CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

COURSE CONTENT
Course Number: CFE 102
Course Description
The course introduces the students to the main themes of Christian Morality. It
searches more deeply, in the light of Christian faith, for the meaning in God‘s design for
humankind and creation of the plurality of moral issues and concerns with which we
(humankind/Christians) are surrounded most especially in the contemporary time. Christian
Morality asks what life is and seeks, in the light of Christian faith, to interpret the basic goal
or direction of humankind. It studies the relationship between revelation and faith, grace
and sin and faith and salvation. Christian Morality studies the various paradigm-shifts in
the context of the history of salvation and in their relationship to the mystery of Jesus Christ
and the Christian Church.
COURSE OUTPUT:
1. REACTION PAPERS OR REFLECTION PAPERS
(They are given during Classroom-mode)
2. POWER POINT PRESENTATION ON SPECIAL MORAL
TOPICS/ISSUES
(Topics to be agreed upon and approved by the Faculty; Written output to be
determined by the faculty)
3. ESSAYS
(Personal insights)
4. Written examinations, homework/assignment, activities and quizzes
NOTE: Submission of paper outputs to be determined by the Faculty in consultation with
students.
PERFORMANCE STANDARD
 Case study per periodical
 Case study by group
 Clippings/actual reliable sources
 Rubrics patterned from chapter 1

PRELIMS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
It is well known that the Philippines has continued to be one of the two Christian nations in
Asia. This religious setting was a tremendous force in shaping the country and is especially
manifested in the government and private sectors. However, it is also widely known that our
country is faced with injustice, political problems, and a dwindling sense of morality. A
common form of injustice faced by many Filipinos is poverty.
This course is designed for the freshmen CICM college students in their search for the
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

meaning of life in God, in and through Christ, the Way of Life and the Truth. This course
enables them to know what the Christian Community (Church) professes, celebrates, lives
and prays in her daily life, which is in agreement with the call of the Catholic Bishops‘
Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and at the same time, the vision of the Second Plenary
Council of the Philippines (PCP II), of a renewed integral evangelization which includes
renewed catechesis, renewed worship, and renewed apostolate.

TOPIC INTRODUCTION
Present-day phenomena – scientific and technological milestones, bursting talents and diverse
skills, globalized markets, surging democracies and willful exuberant voices – have painted a
roller coaster ride to the contemporary milieu of every man and woman. It is observed that
in the contemporary period, ―Reason is enthroned while faith or religion is dethroned.
Reason and its power are put at the center while faith and religion are at the margins.‖
Religion and faith have become ‗commodities‘ that are to be taken, but only when they are
needed.

Bernard Haring, has insisted, throughout his writings and over many years, that Christian life
must be understood as a response to God‘s self-offer in Christ and to God‘s invitation to a
relationship. One factor encouraging a return to virtue ethics, or at least to the rhetoric of
virtue, is the widespread perception that our society is in moral crisis. This presents the
challenge to translate the Christian faith into action. It gives a clearer view of the dignity of
the human person, being the agent of morality. It also guides the students to a better
understanding of the principles of morality. This would lead them to a deeper insight on the
Ten Commandments, culminating on Christ‘s Commandment of Love and the Beatitudes.
This chapter concludes with the precepts of the Church and a synthesis of the Catholic Social
Teachings. All of these are excellent bases of Christian behavior and a way of life, a life of
mission.

I. CHRISTIAN MORALITY: BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

Like in our personal experiences,

our world at present is experiencing
a fundamental crisis: A crisis in
global economy, global ecology,
and global politics. The lack of a
-Personal experiences of a good and a bad day
grand vision, the tangle of
(What makes it good? What makes it bad?)
unresolved problems, political
paralysis, mediocre political
leadership with little insight or
foresight, and in general too little
sense for the commonwealth are seen everywhere. Our present-day experience of global
crisis can be best characterized as:
Humans have become deaf and blind and insensitive to the physical, ethical and
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

religious degradation and desecration of the Earth that the anthropocentrism or

more specifically, the androcentrism of contemporary cultures and religions have
created. Likewise, human have been re-cast into techno-sapiens that favor much
of the technological advances at the expense of the homo sapiens and the natural
world. The Earth is no longer a source of calm and peace, no longer a pure
promise of goodness and happiness.

Hans Kung claims that the agony is so pervasive and urgent that we are compelled to name
its manifestations so that the depth of this pain may be made clear. Peace eludes us – the
planet is being destroyed – neighbors live in fear – women and men are estranged from
each other – children die! This is a situation that pushes people to the margins. This crisis
should bring us back to our sense. If this is done, there is a chance that our sense of the holy
can be saved. We need a new worldview, a worldview that emphasizes the integrity of
creation. By this we mean, the value of all creatures in and for themselves, for one another,
and for God, and their interconnectedness in a diverse whole that has unique value for God,
together constitute the integrity of creation. To achieve this goal, confidence in the power
of science and technology or human power be replaced, if not tempered, by confidence in the
God of biblical tradition. The
human vocation to be God‘s
co-creators must be relaunched in
order for a habitable world to
emerge.
(The Creation Story)
An interpretation of the story on
creation tells us that at the summit …Then God said, ―Let us make humankind in
of creation stand man and woman, our image, according to our likeness; and let
made in God‘s image. The Bible them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
vigorously, affirms the sacredness over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and
or dignity of every person. The over all the wild animals of the earth, and over
story proclaims that we enjoy this every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.‖
So God created humankind in his image, in the
dignity, by virtue of God‘s love,
image of God he created them; male and female
which shapes us prior to any
he created them. God blessed them, and God
personal achievements or social said to them, ―Be fruitful and multiply, and fill
attributes. If we were to identify the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over
ourselves with a role (I am the the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air
president of the SSC), an and over every living thing that moves upon the
achievement (I am the highest earth. (Genesis 1:26-28)
pointer in our basketball team), or
social attribute (I am the reigning
Ms. Baguio), then we would miss
the truth that our dignity comes
primarily from our relationship to God.
A primary principle of moral and spiritual life is that our human dignity does not depend on
human achievement, but it is a gift of divine love, which is grace, we will remain God‘s
image. We will enjoy a sacred dignity – whether we sin or not, whether we are socially
acceptable or not. This situation invites us once more to think and critically reflect about
the meaning of human dignity. This invitation is crucial for it provokes us to think in order
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

to make a holistic approach in understanding

what it means to be human and in responding
to the problems and real situations and issues
CHURCH TEACHING of the society we are confronted with.

The truth about creation is so

important for all of human life 1. As a Creation of God (Human person is a
that God in his tenderness Subject,Human person as an embodied
wanted to reveal to his People Subject)
everything that is salutary to To speak of the human person as a subject
know on the subject. Beyond is to say that the person is in charge of his/her
the natural knowledge that own life. The person is a moral agent with a
every man can have of the certain degree of autonomy & self
Creator, God progressively determination empowered to act according to
revealed to Israel the mystery of his conscience, in freedom, and with
creation. He who chose the knowledge. The great moral implication of
patriarchs, who brought Israel the person as subject is that no one may ever
out of Egypt, and who by use a human person as an object or as a means
choosing Israel created and to an end the way we do other things of the
formed it, this same God reveals world. Every right entails a duty of demanding
himself as the One to whom respect for them. And so we must respect the
belong all the peoples of the other as an autonomous agent capable of acting
earth, and the whole earth itself; with the freedom of an informed conscience.
he is the One who alone "made Exploitation of human person for one‘s own
heaven and earth".(CCC 287 advantage is never allowed. We show respect
for the human person as a subject by
guaranteeing that he/she can act on the basis of
a duly informed and free conscience.
As a subject, the human person, is
normally called to be conscious, to act according to his conscience, in freedom and in
responsible manner. A person is responsible not only for what he or she does, but also far
more profoundly for who he or she is. That is why freedom is so fundamental to this
dimension of the human person. Moreover, in the first instance it does not mean simply
freedom to choose. It means freedom to be –to accept oneself and to become oneself. Our
traditional understanding of morality takes this ‗subject‘ dimension as its starting-point.
Morality is about our responsibility for what we do and the kind of person we choose to
become. That is why a certain minimum level of freedom and understanding have always
been taken as pre-requisites for moral responsibility.
2. As an image and Likeness of God (unique, believer, redeemed by Jesus, temple
of the Holy Spirit)
This aspect is among the essential dimensions of being a human person. Without it, our
attempt to delineate the major dimensions of being a human person would be fundamentally
flawed. To omit this dimension would be to give a seriously incomplete account of the human
person. Such an account, therefore, would not correspond to reality as we know it.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

We interpret the ―know and worship God‖ dimension of being a human person as being a
way of expressing the openness of the human person to the experience of transcendence. This
refers to our capacity to be lost in wonder before the mystery of reality. It is that dimension of
us that is able to register ‗mystery‘ and not just ‗puzzlement‘ in face of those experiences in
life which go beyond the limits of our human comprehension. The roots of this dimension do
not lie in our ignorance, the fact that we encounter certain phenomena whose causes we
cannot determine for the present. Its roots lie not in our ignorance but in the wealth of our
understanding. It is almost as though the more we come to understand reality, the more we
are led to be lost in wonder before it.
This dimension of being human asks the question of the meaning and truth of Ultimate
Reality not only as it is in itself but as it is existentially related to us. This raises the whole
question of revelation, the possibility of a special self-disclosure of this ‗Ultimate Reality‘ to
human beings. Christianity believes that such a self-disclosure has actually taken place in the
history of a particular people and most uniquely in the person of Jesus Christ.
3. As a social Being (Human Person is essentially inter relational with other
human persons, Human Person are interdependent social beings)
Fundamental equality is not claiming that we are all equally gifted, whether in terms of
intelligence, or beauty, or temperament, or whatever. Its basis lies in the fact that we are all
members of the human species. Human persons are individuals belonging to the species
humankind.
Fundamental equality as members of the one species goes hand in hand with uniqueness as
individuals within that species. This truth too has very special significance for the human
person. This uniqueness contains degree of originality which is not found in any other species.
It links in with the other dimensions of the human person we have already looked at. For
instance, as autonomous subjects we are not just individual human clones. We are persons
who, in one sense, are self-creating and, in another sense, are the creations of our social,
cultural, and familial history. How that combination of influences actually touches each one
of us is also unique, as is our personal response to all these factors. Moreover, our originality
is increased still further by the web of interpersonal relationships which form the texture of
our lives.
4. As a steward (Human person is Part of the Material world, Human Person is a
historical being)
As body persons we are part of the material world. To be part of the material world holds
born great potential & serious limitation. The potential is that, created in God‘s image with
the mandate to bring the earth under human control, we can act as co-agents with God to
make the world a continuously more livable place. The developments of science &
technology are certainly helping us to do that. But human creations are ambiguous. This
dimension of our being a human person raises the question of our standing vis-à-vis the rest
of the material world. There is no doubt that as human persons we depend on the rest of
material creation. We cannot live without air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat. We need
warmth and shelter. We constitute a major element in natural ecosystems. Moreover, the
undulating history of civilization is a story of the progressive transformation of ‗nature‘ into
technology and culture. Moving from an early stage of hunters and gatherers, ‗discovering‘
fire and ‗inventing‘ the wheel, we have gradually unearthed the hidden potentialities of the
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

rest of the material creation. We have developed new forms of energy, communications,

MISSIONARY RESPONSE:
Realizing the basic nature of the person as good, we reinforce in our everyday life
the following:
1.identifying our bad habits (vices) and do something to avoid them.
2. Maintaining our good habits
a. daily prayers and worship to God
b. Acts of kindness with those in need
c. care for our environment (surrounding)
d. fellowship with our family

transport, construction materials, etc.

Human technology has gone far beyond the standard way the ordinary operations of natural
activity work. We have not only been able to appreciate the beauty of the natural world; we
have also been able to use material things to create new forms of beauty in art and
architecture, in music and literature. Moreover, this relationship is not just one of our
dependence on the rest of the material world. Increasingly the rest of the material world is
becoming dependent on us for its survival. In us our world has developed the power of
self-destruction or at least of bringing to an end the continuation of higher forms of life on
our planet. At a less profound level than this, the rest of the material world is being more
and more affected by the way the human family chooses to live. There is no doubt therefore,
that our relationship with the rest of creation is one of interdependence and that this
interdependence is a fundamental dimension of being a human person.

R Austin, Flannery, OP (Gen. Ed.), Vatican Council II: The Conciliar Documents. Vol 1, New York:
E Costello Publishing Co., 1984.
A
D Benedict XVI. Deus Caritas Est: Encyclical Letter of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI on
I Christian Love. Pasay City: Paulines Publishing House, 2006.
N Dewey, Robert E. and Gould, James A. Freedom: Its history, nature and varieties. New York: The
G Macmillian Company, 1970.
S
Kelly, Kevin. New Direc

tions in Moral Theology: The Challenge of Being Human. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1992.

McKeating, Colm. The Call to Mission: A Biblical Retreat. Makati City: St. Pauls, 2010.

Peschke, Karl H., S.V.D. Christian Ethics: Moral Theology in the Light of Vatican II. Manila: Logos
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

Publications, Inc., 2012.

Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. God and the World: Believing and Living in our Time (A conversation
with Peter Seewald). Trans. by Henry Taylor. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002.

Serafini, Anthony. Ethics and Social Concerns. New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1989.

Weaver, Darlene Fozard. The Acting Person and Christian Moral Life. Washington, D.C.:
Georgetown University Press, 2011.

II. GUIDES TO CHRISTIAN MORAL DECISIONS

Just as we need these road signs in our way to the school, we too need directions in our life.
Guides in our life must be understood as positive response to the challenge of keeping the
loving relationship. They refer to necessary means toward achieving restorative justice in a
relationship. Clearly, this signals a
paradigm shift from the negative
sense of the imperatives as
CONTEXT burdensome obligations to keep.
Instead these guides must be seen as
- Familiarize yourself with these roads signs. responsible acts of freedom in the
Name as many as you can. context of the Covenant as loving
relationship. The guides are
expressions of God‘s intervention in
the concrete, free, interpersonal
relationships of people with one
another in the light of what is true,
good, and just. Given this new
emphasis, any talk of punishment
will have to be understood a
consequence of our misuse and abuse
of freedom.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

The Sermon on the Mount is

a good place to begin. Since
this is the longest recorded
statement of Jesus Christ‘s
teachings, we should do.
One of the reasons for some
(The Fulfillment of the Law)
of Jesus‘ statements in the
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I Sermon on the Mount is
have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, that—because His preaching
until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the was so different from that of
least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until the Pharisees and
everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of Sadducees—some people
the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be believed His intention was to
called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and subvert the authority of
teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of God‘s Word and substitute
heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of His own in its place. But His
the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter real intention was to
the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5:17-20)
demonstrate that many of the
things the Pharisees and
Sadducees had taught all
along were contrary to the original teachings of the Torah of Moses, the first five books of
the Bible.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

The Ten Commandments are a rock because they express the providential sovereignty of God.
When we read the account in Exodus of Moses‘ reception of the Ten Commandments, we see
how clearly the question of God‘s sovereignty and God‘s providence are one. Only by
recognizing the powerful care of God can the Israelites dedicate themselves trustfully to
God‘s own guidance. And, so God establishes God‘s own sovereignty in their midst precisely
for their benefit.
Obeying and heeding the Ten Commandments is then a way of entering into the presence of
our caring and giving God. Like Moses on the mountain, we get a glimpse of our providential
God through the Commandments themselves. But that glimpse is only possible for a people
of faith who recognize the sovereignty of God and of God‘s name. It is in doing that we see
only through prayer and with abiding devotion can we grasp the rock of Christian morality.
From that perspective, too, we return to the original moral task to do good and avoid evil.
For Benedict XVI, man‘s search for common truth among cultures leads him to the
knowledge of the basic rules of morality as they are found in the form of the Ten
Commandments. The Ten Commandments form the concrete answer to man‘s quest about
the foundations of freedom. To have a better understanding, let us take the commandments
individually.

1. The First Commandment

“I‟ the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of
slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me.” (Ex. 20:2-3)

The first commandment suggests that it is very important to properly understand who God is
because the act of the person is definitely influenced by his belief. There must be a focus to
one‘s vision or goal. Not surprisingly the first commandment begins with a narrative
reminding us that God rescued the people of Israel from Egypt. God is merciful and God
alone delivers his people. Like those who were cured of their leprosy in the New Testament
accounts, we are called in that commandment to see that we have been touched by the hand
of God. Only that hand of God saves.

The first commandment therefore, calls us to attention: to wake up to the history of God‘s
initiative saving actions in our own lives. It calls us to see how God has kept us in being,
through God‘s own merciful hand, guiding, directing, healing, and sustaining us. It
commands us then first to consider God‘s mercy in our own specific, ordinary lives and then
to recognize the Lordship of the One whose tender mercies touch us so concretely. For
when we know how well we are rescued, we know that we have encountered God.

2. The Second Commandment

“You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God in vain. For the Lord will not leave
him unpunished who takes his name in vain.” (Ex. 20:7)

How is it, then, that we invoke the name of the Lord? When we utter the name of God, do
those around us know who God is for us? Do they recognize that for us (and for them) Jesus
is our Savior? Clearly in our culture today many people invoke the name of the Lord
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

frequently and rarely is that invocation anything but self-serving. Our culture bandies the
name of the Lord with incredible abandon and, not surprisingly, refers to our age as the
post-Christian world. For by taking the name of the Lord in vain, our culture tries to
marginalize the Lord.
Given our culture‘s callous treatment of the name of God, then, we need now more than ever
to avoid participating in any way in its attempts to isolate the Lord of history from our world.
We must be attentive in the way we invoke the Lord‘s name. We must also be attentive to
another problem. As several recent writers have noted, our culture quietly marginalizes those
who take the name pf the Lord seriously. Their message is simple: genuine thinkers do not
believe. In the face of the silent but audible message, how do we take the name of the Lord?
Does the ―sophistication‖ of the world in any way inhibit what we want to convey when we
utter the name of Jesus? Are we intellectuals intimidated by our peers‘ own quiet attempts to
ridicule our faith in the name of the Lord? How much do we tangibly muted by their
estimation?
The second commandment wonderfully reminds us that uttering another‘s name discloses the
speaker‘s estimation of the one named. From the beginning of our journey in faith, God has
invited us to be attentive to the way we voice the Lord‘s name. Today the same
commandment urges us in our ordinary human intercourse to get into the habit of expressing
the Lord‘s name with loving reverence, for our benefit and for our cultures.
3.The Third Commandment
“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath Day.” (Ex. 20:8)
Understanding the purpose of the third commandment is understanding what God wants for
us. That is, like all the commandments, the third one exists because God wishes to for us
through it. Just as God gave us the fourth commandment so that we would love and respect
our elders and the fifth so that we would live peaceably with one another, God gave us the
third commandment so that we would ―rest‖, ―celebrate‖, and ―gather‖. For these reasons
God commands us to keep the Lord‘s day holy.
In the Old Testament, the commandment appears primarily to imitate God, who rested on the
Sabbath. One of the most productive scholars here at Weston Jesuit, the New Testament
theologian Dan Harrington, ascribes to the third commandment by saying that God wanted us
to rest. This man, who writes books more than anyone I know and is dedicated to
understanding and teaching the Scriptures, does no work on Sunday. He begins keeping the
day holy by worshiping God. He celebrates the liturgy on Sunday precisely to acknowledge
that he participates in the rest that God enjoys. The reason for the third commandment then is
to teach us to recognize our limits and to enjoy them as God-given .
The second reason is celebration, interestingly, the early Christians did not rest on Sundays.
On the contrary, lest they be understood as idle, they worked as everyone else did. But when
they gathered to worship they honored the Lord‘s day by celebrating it. Here we see, too, that
the very meaning for the Christians celebrating the Lord‘s day is through the Eucharist,
which itself means ―thanksgiving‖. through the Eucharist, Christians gather to keep holy the
Lord‘s day, by celebrating in our lives the one who redeemed us by his body and blood and
who promises to come again. Our celebration is at once an act of memorial and an act of
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

anticipation: we remember what Jesus Christ has accomplished and we express our
expectation of what he pledges. Nothing conveys this more than our response to the
consecration in the Eucharistic prayer: ―Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come
again. ‖
4. The Fourth Commandment
“Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the
Lord, your god is giving you.” (Ex. 20:12)
The fourth commandment speaks of respect, reverence, and care that the Israelites need to
show to the elders. It is primarily a great piece of social and humanitarian legislation. For
the Israelites, wisdom was considered the gift of old age, and upholding tradition and
continuity with the past was the indispensable responsibility of the aged. In a community
that consists more of the young than the elderly, this particular commandment guides the
entire community towards maturity as people.
The fourth commandment calls us to move beyond reconciliation and beyond the narratives
that we have analyzed, accepted, and shared. It urges us to respect, promote, and protect the
integrity of the family as society‘s basic unit. As Benedict XVI puts it beautifully, ―this is
in fact the Magna Carta of the family… This basic and enduring respect for the human being
is the most important aspect of the commandment.‖
We are called to let those before us obedience, but now to speak again, not as parents
commanding obedience, but as adults sharing with us their formative years and their
experiences that occurred before we were born. We are called to become familiar with their
memories, so as to honor them. We are invited to know them as they knew us; as children,
teenagers, young adults. We are summoned to walk with them as they talk and as they
move eventually toward a new childhood of their own.
5. The Fifth Commandment
“You shall not kill.” (Ex. 20:13)
We have always started with the gift of life in order to understand the fifth commandment.
Wherever we find the Ten Commandments in Christian writings, whether the new Catechism
or the Tridentine one, whether Luther‘s Large or Small Catechism or Calvin‘s Institutes, we
always see the Christian‘s respect for life before engaging the specifics of the
commandment‘s prohibition. We only understand the seriousness of the fifth commandment
when we appreciate the sacred importance of human life.
In fact, John Paul II has helped us to appreciate more than the sacredness of life by
elaborating on that teaching. Prior to his papacy, sanctity of life basically considered human
life as God‘s dominion: what belonged to God was not ours to violate. Simply put, life was
God‘s property; we had no options on it. This use of ―sanctity‖ appeared elsewhere. For
instance, the sanctity of marriage meant that Christian marriage was God‘s Bond; we had no
right to violate the bond that belonged to God. Likewise, we spoke of the sanctity of the
temple. In applying ―sanctity‖ to life, then, sanctity was not derived from anything belonging
to our nature: like the sanctity of marriage or of temple, sanctity derived from the Owner.
Gerry Coleman, the previous writer of the CHURCH column on moral theology, wrote eight
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

years ago: ―What makes killing forbidden is that it usurps a divine prerogative and violates
divine rights‖. Sacredness rested not on anything intrinsic to the bond, the temple, or life, but
rather simply I the fact they were divine possessions. The fifth commandment was, the, about
not violating God‘s property and sovereignty.
John Paul II expanded on this tradition. Early, in Celebrate Life (1979), he signaled his
interest: ―The Church defends the right to life, not only in regard to the majesty of the Creator,
who is the first giver of this life, but also in respect of the essential good of the human
person.‖ The Pope suggested that God created within the human something that made human
life sacred. Later in his encyclical Donum vitae (1987) he expanded on this:

Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the ‗creative action of God‘
and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone
is Lord of the life from its beginning until its end: no one can in any circumstance, claim for
himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being (Intro., 5).

The Pope brings then the question of God‘s dominion into play with us as created persons,
not properties in relationship with God. This passage is in fact key for understanding all his
later writings on life: precisely the text introduces the fifth commandment in the new
Catechism.
6. The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery.” (Ex. 20:14)

Adultery is the sin of a married man having sexual relations with anyone other than his wife or
a married woman having sexual relations with anyone other than her husband. In the Old
Testament, adultery was understood as sexual relations between a married (or bethrothed)
woman and a man other than her husband. It was therefore a sin against the husband woman.
In the New Testament, Jesus extended the definition of adultery to include sexual relations
between a married man and a woman other than his wife (Mk. 10:11-12, Luke 16:18). other
New Testament teachings also understand it that way (1 Cor. 6:15-16, 1 Cor
7:2).http://www.christianbiblereference.org/faq_adultery.htm

The sixth commandment stands as a witness to the fact that it is in our bodies that we declare
ourselves for one another. In marriage, this is classically expressed in sexual relations. But
when we realize that our relationships depend on our bodies, then we realize that the sixth
commandment is not only talking about sexual relations, but also about every corporeal
expression. A kiss, a touch, an embrace, and a smile communicate the essence of a variety of
relationships. The sixth commandment stands then as a reminder that every time we
physically extend ourselves to another we nurture the faithful bonds we share with one
another.
It also warns us against any inappropriate expressions. Above all, it warns us that violating
our vows is not ―just a physical thing.‖ Violating them is an act of betrayal.We can not
distinguish our vows from our embodied relationships with one another. But those vows are
not only violated y inappropriate sexual activity but also through any physical action that
contradicts the vow. A slap, a punch, a sneer, or a shove contradicts any vowed relationship
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

we have. Just as these actions are violations, similarly the failure to extend oneself to one‘s
spouse is an abandonment of that relationship. For the Christian one need not simply leave
one‘s dwelling to abandon one‘s spouse; rather withholding any evidence of affection,
tenderness, care or concern is itself an act contradicting the pledge to one another.
In a manner of speaking the sixth commandment is specifically addressed to married to
people, but it serves also as a paradigm for all other relationships. For just as the relationship
between Christ and the people of god serves as a model for married people, so too married
people in the humanity of their relationship to one another serve as a model for all
relationships. Evidently married life serves as a model for vowed religious in their similar
commitment to chastity, which embodies their commitment to co0religious as well as those
with whom and for whom they serve. But it also serves as a sign to their children and their
children‘s children that love shows itself in deeds rather than in words, and that loving deeds
are always deeply, physically human ones.
7. The Seventh Commandment
“You shall not steal.” (Ex. 20:15)
Originally, the seventh commandment does not refer to a prohibition of possessing other‘s
property by way of stealing or theft. It actually points to the original intention that forbids
the enslavement of a free Israelite. It forbids any member of the covenant community from
claiming ownership of or exercising control over another. This means that the
commandment is intended to safeguard the freedom and equality of each individual in the
community. It also recognizes God‘s sovereignty over his people.
In today‘s age of globalization, in an age that is marked by economic competition and market
pursuits, this commandment reminds us that being upright in life is more primordial than
having. Benedict XVI expresses this alarm, ―we can see how the world of possessions takes
powerful hold upon people‘s lives. The more they have, the more they are dominated and
enslaved by what they have, because they have to be giving ever more attention to preserving
and increasing those possessions.‖
8. The Eight Commandment
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Ex. 20:16)
This commandment does not simply refer to the prohibition of telling a lie, but refers to those
greater values: freedom and justice. Bearing false witness against another would put the
innocent in prison and the guilty would remain free. In the early Israelite community, there
was already a consciousness of justice and freedom. Every just act done by an individual is
an act of justice to God, while every unjust act done to a member is an injustice to God. The
Isrealites believed and were made aware of the fact that their juridical procedures were meant
to protect the individual from such injustice and thus to protect society from the wrath of
God.
We need to recognize the challenge today to speak what we believe. We need to recognize
the call for clear leadership to guide all one of us in the pursuit of the truth. We need to invite
one another to speak the truth as we understand it, so that in a loving and respectful context
we may together discover and articulate the truth as it really is. That‘s not an ideal; it is a
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

command.
9. The Ninth and the Tenth Commandments
“You shall not covet your neighbor‟s house. You shall not covet your neighbor‟s wife,
nor his male or female slave, nor his ox, nor anything else that belongs to him.” (Ex. 20:17)
Our desires are, then, about those whom we love. In fact, if we were to talk about moral
theology or ethics, as Saint Augustine once did, we would call it ordering of loves. The
ethical enterprise is about putting our loves in order. In this way we achieve our deepest
desires.Our ordered loves help us to realize them.
For this reason the ninth commandment reminds us that we ought to put no other person in
the way of our ordered loves. No other person ought to be the cause of our jeopardizing those
loves and our deepest desires. The ninth commandment warns us against the possibility of
throwing the entire complexity of our relationships aside by another relationship. We know
this possibility to be true. Husbands or wives who pursue another spouse harm not only
themselves and the other‘s spouses, but the children, parents, and friends involved in those
marriages. The damage from adultery is far more extensive than what is felt by two or three
persons involved. But the ninth commandment concerns not only married persons. Single
people, clergy, and vowed religious know that it is possible to endanger so many of our
relationships by the emotional pursuit that contradicts the commitments we presently enjoy.
We know how certain personal entanglements can compromise us and our relationships and
we know that so many persons can be adversely affected by such entanglements.
Coveting is such an ordinary disposition that we do not recognize how frequently we do
covet until we really stop and think about it. Some of us cover success more than property.
We would like the parish in such and such a neighborhood; we would like to be selected for
this particular board or committee; we would like to win a particular recognition. Though we
may not be aware of everything we covet, we can be sure that there are several things in life
that we covet. Sometimes it is good to list what we really covet if only to find out what it is
we would like to have. Bringing what we covet to the surface or our own consciousness
keeps us from being blind to the subtle messages that influence many of our ordinary
decisions. For what we covet usually reminds us of where our dissatisfaction really are.
The tenth commandment is a perfect complement to the first one. The first one reminds us
that God is God, that God delivers and protects us, and that in gratitude we should place no
false gods. Before us. Likewise, the last commandment reminds us that we have much to be
grateful for and that we should not pine after what is not ours; it warns us against false idols.
It invites us to see where we are, to reflect on our lot as more gift than achievement, and to
have hope in the future, accepting it as an opportunity for moving dynamically forward with a
liberating sense of satisfaction with how well life‘s journey is going.
The tenth commandment is like all the other commands from God, a command leading us to
our happiness. It is a gift that warns us against a double misery and offers instead a double
happiness: a happiness with our present lot and a calm expectation for our future.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

R Austin, Flannery, OP (Gen. Ed.), Vatican Council II: The Conciliar Documents. Vol 1, New York:
E Costello Publishing Co., 1984.
A Benedict XVI. Deus Caritas Est: Encyclical Letter of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI on Christian
D Love. Pasay City: Paulines Publishing House, 2006.
I Bulatao, Romano. ―Towards a Critical Hermeneutics of the Torah.‖ Saint Louis University Research
N Journal, vol. 38 no. 2 (2007) :253-271.
G
Haggerty, Brian A. Out of the House of Slavery: On the Meaning of the Ten Commandments. New
S York:Paulist press, 1978.

Keenan, James F., S.J. Commandments of Compassion. Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian Publications,
2001.

Kelly, Kevin. New Directions in Moral Theology: The Challenge of Being Human. London: Geoffrey
Chapman, 1992.

Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. God and the World: Believing and Living in our Time (A conversation
with Peter Seewald). Trans. by Henry Taylor. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002.

B. CHRIST’S COMMANDMENTS (Jesus’ teachings on the commandments)

At the center of the life and ministry of Jesus was the coming of the kingdom or reign of God.
His parables about the kingdom pointed to the basic truth: a loving God who unconditionally
offers love and life and cares so much for humanity. Jesus‘ actions stood alongside his
proclamation: He acted as God would act. His cause was God‘s cause, and God‘s cause is
the cause of humanity. Jesus translated God‘s action to human beings. To act as Jesus did
is the praxis of the kingdom. This praxis shows what the kingdom is all about: the reign of
God in the lives of people, now and in the future.

Jesus replied: ” „Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind.‟ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the
second is like it: „Love your neighbor as yourself.‟ (Matthew 22:37-39)
Jesus‘ person and work was experienced by people of God‘s caring and abiding presence,
especially among the poor, the outcasts, the helpless, and the sinners. To participate in
God‘s kingdom, Jesus called people to metanoia (conversion). Metanoia expresses a new
relationship with God, a relationship which brings about the newness of the human person,
leading to a new relationship with the neighbor. Metanoia demands an attitude of absolute
hope. The kingdom of God as gift of salvation points to our becoming human, the
happiness of human beings, the fullness of life. Jesus‘ ministry is an unconditional
commitment to both God and humanity- an indissoluble unity.
The faith we have received declares that Jesus Christ revealed and accomplished the
Father‘s plan of saving the world and the whole of humanity because of “who he is” and
“what he does because of who he is.” There is an internal communion of life of the Blessed
Trinity and the unity of the three Persons in the plan of creation and redemption… We cannot
isolate or separate one Person from the other, since each is revealed only within the
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

communion of life and action of the Trinity. The saving action of Jesus has its origin in the
communion of the Godhead, and opens the way for all who believe in him to enter into
intimate communion with the Trinity and with one another in the Trinity.
“He who has seen me has seen the Father”, Jesus claims (Jn 14:9). In Jesus Christ alone
dwells the fullness of God in bodily form (cf. Col 2:9), establishing him as the unique and
absolute saving Word of God (cf. Heb 1:1-4). As the Father‘s definitive Word, Jesus makes
God and his saving will known in the fullest way possible. “No one comes to the Father but
by me. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6), because “the Father who dwells in
me does his works” (Jn 14:10). Only in the person of Jesus does God‘s word of salvation
appear in all its fullness, ushering in the final age (cf. Heb 1:1-2).
R Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines. Catholic Bishops Conference of
E the Philippines. Manila.
A Compendium of Catechism of the Catholic Church. Caryana Lay Monastic Community.
D
E.C.E.R.I.(1994) Maturing in christian faith. National Catechetical Directory of the Philippines. Manila:
I Saint Paul Publication.
N
Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education. The catholic faith catechism. Manila,
G
Philippines: Word and Life, 1993.
S
Tiempo, Alex (2005). Social philosophy: foundations of values education. Philippines: Rex Bookstore,

UNESCO-APNIEVE Sourcebook (2006).Learning to live together. Philippines: Lithweke

Company.New American Bible

Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education (ECCCE). (1984). National Catechetical
Directory for the Philippines, Manila.

___________. (1994). Catechism for Filipino Catholics. Makati City, Philippines: Word and Life,
1994.

___________. (1994). Catechism of the Catholic Church. Manila, Philippines: Word & Life, 1994.

Santa Barbara, Luis (2005) This is our faith. Philippines: Claretian Publication.

Tolhurst, James. A Concise Catechism for Catholics: A Simple Exposition of Catholic

Doctrine. Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 1993.

Pilch, J.J. (2012). A cultural handbook to the bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B Eerdmans
Pub.

Harris, S.L. (2012). The New Testament : a student's introduction. 7th ed.New York, N.Y. :
McGraw-Hill

Bible. N.T. Gospels. (2011). The four Gospels : catholic personal study edition. Quezon City :
Pastoral Bible Foundation,

Casey, M. (2010). Jesus of Nazareth : an independent historian's account of his life and teaching.
New York, N.Y.: T&T Clark International,

Kroeger, James (2014). Walking in the Light of Faith. St. Pauls, Makati City, Philippines
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

C. The (Catholic) Church’s Social

Teachings

CHURCH TEACHING At the end of the 19th century, Pope Leo

XIII wrote the first social encyclical The
Condition of Labor (Rerum Novarum,
Jesus acknowledged the Ten 1891). This event started a process of
Commandments, but he also showed conscientization in our Church. Slowly,
the power of the Spirit at work in their Christians become aware that their vision
letter. He preached a "righteousness of salvation should not be limited to the
[which] exceeds that of the scribes and salvation of the individual and that, as
Pharisees" as well as that of the Church, we should have a message about
Gentiles. He unfolded all the demands the liberation and transformation of
of the Commandments. "You have society.
heard that it was said to the men of old,
'You shall not kill.' . . . But I say to you Since the time of Pope Leo XIII, a chain
that every one who is angry with his of social encyclicals have been published.
brother shall be liable to judgment." They offer guidelines on how to live the
good news of Jesus in society. Many
(CCC 2054)
Christians believe that these encyclicals
“It is because of a great mystery of surpass in quality the social teachings of
perfection that God‟s commandments liberals, socialists, and Marxists alike.
are contained in the Decalogue.” The highpoint of the Church‘s social
(Saint Augustine) teaching is found in the encyclicals of
Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.
“Law is nothing other than a certain PCP II presents some key themes of this
ordinance of reason for the common teaching, containing ―the principles of
good, promulgated by the person who reflection,‖ ―criteria of judgment,‖ and
has the care of the community.” ―directives for action,‖ oriented towards
(Thomas Aquinas) moral conduct.
This way of understanding ‗Catholic
social teaching‘, therefore, seems to
acknowledge that if it is to be effective
and not merely platitudinous in its generality, it needs to be wedded to a process of dialogue,
involving people who are competent in determining what needs to be done. This is exactly
the methodology which the US Bishops‘ Conference has followed in producing its major
pastoral letters, The Challenge of Peace (1983) and Economic Justice for All (1986). In both
instances the bishops held a series of public ‗hearings‘ of experts and those working in the
field, and they published two ‗draft‘ versions of each document. Likewise, in his pilgrimages
to various countries throughout the world, Pope John Paul II seems to have been at pains to
get properly briefed by people familiar with each country and, in some cases at least, has
even left preparation of his addresses substantially in the hands of the Local Church.
Principles of Church (Catholic) Social Teachings

Christianity has always been with social justice. The roots go back to the foundations of the
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

Judeo-Christian tradition. A group of slaves finds liberation from Egypt and is given land of
their own. Jesus perfects Israel‘s experience of social justice. Of the poor himself, his
ministry by and large concerns the poor who have a special place in God‘s affection. Like the
prophets before him, Jesus rebuked the rich of his day for their indifference toward their poor
brothers and sisters. And he overcomes the social barriers. Among his followers and intimate
friends are women who even today in our society are not treated equally. A Christianity
without social commitment is not full Christianity.
From the wellspring of the Church‘s social doctrine emerges a moral and spiritual vision of
the human person and of society. This doctrinal corpus challenges the imbalances of society
and the attitudes of individuals. It offers guidelines to persons on how to live the Gospel of
Jesus. It presents ―principles of reflection‖, ―criteria for judgment‖, and ―directives for
action‖, oriented towards moral conduct. In the light of our situation we believe that certain
truths on the social doctrine of the Church stand out as urgent and necessary. These truths,
needing emphasis today for the development of the just life and of the just society which
serves that life, are:
1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person
The first social teaching proclaims the respect for human life, one of the most fundamental
needs in a world distorted by greed and selfishness. The Catholic Church teaches that all
human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation for all the
social teachings. This theme challenges the issues of abortion, assisted suicide, human
cloning, and the death penalty. The Catholic Church hold the belief that every human life is
precious and is a gift from God, and that every institution is measured by whether it threatens
or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.

The human person is at the center of the Church‘s social doctrine and the subject as well as
object of development in all human dimensions. Integral human development is development
that serves the total person, in all dimensions, including the spiritual. For human development
to be integral, we need to be faithful to the interior dimension of life. We are not to forget that
we are all from God and that our vocation is to journey back to Him.
When we analyze development programs today, we observe that the dominant emphasis is on
the economic dimension. There seems to be little concern for the cultural and social
consequences. PCP II stresses that economic sufficiency, which is promoted through immoral
activities cannot be justified. Some examples of an immoral approach are: the repression of
human rights, excessive dependence on foreigners that diminishes our dignity and
sovereignty, one-sided assistance that erodes international solidarity. No amount of money
can pay for the inner values of righteousness and freedom.
2. Common Good
A community is genuinely healthy when all people, not only or several segments, flourish.
The Russian Novelist Doestoeski put it this way: ―The degree of civilization in a society can
be judged by entering its prisons‖. ―Every social group must take into account of the needs
and legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even the general welfare of the entire human
family‖. This concept of the common good seems to be ‗missing in action‘ in contemporary
public life, ―not the utilitarian formula of the greatest good for the greatest number, but the
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

moral formula of the greatest goof for all‖, simply on the basis that they are human beings
and therefore inherently worthy of respect‖.
Justice and love, according to Pope John XXIII, are the principal laws of human life. Justice
is our recognition of the dignity and rights of our neighbor. If we take justice as an impartial
legal structure that will give everyone her/his due, it will work well only if we all have equal
opportunities. Unfortunately, it is not the case. We need something much stronger than the
―letter of the law,‖ if each of us is to get her/his due. Justice alone is not enough. We can
speak of justice without love, but we cannot speak of love, without justice.
For us Christians, the demand for justice is dynamically linked with Christ‘s fundamental
command of love. PCP II states that while the demand for justice is implied in love, still
justice attains its inner fullness only in love. It says. ―For in justice, the other person can
remain ‗another,‘ an alien. In love the other is a friend, even a brother or sister in Christ.‖ If
justice is important in our individual relationships, we also need to emphasize the value of
social justice. Social justice is the justice of the common good. It calls for the promotion of
our nationalist desires that makes us say: ―Bayan muna bago sarili.‖ It means sacrificing
something, which we see as our right for the sake of common good.
3. Call to Family, Community, and Participation
The social teaching proclaims that the human person is not only sacred, but also social. It
stresses that how we organize society in economics, politics, and law or policy directly
affects human dignity and community. Society often proclaims the importance of
individualism, but Catholic social teaching argues that human beings are fulfilled in
community and family. The Catholic Church believes we have the responsibility to
participate in society and to promote the common good, especially for the poor and
vulnerable.
To achieve our vision of renewed people and renewed nation, we need to adopt a spirituality
of social transformation. Spirituality demands that we live radically what we preach. It is
witnessing to the radical demands of the Gospel. In a journey with Jesus, we are challenged
to witness to the coming Reign of God. It is spiritual journey.
4. Rights and Responsibilities
Human dignity can only be protected if all human rights are protected and responsibilities of
all human beings are met. Every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to the basic
needs of life. The Catholic Church teaches that every person has a duty and responsibility to
help fulfill these rights for one another, for our families, and for the larger society. Public
debate in our nation is often divided between those who focus on personal responsibilities
and those who focus on social responsibilities, but the Catholic tradition insists both are
necessary to respond to the basic and fundamental rights of every human being. This is
exemplified in Saint John Paul II, ―The road to total liberation is not the way of violence,
class struggle or hate; it is the way of love, brotherhood, and peaceful solidarity‖.

5. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

This world is shaped by the division between growing prosperity for some and poverty for
others. The Catholic Church proclaims that the basic moral test of a society is how the most
vulnerable member are faring. Our society is marred by a deepening division between the
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

rich and poor. The value of being pro-poor is urgent in our country, where the few who are
rich and powerful enjoy more luxuries and privileges, while a large number of the ordinary
people, suffer in poverty and misery. Being pro-poor is based on the Bible. The Old
Testament sees God as a ―liberator of the oppressed and the defender of the poor.‖ Prophets
denounced injustices against the poor. Jesus himself was a prophet, and as Christians, we
make a preferential option for the poor and the needy because they bear the privileged
presence of Christ (Mt 25:31-34). Pope John Paul II puts this challenge of choosing to be
pro-poor in worldwide perspective, saying:
This love of preference for the poor cannot embrace the immense multitudes of the
hungry, the needy, the homeless, those without medical care and, above all, those
without hope of a better future. To ignore these realities would mean becoming like the
rich man who pretended not to know the beggar Lazarus lying at his gate.

6. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

The Catholic Church teaches that the economy must serve the people. Too often the
marketplace take precedence over the rights of workers. Work is more than a way to make a
living; it is a form of continuing participation in God‘s creation. The rights to productive
work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization of unions, to private property, and to
economic initiative are all part of protecting the dignity of work by protecting the rights of
the workers. Respecting human life, defends human rights, and advances the well-being of
all.
Unlike animals who have no freedom, initiative and creativity, human work enables us to
―subdue the earth‖ and ―to have dominion over the visible world.‖ With work, we become
God‘s co-creators and stewards or caretakers of creation. We become partners of the Holy
Spirit, in renewing the face of the earth. Thus ith work, we achieve our fulfillment as human
beings. We are the subject of work and should not be treated as things. We have primacy over
things. The resources of our world have been placed here by our Creator to serve us, when we
work. Labor, therefore, has priority over capital. Labor is the ―primary efficient cause of
production.‖ Capital is a ―mere instrument.‖ Pope John Paul II told the workers in Legaspi
City that Christ himself ―immeasurably ennobled and sanctified all human work by his work
as a carpenter in Nazareth and by his many other labors, thus conferring on workers a special
solidarity with himself and giving them a share in his own redemptive work.‖
7. Solidarity
Our society often stresses individualism, indifference and sometimes isolationism in the face
of international responsibilities. The Catholic Church proclaims that every human being has a
responsibility to our brothers and sisters, wherever they live. We are one human family,
whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. Solidarity is
about loving our neighbors locally, nationally, as well as internationally. These virtues is
described by John Paul II as ―a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the
common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all
really responsible for all‖ (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, no. 38).

8. Care for God’s Creation

The Catholic tradition insists that every human being show respect for the Creator by our
stewardship of His creation. We are called to protect people and the planet by living our faith
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

with respect for God‘s creation. In a society with controversy over environmental issues, the
Catholic Church believes it is a fundamental moral and ethical challenge that cannot be
ignored.
Pope Francis in Laudato Si‟ had raised the planet‘s health to a level of crisis. As a planet, all
are in danger because the earth‘s systems are failing. Many scientists agree that global
warming is real, it is already happening and that it is from the activities and not a natural
occurrence. Everyone is already seeing changes such as glaciers melting, plants and animals
being forced out from their habitats and severe storms and droughts increasing. Scientists
predict that deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years, heat waves will
become more intense and global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of
shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide.‖ The people are
already experiencing some of these changes and the bulk of destruction is primarily
affecting the poor. He highlights relationality as the new of most important of all life,
impelling him to posit a new metaphysics of relationship grounded in divine love.
People are not only human beings for Pope Francis; but they are human interbeings and
share in the interrelatedness of all these cosmic life.

9. Subsidiarity
The word subsidiarity comes from the Latin word subsidium which means help, aid, support.
The principle of subsidiarity means being wide-eyed, clearly determining the right amount of
help or support that is needed to accomplish a task to meet an obligation: ―not too much‖
(taking over and doing it for the other: thereby creating learned helplessness or
overdependence) and ―not too little‖ (standing back and watching people thrash about,
thereby increasing frustration and perhaps hopelessness). ―Instead of the ‗less government the
better‘, the principle might be better summarized as ‗no bigger than necessary, no smaller
than appropriate‘.‖

10. Universal Destination of Goods

God intends for the goods of creation to be at the service (or destined for) all of humanity
(universally). Everyone has the right to access goods to meet their needs. People and nations
have no right to squander resources when others are in need. Saint Ambrose summed it up
over 1500 years ago when he said of charitable giving. ―You are not making a gift of your
possessions to the poor person. You are handing over to him what is his. For what has been
given in common for the use of all, you have arrogated (taken up) to yourself. The world is
given to all, and not only to the rich.‖
R Austin, Flannery, OP (Gen. Ed.), Vatican Council II: The Conciliar Documents. Vol 1, New York:
E Costello Publishing Co., 1984.
A Dewey, Robert E. and Gould, James A. Freedom: Its history, nature and varieties. New York: The
D Macmillian Company, 1970.
I Kelly, Kevin. New Directions in Moral Theology: The Challenge of Being Human. London:
N Geoffrey Chapman, 1992.
G
Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. God and the World: Believing and Living in our Time (A
S conversation with Peter Seewald). Trans. by Henry Taylor. San Francisco: Ignatius Press,
2002.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

Serafini, Anthony. Ethics and Social Concerns. New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1989.

Weaver, Darlene Fozard. The Acting Person and Christian Moral Life. Washington, D.C.:
Georgetown University Press, 2011.

D. PERSON-CENTERED MORALITY
The person-centered approach places a renewed emphasis on the motivation to evaluate the
character of others, arguing that it can account for a number of recent empirical findings that
appear puzzling or irrational when viewed from the perspective of act-centered approaches.
Specifically we will present evidence that judgments of a person‘s underlying moral character
can be empirically distinguished from judgments about the rightness or wrongness of an act
(as demonstrated by evidence that judgments of acts can be dissociated from judgments of
character), and that certain transgressions elicit especially negative reactions not because they
are unusually wrong in-and-of-themselves, but because they are seen as highly diagnostic of
an individual‘s moral character. The process of arriving at a moral judgment, then, is often
more influenced by what the action reflects about an agent‘s moral character than by the
degree of harm the act caused, or whether the act violates a set of moral rules.
In short, there is growing Person-Centered Morality evidence that when it comes to moral
judgment, human beings appear to be best characterized not as intuitive deontologists or
consequentialists, but as intuitive virtue theorists: individuals who view acts as a rich set of
signals about the moral qualities of an agent, and not as the endpoint of moral judgment. In
what follows, we will defend a specific set of claims regarding the centrality of character
evaluation in moral judgment. Namely, we argue that 1) individuals are motivated to assess
the character of others, and not just the rightness or wrongness of an act 2) some acts are
perceived as more informative of an individual‘s moral character than others, and are
therefore weighed heavily in moral judgments, 3) moral evaluations of acts and character can
diverge, resulting in act-person dissociations, 4) judgments of moral character can infuse a
host of other judgments that are central to moral evaluations (e.g., judgments of intentionality,
agency, and blame), and 5) that a number of recent empirical findings demonstrating apparent
inconsistencies in moral judgment may be better interpreted as reasonable for an individual
motivated to assess the character of an agent rather than as simple ―errors‖ of moral judgment.
(http://www.socialjudgments.com/docs/Uhlmann.Pizarro.Diermeier.pdf)
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

MISSIONARY RESPONSE:
As you study this lesson, guidelines are appreciated and lived out:
1. Appreciate the seating arrangement in class.
2. Appreciate the classroom policies.
3. Abide with the school‘s/university‘s code of discipline
4. Abide with the traffic rules
5. Obey your boarding houses‘ rules
6. with your parents‘ rules
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

MIDTERMS
II. CHRISTIAN MORALITY: PERSONAL AND FAMILY ISSUES AND
CHURCH’S RESPONSES

As Christians, we believe that

CONTEXT human dignity is fundamentally a
relational reality. It is rooted first in
Say something about the photo. our relationship to God. Because of
God‘s love for us humans, we
affirm that every person has value,
worth or dignity, simply because he
or she is human. Everybody is a
somebody in God‘s eyes. Our
inherent dignity, as rooted in God‘s
love, is inalienable. It means that it
cannot be taken away from us, by
our own or another misdeeds.

The intrinsic, inalienable dignity of

every person has a moral
implication. While we all enjoy
inherent dignity, we also believe,
as Christians, that we are called to
build up one another by attributing
dignity, esteem, and value to each
other. We do this in the way we
speak, regard, and relate to one
another. In other words, inherent
dignity elicits an ethic that respects,
defends, and promotes human
well-being and does not count
some other human values or
functions as more important than being human.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

The word rendered ―fearfully‖ means properly

―fearful things;‖ things suited to produce fear
or reverence. The word rendered ―wonderfully
made‖ means properly to distinguish; to
separate. The literal translation of this - as
near as can be given - would be, ―I am INSPIRED WORD
distinguished by fearful things;‖ that is, by
things in my creation which are suited to You formed my inmost being;
inspire awe. I am distinguished among thy you knit me in my mother’s
works by things which tend to exalt my ideas womb.e
of God, and to fill my soul with reverent and I praise you, because I am
devout feelings. The idea is, that he was wonderfully made;
―distinguished‖ among the works of creation, wonderful are your works!
or so ―separated‖ from other things in his
My very self you know.
endowments as to work in the mind a sense of
awe. He was made different from inanimate My bones are not hidden from
objects, and from the brute creation; he was you,
―so‖ made, in the entire structure of his frame, When I was being made in
as to fill the mind with wonder. The more secret,
anyone contemplates his own bodily fashioned in the depths of the
formation, and becomes acquainted with the earth.*
anatomy of the human frame, and the more he Your eyes saw me unformed;
understands of his mental organization, the
more he will see the force and propriety of the in your book all are written
down;f
language used by the psalmist.
(https://www.studylight.org/commentary/psalms/139-1 my days were shaped, before
4.html) one came to be. (Psalm
139:13-16)

A. PERSONAL ISSUES
Human dignity is the fundamental basis of all morality. Without a grasp of inherent dignity of
persons, there would be no morality at all. We act morally, in the first place, because we
believe that everybody is a somebody, who ought to be respected and treated as such. Thus,
there are rights that protect our dignity as embodied persons (the rights to life, food, clothing,
shelter, and basic health care), as workers (the right to a just wage), as social beings (the right
to assembly), as members of a family (the right marry or to remain single, the right to
procreate), as students, and so forth. We could not have a human rights watch, or claim the
violation of human rights, without recognizing inherent human dignity.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

Children are Gifts (cloning, surrogacy,

CHURCH TEACHING
artificial insemination)
Human cloning is the making of a
It is in accordance with their dignity as hereditarily inditinguishable duplicate of
persons-that is, beings endowed with a current, or beforehand existing, person
reason and free will and therefore or developing cloned tissue from that
privileged to bear personal person. In spite of the fact that qualities
responsibility-that all men should be at are perceived as affecting conduct and
once impelled by nature and also bound discernment, "genetically identical" does
by a moral obligation to seek the truth, not mean inside and out indistinguishable;
especially religious truth. They are also nobody would deny that indistinguishable
bound to adhere to the truth, once it is twins, in spite of being common human
known, and to order their whole lives in clones with indistinguishable DNA, are
accord with the demands of truth. separate individuals, with independent
However, men cannot discharge these encounters and not out and out covering
obligations in a manner in keeping with identities. (S. (2018, June 01). Human cloning.
their own nature unless they enjoy Retrieved June 12, 2018, from
immunity from external coercion as well https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/human_cloni
as psychological freedom. Therefore the ng.htm)
right to religious freedom has its
a. The
typical definition of surrogacy
foundation not in the subjective
refers to an arrangement in which the
disposition of the person, but in his very
surrogate is the child's genetic mother.
nature. In consequence, the right to this
The woman's egg is fertilized in a lab
immunity continues to exist even in
using sperm from the man who wishes to
those who do not live up to their
raise the child. This form of surrogacy
obligation of seeking the truth and
adhering to it and the exercise of this
may be used by a woman with medical
right is not to be impeded, provided that
issues that affect her ability to ovulate
just public order be observed. normally. In addition, some women
(DIGNITATIS HUMANAE, ON THE choose surrogacy as an option if they
RIGHT OF THE PERSON AND OF have a serious illness that would decrease
COMMUNITIES TO SOCIAL AND CIVIL their ability to carry a pregnancy to term
FREEDOM IN MATTERS or could be potentially passed to the child.
RELIGIOUS PROMULGATED BY HIS The other form of surrogacy is more
HOLINESSPOPE PAUL VI ON accurately referred to as gestational
DECEMBER 7, 1965) surrogacy. In this case, the pregnant
woman is not biologically related to the
baby. She is implanted with a fertilized
egg and agrees to turn over the baby at the end of the pregnancy. This option is often used by
women with normal ovarian function who have problems with their uterus. (Hinders, D. (n.d.).
Definition of Surrogacy. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from
https://pregnancy.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Definition_of_Surrogacy)

b. In artificial insemination, a doctor inserts sperm directly into a woman's cervix, fallopian tubes,
or uterus. The most common method is called "intrauterine insemination (IUI)," when a doctor
places the sperm in the uterus.The procedure can be used for many kinds of fertility problems. In
cases involving male infertility, it's often used when there's a very low sperm count or when
sperm aren't strong enough to swim through the cervix and up into the fallopian tubes. When the
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

issue is female infertility, it's sometimes done if you have a condition called endometriosis or you
have anything that's abnormal in your reproductive organs. (WebMD. (n.d.). Infertility and Artificial
Insemination. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from
https://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/guide/artificial-insemination#1)

CHURCH RESPONSE

The development of human life from the fertilized egg (zygote) to adulthood occurs on a
continuum. We may talk about embryo, fetus, infant, child, and adult, but they are all forms
of human life, and he lines between them are not clearly drawn. No one can say precisely at
what point an infant becomes a child, when a child becomes an adult,or when a fetus is
capable of existence ex utero. People in the middle ages speculated about the point where the
embryo became ―ensouled‖ (some held at conception, others forty or eighty days afterward).
In more recent days, some believe that ―quickening‖ (movement of the fetus in the womb)is
the beginning of a significant new stage, although movement surely took place before it was
detected by the mother. Others cite brain activity or response to a stimuli as a significant
plateau. All this is idle. The fetus at all levels is a form of human life. It is of the human
species. And long before viability or quickening, the fetus ha the body and all the physical
characteristics that are associated with human life. Life is life: it has a prenatal phase and a
postnatal phase. If, at a late stage, the fetus is ―potentially able to live outside the mother‘s
womb,‖ it has this same potentiality in pregnancy also. The only difference is that in one case,
the fetus is closer to achieving its potentiality than in the other.
If one defines persons in a particular way, it will turn out that the fetus is not a person. Justice
Blackmun apparently defined it to mean forms of human life that have been born, for he
defines the unborn the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution. Admittedly, fetuses cannot
hold property, participate in the census, or count as dependents on income tax forms. But all
this is legalistic and has no bearing on the moral issue. If we define persons, as some
psychologists do, as forms of human life that have become ―socialized‖ or have a clear sense
of their own identity, infants are not persons and would also be denied the right to life. A
theologian may define person as any form of human life possessing a soul and argue that the
fetus is such a form. How can we resolve this definitional dispute? We do not have to.
Somewhere along the line, sooner or later, life achieves personhood. Even if we do not
believe that the fetus is a person, it has in all of its stages the potentiality of becoming the
person. If we value personhood, we must value that which has the potential of achieving
personhood.
The crucial consideration against abortion, then, is that the fetus is a form of human life, a
person or a potential person, and thus has the right to survival. It is immoral to deprive such a
being of life. Richard A. Wasserstrom summarizes a view that places the fetus in ―a
distinctive, relatively unique moral category‖ somewhat lower than persons but superior to
animals.
2. Science and Technology (cybersex (pornography), cyberbullying )

a. Cybersex is the engagement of Internet users in sexual conversation and physical

participation to the level where it is possible to satisfy the urge for sexual pleasure on
personal computers or other Internet enabled gadgets . This is the interaction may be between
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

two or multiple people and may include or exclude masturbation . Cybersex has taken many
forms over time as technology continues to be accessible and affordable for all and as the
Internet technology continues to play a major part of most careers. One of the phenomena
that have come out of cybersex is the ‗cyber-affair‘.

Cyber-affairs are any romantic or sexually oriented relationships initiated via online
communication and maintained predominantly over electronic conversations that occur in
virtual communities. This kind of relationship can be continuous between two or more people
or it may be random instances of erotic chat room encounters between or among strangers.
(Fasugba-Idowu, G. T., & Hassan, S. A. (2008). Cybersex: Advantages And Disadvantages. IOSR Journal Of
Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS),14(3), 60-65. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from
http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol14-issue3/I01436065.pdf)

b. Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers,
and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media,
forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying
includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone
else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing
embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal
behavior.The content an individual shares online – both their personal content as well as any
negative, mean, or hurtful content – creates a kind of permanent public record of their views,
activities, and behavior. This public record can be thought of as an online reputation, which
may be accessible to schools, employers, colleges, clubs, and others who may be researching
an individual now or in the future. Cyberbullying can harm the online reputations of everyone
involved – not just the person being bullied, but those doing the bullying or participating in it.
(StopBullying.gov. (n.d.). What Is Cyberbullying. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from
https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/index.html)

3. Pre Marital Sex/Artificial Contraception(in passing)

a. Though a human being gains the physical maturity of procreation at the beginning of
puberty, he/she is considered eligible for mating and reproduction much later may be after 18
years of age or 20. And also the society insists that a sexual practice outside a marriage is
improper and illegal at times. Premarital sexuality is any sexual activity with an opposite sex
partner or with a same sex partner before he/she has started a married life. The term is
usually used to refer the intercourse before the legal age of a marriage. Adults who
presumably marry eventually also fall under this definition. (Prokeraia. (n.d.). Premarital sexuality
and social effects. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from
https://www.prokerala.com/relationships/sexuality/premarital-sex.htm)

b. Artificial birth control can be defined as any product, procedure or practice that uses
artificial or unnatural means to prevent pregnancy. Barrier methods such as condoms and
diaphragms, hormonal methods such as the pill and IUDs, and surgical sterilization
procedures such as a vasectomy or hysterectomy are all considered to be artificial birth
control methods. The withdrawal method is considered by some to be artificial birth control,
as well. (Staff, M., & Staff, A. M. (2017, December 12). What Is the Meaning of Artificial Birth Control?
Retrieved June 12, 2018, from https://www.modernmom.com/2c29a41c-051f-11e2-9d62-404062497d7e.html)

CHURCH RESPONSE
Early Christianity clearly teaches that premarital sexual intercourse is immoral. Jesus, Paul,
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

the four great Fathers of the Latin Church, the medieval schoolmen, and the great Protestant
reformers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries agreed in condemning it. The Catholic
Church and all major Protestant denominations today still condemn it.
Though it would be erroneous to construe the sixth beatitude (―blessed are the pure in heart‖)
in a narrowly sexual way,Jesus did oppose fornication. In the account added to the eighth
chapter of John, Jesus saved the erring woman from stoning (―Let him who is without sin
among you be the first to throw a stone at her‖) ans told her that he did not condemn her. He
is reported to have said, however, ―go and sin no more.‖ That Jesus was willing to forgive
harlots and fornicators (and even argue that they were not as bad as the Pharisees) does not
mean that he approved of their conduct. His view, rather, was this: Even the fornicators, if
they repent, may enter the Kingdom.
The fighting edge of early Christianity was the most often directed at the sexual
promiscuity,not only countenanced, but celebrated by the pagan religions. The fertility rites
of the Babylonian and Phoenician religions were widely practiced - sometimes by Hebrews
themselves. Nor where the Olympian gods known for their chastity. The temple of Aphrodite
at Corinth utilized services of hundreds of temple prostitutes. The Roman brothels were
notorious, the word fornication deriving from fornix, the arch or vault of underground
brothels. Against pagan permissiveness, the early Christians sought to establish a code of
sexual purity. Matthew Arnold regarded chastity and charity as the distinguishing marks of
Early Christianity.
Paul, in his letters to the churches throughout the Hellenistic world, inveighed against sexual
transgressions: Therefore God gave [the pagan idolators] up in the lusts of their hearts to
impurity, to the dishonoring of the bodies. . .Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality,
impurity, licentiousness. . .But immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be
named among you. . .Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: immorality, impurity,
passion, evil desire. . .For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from
immorality; that each one of you know how to take a wife for himself in holiness and
honor. . .
For Paul, the suppression of lust was an essential part of the Christian task to cast off the ―old
man‖ and grow in grace as a child of God. The sinful body, crucified with Christ, is to be
replaced by a sanctified spirit, increasingly Christ-like, at peace with itself and with God.
Only when the spirit triumphs over the flesh can the individual enter the kingdom of God.
Premarital sex is a conspicuous example of the triumph of the flesh over the spirit. To engage
in it is to indulge our earthly passion instead of seeking our transcendent glory. It is to accept
our bondage to our bodily passions instead of living freely in the spirit. A person who
engages in illicit sex cannot be the vessel of the Holy Spirit. He or she has embraced the
world in time and death.
The Catholic tradition has consistently viewed same-sex sexual acts as the most serious of the
sexual vices against nature, but has also included contraception and masturbation in the
category. It might seem puzzling to characterize homosexual acts, masturbation, and
contraception by married couples as similar types of sins, yet that connection points to what
is at stake for Catholic moralists: Impeding the procreative purpose of sexual acts their
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

justification. Thus homosexual acts, masturbation, and marital sexual acts that use
contraception are all illicit because they interfere with the procreative potential and purpose
of sex.
Humanae Vitae outlines this renewed, integral vision of marriage and conjugal love through
four characteristic ―marks and demands of conjugal love.‖ These are that the love is (1) fully
human - it is of the sense and the spirit, combining instinct ans sentiment with an act of the
free will; (2) total - a complete sharing without ―undue reservation or selfish calculations‖; (3)
faithful and exclusive until death; and (4) fecund, in that ―it is not exhausted by the
communion between husband and wife, but it is destined to continue, raising up new lives.‖
Fecundity is one among several other marks of conjugal love that only makes sense when it is
integrated with the total, human, faithful love. There is thus a shift from a hierarchy that gives
the procreative end primacy to a vision of complementarity that is characterized by the
language of the inseperability of the unitive and procreative ends of marriage. There is a rich
and interesting history of this shift; but for our purposes, this shift serves to mark another way
in which the effect of the contraception debate really extended beyond contraception.
4. Death (suicide and euthanasia)
a. The term suicide describes the act of taking one's own life. There are various kinds of
suicide, so our first task is to clarify our use of the term. Within this article, we are referring
to suicide in the conventional sense, in which someone plans out or acts upon self-destructive
thoughts and feelings, often while they are experiencing overwhelming stress. ―Assisted
suicide‖ occurs when a physician helps a terminally ill person to die, avoiding an imminent,
inevitable and potentially painful decline. Our current discussion of suicide does not address
assisted suicide.

The intent of suicidal behavior, whether consciously or unconsciously motivated, is to

permanently end one's life. Truly suicidal acts (or, as they are sometimes called, "gestures")
need to be distinguished from other self-harming, self-injurious, or parasuicidal acts and
gestures which are also deliberate, but not intended to cause death. Typical self-injurious
acts include cutting or burning oneself. The intention behind these behaviors is to cause
intense sensation, pain and damage, but not to end one's life. Self-injurious behaviors may
lead to accidental suicide if they are taken too far, but their initial intent and goal are not
suicidal. (REISS, N. S., PH.D, & DOMBECK, M., PH.D. (2007, October 24). Defining Suicide. Retrieved June
12, 2018, from https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/defining-suicide/)

b. Christianity, born at a place and time in which suicide was commonly accepted as an
honorable departure from life, early placed itself in opposition to the practice.The
commandment ―Thou shalt not kill‖ was interpreted categorically. While exceptions were
made for warfare and the administration of justice, both legitimate functions of duly ordained
governments, none was made in the case of killing oneself. Suicide is homicide, murder.
Nowhere in the Bible is there precept or permission to take one‘s life. Just as Christians are to
uphold and respect the life of others, they are to uphold and respect their own. Although our
life is ―given‖ to us by God, we are God‘s creatures and still belong to him. ―Hence whoever
takes his own life sins against God, even as he who kills another‘s slave sins against their
slave‘s master.‖
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

CHURCH RESPONSE
There would seem to be some exceptions to the Christian stance against suicide: The Old
Testament hero, Samson, pulled down the building, killing himself along with his enemies.
But Samson, says Augustine, was justified on the ground ―that the Spirit who wrought
wonders by him had given him secret instructions to do this.‖ Perhaps the holy women who
threw themselves into the river to avoid ravishment during the persecutions, and are today
venerated as martyrs, are also exceptions. Perhaps, they too were ―prompted by divine
wisdom‖; Augustine does not know. Abraham, when he went to kill Isaac, was prepared to
violate the injunctions against private execution (moreover of an innocent person), but he
certainly was responding to a direct order from God. These cases, indeed, are very
exceptional. ―He, then, who knows that it is unlawful to kill himself, may nevertheless do so
if ordered by Him whose commands we may not neglect. Only let him be very sure that the
divine command has been signified.‖ Jesus consistently urged his followers to flee
persecution to preserve their lives,never once advising them to ―lay violent hands upon
themselves.‖ The members of the Jim Jones cult in Guyana who took their lives were
probably deceived - by their own feelings and by the monstrous man who gave the orders.
Augustine, who had a vivid conception of the dangers, trials, and temptations of human
existence, inveighed against suicide. Christian women who have been raped by barbarians
should not commit suicide, for the sin was not theirs. And even if they did sin by assenting in
some sense to the act, suicide would be wrong. For here, as in all cases of moral disgrace
(including that of Judas), suicide precludes the opportunity to repent. Those who commit
suicide for fear that they will do an immorality have foolishly chosen a certain sin over an
uncertain sin. The pagans mistakenly extol the purity of Lucretia, the noble matron of ancient
Rome who destroyed herself after having been raped by King Tarquin‘s son. Her act ―was
prompted not by love of purity, but by the overwhelming burden of her shame.‖
Christians may expect many tribulations in this ―vale of tears‖ through which they must pass.
If some are relatively fortunate in this life, they need only look at the misfortunes of others
now and in times past - or read the account of Job in the Old Testament. The recourse of the
Christian is not to take his or her life but to call on God for help during times of distress. God
does not inflict anything on us that we cannot, with God‘s help, bear. Misery may be the
occasion for a closer union with God. And there is the ultimate consolation that we are
members of a higher realm than the ―earthly city‖: We belong to the ―city of God,‖ where
there is infinite and everlasting peace. One of the great Christian virtues is hope. Paul wrote:
―we know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not
only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as
we wait for adoptions as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved.
Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what
we do not see, we wait for it with patience.‖ It is through hope that another great virtue is
sustained: fortitude.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

MISSIONARY RESPONSE:
As you study this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Appreciate the sacredness of your body and your human dignity through your good
grooming and proper outfit, healthy lifestyle.
2.Respect the humanity and uniqueness of each other.

B. ON FAMILY

In the family,
community of
persons, special
attention must be
devoted to the
children, by
developing a
profound esteem
for their personal
dignity, and a
great respect and
generous concern
for their rights.
This is true for
every child, but it
becomes more
urgent the
smaller the child
is, and the more it
is in need of
everything, when
it is sick,
suffering or
handicapped.
Acceptance, love,
esteem,
many-sided and
united material,
How do you feel about the photos?
emotional,
educational and
spiritual concern for every child that comes into this world should always constitute a
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

distinctive, essential characteristic of all Christian in particular of the Christian family: thus
children, while they grow ―in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man‘‘‘ offer
their own precious contribution to building up the family community and even to the
sanctification of their parents. (Source: Pope John Paul II. (2005). Familiaris Consortio: Apostolic
Exhortation of Pope John Paul II on the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World. Pasay City:
Paulines Publishing House Daughters of St. Paul)

Christ's preaching was plain, easy, and familiar, and suited to his hearers. His mother and
brethren stood without, desiring to
speak with him, when they should
have been standing within, desiring
to hear him. Frequently, those who
are nearest to the means of
knowledge and grace are most
negligent. We are apt to neglect that INSPIRED WORD
which we think we may have any
day, forgetting that tomorrow is not
ours. We often meet with
Jesus‘ Mother and Brothers
hindrances in our work from friends (Matthew 12:46-50)
about us, and are taken off by care While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his
for the things of this life, from the
mother and brothers stood outside, wanting
concerns of our souls. Christ was so
intent on his work, that no natural or to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your
other duty took him from it. Not mother and brothers are standing outside,
that, under presence of religion, we wanting to speak to you.”
may be disrespectful to parents, or
unkind to relations; but the lesser He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and
duty must stand by, while the who are my brothers?” Pointing to his
greater is done. Let us cease from disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and
men, and cleave to Christ; let us
my brothers. For whoever does the will of my
look upon every Christian, in
whatever condition of life, as the Father in heaven is my brother and sister and
brother, sister, or mother of the mother.”
Lord of glory; let us love, respect,
and be kind to them, for his sake,
and after his example.
(http://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthe
w/12-46.htm)

By fostering and exercising a tender and strong concern for every child that comes into this
world, the Church fulfills a fundamental mission: for she is called upon to reveal and put
forward anew in history the example and commandment of Christ the lord, who placed the
child at the heart of the Kingdom of God.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

There is always the joy that we all find in

children, the springtime of life, and the
CHURCH TEACHING anticipation of the future history of each of
present earthly homelands. No country on
earth, no political system can think of its
own future otherwise than through the
image of these new generations that will
“Our vision of the Church as receive from their parents the manifold
communion, participation and heritage of values, duties and aspirations of
mission, about the Church as the nation to which they belong and of the
priestly, prophetic and kingly whole human family. Concern for the child,
people, and a Church of the poor,
even before birth, from the first moment of
that is a renewed Church, is today
finding expression in one ecclesial conception and then throughout the years of
movement, that is the movement to infancy and youth, is the primary and
foster Basic Ecclesial Communities. fundamental test of the relationship of one
They are small communities of human being to another. And so, what
Christians, usually of families, who better wish can I express for every nation
gather around the Word of God and and for the whole of mankind, and for the
the Eucharist. These communities children of the world than a better future in
are united to their pastors but are which respect for human rights will become
ministered to regularly by lay a complete reality throughout the third
leaders. The members know each millennium, which is drawing near.
other by name and share not only
the Word of God and the Eucharist 1. responsible parenthood/family
but also their concerns both planning
material and spiritual. They have a Parenthood is the state of being a parent.
strong sense of belongingness and Traditionally, it means being a father or
of responsibility for one another. mother of the biological child. When
(PCP II 137-138) adoption is involved , the parents are the
legal father or mother (couple) of the child.
Parenting is defined as the skills,
experiences, abilities, and responsibilities
involved in rearing and educating a child.
Responsible parenthood is the will and ability to respond to the needs and aspirations of the
family and children. It is a shared responsibility between husband and wife to determine and
achieve the desired number and spacing of their children according to their own family, life
aspirations, taking into account psychological preparedness, health status, socio-cultural, and
economic concerns (PPMP DP 2005-2010). Responsible parenting (RP) is defined as the
series of decisions couples make to ensure the best possible life for the family and for the
community to which the family belongs . RP is a commitment to ensure the well-being of the
family and to enable each member to fully develop his/her capabilities and potentials.
In the context of any religion, Responsible Parenting is defined as the ability of the parents to
raise children in the Filipino way and to satisfy the social, economic and religious
responsibilities of the family. It is also the parent‘s accountability to provide a good quality
of life, both material and spiritual to their family, children, and community. Responsible
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

parenting also includes the process of deciding how many children to have and when to have
them.
a. Duties and Responsibilities of Parents
Parenting involves the abilities, skills, responsibilities, duties and life experiences in
attending to and providing for the physical, emotional, intellectual, financial, and spiritual
needs of the children. Parenting also includes the inculcation of values and the instilling of
discipline. It entails a lot of hard work and great responsibilities; no time-out, no vacation or
sick live. It takes 24/7 in fulfilling parenting roles. Thus, parents face a lot of challenges.
Once a parent, always a parent.
b. Provision of Physical Care and Love
 The physical, emotional and mental health of children depends on the quality of prenatal
care they receive.
 The duty and responsibility starts during the prenatal stage.
c. Inculcating Discipline
 Parents should be role models in inculcating discipline in their children.
 Children should be trained to think and reason out for themselves and be able to
distinguish between right and wrong.
 They should learn to accept limitations, to appreciate the value of freedom with
responsibility and understand the requirements of living happily and peacefully with
other people.
d. Developing Social Competence
 Socially competent children children are described as friendly, happy, self-confident,
responsible, imaginative, alert and energetic. These children have good communication
skills and a high emotional quotient (EQ).
 Social competence can only be achieved if children have a high self-esteem. This is
developed by allowing them to do things on their own, to think for themselves and to
make age-appropriate decisions.
2. Care for the elderly
Population ageing has significant social and economic implications at the individual, family,
and societal levels. It also has important consequences and opportunities for a country‘s
development. Although the percentage of older persons is currently much higher in
developed countries, the pace of population ageing is much more rapid in developing
countries and their transition from a young to an old age structure will occur over a shorter
period. Not only do developing countries have less time to adjust to a growing population of
older persons, they are at much lower levels of economic development and will experience
greater challenges in meeting the needs of the increasing numbers of older people.

Financial security is one of the major concerns as people age. It is an issue for both older
persons and a growing challenge for families and societies. Population ageing is raising
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

concerns about the ability of countries to provide adequate social protection and social
security for the growing numbers of older persons. In many countries, the expectation is that
the family will take care of its economically dependent older members. While some families
support their older relatives, others are not in a financial position to do so in a way that does
not affect their own economic situation. Older persons who do not have family to support
them are especially vulnerable. Informal support systems for older persons are increasingly
coming under stress, as a consequence, among others, of lower fertility, out-migration of the
young, and women working outside the home. There is an increasing consensus that countries
must develop social protection systems that cover at least the basic needs of all older persons.
Ensuring a secure income in old age is seen as a major challenge for governments facing
fiscal problems and competing priorities. Some countries are increasingly worried whether
they will be able to pay for pensions and whether they will ultimately be able to prevent a rise
of poverty in old age, particularly in countries where the majority of older persons are
employed in the informal sector. While many developed countries and some emerging
economies are challenged with an ageing workforce and ensuring the sustainability of
pension systems, most developing countries have to establish their systems now when the
challenge is less acute and when the fiscal space available for social policies is increasing as a
consequence of the ―demographic dividend‖.

Health is another major concern for older persons. The demographic transition to an ageing
population, accompanied by an epidemiological transition from the predominance of
infectious diseases to non communicable diseases, is associated with an increasing demand
for health care and long-term care. Although not an inevitable outcome of growing old, the
numbers of older people affected by mental health problems are increasing due to population
ageing. Their management has become an increasing concern for both developing and
developed countries. Maintaining good health and access to health care is a core concern of
older people everywhere. In many developed countries quality of care and rising health care
costs are major issues related to population ageing. Many developing countries are
challenged by a double cost burden: the costs related to infectious diseases may still be high
while population ageing and the rising number of non-communicable diseases are putting
additional pressure on resource-strained health-care systems.

Poor conditions earlier in life place older people at risk of serious health problems and
adversely affect their health and vitality. The understanding that the living environment,
working conditions, nutrition and lifestyle choices in younger years influence our health in
older age should be a key ingredient for policies and programs with an intergenerational
focus. As populations age, it is critical that health systems and the training of health
professionals at all levels are adjusted to meet the requirements of older people, and that
ageing is recognized within diagnostic, curative and rehabilitative care programs within the
formal health system, especially at primary and community level. Ensuring enabling and
supportive environments as people grow older is a significant challenge, so that older persons
can age actively and participate in the political, social, economic and cultural life of society.
This means that living arrangements, including housing and transportation are age-friendly,
to ensure older persons can ―age in place‖ and remain independent for as long as possible.
Older persons, who find themselves in conflict situations, natural disasters – including those
resulting from climate change – and other humanitarian emergencies, are particularly
vulnerable. When younger generations migrate to cities or abroad, older persons are often left
behind without traditional family support.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

3. Divorce/ Extra Marital Affairs

Divorce is the dissolution of marital relations; in this process marriage is completely broken
down either in social or legal context. The Black Dictionary of law has defined divorce as
"the legal separation of husband and wife affected by the judgment of decree of a court and
either totally dissolving the married relations or suspending its effect so far as concern the
combination of the practices. Divorcees are free to remarry after divorce where as separation
may not allow it. Divorce is nothing and in common senses it is taken easily somewhere in
which a couple ends their marital relations and starts to remarry, but it may create some vital
problems in the family, like adjusting to new life.
Similarly, the situation of children after the divorce of their parents would face troubles,
disturbances and challenges. They would be mentally tortured, Problem of raring and caring
of the children may arise due to the absent of their parents, even as the divorcee may be
mentally disturbed. Remarriage of the divorced female is very difficult due to social and
cultural practices. However, there are different cases of divorce seen in each and every
society either in developed or in underdeveloped, secular or non-secular and in different caste
and ethnic groups. But this is true that the ratio of divorce found in modern society is higher
than previous one. Secular societies are more tolerant and more open for a divorce woman.
"The younger generation is increasingly ignorant of the ritualistic basis of their religion. Due
to the social and cultural complexities, mobility for job, impact of secularism, global impact
of capitalism, emerging legal grounds, of industrialization and urbanization, changing
attitudes on traditional norms and value system is causing disintegration of marital relations.
Therefore developed and modern societies have more fertile grounds for divorce. (Sociological
Analysis of Divorce: A Case Study from Pokhara, Nepal.
https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/DSAJ/article/download/284/274)

4. Family Gaps
Parenting is the most influential factor to a child‘s growth and development therefor a very
important aspect of a person‘s totality in relation to his/her intrapersonal and interpersonal
relationship. Parenting style is defined as overall climate of parent child interactions. It is a
way of elevating the overall well-being of a child to be able to deal with future struggles of life.
The construct of parenting style is used to capture normal variations in parents‘ attempts to
control and socialize with their children.
Parenting style captures two important elements of parenting: parental responsiveness and
parental demandingness. Parental responsiveness (also referred to as parental warmth or
supportiveness) refers to ―the extent to which parents intentionally foster individuality,
self-regulation, and self-assertion by being attuned, supportive, and acquiescent to children‘s
special needs and demands‖. Parental demandingness (also referred to as behavioral control)
refers to ―the claims parents make on children to become integrated into the family whole, by
their maturity demands, supervision, disciplinary efforts and willingness to confront their child
who disobeys‖ .
Parents are more anxious as compared to other generations. ―…everything is on the internet, so
all kinds of worries are actually published so I think the millennial parents are more anxious
now compared to the parents of the last generations‖ as said by the second millennial
respondent. They tend to be very protective because all kinds of information are very easily
accessed through the net which are not. Also, millennial parents find it difficult to balance their
time between works and to always attend to their children‘s needs. With the availability and
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

inclination of gadgets like phone, tablets and personal computers/laptops, parenting tends to be
mediated or substituted by technological use which creates the progression of virtual parenting.
Being too preoccupied with technology makes the child to be impatient and distracted.

CHURCH RESPONSE
Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that parents have always tried to influence the human
‗quality‘ of their children. The whole nurturing and educational process is directed towards
‗forming‘ their children-and this includes religious up-bringing as well. Hence, in a sense it is
very natural and very good for parents to want the best for their children. However, there is a
very delicate line between ‗wanting the best‘ and ‗determining the best‘. Because their
children are human persons in their own right, the ‗best‘ would seem to include safeguarding
and even increasing their children‘s capacity for self-determination. Manipulation is a
dominative exercise of power by parents over their children aimed, albeit unconsciously
perhaps, at determining their
children‘s identity as persons.
If the diminution of the capacity for MISSIONARY RESPONSE:
self-determination is seen as a
violation of a person‘s dignity in the
social and educational field, the
same must surely be true with regard
to modifications in a person‘s
As we recognize the importance of the family,
make-up that it might be possible to
we are enjoined to do one of the following:
bring about though genetic therapy
(Submit a printed ―groufie‖ photo)
and engineering. Truly human
therapy is directed towards enabling 1. Spending time with your family through
a person to live as fully as possible
as an individual member of dinner
humankind. Hence, it seeks to cure 2. Enjoy the company of your family members in
or even eliminate pathological a movie marathon
factors which diminish a person‘s
3. Set a Family Bonding through a Picnic
options in life. However, if genetic
therapy were used to exaggerate 4. Set a dinner date with your parents
certain human traits (e.g. tallness for Make this family bonding a time to share our
athletic or sporting prowess, stories, dine together, giggle, play games, swim,
intelligence through ‗Nobel Prize shop or party together. It's an opportunity to
quality‘ breeding, etc.), the likely enjoy being together while leaving the baggage
outcome would be that a person of daily life behind. "It's about having everything
would be to that extent ‗distanced‘ that you need, and needing only what you have."
from his or her fellow human beings.
That would have a major impact on
determining such as a person‘s
‗originality‘. To that extent his or
her uniqueness as a person would be
deliberately determined by other people. I suggest that would constitute a violation of a most
sacred dimension of our being a human person. The same kind of consideration would put a
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

large question mark against parents choosing the sex of their children, if genetic engineering
ever made this a possibility for humans.

SELECTED READINGS:

Bolser, K., & Gosciej, R. (2015). Millennials: Multi-Generational Leaders Staying Connected. Journal of
Practical Consulting, Vol. 5(Iss. 2), pp. 1.

Darling, N. (1999). Parenting Style and Its correlates. ERIC Digest.

DeChane, D. J. (2014). How to explain the Millennial Generation? Understand the Context. Inquiries Journal,
VOL. 6. NO. 03, PG. 2/3.

Mary Venus Joseph, P., & Jilly John. (2008). Impact of Parenting Style on Child Development. Global
academic Society Journal: Social Science Insight III,

What is Traditional Parenting. (2011, September 22). Retrieved from Parenting Old School:
www.parentingoldschool.com/parenting-old-school-/what-is-traditional-parenting/
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

FINALS
III. CHRISTIAN MORALITY: SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL ISSUES AND
CHURCH’S RESPONSES

A. ON SOCIETY

―Globalization in the middle part of the twentieth century had stirred crucial and tremendous
changes in all aspects of human
life, whether social, economic,
CONTEXT religious, political or cultural.‖
The following are ten problems or conditions that plague At a time when the world had just
many countries. adjusted to the changes and
challenges brought by
Instruction: Rank the problems in the order of their industrialization, this unexpected
gravity/seriousness within the Philippine situation. You phenomenon crept in. If one
are to give the most serious problem a ranking of 1, the reflects upon on both the credit
second ranking of 2, and so on. Justify/explain your and debit of globalization, it is
ranking. realized that whatever good that
has come out of it is to a large
Here is the list of problems or conditions. Go ahead and extent a by-product – sometimes
rank them: a totally unintended by-product –
___ selfish attitude (selfie culture) of a process whose basic
___ Lack of agricultural land and poor natural resources motivation is the expansion of
___ Lack of education of people markets, the maximization of
___ Exploitation and domination by others profits and accumulation of
___ Lack of personal initiative and indifference of the wealth.
majority of people
___ Overpopulation Many people do not visibly see
___ Poverty the ill-effects of globalization
___ Capitalist economic structures because this phenomenon has
___ Unrest caused by revolutionaries or leftist rebels come down in the guise of new
___ Personality cult in the choice of political leaders technology, economic growth and
development. Technology as
Bernard Adeney claimed, is
considered as the sweet fruit of
globalization, the tool of
development, the sign of progress,
and the symbol of hope, security, prosperity and freedom. But aside from this, it should not
be ignored that globalization is a symbol of status and power, inequality and injustice, and
that it often benefits the few (the rich) at the expense of many (the poor).

The Philippines was not spared from the impacts of globalization. As it is narrated
―advocacy and advances in human dignity are interacting and intersecting with gross
violations of women‘s and children‘s human rights. Inequality and poverty are so
widespread. There are heroic efforts for peace in Mindanao, but they have not ended
violence, terror, and war.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

All things whatsoever ... - This

command has been usually called
INSPIRED WORD (Mt. the "Saviour's golden rule," a name
7:7-12) given to it on account of its great
value. All that you "expect" or
"desire" of others in similar
circumstances, do to them. Act not
Ask, Seek, Knock from selfishness or injustice, but
put yourself in the place of the
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and other, and ask what you would
you will find; knock and the door will be expect of him. This would make
opened to you. For everyone who asks you impartial, candid, and just. It
receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the would destroy avarice, envy,
one who knocks, the door will be opened. treachery, unkindness, slander,
theft, adultery, and murder. It has
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, been well said that this law is what
will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a the balance-wheel is to machinery.
fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, It would prevent all irregularity of
movement in the moral world, as
though you are evil, know how to give good
that does in a steam-engine. It is
gifts to your children, how much more will easily applied, its justice is seen by
your Father in heaven give good gifts to all people, and all must
acknowledge its force and value.
those who ask him! So in everything, do to
others what you would have them do unto This is the law and the prophets -
you. That is, this is the sum or substance
of the Old Testament. It is nowhere
found in so many words, but if is a
summary expression of all that the
law required. The sentiment was in
use among the Jews. Hillel, an
ancient Rabbi, said to a man who
wished to become a proselyte, and who asked him to teach him the whole law, "Whatever is
hateful to you, do not do to another." Something of the same sentiment was found among the
ancient Greeks and Romans, and is found in the writings of Confucius.
(http://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/7-12.htm)
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

SOCIAL ISSUES

Structures, institutions and laws should not be

thought of a necessary evil we have to endure.
They are essential features of embodiment as
applying to the field of social relationships.
They are all related to what Catholic social
thinkers have termed ‗the common good‘. This CHURCH TEACHING
is not something impersonal to which or good
as individual persons has to be sacrificed. The ―By what right have we catalogued
common good refers to the state of affairs persons as first-class persons or
which is needed in any particular society if the second-class persons? In the
individual goods of its members are to be theology of human nature, there is
only one class; children of God‖. (The
safeguarded and promoted. Although Vatican
Violence of Love, Archbishop Oscar
II is more concerned about pastoral renewal
Romero of El Salvador)
than precise definitions, it considers the notion
of the common good sufficiently important to ―Man‘s life comes from God; it is his
present a carefully worded definition of it in gift, his image and imprint, a sharing
three different places. For instance, Gaudium in his breath of life‖ (John Paul II,
et Spes follows its treatment of the Evangelium vitae, 39)
interdependence of the human person and
society with the statement: ‗The common
good is the sum of those conditions of social
life which allow social groups and their
individual members relatively through and
ready access to their own fulfillment (n.26; cf.
also n.74 and Declaration on Religious Freedom, n.6).
1. Corruption
Generally speaking, corruption is ―the abuse of entrusted power for private gain‖. Corruption
can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and
the sector where it occurs. Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of
government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to
benefit at the expense of the public good. Petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of
entrusted power by low- and mid-level public officials in their interactions with ordinary
citizens, who often are trying to access basic goods or service+s in places like hospitals,
schools, police departments and other agencies.

Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the

allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers, who abuse their position to
sustain their power, status and wealth. (E.V., T. I. (n.d.). Thank You for Donating toTransparency
International! Retrieved June 13, 2018, from https://www.transparency.org/what-is-corruption#define)

2. Unjust labor Practices (unjust dismissal, stockholding mindset)

Termination of a contract of employment without due process or in a manner that violates the
terms of the contract is called unjust dismissal. In such cases, the courts usually take the
employee's contractual rights into consideration in awarding damages. Also called wrongful
discharge or wrongful termination.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

3. consumerism (materialism/commodification)
Commodification, is a process of not distinguishing anymore either consciously or
unconsciously between human and non human entities resulting from a capitalist
perspective solely for the sake of profiteering. Moreover, in the process of commodification,
not only is the human person reduced to a tool that has an exchange value but also his
relations. The given explanation above on how laborers and practically human beings are
exploited, and consequently commodified, may be an oversimplification. But this is how
exploitation is essentially nowadays.
Commodification, which directly affects human beings, is a human creation; therefore, it
can be solved. However, human reality is not the only reality that gets affected. People's
commodifying consciousness has greatly altered not only the human world (the world as
perceived by human beings) but also the natural world. Because human beings in a capitalist
society amass wealth, both human beings and environment are exploited. The exploitation of
the former has found numerous criticisms from different political humanist perspectives.
Some of the exploitations, to name some, are contractualization of workers, prostitution, child
labor, and others. Workers in contractualization are commodified because workers are seen as
tools, not different from machines, that if workers' services are no longer needed, they will be
scrapped. Moreover, even the consciousness among workers is already working within the
ambits of commodification because they no longer perceive work as an extension of their
being but merely as a tool for survival. Workers had to find a way to maximize their pay and
minimize their work load which in turn will greatly effect the quality of service they will be
giving. This will contribute to the decrease of the quality of service which in turn will be
disadvantageous to a any institution.
In other words, commodification has not just affected employers but even employees as
well and will have the negative effects just explained. The exploitation of nature and the
danger this act may bring, on the other hand, have just recently been introduced into the
minds of people. In the article Capitalism and the Accumulation of Wealth by John Bellany
Foster, it is as though a prophet has given his message of judgment in this statement: Over the
next few decades we are facing the possibility, indeed the probability, of global catastrophe
on a level unprecedented in human history. The message of science is clear. As James
Hansen, the foremost climate scientist in the United States, has warned, this may be ―our last
chance to save humanity.‖ (John Bellamy Foster, ―Capitalism and the Accumulation of Catastrophe,‖
Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine, Vol. 63 Issue 7(Dec2011).

4. Responsible Citizenship

Everyone has a duty to be a responsible citizen. But unfortunately, not everyone takes this
responsibility seriously. There are plenty of people the world over who do not know what
being a responsible citizen means and these are the people who destroy our communities. For
being a responsible citizen results in a happy and harmonious community – if everyone else
does the same. Being a responsible citizen covers many areas – some of them legal
obligations, some social and some moral. So of course, because not all of them are legal
obligations, being a responsible citizen is not as easy as staying within the law. In fact, to be a
truly responsible citizen, we sometimes must go out of our way to do things which help our
society – give a little of our time and effort for the greater good.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

No one can be a responsible citizen without staying within the law. It is as simple as that.
Criminals, by their very nature, are not behaving as responsible citizens. Laws exist to protect
citizens, the communities they live in and their property. So to be a responsible citizen, we
must respect these laws and abide by them. Harming others or others‘ property does not
equate to being a good citizen.Social obligations really form the bulk of being a responsible
citizen and what this means. To be a responsible citizen, we should help our communities and
those who live in them. So, being a responsible citizen can encompass things such as
volunteering. (Walker, J., BA. (2018, February 13). Being a Responsible Citizen. Retrieved June 13, 2018,
from http://www.responsiblecitizen.co.uk/being-a-responsible-citizen.html)

5. Religious Diversity
Religious pluralism is a historical situation that characterizes our world today. It is a neutral
paradigm for Christian theology. As a new paradigm, it leads us to experience a theological
turning point. We are in a new historical situation" one that is no longer dominated as in the
last century, by religious indifference and secularization but by the plurality of religious
faiths. This is also the result of a real doctrinal revolution ushered in by Vatican II in its
pronouncement of a positive judgment on non Christian religions. The seeds of truth and
holiness in other religious traditions are now recognized. (Vatican II, Nostra Aetate).
Vatican II's well known statement opened the door to relationships with other faiths. The
statement of the magisterium went beyond domination and conversion. Religions have
something positive to offer to one another, which are not just functionally or dynamically
equivalent. What the religions are offering and saying is not the same thing, in different
forms, but unique and irreplaceable ways of salvation.

Crossing boundaries leads us into the diversity of truth conditions of other cultural and
religious traditions- Truth lies also elsewhere, outside the walls of Christianity and the
Church (Hebrews 13:14). Since Vatican II, crossing frontiers has become a central concept in
pastoral efforts to open out a dialogue with the world and all its cultures and traditions
(Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes). The world which is becoming increasingly secular, must be
infused with faith (lumen), joy (gaudium) and hope (spes). Crossing frontiers leads us to the
world of the new generation that emphasizes religious freedom, self-emancipation and group
solidarity. It also leads us to the issues raised by feminism and ecology as weII as
fundamentalism and secularism. Two social forces are distinctively responsible for the
emergence of these issues: modernization and secularization. Modernity is the outcome of
secularization.

There is a great need to address the challenge to enlarge the space for interreligious exchange,
intercultural communication" and interfaith witness. This is inevitable. We have to
acknowledge that all religious traditions are the products of historical and political processes.
Their distinctiveness is constructed upon these processes and events. Pluralism serves as a
powerful reminder of the 'constructive-ness of religion. Hence, acknowledgment of the
fragility and limited nature of all human discourse about the divine is significant Christian
theology tells us that God is the foundation of all knowledge and makes dialogue between the
world and religions and between believers and non-believers possible. Differences are not
only to be tolerated. They must also be celebrated. Diversity is to be valued to transform the
world into a better place to live in. Hence, openness to the religious-other would uncover
potentialities for approaching the plural mystery of God and the riches of Gods infinite
wisdom.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

CHURCH RESPONSE
To say the structures, institutions
and laws are indispensable since
MISSIONARY RESPONSE:
they flow from this social dimension
of being a human person is not to Blogs:
suggest that such structures,
institutions and laws are not of Of all the meaningful experiences that we can
human origin. In other words, it is provide students, those related to
quite consistent with recognizing social justice might be the most important. All the
facts, concepts, and skills we teach are for
that they may vary from culture to
nothing if students are unable to use that
culture and from age to age.
knowledge in ways that improve the world
There will always be a changeable around us.
dimension to them and, as a human
constructs, they are necessarily Create online posts that consist of:
imperfect. That is why it would be a
denial of our very humanity to look 1. Text
for some ideal Christian social order. 2. Images
Any political party which claimed to
3. Artwork
base its manifesto as such an ideal
Christian social order is living in a 4. Links
dream-world and is not doing justice
5. video
to the reality of the human person.
These posts, depending on frequency and length,
If that is true, what about the body might take the form of an online essay, a short
of social thought which goes under daily/weekly reflection on given themes on
the heading of ‗Catholic social social justice.
teaching‘ and which is clearly so
dear to the heart of Pope John Paul
II? There is no doubt that sometimes this social thought is spoken of almost as thought it is
offering some kind of ideal Christian social order. However, a more careful exegesis of the
major ‗social encyclicals‘ as seen in their historical context reveals that they were very
clearly ‗situational‘ documents. They were responding to particular situations of structural
injustice or dehumanizing social movements which in their day were seriously harming the
lives of people, especially the poor. For instance, the very first of the great social encyclicals,
Rerum Novarum (1891), was a response to some of the problems caused by the Industrial
Revolution. Too few people controlled the sources of wealth with the result that very many
people were living in dire poverty and enduring inhuman working conditions. Rerum
Novarum defended the right of workers to form trade unions and demanded a just wage for
them. It argued that private property, though a legitimate institution, was only a secondary
right and founded on the more basic truth that the good of this earth are given for the good of
all people. It opposed ‗class struggle‘ as being divisive and so not an effective way of
creating a more just society. Hence, it was against the socialist movement of the time because
it was so strongly wedded to the ‗class struggle‘.
A careful exegesis shows that most of the other major social encyclicals have largely
followed a similar approach. They attempted to read what seemed to be going on in society in
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

the light of what they saw to be basic principles for social life which flowed from a Christian
world-view. It is this gradual elaboration of these basic principles over the past 100 years that
is usually referred to as ‗Catholic social teaching‘. To a casual observer it can give the
impression of offering a blueprint for a Christian social order. When properly
understood, it does nothing of the sort. It operates more as a kind of check-list of social
values, formulated in various ways, which can be helpful in a critical evaluation of any
particular society. ‗Catholic social teaching‘ is often enunciated in the form of general
principles which insist on certain facets of social organization that need to be borne in mind if
a society it to be truly respectful of human persons. The principle of subsidiarity is a good
example of this. It is enunciated in terms of a general principle in Quadragesimo Anno, n.79:
Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their
own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the
same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher
association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do.

SELECTED READINGS:
―Development, Justice and Peace,‖ CBCP Monitor, Feb 15-28, 2010, sec. A, p.4.

Saint Augustine Confessions, translated by Henry Chadwick, (Great Britain: Cox and Wyman Ltd., .

The Editorial, ―Glorious Rhetoric, Notorious Realities,‖ Impact, Vol. 41, no.2, Dec 2007, 23.

Michael Walsh and Brian Davies, Proclaiming Justice and Peace: Papal Documents from Rereum Novarum
through Centesimus Annu, (Mystic, Cennecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1991), p. 19.

Pope Benedict XVI, In the Beginning...A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall, (Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1995), 82.

Harvey Cox, The Market as God: Living in the New Dispensation, The Atlantic Monthly 283, no . 3 (March 1999):
18.
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

B. ON ENVIRONMENT/ECOLOGY (Philippine environmental situationer)

(calamities)

The world faces more daunting environmental challenges. Global warming has cause climate
changes disrupting the natural cycles and weather patterns. While hurricanes are getting
stronger, droughts are becoming longer and more intense. Mountain glaciers around the
world have receded,
increasing sea levels which
CONTEXT could bury low-lying islands
underwater. Global warming
is partly caused by
(Song analysis: Kapaligiran by Asin) greenhouse gases released
by natural phenomena.
1. Read carefully the song. You may sing it. Large quantities of these
Wala ka bang napapansin sa iyong mga kapaligiran? gases come from
Kay dumi na ng hangin, pati na ang mga ilog natin anthropogenic activities like
the burning of fossil fuels.
hindi na masama ang pag-unlad at malayu-layo na rin ang ating Changing pattern of rainfall
narating ngunit masdan mo ang tubig sa dagat dati'y kulay asul leads to local shortage of
ngayo'y naging itim ang mga duming ating ikinalat sa hangin sa food and health problems
langit huwag na nating paabutin upang kung tayo'y pumanaw man, and even armed disputes.
sariwang hangin sa langit natin matitikman Many water sources are
threatened by faulty waste
mayron lang akong hinihiling sa aking pagpanaw sana ay tag-ulan
gitara ko ay aking dadalhin upang sa ulap na lang tayo disposal, industrial
magkantahan pollutants, fertilizer un-off,
and saltwater intrusion into
mga batang ngayon lang isinilang may hangin pa kayang underground aquifer leading
matitikman? may mga puno pa kaya silang aakyatin may mga ilog to unsafe drinking water and
pa kayang lalanguyan? depletion of ground water.
Soil has been contaminated
bakit di natin pagisipan ang nangyayari sa ating kapaligiran hindi by excess of salts and
na masama ang pag-unlad kung hindi nakakasira ng hazardous chemicals.
kalikasandarating ang panahon mga ibong gala ay wala nang Erosion and exhaustion of
madadapuan masdan mo ang mga punong dati ay kay tatag ngayo'y
nutrients and trace elements
namamatay dahil sa 'ting kalokohan
have degraded the quality of
lahat ng bagay na narito sa lupa biyayang galing sa diyos kahit soil resulting in poor crop
nong ika'y wala pa ingatan natin at 'wag nang sirain pa pagkat pag harvests. Deforestation and
kanyang binawi, tayo'y mawawala na mining are among human
activities which have
2. Explain how the song has exposed the phenomenon of adversely affected
earth‘s destruction. biodiversity.

In the Philippines, there is

ecological consciousness
that co-exists with species
extinction because of illegal
logging, mining, fishing, and
so on. Human life and the
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

natural world are definitely under threat. A new vision of life must be founded on the
conviction that human are embedded in nature and nature is also embedded in human beings.
Dianne Bergant argues ―we are truly children of the universe, made of the same stuff as are
the mountains and the rain, the sand and the stars. We are governed by the laws of life and
growth and death as are the birds and the fish and the grass of the fields. We thrive in the
warmth of and through the agency of the sun as does every other living thing.‖

In the second story of creation in Genesis 2:15, we read: ―The Lord God then took the
man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.” The verse fits
within the creation story that has a continuing theme of God's giving order to His creation.
Man, in this verse, is called to cultivate and care for the garden of Eden, not to possess it
indiscriminately. Though
cultivating and caring infer
dominion, still it is not ownership
that the verse points at, rather,
stewardship. This verse reminds us
on what man's place in creation
should be.
INSPIRED WORD (Genesis 2:15-20 )
Human beings have, therefore,
become confused, almost to the The LORD God took the man and put him in the
point of forgetting, their proper
place in creation. This confusion Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And
has given way to the materialistic the LORD God commanded the man, ―You are
consciousness of humanity. Pope free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you
Benedict resonates this kind of
predicament as the crisis of modern must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of
consciousness: ―The obscuring of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will
faith in creation, which eventually certainly die.‖
led to its almost complete
disappearance, is closely connected The LORD God said, ―It is not good for the man to
with the ―spirit of modernity.‖ It is be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.‖
a fundamental part of what
constitutes modernity. To go Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground
straight to the point: the
all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He
foundations of modernity are the
reason for the disappearance of brought them to the man to see what he would
―creation‖ from the horizons of name them; and whatever the man called each
historically influential thought.
living creature, that was its name. So the man
Thus our subject leads to the very
center of the drama of modernity gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the
and to the core of the present crisis sky and all the wild animals.
– the crisis of the modern
consciousness.‖
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

1. Pollution
Pollution is the process of making land,
water, air or other parts of the
environment dirty and not safe or
suitable to use. This can be done
through the introduction of a
contaminant into a natural environment,
“Our dominion over the universe but the contaminant doesn't need to be
should be understood more properly tangible. Things as simple as light,
in the sense of responsible sound and temperature can be
stewardship” (Laudato Si, #116) considered pollutants when introduced
artificially into an
“In his use of things man should
regard the external goods he environment. Pollution is the
legitimately owns not merely as undesirable change in the physical ,
exclusive to himself but common to chemical, and biological conditions of
others also, in the sense that they can the environment. Pollution generally
treated in three natural categories: air
benefit others as well as himself. The
water, and land.
ownership of any property makes its
holder a steward of Providence, with a. Air Pollution
the task of making it fruitful and
communicating its benefits to others, There are five major pollutants
first of all his family.” (CCC 2404) discharged into the atmosphere: carbon
monoxide, particulate, sulfur oxides,
hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides. Its
major sources, aside from motor vehicles, are fuel combustion of electric-power plants,
industrial processes and burning of solid wastes.
The effects of air pollution on us are varied. Excessive inhalation of carbon monoxide
displaces oxygen in our blood, and therefore, reduces the amount of oxygen carried to the
body tissues. Sulfur oxides, on the other hand, are believed to cause temporary and
permanent injury to our respiratory system,through the irritation of the lung tissue and
upper respiratory tract. Photochemical oxidants, like nitrogen dioxide, aldehydes, and
peroxyzcyl can cause eye irritation. The intake of nitrogen oxides, particularly by
children, increases their susceptibility to contact flu.
b. Water Pollution
Water is one of the most important natural resources that we necessary to sustain our life
in this planet. But, the growth of population and industry, as well as, the increase of
agricultural production, results in a heavier water-borne load of insecticides, herbicides,
and nitrates. These pollutants spread not only into our streams, rivers, lakes, and seas, but
into our ground water as well.
c. Land Pollution
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

The land around us makes it possible for us to establish structures, like housing
settlements and industrial complexes, which support our activities. It is also the medium
through we can have agricultural products. Landforms, like mountain ranges, contain
mineral resources that we need for industrial progress. All of these make land a valuable
resource for us. But, when we misuse land, we experience environmental pollution and
the depletion of our land-based resources.
Land pollution may be traced to two general resources; 1) solid wastes from domestic,
commercial, and industrial activities, and 2) agricultural pollution from pesticides and
fertilizers. Other sources of land, air, and water pollution are due to the use of fossil fuels
for industrial purposes; lead emissions from cars, increasing number of refrigerators and
air conditioners, dumping of toxic wastes, and many more.

2. Mining Industry
The Philippines is the fifth most mineral-rich country in the world for gold, nickel, copper,
and chromite. It is home to the largest copper-gold deposit in the world. The Mines and
Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has estimated that the country has an estimated $840 billion
worth of untapped mineral wealth, as of 2012.

About 30 million hectares of land areas in the Philippines is deemed as possible areas for
metallic minerals. According to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), about nine
million hectares of land areas is identified as having high mineral potential. The Philippines
metal deposit is estimated at 21.5 billion metric tons and non-metallic minerals are at 19.3
billion metric tons, as of 2012. (QUINTANS, J. D. (2017, September 04). Mining industry in the
Philippines. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from http://www.manilatimes.net/mining-industry-philippines/348610/)

3. Massive Industrialization
Some two to three centuries ago, huge social and economic advances marked the worldwide
evolution from a conservative agricultural and commercial society to an experimental
industrial civilization. Manufacture of new mechanical innovations to ease the tasks of
mankind had replaced manual labor and conventional tools our ancestors had used long ago.
Perhaps you recall from history books how in just a few decades of this period, the global
village competently accepted the countless innovations made like the electricity, automobiles
and telephones.

Philippines‘ workforce has long been known worldwide for the efficiency it presents.
Thousands of overseas Filipino workers are hired every year. This proves how foreigners feel
satisfied at the service of Philippine natives. In fact, a study has been conducted by the Swiss
International Institute for Management Development in 2004 which reveals that Philippines
ranks number one in Asia in terms of availability of skilled workforce. Aside from being
naturally smart and respectful, Filipino workers are also efficient in speaking English. Also,
labor in the Philippines is priced markedly low, compared to equally qualified employees
from other countries. These are the main reasons why the Philippines seems to be a potential
location for call centers. (GlobalSky. (n.d.). The #1 Best Value Call Center in the Philippines. Retrieved
June 12, 2018, from http://globalsky.com/industrial-revolution-in-the-philippines/)

4. Reforestation
Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

(forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation. Reforestation can be
used to rectify or improve the quality of human life by soaking up pollution and dust from the
air, rebuild natural habitats and ecosystems, mitigate global warming since forests facilitate
biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and harvest for resources, particularly timber,
but also non-timber forest products.

A similar concept, afforestation, another type of forestation, refers to the process of restoring
and recreating areas of woodlands or forests that may have existed long ago but were
deforested or otherwise removed at some point in the past or lacked it naturally (e.g., natural
grasslands). Sometimes the term "re-afforestation" is used to distinguish between the original
forest cover and the later re-growth of forest to an area. Special tools, e.g. tree planting bars,
are used to make planting of trees easier and faster. (Cousineau, L. (n.d.). Reforestation Definition.
Retrieved June 12, 2018, from http://www.climate-change-guide.com/reforestation-definition.html)

5. Waste management
According to a report of the Senate Economic Planning Office, the Philippines in 2016 was
generating at least 40,000 metric tons of waste a day. And waste-to-energy companies need at
least 16,000 tons of trash annually to generate 1MW of energy. With the amount of trash that
the Philippines is generating, waste-to-energy companies can provide electricity to a handful
of areas in the country that are experiencing energy demand challenges.

Waste management is the collection, transportation, and disposal of garbage, sewage, and
other waste products. Waste management encompasses management of all processes and
resources for proper handling of waste materials, from maintenance of waste transport trucks
and dumping facilities to compliance with health codes and environmental regulations.
(PALAFOX, F. A. (2018, March 08). Waste management: Saving the Philippine islands, tourism and the
environment. Retrieved June 13, 2018, from
http://www.manilatimes.net/waste-management-saving-the-philippine-islands-tourism-and-the-environment/384
758/)

CHURCH RESPONSE:

The encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (SRS), which speaks of the Christian doctrine on the
environment, gives and explains the three main reasons why we are to respect our
environment, including our natural resources. Some of the ideas included are the following:
1. The natural cosmos must not be used ―simply as one wishes according to one‘s own
economic needs‖;
2. Natural resources are limited and some are not renewable; and
3. The direct or indirect result of industrialization is, ever more frequently, the pollution of
the environment, with serious consequences for the help of population.‖
In short, the Church affirms ―the true concept of development cannot ignore the use of the
elements of nature, the renewability of resources and the consequences of haphazard
industrialization - three considerations which alert our consciences to the moral dimension of
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

the environment.‖ (SRS, 34).

Partnership in Creation
The word ecology is derived from the Greek word, *‖oikos,‖ which means ―house‖ or place
in which to live. But let us see what field of science has to say about ecology. In the field of
science, it is the study of organisms ―at home.‖In ecology, we study living beings, the place
in which they live , and the interaction among and between the living and non-living
components of the place being studied. We attempt to understand the complex web of
linkages, relationships and interdependencies in a particular environment or ecosystem. As
we study, we start to realize that there is a partnership going on among the beings in our
ecosystems.
Ecosystems are never completely static; they are dynamic realities. Nevertheless, most
ecosystems, in their natural environment, do develop a dynamic stability. But, if we introduce
significant changes from the outside, the pattern of relationships in ecosystems can be
disrupted. Outside influences are not necessarily bad. In some cases, they are needed. As
partners in creation, it is our task to introduce outside influences, if necessary.
It is, however, unfortunate, that most of the time, the outside influences that we introduce are
so massive that an ecosystem collapses. An example of this is Eutrophication, in which high
concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous are intentionally disposed of in a body of fresh
water. This induces a proliferation of algae, which suffocate many of the traditional life forms
in lakes, making them biologically dead.
When we shift our study from a singe ecosystem to the earth itself, many ecologists fear that
the changes, which are presently taking place in the biosphere - the air, water, and the thin
layer of soil that are essential for all life on earth, are so massive that they will cause the
collapse or serious depletion of essential ecosystems, like the oceans, with disastrous
consequences for all life forms, including us.
Ecology has much to teach of us as individuals and as human family so that we may begin to
care more for the only home we all share - the planet earth. Mass media, global culture and
technology vis-a-vis Moral-spiritual discernment. The influences of mass media,
globalization, and technology in our daily lives need our moral-spiritual reflections.
Discernment does not simply mean the act of perceiving, distinguishing or recognizing events
and experiences in life. Discernment is rather richer in its theological parlance referring to the
art of seeing God‘s will in complex circumstances. The art of discerning requires a struggle
of openness in organizing and assessing God‘s plan for us in our lives and our relationship
with one another. This discernment requires an ―ongoing process of response to people‘s
needs in give situation as they are encountered in changing circumstances.‖
As a result of assessing God‘ will for us, there is something profound that happen to us. The
gift of charity or our ability to be generous to others are poured forth into our beings.
However, there are two evident facts that contradict the gift of charity in our human
experience: our lack of freedom and our lack of truth.
In discussing our lack of freedom, we start with St. Paul‘s term: ―For I do not do the good I
want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.‖ (Rom 7:10) Similarly, we say: ―Bakit ba
 CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)

masarap ang bawal?‘ (Why is

it enjoyable to do that which MISSIONARY RESPONSE
is evil?) or ―gusto kong
bumait pero di ko magawa‖,
Litter Free Zone
(I want to do better but I can‘t)
―may quiz ako bukas pero Divide the class in small groups (5 members each) and are
nagyayaya sila mag-gimmick, assigned an area in the building/campus to care for
sino ba ako para atrasan ang especially keeping it clean and spic and span for a
bagay na yan!‖ (I have a quiz week. During free time or agreed common time, the
tomorrow but they are group in charge ensures that their corresponding areas
inviting me for a drinking are spic and span and free of any litter. The faculty
in charge will rate the litter free zone and a recognition
spree, who am I to turn down
to the Litter Free Zone can be done before the
their offer?) and so on. This
semester ends.
fact of condition is a certain
lack of inconsistency in doing
acting which is a basic option
in life.
Secondly, the lack of truth is the act of lying to ourselves and to one another. We try to deny
that we do evil things and we also try not to accept that we can change for the better. There
are times we prefer no to face our capacity to do good because we become uncomfortable,
and the task is unsettling. We rationalize our mistakes so we become masters of wearing
‗masks‘. These obstacles show up in our attitudes, habits and values leading to patterns of
actions revealing both that we have the capability to do bad and to do good.
SELECTED READINGS:

M. Holine, Finding the Message of Pope‟s Encyclical Vol.57 (2015).

A. Gore, ―Making Changes for Our Children,‖ Vital Speeches for the Day 73. No.5 (2007).

R. S., Guzman, Environmental Education for Sustainable Development (Quezon City: 2000).

J. Broome, ―The Ethics of Climate Change,‖ Scientific American 298 no.6 (2008).
P. Rogers, ―Facing the Fresh Water Crisis,‖ Scientific American 299 no.
Q. Tubeza, ―Business Acts on Global Warming,‖ Philippine Daily Inquirer (2009).
Vitaliano Gorospe, Forming the Filipino Social Conscience (Makati City: Bookmark, Inc., 1997), 172.

Chandra Muzaffar, ―Globalization: The Perceptions, Experiences and Responses of the Religious Traditions
and Cultural Communities in the Asia Pacific Region‖, Colloquium on Church in Asia in the 21st Century
( Manila, Philippines: Office for Human Development-FABC, 1997), 40.

Bernard Adeney, ―The Dark Side of Technology‖, Anglican Life and Witness (A Reader for Lambeth
Conference of Anglican Bishops 1998), ed. C. Sugden & V. Samuel (London: SPCK, 1997): 58-59.

Edgar Javier, ―Proclaiming the Word of God: New Voices on the Horizon,‖ Religious Life Asia, Vol. XII no.
2 (April-June 2009): 3.
CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES(CFE 102)