Journal: "Do you really mean to tell me the only reason you try to be good is to gain God's approval and reward, or to avoid his disapproval and punishment? That's not morality, that's just sucking up, apple-polishing, looking over your shoulder at the great surveillance camera in the sky, or the still small wiretap inside your head, monitoring your every move, even your every base though." -Richard Dawkins

Chapter One cont… Being Human

The three parts of Catholic Faith: 1. How Catholics think (Catholic theology) 2. How Catholics live (Catholic morality) 3. How Catholics pray (Catholic worship) Corresponding to the mind, will and the heart…

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10: That one thing is Christ -(Eucharist)

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality “Seeing the big picture” One of the main reasons we fail to practice our morality well is that we fail to understand it well. We fail to understand that it is not just a way of behaving but a way of being; not simply “living a good life” but becoming “a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17) -Peter Kreeft, Catholic Christianity

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality The relation between religion and morality? Can we be good without God? “If God does not exist, everything is permissible” -Dostoyevsky

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality True morality without true religion? God as the first cause and the ultimate origin of the moral law. Knowledge of morality by natural reason

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality So if we can live a good moral life without being a Catholic, why be one? -The difference between the true and the good.

The role of Scripture in Catholic Morality Catholic Morality (deeds) is based on Catholic Theology (beliefs). Right Morality (along with right Theology) as the main source of God’s blessings. (Moses, Deut 30; David, Psalm 1; Christ, Mt 25.) Law of Retribution

The role of Scripture in Catholic Morality Belief as a Moral Decision Faith as: (a)Intellectual Belief (b)Moral Action (c)The Indefinable Sense of Grace

The role of Scripture in Catholic Morality Our Jewish Moral Heritage Man’s Moral Instinct (conscience) Man’s Religious Instinct (to worship)

Morality Today: The Enlightenment

The supernatural character of Catholic Morality: -Nature -Origin -End

The supernatural character of Catholic Morality: 13 Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The supernatural character of Catholic Morality: Beatitude is supernatural in three ways: (1) Beyond human nature (2) Beyond human reason (3) Beyond human power

The supernatural character of Catholic Morality: “Such beatitude surpasses the understanding and powers of man. It comes from an entirely free gift of God: whence it is called supernatural” (CCC 1722).

Exit Assignment Read the New York Times article and answer the following questions: 1. How are opinion and fact defined according to the son’s classroom? 2. How does the author argue that treating all value claims as opinion leads to the absence of moral facts? 3. How does the author differentiate between opinion and fact at the end of the article? i.e. how can both a fact and opinion be true according to the author?