals are directed to a very specific audience: the Bishops of the world. Encyclicals can be addressed, however, to a selection of Bishops, as the Bishops of a specific nation.

Spiritual Genesis of the work

            The Pope had been talking about writing a document on morality since an apostolic letter in 1987.

            The specific problems that he most wanted to address, it seems, were proportionalism, relativism and dissenting moral theologians. Without discounting the subjective side of morality, he wanted to stop the influx of abuse where morality was simply subjective, and the subjective aspects of it were utilized to defend completely immoral behavior.

Main Parts, Bird’s-eye View

Some of the Heresies Attacked

Some moral errors follow:[3]

1. Opposing the conscience to the moral law, in a radically subjectivistic concept of moral judgment.[4]

2. A complete sovereignty of reason as regards the law, instead of recognizing reason’s dependence upon that law.[5]

3. Separating the “ethical order” from the “order of salvation,” as if the two had nothing to do with one another.[6]

4. Denying man his nature, reducing him to his own personal life-project.[7]

5. A disassociation of man’s moral acts with its bodily exercise.[8]

6. The “‘creative’ understanding of moral conscience.” This boils down to relativism.[9]

7. A theory of fundamental option which disassociates one’s freedom with one’s concrete choices and acts.[10] More will be discussed about this below, in the following entry under, “Apologetics.”

8. The rejection of the doctrine of mortal and venial sins.[11]

9. A morality, called “teleology,” in which the final outcome of goods or values are weighed, searching for the “maximizing” of goods and the “minimizing” of evils.[12] Since the “teleological ethical theories (propotionalism, consequentialism)” never really come to any universal moral norm, the whole moral question is based no longer on the object, but only on the intention and maybe some circumstances; it is therefore wrong.[13] “Such theories… are not faithful to the Church’s teaching.”[14]

            He offers these principles to the Church to help us discern what is “sound doctrine” and what isn’t in the field of moral theology.[15]

1. The freedom of conscience needs to be upheld, not meaning the autonomy of the conscience in creating its own moral law. The conscience discerns that law, it does not invent it.[16]

2. This is a “genuine freedom,” which marvelously manifests how we are made in God’s image, God who is free and sinless.[17]

3. It is necessary to understand man’s autonomy not as an independence from the moral law, but as a power to answer God with a responsible and loving act of obedience to his will.[18] Man’s participation in the wisdom and providence of God can be called theonomy or participated theonomy.[19]

4. It is necessary to recognize the unity of the body and soul in the person.[20]

5. Morality has a universal dimension: what is good is good for all, what is evil is evil for all, and no moral act is truly private.[21]

6. The moral law is immutable.[22]

7. A proper understanding of the moral conscience is imperative.[23]

8. Adherence to the doctrine of the “intrinsic evil.”[24]

Now let us focus on one of the errors mentioned above more in depth.

            Proportionalism. Richard A. McCormick stated that “the vast majority of theologians known as proportionalists will rightly say that they do not hold or teach what the encyclical attributes to them.”[25] This is rather humorous, because it merely proves the ridiculously extreme subjectivity with which proportionalists have chained themselves.

            Proportionalism holds that in discerning moral goods, one has to put them in the balance. One looks at the situation, and judges which act will bring about the greater good, the better consequences, and the other goods involved, and then draws a subjective decision that an act is good or evil, that it should or should not be done.

            This theory rejects the Church’s teaching that there are intrinsically evil acts. Every moral act includes three things:

1.      An object, which is the thing one freely chooses to do.

2.      Intention, or finality for which the subject wants to do this act.

3.      The circumstances, such as time, place, amount, conditions, etc.

For any moral act to be good, all three must be good. If any one of these three elements is evil, the whole act is evil, and there is no good in it. An intrinsically evil act is that in which the object is evil. That is why abortion, for example, is intrinsically evil, and may never be done in any circumstance. Proportionalism more or less erases “object,” or some proportionalists consider the object to never be intrinsically good or evil, leaving the object always up to the free deliberation of a subject, usually for considerations of the consequences of the act, a theory which is an abomination.

            Acts actually change the person who does them. The objects of a person’s acts are the source of their morality (VS 78). The object of morality, therefore, is not a thing that can be balanced, but a choice which is done. (See VS 71-83.)

Main Points regarding Morality Addressed in the Encyclical

            When Veritatis Splendor had come out, I was on my way to Rome, just a few weeks from getting there. We heard many conferences from the best philosophers and theologians in Europe, and enjoyed commentary from many of the Cardinals.[26]  They helped us students glean some important points of the encyclical, not all of which I cite here, but only those most valuable points for our discussion tonight:

1.      The world is suffering from a moral crisis. It is a crisis that has its roots in European philosophy from the late middle ages on. Law was removed from truth and placed in the realm of legalism. Faith was torn away from nature and reason. The community was divided against the individual.

2.      Morality is one of the keys of the new evangelization. The Church has a mission from Christ, and morality is a necessary dimension of it, being a necessary dimension of man’s soul, which is the object of Christ’s salvation.

3.      Only the good can offer man the happiness he deeply longs for. Jesus Christ is, in turn, the supreme good, since he is God. The commandments and beatitudes, therefore, are as many roads that lead man to Christ (VS 7-14).

4.      The encounter with Christ is key for the pursuit of spiritual perfection. We are made through the Logos, the Word, and hence bear his image impressed upon us; we are called by the Spirit through our baptism to express this image by a moral life of what is good, not what is evil. (VS 15-21, 119)

5.      Grace and nature work together in man’s moral world. God inspires all good, man freely cooperates with these inspirations or not. Living in the state of grace strengthens man in living up to the law of the Gospel (VS 22-24, 102-103; cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II, qq. 106-108).

6.      The challenge of true autonomy is judged by the truth itself. One cannot say he is autonomous because he gives to himself the moral law. The law obliges objectively; man exercises his freedom by accepting this law or rejecting it. Freedom, therefore, is a gift! We participate in God’s infinite freedom when we embrace his law. (VS 31-41; The second chapter is the doctrinal nucleus of VS.)

7.      Reason can know natural law. Natural law is that order in the universe which man’s reason can apprehend; indeed, once he understands it, in a sense, his reason is that law, not in a subjective sense as if it originated from within one’s “creativity,” but in that his mind has now taken possession of the form of the truth. By faith, however, we know that all has been created in Christ (cf. Jn 1:1, ss.), so he is ultimately the supreme lawgiver (VS 42-53).

8.      The moral conscience should be formed by the Church. The conscience is an important part in the discussion of morality. The conscience is fragile and precious, and needs to be protected from sin, from contemporary psychoanalysis, and from ignorance. It is interior, and it can be in error; when in honest error, even then the conscience must be followed, and it must also be educated. Christ is the way, the truth and the life which should form every conscience. The Holy Spirit’s voice in the Magisterium should also be an educative force of the conscience. (VS 54-64).

9.      The Church rejects the theory of the Fundamental Option. The FO was discussed in an earlier unit of the Deposit of Faith series. Briefly, it states that morality does not depend on deeds, but on “where one’s heart is,” in a delightfully ambiguous way. Rather, morality depends on the object chosen, the intention, and the circumstances (VS 65-70).

10.  Moral acts are composed of object, intention and circumstances, and the object is the source of the act’s morality. (VS 71-83.)

11.  Morality is the source of all social doctrine of the Catholic Church. (VS 95-101.)

Conclusion

            In my short life, I have met those that are unwilling to tell people the truth, because they don’t want to offend them. I have even met priests that take delight in telling people that certain sinful acts aren’t sins, and I have met penitents that have, in tears, told horror stories of priests who encouraged them to stay in their sin. If there is a relationship between the good, the true and man’s happiness, then helping a person live a moral life is always the best way to procure that person’s happiness. If you love someone, help them live according to God’s law.

            This is done, of course, not by force, except in certain circumstances. One can be obliged to do what is good by one’s parents while still under their tutelage. What a sad thing it is to see parents who fail to discipline their children, or who say that their children must not be forced to go to Church so they can “pick their own religion” when they grow up. Such parents are bad parents, and condemn their own children to the worst horrors and sadness.

            Another instance where the good is forced upon one is in civil society. Lawmakers are obliged to make laws that correspond to the good which faith and reason discern, and to force members of that society to observe these laws, with both rewards and punishments. This is not a “legislation of morality,” as many “liberal”[27] thinkers today wish to use this easy taunt to discourage lawmakers from using moral sense to design laws, or from referring to what is objectively good when establishing society’s laws. Instead of a legislation of morality, as if they were dictating what is good, it is rather that they recognize what is good and legislate accordingly, making it a legislation according to morality, the morality of right reason.

Concluding Prayer

Lord God,

I renew my faith in Jesus Christ,

The Way, the Truth and the Life.

May I follow his teachings,

even to the point

of offering my blood or even my life,

if such would be the Father’s will.

Protect my conscience.

Give me the wisdom to discern what is good to do,

the sufficient obedience to my conscience to do it,

and the joy of having lived a life faithful to the truth.

Help me reject evil in all it’s manifestations,

to never find joy in evil should I be weak,

and to repent worthily after I may have sinned.

Make me a good son or daughter

of Mary, your Most Holy Mother,

Virgin and Queen of Angels,

so that she may protect me from harm,

lead me to you,

and accompany me into heaven,

by your infinite love and mercy.

Amen.