Christian morality is based on following Jesus and involves maintaining a relationship with God, keeping the commandments, and imitating Christ. Human acts can be morally evaluated based on three elements - the object, intention, and circumstances. Some acts are intrinsically evil due to their object, such as murder, and can never be justified. For an act to be morally good, all three elements must be good. Circumstances may increase or decrease responsibility but cannot make an intrinsically evil act moral. Overall, morality involves freely choosing to do good over evil through our actions.

1. Jesus
is the Ultimate
Moral Norm

2. Journey
to
HOLINESS

4. Christian
Morality
is our
Daily FOLLOWING
of
Jesus

5. What is Christian Morality?
The RICH YOUNG
MAN
Matthew 19:16-21

6. The RICH YOUNG MAN
What was the question ofthe richyoung man
to Jesus?

7. What good must I do to gain eternal life?

9. We have the innate YEARNINGto do what
is REALLY GOOD!

10. Christian Morality entails:
Be TRUE to our
Relationship
with God
Keep the
Commandments
Follow Christ

11. Jesus during His time, did not
measure up the norms of his
society.

12. Christian Morality
is the IMITATION of
CHRIST
Jesus taught that our basic dignity as human
persons depends Not Only On Measurable
World Standard, but rather ON GOD WHO
LOVES US AND CALLS US TO LOVE IN RETURN.

13. • “In Christ and through
Christ, we have acquired
full awareness of our
dignity, of the heights to
which we are raised, of
the surpassing worth of
our own humanity, and
the meaning of our
existence.”
REDEMPTORIS HOMINIS, 11

14.  Christian morality is
based on the teachings of Jesus
and hisChurch.
 SACRED SCRIPTURE
 TRADITION OF THE
CHURCH
The essence of
Jesus’ teaching is
LOVE.

16.  Refers to the sense of
rightness or wrongness of an
act.
From the Greek word MORES -
meaning: behavior

17. “a special kind of knowing --- a
‘knowing’ of WHAT OUGHT TO BE
DONE”
(Michael Pennock, 2001)
It is more than knowing the
principles, but acting upon it

18. “is either good or bad, right or
wrong based on some NORMS
that are either inherent in the act
or are observed due to some
individual or social conventional
acceptance”
 --- Manlangit

19.  Morality has to do with THE
WAY WE LIVE OUR LIVES.
Morality helps us TO JUDGE the difference
between right and wrong.
Once we know the difference between the
two, WE CAN DO WHAT IS RIGHT AND AVOID
WHAT IS WRONG.

20.  The ABILITY TO KNOW
right from wrong.
good from evil.
The ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH
what is appropriate from what is inappropriate.
The COMMITMENT
to do what is right.

21. To be a person is TO BE WITH
OTHERS.

25.  In March 1993, photographer Kevin Carter
made a trip to southern Sudan, where he
took now iconic photo of a vulture preying
upon an emaciated Sudanese toddler near
the village of Ayod.

Journalists in the Sudan were told not to
touch the famine victims, because of the risk
of transmitting disease, but Carter came
under criticism for not helping the girl.


26.  “The man adjusting his lens to take just the
right frame of her suffering might just as
well be a predator, another vulture on the
scene,” read one editorial.
 Carter eventually won the Pulitzer Prize for
this photo, but he couldn’t enjoy it. “I’m
really, really sorry I didn’t pick the child up,”
he confided in a friend.
 Haunted by the questions as to the little
girl’s fate, he committed suicide three
months later.

27. Nasaan ka sa larawang ito?

28. Can a human person be held
responsible for his/her
actions? Why?

29. WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS
• We possess intellect and will.
• We can think and choose
deliberately.

30. When we encounter moral situations,
we can act in a way that
WE KNOW IS RIGHT, or we can do the
opposite and act in a way that we know to be
wrong.

31. Which Action is subjected to
morality?

32. Human Acts? Acts of Man?

33. • Actions beyond one’s consciousness; not
dependent on the intellect & the will
• ESSENTIAL QUALITIES of Acts of Man
– Done with out knowledge
– Without consent
– Involuntary
• Ex: unconscious, involuntary, semi-deliberate,
spontaneous actions
• Acts of man can become human acts when he
employs his intellect & will in performing the act.
ACTS OF MAN (actus hominis)

34. • An act is not moral (amoral) when it is
accomplished without knowledge or
deliberation.
• These are the acts of a human.

35. “A moral person
knows the
difference between
right and wrong
and chooses to do
what is right.”
“An amoral
person has no
regard for any
standards of
right or wrong,
and just does
what he/she
likes.”
“An immoral
person knows the
difference
between right and
wrong and
chooses to do
what is wrong.”

36. HUMAN ACTS (actus humanus)
• Actions done CONSCIOUSLY and FREELY
by the agent/or by human person
• ESSENTIAL QUALITIES/ Constituent Elements
of Human Acts
1. Knowledge of the act
2. Freedom
3. Voluntariness
• Human person into responsibility of these
actions

37. HUMAN ACTS (actus humanus)
1. Knowledge of the act
resides in the intellect;
mindfulness of what the moral
agent is doing, thinking or willing;
knows what he is doing, end &
consequences

38. HUMAN ACTS (actus humanus)
2. Freedom
quality of the freewill by which
one is able to choose between two
alternatives
*lack of freedom – under
pressure/forced,

39. HUMAN ACTS (actus humanus)
3. Voluntariness
quality of human act where any
commission or omission of the act
is a result of the knowledge which
an agent has of the end
 requires full consciousness of the
nature of act & consequence

40. “Human acts (actus humanus) are actions
that proceed from insight into the nature
and purpose of one’s doing and from the
consent of free will.”
(Karl H. Peschke, Christian Ethics)

41.  An act carries with it MORAL
CONSEQUENCES when the agent exercises
his INTELLECT and WILL in performing the
act.
 These are human acts.

42. Human Act or Act of Man?
 Looking
 Seeing
 Dreaming
 Day dreaming
 Hearing
 Listening
 Walking
 Sleepwalking

43. ALL HUMAN ACT are
subjected to morality.
Human acts are different from
animal act because man by
nature ACTS TOWARDS AN
END.
His life has a purpose.

44. ACTS not morally accountable
• Acts of persons asleep or under hypnosis.
• Reflex actions where the will has no time to
intervene.
• Acts of performed under serious physical
violence
• e.g. a hostage obliged to do an evil action.
• Since the will is constrained, then it is not a
moral act which could be evaluated.

45. “Freedom makes man a moral subject.
When he acts deliberately, man is, so to
speak, the father of his acts. Human acts,
that is, acts that are freely chosen in
consequence of a judgment of
conscience, can be morally evaluated.
They are either good or evil.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church 1749)

46. What makes
something
wrong?
What makes
something
right?

47. Because we have free
will and reason,
we are responsible for
our acts
and our failures to act.
(sin of omission)

48. Morality and Human Acts
Human acts are MORALLY GOOD if they
are in agreement with these norms and
MORALLY EVIL if they are in
disagreement with them.
NORMS
MORAL LAW (OBJECTIVE)
CONSCIENCE (SUBJECTIVE)

49. We can judge whether our actions are
good or bad by reflecting on three
traditional sources of morality:
A. The object
B. The intentions
C. The circumstances
THE DETERMINANTS OF
MORALITY

50. A moral act depends on
whether or not there is
consent by the will.
HUMAN
ACTS
They
include…
1) Thought
2) Speech
3) Action

51. A human ACT IS GOOD if these three
elements are IN HARMONY with the
moral norm.
A human ACT IS MORALLY EVIL if
only one of these elements OFFENDS
the norm of morality.

52.  A. The OBJECT Chosen
(What I choose to do).
 B. The INTENTION
(Why I choose to do something).
 C. The CIRCUMSTANCES
(The what, where, when,
how of my actions).
THE DETERMINANTS OF
MORALITY

53. What is the Object Chosen?
 The object of the act is
that effect which an
action primarily and
directly causes (finis
operis)

54. What is the Object Chosen?
 In morality the Object
chosen is what we
choose to do, the act
itself.
 The act can have good
matter, bad matter, or
just be neutral.
 An example of a good
act could be tutoring a
classmate in math.

55. What is the Object Chosen?
What are the objects of
the following actions?
Theft
Abortion
Adultery
Almsgiving
Healing
Worship

56. Questions?
 What is one thing
you would consider
bad in itself?
 What is one thing
you would consider
good in itself?

57. JUDGING THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS
The moral object can either be
good (e.g. praying)
bad (e.g. stealing)
indifferent (e.g. eating)
The intention can be either good or bad.

58. What is “evil”?
Is the absence of GOOD

59. There are some acts that, of their very
nature, are “intrinsically evil”
 ‘incapable of being ordered’ to
God,
 because they radically
contradict the good of the
person made in his image.

60. GAUDIUM ET SPES, under the section “Respect
for the Human Person”, cites many examples of
human acts that are intrinsically evil due to the fact
that its object is evil:
ALL OFFENSES AGAINST LIFE
 murder,
 genocide,
 abortion,
 euthanasia, and
 willful suicide;

61.  There are some actions that are evil
by their very nature.
(e.g. murder, adultery).
 These are never morally allowable,
even if the intention and the
circumstances are good.
JUDGING THE MORALITY OF HUMAN
ACTS

62. human acts that are intrinsically evil due to the
fact that its object is evil:
ALL VIOLATIONS OF THE INTEGRITY OF
THE HUMAN PERSON
 mutilation,
 physical and mental torture,
 undue psychological pressures;

63. human acts that are intrinsically evil due to the fact
that its object is evil:
 subhuman living conditions,
 arbitrary imprisonment,
 slavery, prostitution,
 the selling of women and children,
 degrading working conditions where men are
treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and
responsible persons.
 ALL OFFENSES AGAINST HUMAN DIGNITY

64. THE INTENTION
What is the intention?
 A. The motive
 B. The purpose
 C. The end for
which we choose to
do something.

65.  Our intentions
answer why we
acted in a certain
way.
 the motive for
which a person
commits a good or
evil act
 Intentions
determine whether
our acts are
morally right or
wrong.

66. Intentions
 PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
An ACT which is GOOD in itself and is
done for a GOOD END is doubly GOOD.

67. Intentions
 An example of a good
intention:
 You tutor a friend
because you want him
or her to do well on the
upcoming test.
 In this example, what
you choose to do, the
Object, and why you
choose to do it are both
good.
 THE ACT IS GOOD.

68.  Our intentions may
also be mixed.
 Example: You can give
money to a charity for
two reasons:
 First, you wish to help the
poor.
 Second, you want to be
praised for your
generosity.

69. Intentions
 PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
An ACT which is BAD in itself and is
done for a BAD END is doubly BAD.

70. Intentions
 A key principle of Catholic morality :
A good intention can never make an
intrinsically evil action good.
The end does not justify the means.

71.  Robbing a bank
in order to help
the poor.
 Cheating to get
higher grades
so you can get
into Senior High
School.

72. Intentions
 PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
An ACT which is GOOD in itself and is
done for a BAD INTENTION
becomes BAD.

73.  Example:
complementing
someone just to
get a letter of
recommendation.
 In this case, one is
insincere and
deceitful using a
person to get
something you
want or need.

74. CIRCUMSTANCE
S
 Circumstances
are the how, who,
when, and where
of an act.
 It includes the
act’s
consequences. Circumstances can
lessen or increase
our responsibility
for an act.

75.  how – the manner in which the
act
is done
 who – the person acting
 when – the timing of an act
 where – the place where the act
occurs

76.  PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
Circumstance of Person
(DOER/AGENT)
An act of giving aid to orphans is good.
If the act is done by a Metro Aide (who is poor
himself/herself)
If it is done by a big-time businessman who earn
millions of pesos a week.

77.  PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
Circumstance of Person
(DOER/AGENT)
Stealing is bad.
It is worse if one steals from a beggar.
Than if he/she steals from a rich person.

78.  PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
Circumstance of Place
Creating scandal is bad.
It is worse when it is done inside the church
Than if it is done outside the church.

79.  PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
Circumstance of Time
Fasting is order to mortify oneself is good.
But it is better if one fasts during the designated
time or day.

80.  PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
Circumstance of Manner
A young man manages to have a sexual
relationship with a young woman who is not his
wife by making her believe in his false promise of
marriage.

81.  PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
Circumstance of Agent
Failure to attend Sunday Mass is bad in
itself.
But if a person is invincibly ignorant that it is
Sunday and fails to attend Mass, there is no sin
committed.

82.  PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
Circumstance of Thing
The money stolen is one million pesos
The object stolen is a relic (like the crown of St.
NIÑO)
Or the place desecrated is the church altar

83.  PRINCIPLES of Catholic morality :
Circumstance of Means
A person rob a bank
The robber is helped by the bank’s security
personnel
The robber is helped by an outsider.

84. 1. An act is morally good if the object of the
act itself, the intention, and the
circumstances are good.
2. If an act itself is intrinsically evil (evil by its
very nature), the act is never morally
allowable regardless of intention or
circumstances.

85. 3. If the object of the act is itself morally good
(or at least neutral), its morality will
be judged by the purpose or the circumstances.

86. 5. If all three moral elements (the object of the act
itself, the intention, and the circumstances) are
good, the act is good.
If any one element is evil, the act is evil.
4. Circumstances may create, mitigate, or
aggravate sin.

87.  A.The Catholic Faith
teaches that “wrong is
wrong, even if
everyone is doing it.”
 B. And that “right is
right, even though no
one else is doing it.”

88.  God is going to judge
us:
on our COURAGE
to choose what is
good in ALL
circumstances.