ARCC spot LIGHT (analysis of Church issues offered by the ARCC Publications Committee, J Romasco & R. Schutzius, eds.)
Moral Judgment
Feb 15, 2009
Feb 15, 2009
A study of Church history reveals that Church Canon Law evolved from Roman law. When the Roman Empire became Christian, prevailing Roman Law dealt with governance for a stable Empire. The Pax Romana needed to merge different peoples as citizens of an ever expanding Empire. This required rigor of law but also some flexibility. Rather than rigid legal decisions by a judge, a tribunal system emerged.
Governance focused on maintaining order in the transfer of property rights across generations, and accommodation followed in support of tribal families from the beneficence of the manorial wealth. These people were concerned with laws and rights in protection of their wealth. As the Empire declined, control of wealth and property rights was extended to all citizens as social structure changed, including juridical definition of marriage.
Just as with Roman Law, Church law eventually recognized the need for flexibility to accommodate the right of individual conscience. The documents of Vatican II and the Catholic Catechism both reaffirm that "value decisions" are ultimately personal and that the "Dignity of the Individual" ultimately is the final test.
Catechism: Dignity of the Conscience
1786 Faced with a moral choice, conscience can make either a right
judgment in accordance with reason and the divine law or, on the contrary,
an erroneous judgment that departs from them.
1787 Man is sometimes confronted by situations that make moral judgments
less assured and decision difficult. But he must always seriously seek what
is right and good and discern the will of God expressed in divine law.
1788 To this purpose, man strives to interpret the data of experience
and the signs of the times assisted by the virtue of prudence, by the advice
of competent people, and by the help of the Holy Spirit and his gifts.
1789 Some rules apply in every case: One may never do evil so that good may result from it;
In applying the above to failed marriages, the Church has established tribunals to judge the validity of a marriage using what objective evidence that can be obtained, but it is not feasible for a tribunal to judge all the possible causes of a failed marriage. Catholics seeking to resolve the validity of a failed marriage are well advised to seek the help of these tribunals. But the right of an individual to act on the decision of a well formed conscience with . some form of objective confirmation remains primary. Official recognition by the Church is desirable and helpful, but not determinative. Again, "value decisions" are ultimately personal and the "Dignity of the Individual" ultimately is the final test.
Sunday Feb 22, 7th Sunday, Genesis 19:15-26
Ash Wednesday Feb. 25, Exodus 21:7-11, Deuter. 15:12-17, 21:10-14, Oroverbs 4:3-13, Luke 1:45-55, Ester 14:3-14
Sunday March 1, 1st Lent, Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7.
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