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To
Live

in

(MUST
.JESTS

A Pastoral Reflection on the Moral Life

NOVEMBER 11, 1976

NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF
CATHOLIC BISHOPS

©United States Catholic Conference

1976

Publications Office

UNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCE

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005



CONTENTS

TO LIVE IN CHRIST JESUS:
A PASTORAL REFLECTION ON THE MORAL LIFE

PAGE

I. Introduction: Principles of the Moral Life 3

Christ, Our Life 3

Sin and Grace 5

Conversion 7

Fulfillment 8

Guidance in Christ 8

Conscience 10

The Church 10

II. Moral Life in the Family, the Nation, and the Community of

Nations 13

The Family 14

Children 17

The Aged 20

The Family and Society 22

The Nation 23

The Individual and the Nation 23

Respect for the Unborn 23

Women in Society 24

Respect for Racial and Ethnic Groups 25

Employment 27

Housing 28

Crime and Correction 29

The Nation and the Individual 30

The Community of Nations 30

The Development of Peoples 32

Peace 33

Human Rights 36

III. Conclusion 37

Footnotes 40

Study Questions 42



Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

We wish to share our faith with you. We wish to speak of its

power, of the great hope that is in us, of the Spirit that has been

poured into human hearts. We wish to discuss some moral ques-

tions of our day which affect the dignity of human persons and to

respond to them in accordance with what we have seen and heard

concerning the word of life. “What we have seen and heard we

proclaim in turn to you so that you may share life with us .” 1 We also

address these words in charity and respect to our fellow Christians

and to others who, although they do not share our religious beliefs,

may wish to know our vision of the moral life and our perception of

many of the critical issues of our day.

Christ, Our Life

We believe the meaning and destiny of our lives are most fully

revealed to us in Jesus of Nazareth, whom we acknowledge as Son

of God made man, Savior and Lord of creation. In Him are revealed

two great truths:

• who God is and

• who we are.

He tells us that God, whom we are to love and serve above all else
,

2

loves us more than we can hope to understand and offers us His love

irrevocably. As St. Paul says: “Neither death nor life, neither

angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor

powers, neither height nor depth nor any other creature, will be able

to separate us from the Love of God that comes to us in Christ

Jesus, our Lord .” 3 Jesus Himself is the new covenant, the sacred

and enduring bond, between God and ourselves . 4

“Whatever came to be in Him, found life . . . any who did ac-

cept Him He empowered to become children of God .” 5 Christ, in

whom God and man are most perfectly one, manifests in the world

3



We wish to share our faith with you and others
who may wish to know our vision of the moral life.

God’s hidden plan to share His life with us, to pour out His own

Spirit upon all flesh
,

6
so that we who were formed in His image

should be called and be children of God
,

7

addressing Him in truth

as “our Father.”

Christ also reveals the response which we are to make to our

calling and gives us the power to make it. This is the power of God’s

own Spirit. “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God .” 8

Jesus lived and was led by the Spirit as the dynamic force of His

life .
9 As Son of God made man, He loves not only His Father but

each human being. He teaches us that love of God and love of

neighbor spring from the same Spirit and are inseparable . 10 “If any-

one says, ‘My love is fixed on God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a

liar .”
11 We are to love all human beings, even our enemies, as we

love ourselves
;

12
even more, we are to obey Christ’s new command to

love all others as He has loved us . 13

By this commandment Christ tells us something new

• about God,

• about love, and

• about ourselves.

His commandment to love is new not simply because of the scope

and unselfishness of the love involved, but because it calls us to love

with a divine love called charity, as the Father, Son and Spirit do.

This call carries with it the inner gift of Their life and the power of

Their love, for Christ does not command what is impossible.

Christ’s life is one of total obedience to the Father in the Spirit.

His obedience entailed hunger and thirst and weariness, obscurity

and rejection, suffering and death. Yet in accepting the suffering

which came to Him as He walked the way of loving obedience, Jesus

did not deny His humanity but realized it perfectly. In giving His

Son the glorious victory over death, the Father showed His pleasure

with the Son’s loving obedience .
14

His life challenges the lives we lead. He began His ministry by

calling us to change our lives completely .
15
His very first word sum-

mons us to turn away from sin, turn toward God, and receive the

gift of the Spirit.

4



Sin and Grace

We must recognize the brutal reality of sin. It is different from

unavoidable failure or limitation. We all fail often through no fault

of our own, and we all experience human limitations, among which

the ultimate limitation is death. It is a sign of maturity to be able to

accept our limitations and discover meaning in our failures.

Sin is different. It is a spirit of selfishness rooted in our hearts

and wills which wages war against God’s plan for our fulfillment. It

is rejection, either partial or total, of one’s role as a child of God and

a member of His people, a rejection of the spirit of sonship, love and

life. We sin first in our hearts, although often our sins are expressed

in outward acts and their consequences .
16

There is vast goodness in our world, yet sin’s effects are also

visible everywhere:

• in exploitative relationships,

• in loveless families,

• in unjust social structures and policies,

• in crimes by and against individuals and against

God’s creation.

Everywhere we encounter the suffering and destruction wrought by

egoism and lack of community, by oppression of the weak and ma-

nipulation of the vulnerable; we experience explosive tensions

among nations, ideological, racial, and religious groups, and social

classes; we witness the scandalous gulf between those who waste

goods and resources and those who live and die amid deprivation

and underdevelopment — and all this in an atmosphere of wars and
ceaseless preparations for war. Ours is a sinful world.

Sin is a spirit of selfishness rooted in our hearts and

wills which wages war against God’s plan.

“But despite the increase of sin, grace has far surpassed it .” 17

God remained faithful to His love for us, sending His own Son “in

the likeness of sinful flesh
” 18

into the midst of this sinful world.

Jesus, “who was tempted in every way that we are, yet never

sinned ,”
19

accepted in Himself the full force of our sins, of the

powers of darkness at large in the world, and of all the suffering

which fidelity to God entails. So that by His obedience many might

be made righteous
,

20 He was faithful unto death. This was His final,

irrevocable act of absolute self-giving in love to God and to us.

5





In a special way we engage in a continuing process of

conversion through the Sacrament of Penance.

Christ’s offer of love and life is valid forever. Transcending

space and time, He is present to all and offers to each the life that is

in Him. It is freely offered, there for the taking, unless in our free-

dom we choose to reject His call and not to be united with Him.

Because of sin we are helpless if left to ourselves, unable even

to do the good we know and truly wish to do . 21 But God, who loves

us and is faithful to His promise, saves us from sin through Jesus.

• Through baptism we enter into Christ’s saving

death and are buried with Him;

• through baptism we enter into His saving resurrection;

• through baptism we are united to His body

and share in His Spirit.

We who have been baptized in Christ are to consider ourselves

“dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus .” 22 “Since we live by

the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s lead .”
23

Conversion

Even so, our final triumph over sin is a lifelong task. Christ’s

call to conversion is ever timely, for we still live in a sinful world

and the power of sin is strong in us. “My inner self agrees with the
law of God, but I see in my body’s members another law at war with

the law of my mind; this makes me the prisoner of the law of sin in

my members .” 24

As disciples of Jesus who accept Him as our way and desire to

love God and each other as we have been loved, we must acknowl-

edge our sinfulness. We have to undergo conversion: “a profound
change of the whole person by which one begins to consider, judge,

and arrange his life according to the holiness and love of God .” 25 In

a special way we engage in a continuing process of conversion

through the Sacrament of Penance, in which our sins are forgiven

and we are reconciled with God and with the community of faith.

We are to live the paschal mystery, which we proclaim at Mass:
“Dying, He destroyed our death and, rising, He restored our life .” 26

This paschal mystery is central to Christ’s life and mission and to

ours as His disciples.

7



Living in His spirit, we must deny ourselves, take up the cross

each day, and follow in His steps .
27

Christ’s atoning sacrifice is, in

Cardinal Newman’s words, “the vital principle in which the Chris-

tian lives, and without which Christianity is not .” 28 As brothers and

sisters of Jesus who are also His followers and members of His body,

we must accept suffering and death as He did, and in so accepting

them share His life. “If we have been united with Him through like-

ness to His death,” so also “through a like resurrection” we shall be

raised from the dead by the glory of the Father .
29 By our union with

Christ we have already begun to share that risen life here on earth.

Fulfillment

All of us seek happiness: life, peace, joy, a wholeness and

wholesomeness of being. The happiness we seek and for which we

are fashioned is given to us in Jesus, God’s supreme gift of love. He

comes in the Father’s name to bring the fulfillment promised to the

Hebrew people and, through them, to all people everywhere. He is

Himself our happiness and peace, our joy and beatitude.

Of old the divine pattern for human existence was set forth in

the decalogue. And Jesus said: “He who obeys the commandments

he has from Me is the man who loves Me; and he who loves Me will

be loved by My Father.”30 In the beatitudes31 Jesus, our brother,
promises us the dignity of life as sons and daughters of God, the

eternal enjoyment of a destiny which we now grasp imperfectly and

which has yet to appear in its glorious fullness. Through these beat-

itudes, Jesus also teaches us values we must cherish and qualities

we must cultivate if we are to follow Him.

Living these values by the grace of Christ, we possess in some

measure even now the fulfillment promised to us. As God’s reign

takes root within us we become “gentle and humble of heart” like

Jesus
32
through deeds done in holiness, and thus “a kingdom of jus-

tice, love and peace is furthered in this world .”
33

Guidance in Christ

God reveals to us in Jesus who we are and how we are to live.

Yet He has made us free, able and obliged to decide how we shall

respond to our calling. We must make concrete in the particular cir-

cumstances of our lives what the call to holiness and the command-

ment of love require. This is not easy. We know, too, that our deci-

sions may not be arbitrary, for ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ ‘right’ and ‘wrong’

8



We must make decisions of conscience based upon
prayer, study, consultation and an understanding of

the teachings of the Church.

are not simply whatever we choose to make them. And so God gives

us His guidance in manifold forms.

The human heart is alive with desire for created goods. Behind

this desire is our longing for God. “Athirst is my soul for God, the

living God .” 34 Our desire for created goods and our longing for the

uncreated good are not in contradiction, since Christ came to per-

fect our nature, not to destroy it. He is the goal to whom all crea-

tures tend, for whom all creatures long, in whom all hold together . 35

Everything good and worthwhile in the adventure of a human life is

such because it shows forth in some way the glory of God and points

back to Him. Created goods and loves are His gifts, and they tell us

of their giver and His will for humanity. Though all other goods

draw us in part to our perfection as individuals, members of human

communities, and stewards of the world, union with God is the

supreme and only perfect fulfillment. Those who follow Christ will

value all that is truly human and be reminded by it of His call.

We rejoice in friends, in being alive, in being treated as persons

rather than things, in knowing the truth. In this we are rejoicing in

being ourselves, images of God called to be His children. Truth and

life, love and peace, justice and friendship go into what it means to

be human. Morality, then, is not simply something imposed on us

from without, but is ingrained in our being; it is the way we accept

our humanity as restored to us in Christ.

In giving us these goods and the desire for them, God wills that

we be open to them and eager to foster them in ourselves and others.

All these goods form a starting point for reflecting upon the mean-

ing and purpose of our lives. In the life of every human person are

reflected many elements of the “divine law — eternal, objective,
and universal — whereby God orders, directs, and governs the en-
tire universe and all the ways of the human community .”36 All these

goods together bear witness to the existence of what is often called

the natural moral law. No disciple of Christ will neglect these

goods. We are not possessed of His Spirit, therefore, if we toss them

9



aside with contempt, spurning the loving gifts of our Father; if we

grasp at them selfishly and deny them to others; or if we make

them, not their giver, the ultimate end and meaning of our lives .
37

Conscience

Even when we have become conscious of these fundamental

goods and have cultivated an attitude of cherishing them in our-

selves and others, more remains to be done. We still must decide

how to realize and affirm them in the concrete circumstances of our

lives. Such decisions are called judgments of conscience. In the final

analysis, they take place in the “most secret core and sanctuary” of

a person, where one “is alone with God .” 38

We live in good faith if we act in accord with conscience. Nev-

ertheless our moral decisions still require much effort. We must

make decisions of conscience based upon prayer, study, consulta-

tion and an understanding of the teachings of the Church. We must

have a rightly informed conscience and follow it. But our judgments

are human and can be mistaken; we may be blinded by the power of

sin in our lives or misled by the strength of our desires. “Beloved, do

not trust every spirit, but put the spirits to a test to see if they

belong to God .” 39

Clearly, then, we must do everything in our power to see to it

that our judgments of conscience are informed and in accord with

the moral order of which God is creator. Common sense requires

that conscientious people be open and humble, ready to learn from

the experience and insight of others, willing to acknowledge preju-

dices and even change their judgments in light of better instruction.

Followers of Jesus will have a realistic approach to conscience.

They will accept what Jesus taught and judge things as He judges

them.

The Church

Where are we to look for the teachings of Jesus, hear His voice

and discern His will?

In scripture, whose books were written under the inspiration of

the Holy Spirit. In prayer, where we grow in knowledge and love of

Christ and in commitment to His service. In the events of human

life and history, where Christ and His Spirit are at work. In the

Church, where all these things converge. This is why the Second

10





Vatican Council said: “In the formation of their consciences, the

Christian faithful ought carefully to attend to the sacred and cer-

tain doctrine of the Church.”
40

There are many instruments and agents of teaching in the

Church. All have roles in drawing out the richness of Christ’s mes-

sage and proclaiming it, each according to his or her gift. Although

we cannot discuss their role at length here, we wish in particular to

acknowledge and encourage the contributions which theologians

make to this effort.

The Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him have

been anointed by the Holy Spirit to be the official and authentic

teachers of Christian life. For Jesus “established His holy Church

by sending forth the apostles as He Himself had been sent by the

Father (cf. Jn. 20:21). He willed that their successors, namely the

bishops, should be shepherds in His Church even to the consumma-

tion of the world.”
41

It is their office and duty to express the teach-

ing of Christ on moral questions and matters of belief. This special

teaching office within the Catholic Church is a gift of the Lord Jesus

for the benefit of all His followers in their efforts to know what He

teaches, value as He values, and live as free, responsible, loving,

and holy persons. As Christ says, “He who hears you, hears Me.” 42

The authoritative moral teachings of the Church enlighten personal

conscience and are to be regarded as certain and binding norms of

morality.

Following the teaching and example of Christ in the family of

the Church, we become more like Him and more perfect as the Fa-

ther’s children and people. Christ brings us the life of the Father

and fills our lives with His Spirit. So our best answer in face of the

challenges we encounter in living the Christian life is this: “In Him

who is the source of my strength, I have strength for everything.” 43

It is their (the bishops’) office and duty to express the

teaching of Christ on moral questions and matters of

belief.

12



Moral Life

in the Family,

the Nation, and the

Community ofNations

Every human being is of priceless value: made in

God’s image, redeemed by Christ, and called to an

eternal destiny.

We turn now to three social clusters, three concentric commu-

nities, which provide the setting for human life and fulfillment in

Christ:

• the family,

• the nation,

• and the community of nations.

In speaking of matters which bear upon these three communi-

ties today, we treat them as moral issues in light of the values given

us by Jesus Christ and His Church, in whose name we proclaim

them. We cannot here discuss every important issue. Moreover, we

admit that in some cases the complexity of the problems does not

permit ready, concrete solutions. Nevertheless, as teachers of mo-

rality we insist that even such complex problems must be resolved

ultimately in terms of objective principles if the solutions are to be

valid .
44

Our point of focus is the human person. “The progress of the

human person and the advance of society itself hinge on each

other.”
45
Every human being is of priceless value: made in God’s

image, redeemed by Christ, and called to an eternal destiny. That

is why we are to recognize all human beings as our neighbors and

love them with the love of Christ.

This love of neighbor, inseparably linked to love of God and

indeed an expression and measure of it, is summoned forth first in

regard to those closest to us— the members of our own families.

13



THE FAMILY
Every human being has a need and right to be loved, to have a

home where he or she can put down roots and grow. The family is

the first and indispensable community in which this need is met.

Today, when productivity, prestige or even physical attractiveness

are regarded as the gauge of personal worth, the family has a special

vocation to be a place where people are loved not for what they do

or what they have but simply because they are.

A family begins when a man and woman publicly proclaim

before the community their mutual commitment so that it is possi-

ble to speak of them as one body . 46 Christ teaches that God wills the

union of man and woman in marriage to be lifelong, a sharing of life

for the length of life* itself.

The Old Testament takes the love between husband and wife

as one of the most powerful symbols of God’s love for His people: “I

will espouse you to Me forever: I will espouse you in right and in jus-
tice, in love and in mercy: I will espouse you in fidelity, and you

shall know the Lord .” 47 So husband and wife espouse themselves,

joined in a holy and loving covenant.

The New Testament continues this imagery: only now the

union between husband and wife rises to the likeness of the union

between Christ and His Church .
48
Jesus teaches that in marriage

men and women are to pledge steadfast unconditional faithfulness

which mirrors the faithfulness of the Son of God. Their marriages

make His fidelity and love visible to the world. Christ raised mar-

riage in the Lord to the level of a sacrament, whereby this union

symbolizes and effects God’s special love for the couple in their

total domestic and social situation.

Jesus tells us that the Father can and will grant people the

greatness of heart to keep such pledges of loving faithfulness .
49 The

Church has always believed that in making and keeping noble

promises of this sort people can through the grace of God grow

beyond themselves — grow to the point of being able to love beyond
their merely human capacity. Yet contemporary culture makes it

The covenant between a man and a woman joined in

marriage is as indissoluble and irrevocable as God’s

love for His people.

14



difficult for many people to accept this view of marriage. Even some

who admire it as an ideal doubt whether it is possible and consider

it too risky to attempt. They believe it better to promise less at the

start and so be able to escape from marital tragedy in order to

promise once again.

But this outlook itself has increased marital tragedy. Only men

and women bold enough to make promises for life, believing that

with God’s help they can be true to their word as He is to His, have

the love and strength to surmount the inevitable challenges of mar-

riage. Such unselfish love, rooted in faith, is ready to forgive when

need arises and to make the sacrifices demanded if something as

precious and holy as marriage is to be preserved. For the family to

be a place where human beings can grow with security, the love

15



pledged by husband and wife must have as its model the selfless

and enduring love of Christ for the Church. “Husbands, love your

wives, as Christ loved the Church. He gave Himself up for her .”50

Some say even sacramental marriages can deteriorate to such

an extent that the marital union dies and the spouses are no longer

obliged to keep their promise of lifelong fidelity. Some would even

urge the Church to acknowledge such dissolution and allow the par-

ties to enter new, more promising unions. We reject this view . 51 In
reality it amounts to a proposal to forego Christian marriage at the

outset and substitute something entirely different. It would weaken

marriage further, while paying too little heed to Jesus’ call to iden-

tify ourselves with His redeeming love, which endures all things. Its

fundamental difficulty is that it cannot be reconciled with the

Church’s mission to be faithful to the word entrusted to it. The cov-

enant between a man and woman joined in Christian marriage is as

indissoluble and irrevocable as God’s love for His people and

Christ’s love for His Church.

Since the following of Christ calls for so much dedication and

sacrifice in the face of strong, contrary social pressures, Christ’s

Church has a serious obligation to help His followers live up to the

challenge. In worship, pastoral care, education, and counseling we

must assist husbands and wives who are striving to realize the ideal

of Christ’s love in their lives together and with their children.

Young people and engaged couples must be taught the meaning of

Christian marriage. Married couples must have the support and en-

couragement of the Christian community in their efforts to honor

their commitments.

It remains a tragic fact that some marriages fail. We must

approach those who suffer this agonizing experience with the com-

passion of Jesus Himself. In some cases romanticism or immaturity

may have prevented them from entering into real Christian mar-

riages.

But often enough ‘broken marriages’ are sacramental, in-

dissoluble unions. In this sensitive area the pastoral response of the

Church is especially needed and especially difficult to formulate.

We must seek ways by which the Church can mediate Christ’s com-

passion to those who have suffered marital tragedy, but at the same

time we may do nothing to undermine His teaching concerning the

beauty and meaning of marriage and in particular His prophetic

16



In contraceptive intercourse the procreative or life-

giving meaning of intercourse is deliberately sepa-

rated from its love-giving meaning.

demands concerning the indissolubility of the unions of those who

marry in the Lord. The Church must ever be faithful to the com-

mand to serve the truth in love . 52

Children

The love of husband and wife finds its ideal fulfillment in their

children, with whom they share their life and love. Children are

really the supreme gift of marriage who in turn substantially enrich

the lives of their parents .
53

Openness to children is vitally linked to growth in marital and

family love. Couples have a right to determine responsibly, in ac-

cord with God’s law, how many children they should have, and they

may also have valid reasons for not seeking children immediately.

But in marrying with the intention of postponing children indefi-

nitely, some appear simply to wish to enjoy one another’s company

without distraction or to achieve an arbitrary level of material com-

fort. This can mark a selfish entry into what should be an experi-

ence of generous giving. Even worse, children may come to be re-

garded as an intrusion and a burden instead of a gift. This may lead

to a rejection of the children, particularly those who are disadvan-

taged, either before or after birth.

In order to reflect seriously upon the value they assign children,

couples should begin by reflecting upon their understanding of mar-

riage itself. Do they believe God is with them in this adventure to

which they have committed themselves? If so, their love will reach

confidently toward the future and provide a setting in which new

life can be generously accepted, take root and grow. Openness to

new life, founded on faith, in turn will strengthen their love. They

will come to see how the love-giving and life-giving meanings of

their love are joined in loving acts of marital intercourse, linked by

a necessary relationship which exists not only on the biological level

but on all levels of personality.

One need not always act to realize both of these values, but one

may never deliberately suppress either of them. The love-giving

17



and life-giving meanings of marital intercourse are real human val-

ues and aspects of human personhood. Because they are, it is wrong

to act deliberately against either. In contraceptive intercourse the

procreative or life-giving meaning of intercourse is deliberately sep-

arated from its love-giving meaning and rejected; the wrongness of

such an act lies in the rejection of this value .
54

Some distinguish between a so-called contraceptive mentality

— a deep-seated attitude of selfish refusal to communicate life and
love to a future generation — and particular contraceptive acts dur-
ing a marriage otherwise generally open to the transmission of life.

Though there is a difference, even in the latter case an act of con-

traceptive intercourse is wrong because it severs the link between

the meanings of marital intercourse and rejects one of them.

We ask Catholics to reflect on the value at stake here. The

Church is not engaged in a mere quibble over means of birth regula-

tion; it is proclaiming the value of the life-giving meaning of marital

intercourse, a value attacked, though in different ways, by both the

ideology of contraception and by contraceptive acts.

Pastoral sensitivity requires that we be understanding toward

those who find it hard to accept this teaching, but it does not permit

us to change or suppress it. We recognize that couples face increas-

ing pressures in family planning. Contraceptive birth control re-

sults not only from selfishness and improperly formed conscience

but also from conflicts and pressures which can mitigate moral cul-

pability. Therefore, we ask our people not to lose heart or turn away

from the community of faith when they find themselves caught in

these conflicts. We urge them to seek appropriate and under-

standing pastoral counsel, to make use of God’s help in constant

prayer and recourse to the sacraments, and to investigate honestly

such legitimate methods of birth limitation as natural family plan-

ning .
55
At the same time we urge those who dissent from this teach-

ing of the Church to a prayerful and studied reconsideration of their

position.

Our Christian tradition holds the sexual union between hus-

band and wife in high honor, regarding it as a special expression of

Sexual intercourse is a moral and human good only

within marriage; outside marriage it is wrong.

18



their covenanted love which mirrors God’s love for His people and

Christ’s love for the Church. But like many things human, sex is

ambivalent. It can be either creative or destructive. Sexual inter-

course is a moral and human good only within marriage; outside

marriage it is wrong .
56

Our society gives considerable encouragement to premarital

and extramarital sexual relations as long as, it is said, ‘no one gets

hurt.’ Such relations are not worthy of beings created in God’s

image and made God’s adopted children nor are they according to

God’s will .
57 The unconditional love of Christian marriage is absent,

for such relations are hedged around with many conditions. Though

tenderness and concern may sometimes be present, there is an un-

derlying tendency toward exploitation and self-deception. Such re-

lations trivialize sexuality and can erode the possibility of making

deep, lifelong commitments.

Some persons find themselves through no fault of their own to

have a homosexual orientation. Homosexuals, like everyone else,

should not suffer from prejudice against their basic human rights.

They have a right to respect, friendship and justice. They should

have an active role in the Christian community. Homosexual activ-

ity, however, as distinguished from homosexual orientation, is mor-

ally wrong. Like heterosexual persons, homosexuals are called to

give witness to chastity, avoiding, with God’s grace, behavior which

is wrong for them, just as nonmarital sexual relations are wrong for

heterosexuals. Nonetheless, because heterosexuals can usually look

forward to marriage, and homosexuals, while their orientation con-

tinues, might not, the Christian community should provide them a

special degree of pastoral understanding and care.

Though most people have two families, the one in which they

are born and the one they help bring into being, the single and celi-

bate have only the first. But from this experience they, too, know

family values. Love and sacrifice, generosity and service have a real

place in their lives. They are as much tempted as the married —
sometimes more — to selfishness. They have as great a need for un-
derstanding and consolation. Family values may be expressed in

different terms in their lives, but they are expressed.

19



The elderly must be cherished, not merely tolerated.

The Aged

The adventure of marriage and family is a continuing one in

which elderly people have important lessons to teach and learn.

Contemporary American society tends to separate the aging from

their families, isolating kin in ways that are more than physical,

with the result that the wisdom of experience is often neither

sought, imparted nor further developed .
58

Families should see the story of loving reciprocity through life’s

closing chapters. Where possible, the elderly should be welcomed

into their own families. Moreover, children have an obligation of

human and Christian justice and love to keep closely in touch with

aging parents and to do what lies in their power to care for them in

their old age. “If anyone does not provide for his own relatives and

especially for members of his immediate family, he has denied the

faith; he is worse than an unbeliever .”
59 The community should

provide for those who lack families and, in doing so, attend to all

their needs, not just physical ones. Here the Church has played and

continues to play a special role. The elderly must be cherished, not

merely tolerated, and the Church community, through parishes and

other agencies, should seek to mediate to them the loving concern of

Jesus and the Father.

Euthanasia or mercy killing is much discussed and increas-

ingly advocated today, though the discussion is often confused by

ambiguous use of the slogan ‘death with dignity.’ Whatever the

word or term, it is a grave moral evil deliberately to kill persons who

are terminally ill or deeply impaired. Such killing is incompatible

with respect for human dignity and reverence for the sacredness of

life.

Something different is involved, however, when the question is

whether hopelessly ill and painfully afflicted people must be kept

alive at all costs and with the use of every available medical tech-

nique.

Some seem to make no distinction between respecting the

dying process and engaging in direct killing of the innocent. Moral-

ly there is all the difference in the world. While euthanasia or direct

20





Every human life is inviolable from the beginning.

killing is gravely wrong, it does not follow that there is an obligation

to prolong the life of a dying person by extraordinary means. At

times the effort to do so is of no help to the dying and may even be

contrary to the compassion due them. People have a right to refuse

treatment which offers no reasonable hope of recovery and imposes

excessive burdens on them and perhaps also their families. At times

it may even be morally imperative to discontinue particular medi-

cal treatments in order to give the dying the personal care and at-

tention they really need as life ebbs. Since life is a gift of God we

treat it with awesome respect. Since death is part and parcel of

human life, indeed the gateway to eternal life and the return to the

Father, it, too, we treat with awesome respect.

The Family and Society

Marriage and the family are deeply affected by social patterns

and cultural values. How we structure society, its approach to edu-

cation and work, the roles of men and women, public policy toward

health care and care of the young and old, the tone and cast of our

literature, arts and media — all these affect the family. The test of
how we value the family is whether we are willing to foster, in gov-

ernment and business, in urban planning and farm policy, in edu-

cation and health care, in the arts and sciences, in our total social

and cultural environment, moral values which nourish the primary

relationships of husbands, wives and children and make authentic

family life possible.

22



THE NATION

Our nation is committed in principle to the inviolable dignity

of the human person, to respect for religious faith and the free exer-

cise of religion, to social and legal structures by which citizens can

participate freely in the governmental process, and to procedures

by which grievances can be adjudicated and wrongs can be righted.

This commitment is a constant challenge, and at times we have

failed to live up to its demands. Nevertheless, it remains possible to

develop here a social order “founded on truth, built on justice, and

animated by love .”60

The Individual and the Nation

While the ultimate and most substantive values inhere in indi-

viduals, individuality and community are inseparable elements of

the moral life. So, for instance, honesty, courage and hope, which

abide only in individuals, can be fostered by freedom to learn, pro-

tection from violence, adequate income, and the availability of

health care.

As followers of Jesus we are called to express love of neighbor in

deeds which help others realize their human potential. This, too,

has consequences for the structures of society. Law and public poli-

cy do not substitute for the personal acts by which we express love

of neighbor; but love of neighbor impels us to work for laws, policies

and social structures which foster human goods in the lives of all

persons.

Respect for the Unborn

It is therefore as ironic as it is tragic that, in a nation commit-

ted to human rights and dignity, the practice of legalized abortion

is now widespread. Every human life is inviolable from its very

beginning. While the unborn child may not be aware of itself and its

rights, it is a human entity, a human being with potential, not a po-

tential human being. Like the newborn, the unborn depend on

others for life and the opportunity to share in human goods. Their

dependence and vulnerability remind us of the social character of

all human life: to live and thrive as a human being, each of us needs

the help and support of others . 61

23



To destroy these innocent unborn children is an unspeakable

crime, a crime which subordinates weaker members of the human

community to the interests of the stronger. God who calls us to

Himself loves the helpless and weak; like Him we should affirm the

unborn in their being, not close our eyes to their humanity so that

we may more easily destroy them. Their right to life must be recog-

nized and fully protected by the law.

While many today seek abortion for frivolous and selfish rea-

sons, there are women who see it as a tragic solution to agonizing

problems. They deserve society’s help in meeting and resolving

these problems so that they will not feel a need to resort to the

inhuman expedient of abortion. Recognition of the incomparable

dignity of all human beings, including the unborn, obliges us to as-

sume loving responsibility for all who are in need. The Church must

take appropriate initiatives in providing support to women with

problems during pregnancy or after, and in doing so bear witness to

its belief in human dignity . 62

Women in Society
As society has grown more sensitive to some new or newly rec-

ognized issues and needs (while at the same time growing tragically

less sensitive to others), the movement to claim equal rights for

women makes it clear that they must now assume their rightful

place as partners in family, institutional, and public life. The devel-

opment of these roles can and should be enriching for both women

and men.

Even today some still consider women to be men’s inferiors, al-

most their property. It is un-Christian and inhuman for husbands

to regard their wives this way; they ought instead to “love (them) as

Christ loved the Church.”63 Such un-Christian and inhuman atti-

tudes are expressed in a truly degraded manner when they take the

form of exploiting women for pleasure and financial profit through

prostitution and pornography.

Efforts to win recognition that women have the same dignity

and fundamental rights as men are praiseworthy and good. But the

same cannot be said of views which would ignore or deny significant

differences between the sexes, undermine marriage and mother-

hood, and erode family life and the bases of society itself. Libera-

tion does not lie in espousing new modes of dehumanization, nor in

24



enslavement to an ideology which ignores the facts of human sexu-

ality and the requirements of human dignity.

There is much to be done in the Church in identifying appro-

priate ways of recognizing women’s equality and dignity. We have

every reason and precedent for doing so, since our tradition has

always honored the Mother of God and recognized Mary as the one

in whom, next to Jesus Himself, human nature is expressed most

perfectly. In canonizing so many women over the centuries, includ-

ing our own country’s St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and St. Elizabeth

Seton, the Church has proposed them to both women and men as

models of what it means to live the life of Christ. Thus we fully sup-

port constructive efforts to remove demeaning attitudes and cus-

toms with respect to women, however subtle and unconscious in ori-

gin they may be.

Respect for Racial and Ethnic Groups

The members of every racial and ethnic group are beings of in-

comparable worth; yet racial antagonism and discrimination are

among the most persistent and destructive evils in our nation . 64

Those victims of discrimination of whom we are most conscious are

Hispanic Americans, Black Americans, and American Indians. The

Catholic community should be particularly sensitive to this form of

injustice because it, too, has experienced prejudice and discrimi-

nation in America based on national origin and religion.

It is sometimes said to be pointless to lecture those who are not

personally guilty of causing or directly contributing to racism and

other ills of society. But the absence of personal fault for an evil

does not absolve one of all responsibility. We must seek to resist and
undo injustices we have not caused, lest we become bystanders who

tacitly endorse evil and so share in guilt for it.

It is also wrong to say that those whose energy and motivation

have been sapped by social injustices bear sole responsibility for

bettering themselves. Instead, the struggle for a just social order

requires programs to undo the consequences of past injustices.

Racial antagonism and discrimination are among

the most persistent and destructive evils in our na-

tion.

25



26

j



Law has an important role to play in the fight against racial

discrimination. Just laws alert people that some deeds are forbid-

den and others are required if all members of society are to share

equitably in its goods. Laws may not be able to change attitudes,

but they can deter those who might otherwise seek to violate the

rights of others. By protecting minority groups and also those who

wish to respect them and their rights, laws at least can foster ac-

tions and institutions essential to racial justice. Finally, and espe-

cially at a time when many are confused about morality, good laws

can contribute to educating people to know right from wrong.

Thanks in great part to law and the courts, we have made

progress in recent years in removing some social, political, and cul-

tural structures which supported racism. But we are far from final

success. For example, the principles of legitimacy, proportionality

and restraint have sometimes been violated in law enforcement

within our nation. Racial justice in such areas as housing, educa-

tion, health care, employment, and the administration of justice

must be given high priority. The Church, too, must continue efforts

to make its institutional structures models of racial justice while

striving to eliminate racism from the hearts of believers by remind-

ing them of what it means to be sons and daughters of God and

brothers and sisters in Christ. “There is no Greek or Jew here, cir-

cumcised or uncircumcised, foreigner, Scythian, slave or freeman.

Rather, Christ is everything in all of you .”
65

Employment

Chronic unemployment is a strong factor paralyzing some

groups in our nation. ‘Minorities’ are not its only victims. Women

and young workers suffer disproportionately.

Behind the statistics ofjoblessness lie human tragedies. For ex-

ample, the father who cannot feed his family, in desperation often

lapses into a pattern of life whose effects spread in an ever widening

circle: crime, the use of drugs, alcoholism, mental illness, family

An injustice to which we have frequently drawn at-
tention is the systematic exploitation of agricultural

workers.

27



breakdown— all increase along with unemployment.
Blessed with God-given gifts that include creativity and imagi-

nation, the people of this affluent nation can and must find means

by which everyone who is able to work can have gainful, productive

employment. If we settle for less we are allowing ourselves to be

ruled by our economy instead of ruling it . 66

An injustice to which we have frequently drawn attention is the

systematic exploitation of agricultural workers, many of them mi-

grants .
67
These neighbors whose work puts food on our tables are

often compelled to live without decent housing, schooling, health

care and equal protection of the law. The economic risks of the in-

dustry they serve do not justify denying them the right to negotiate

for their own protection and betterment. If exploitation is the cost

of lower food prices, it is too high a price to pay.

Housing

In many American cities affluent and impoverished neigh-

borhoods are divided mostly along racial lines. If this were a result

simply of ethnic preference or the preservation of property values,

we would still be concerned that genuine ‘neighborhood’ was being

thwarted. But, in fact, the actions of government, banks and the

real estate industry at times converge to deprive some racial groups

of financing for housing and to manipulate real estate values for the

profit of insiders, with the result that our cities remain divided and

hostile. All Americans should be able to live where they wish and

their means allow. Furthermore, while society must provide decent

housing for the poor, public housing may not be used as a device for

consistently isolating some groups from the rest of the community .
68

In saying this, we wish also to note the many human values

preserved in ethnic neighborhoods, where people are united by a

common culture, common origin, and sometimes even a common

language other than English. Only when their boundaries become

barriers and their values are cherished in ways that exclude others

from participation do such neighborhoods become elements in a

larger pattern of social strife.

Clearly, though, it is not just Americans of moderate means,

whether in or out of ethnic neighborhoods, who should bear the bur-

den of achieving racial justice. This is a duty of the well-to-do as

28



White collar criminal fraud . . . indicates a collapse

of virtues which hold society together.

well as the less affluent, of suburbanites as well as city residents: in

short, of all social and economic classes. We do not have answers to

all the complex issues raised by specific measures for the desegrega-

tion of schools and neighborhoods, but we believe these reflections

have a significant bearing on them.

Crime and Correction

People have a right and need to live in peace, yet one of the ur-

gent issues in our country today is crime. Violent urban crime re-

ceives most of the attention, but the apparently growing amount of

white collar criminal fraud and corruption is also ominous, for it in-

dicates a collapse of respect for virtues such as truthfulness and

honesty which hold society together.

In both categories, merely emphasizing sterner law enforce-

ment while ignoring factors which occasion criminal acts will ac-

complish very little. Poverty and injustice, as well as our society’s

spirit of acquisitiveness, contribute to crime. Whatever improve-

ments may be needed in law enforcement and the administration of

justice, society will not come to grips with the crime crisis until it

seriously addresses these underlying problems.

Ironically, our penal system itself is sometimes a cause of in-

creased crime. Long delay of trial and unequal application of the

law are unjust and a source of increase in crimes. Often enough im-

prisonment only confirms inmates in criminal attitudes and prac-

tices. Sometimes prisons are also settings for gross violations of

prisoners’ rights. Prisoners, like the rest of us, are beings of tran-

scendent value, and incarcerating them in prisons which dehu-

manize is a form of brutality. They have a right to protection

against assault and against threats to their lives and well being.

They have a right to proper food, health care and recreation, and to

opportunities to pursue other human goods such as education and

the cultivation of their skills. Reform of our nation’s penal system

in light of these and the other human rights of prisoners is urgent

and long overdue .
69

29



The Nation and the Individual

We have spoken often of the need for just laws and wholesome

public policies, for all that government can do to create a setting in

which fundamental values are protected and can flourish in human

lives. Among the other contributions which government should

make to the creation of a more wholesome society are responsible,

constitutional steps to stem the flood of pornography, violence and

immorality in the entertainment media. Yet we are aware of the

limitations of government and the risk of seeming to suggest that it

is all-important. Just laws and policies, taxes and programs, are

necessary but they will not by themselves secure justice and peace.

Such values must be built upon the foundations of good and dedica-

ted individual human lives.

THE COMMUNITY OF NATIONS

Our allegiance must extend beyond the family and the nation

to the entire human family. In Christ we are brothers and sisters of

people whose faces we never see, whose names we cannot spell,

whose customs are unfamiliar to us, but whose Father is our Father.

Human interdependence is constantly increasing in today’s

world, so that many issues which pertain to human dignity call for

the collaboration of a true community of nations . 70 Perhaps the cen-

tral global issue of our day is how to create such a community out of

a world of states. Pope John grasped the meaning of this challenge

when he described the structural defect in the present situation: the

lack of authority and institutions adequate to address the problems

humanity faces . 71 Most people agree about the problems and their

seriousness: hunger, environmental pollution, population growth,

glaring disparities of wealth, and the persistent danger of war, to

mention only a few. But agreement is lacking on ways to cooperate

in dealing with them.

Believing that the human family is called to live in unity, we

speak of two goals for the community of nations which will also help

bring it into being: the development of peoples and peace on earth.

From the perspective of the United States, both are best addressed

in the context of power. Our nation’s enormous military and eco-

nomic power make it essential that we understand how power

should be used in the pursuit of these goals.

30



31



The powerful must work for the liberation of the op-

pressed and powerless.

The Development of Peoples

All power is from God72 and is an expression of His being. God

uses His power on our behalf: by creating us and sustaining us in ex-

istence, by bestowing His gifts upon us, by enabling us to grow in

likeness to Him. As His creatures and children, we are to use the

power He grants us for the good of others.

Power may never be used to attack the dignity of persons, to

subjugate them, to prevent them from seeking and realizing the

goods to which their humanity gives them a claim. Beyond this, the

powerful have a duty to work positively for the empowerment of the

weak and powerless: to help others gain control over their own lives,

so that as free and responsible persons they can participate in a self-

determining manner in the goods proper to human beings.

The powerful must therefore work for the liberation of the op-

pressed and powerless. Though liberation in the fullest sense is

what “Christ Himself announced and gave to man by His sacri-

fice,” it is not possible to foster such liberation in oneself and others

without also “promoting in justice and peace the true, authentic

advancement” of humankind . 73

Our nation’s power, wealth, and position of leadership in the

world impose special obligations upon us. Americans have always

responded generously to foreign crises involving immediate human

suffering: to floods and droughts, earthquakes and famines and the

ravages of war. This is to our credit. But the obligations of which we

now speak extend further. We must work creatively for a just inter-

national order based on recognition of interdependence. We must

live by the principle that all nations and peoples are entitled to an

equitable share of the world’s goods as well as respect for their right

of self-determination.

The values which comprise the international common good are

threatened by existing patterns of international political and eco-

nomic relations. Our lives, policies, and patterns of consumption

and production should be examined in light of their impact on other

32



nations and peoples. Pope Paul has urged such examination: When

so many people are hungry, so many families are destitute, so many

enchained by ignorance, so many schools, hospitals and homes

worthy of the name have yet to be built, all public or private squan-

dering of wealth, all expenditure prompted by national or personal

ostentation, and the exhausting arms race become intolerable scan-

dals .
74

The discussion of international justice and of institutions for

its realization has become more specific as a result of the call at the

United Nations for a New International Economic Order. Its signifi-

cance lies in its effort to change the language of the debate from

that of aid and charity to that of obligation and justice. The tradi-

tional question about foreign aid has been how much we of the in-

dustrial nations would choose to give others within the framework

of the existing international order. By contrast, a discussion cast in

terms of justice would examine the rules by which the system works

— such things as trade treaties, commodity prices, corporate prac-
tices and monetary agreements— with a view to making them more
just. New rules would clarify obligations among the parties. Politi-

cally, they would be designed to improve the bargaining position of

the developing nations in relation to the industrialized countries.

Such discussion of rules for relationships and the distribution

of power on the international level may be new to us as Americans

but the themes are familiar to our experience. The American tradi-

tion emphasizes that rules of fairness are central to a just political

system. The developing countries argue that it is precisely rules of

fairness in economic relations which do not now exist. Similarly,

their quest for a new and more equitable form of bargaining power

in relation to us echoes the drive for bargaining power by American

workers over the last century.

Peace

We are also obliged as Americans and especially as Christians
to reflect profoundly upon war and, more importantly, upon peace

and the means of building it . 75

The Church has traditionally recognized that, under stringent

conditions, engaging in war can be a form of legitimate defense .
76

But modern warfare, in both its technology and in its execution, is

so savage that one must ask whether war as it is actually waged

today can be morally justified.

33



At the very least all nations have a duty to work to curb the

savagery of war and seek the peaceful settlement of disputes. The

right of legitimate defense is not a moral justification for unleashing

every form of destruction. For example, acts of war deliberately

directed against innocent noncombatants are gravely wrong, and

no one may participate in such an act . 77 In weighing the morality of

warfare today, one must also take into consideration not only its

immediate impact but also its potential for harm to future genera-

tions: for instance, through pollution of the soil or the atmosphere

or damage to the human gene pool.

A citizen entering the military service is fulfilling a conscien-

tious duty to his or her country. He or she may not casually disre-

gard the nation’s conscientious decision to go to war in self-defense.

At the same time, no nation, our own included, may demand blind

obedience. No members of the armed forces, above all no Christians

who bear arms as “agents of security and freedom ,” 78 can rightfully

carry out orders or policies requiring direct force against noncomba-

tants or the violation of some other moral norm. The right to object

conscientiously to war in general and the right of selective conscien-

tious objection to a particular war should be acknowledged by gov-

ernment and protected by law . 79

With respect to nuclear weapons, at least those with massive

destructive capability, the first imperative is to prevent their use.

As possessors of a vast nuclear arsenal, we must also be aware that

not only is it wrong to attack civilian populations but it is also

wrong to threaten to attack them as part of a strategy of deterrence.

We urge the continued development and implementation of policies

which seek to bring these weapons more securely under control,

progressively reduce their presence in the world, and ultimately

remove them entirely.

The experience of the last fifteen years shows clearly that it is

not only nuclear weapons which pose grave dangers and dilemmas.

We must learn from the moral and political costs, to ourselves and

others, of conventional war as it was waged in Vietnam. With much

Modern warfare is so savage that one must ask

whether it can be morally justified.

34



of the world undergoing or approaching a period of deep and some-

times drastic change, there is need for restraint and for clear reflec-

tion about the purposes which can justify the use of force. The

moral reasons and political purposes said to call for even conven-

tional force of arms, besides being valid, must be clear and convinc-

ing before any commitment is made to a policy of force.

Today, however, the human family longs for peace which is

more than the mere absence of war, peace rooted in justice and

brought alive by charity. Such peace truly reflects Christ’s vision of

human life. Why is it so difficult to achieve?

35



Peace depends upon both the policies of states and the atti-

tudes of peoples. A policy of peace can only be conceived and sup-

ported where a commitment to peace prevails. Cultivating this

commitment and carrying forward this policy are intricate, delicate

tasks. It is not that gome among us desire war, but that those who

speak of the risks of weakness are likely to dominate public debate.

So the race to accumulate ever more destructive weapons continues

in this and other nations.

Human Rights
There are considerable differences between what is required in-

ternationally and what is required domestically to preserve peace

and promote justice. On another broad issue, however, the protec-

tion and promotion of human rights
,

80
the values sought in our

domestic political life and our foreign policy converge.

This nation’s traditional commitment to human rights may be

its most significant contribution to world politics. Today, when

rights are violated on the left and the right of the international po-

litical spectrum, the pervasive presence of our nation’s political

power and influence in the world provides a further opportunity and

obligation to promote human rights. How this should be done will

vary from case to case; at the very least, however, national policy

and our personal consciences are challenged when not only enemies

but close allies use torture, imprisonment, and systematic repres-

sion as measures of governance.

The issue of human rights in foreign policy is ultimately a ques-

tion of values. There is a direct, decisive bond between the values

we espouse in our nation and the world we seek to build interna-

tionally. When human rights are violated anywhere without pro-

test, they are threatened everywhere. Our own rights are less secure

if we condone or contribute even by passive silence to the repression

of human rights in other countries.

36



Many institutions of society have roles to play in realizing the

vision we have attempted to sketch here. In a pluralistic society,

religiously neutral public institutions and structures cannot be ex-

pected to embody the beliefs of any one religious group, nor indeed

should they reflect an anti-religious view of life. They can and

should help create the conditions in which values flourish in

human lives and persons committed to Christian goals can pursue

them without hindrance, without surrendering their rights, and

with full opportunity to transmit their principles to future genera-

tions.

The obligation of creating these conditions rests in different

ways upon different elements in society:

UPON GOVERNMENT:

• to infringe upon the authentic rights of none;

• to create through the instruments of law and public policy

conditions for the fullest possible flowering of the rights of

all, with particular attention to family values and family

needs;

• to seek a true community of nations with international struc-

tures able to address the real problems of today’s world and

work for the common good of all nations and peoples.

UPON BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY, LABOR
AND THE PROFESSIONS:

• to define their roles not in relation to narrow self-interest but

in relation to the well being of all members of this society,

especially the poor and the vulnerable;

• to seek for all a good life encompassing a broad spectrum of

values in addition to economic ones;

37



• to show by responsible actions that the common good can be

realized in our nation without intrusion by the state into

ever more areas of life.

UPON THE MEDIA, EDUCATION, AND ALL WHO TRANS-
MIT INFORMATION AND HELP FORM ATTITUDES:

• to be deeply committed to the truth;

• to be respectful of persons and scrupulous to avoid advocat-

ing or inculcating false and corrosive values;

• to be eager to foster such community-building values as jus-

tice, charity, and the understanding that all human beings

have a claim upon the goods of human life.

UPON CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS GROUPS:

• to be teachers of holiness and justice;

• to give witness to their teaching through policies and prac-

tices which seek to further the realization of human goods in

the lives of all, those who are not their members as well as

those who are;

• to exercise a prophetic role in society by calling individuals,

groups, and institutions to be ever more mindful and suppor-

tive of authentic values.

With all this said, however, the most important thing is still

unsaid. The values proclaimed by Jesus Christ are not expressed by

structures and institutions if they are not lived by men and women.

Jesus is not the way, the truth, and the life for corporate abstrac-

tions like ‘government,’ ‘business,’ and ‘religious groups’ but for

human beings . 81 Yet people live in and depend upon communities

and social structures of many kinds; and so the reason for cherish-

ing moral values in families, nations, and the community of na-

tions, and the test of how well they are fostered there, are indi-

vidual human lives lived according to God’s will for us made mani-

fest in Jesus Christ. For Christians the goal is holiness.

Because we have been made holy in Jesus, we are, He teaches

us, also to be “made perfect ... as your heavenly Father is per-

fect.”
82

All of us are to be perfectly what we really are: living tem-

ples of the holy God. “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or

status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the per-

fection of charity .”
83 We are all challenged to grow in holiness ac-

38



cording to our “own personal gifts and duties,” and above all by lov-

ing service, which guides and energizes all the paths of holiness .
84

To do this requires self-discipline and self-sacrifice. But it is possi-

ble in the strength of Christ and His Spirit which we share. Recog-

nizing its possibility is a step toward making it real. We, your bish-

ops, pray that these reflections will help bring this possibility more

alive in our lives and the lives of many, will help open our hearts

and yours, our brothers and sisters in Christ, to God’s immeasur-

able love for us all.

St. John of the Cross tells us that at life’s nightfall “we will be

examined in love .”85 A life of faith is one measured constantly

throughout its course in light of the love and life of Christ in us.

When we come to die, much we have cherished will seem worthless,

many things deemed urgent and attractive now will appear useless

or worse. What will matter then is how much we love now and how

we live in response to our Father’s love for us.

The cross of Jesus Christ shows us the deficiency of other value

systems. Jesus yielded up His life for us in perfect loving union with

the Father’s will, and this is the meaning of His life which also gives

meaning to our lives as His followers. If we can acknowledge selfish-

ness as folly and self-sacrifice as victory, if we can love enemies, be

vulnerable to injustice and, in being so, still say that we have

triumphed, then we shall have learned to live in Christ Jesus.

39



FOOTNOTES

1. 1 Jn. 1:3

2. Cf. Dt. 6:5; Mt. 22:37

3. Rom. 8:38-39

4. Cf. Words of Institution, Eu-

charistic Prayers

5. Jn. 1:4-12

6. Acts 2:17

7. 1 Jn. 3:1; Ga. 4:5-7

8. Rom. 8:14

9. Cf. Lk. 4:14

10. Cf 1 Jn. 4:12; 20-21

11. 1 Jn. 4:20

12. Cf. Lv. 19:18; Mt. 5:44-48,

22:37-40; Lk. 10:25-28

13. Jn. 13:34; 15:12-13

14. Phil. 2:9-11

15. Cf. Mk. 1:14-15

16. Cf Lk. 6:43-45

17. Rom. 5:20

18. Rom. 8:3

19. Heb. 4:15

20. Rom. 5:19

21. Cf. Rom. 7:11-15

22. Rom. 6:11

23. Ga. 5:25

24. Rom. 7:22-23

25. Paenitemini, February 17, 1966

26. Cf. Memorial Acclamation,

Roman Sacramentary

27. Cf. Lk. 9:23-24

28. Parochial and Plain Sermons,

V, 7

29. Rom. 6:4-5

30. Jn. 14:21; cf. 15:14

31. Mt. 5:3-12; Lk. 6:21-26

32. Mt. 11:29

33. Preface of Christ the King

34. Ps. 42:3

35. Cf. Col. 1:15-20

36. Vatican Council II, Declara-

tion on Religious Freedom, 3.

Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas,

Summa Theologiae, 1-2, 91, 1

and 2; 94, 1

37. Cf. Vatican Council II, Pasto-

ral Constitution on the Church

in the Modern World, 16

38. Ibid.

39. 1 Jn. 4:1; cf. 1 Cor. 12:10

40. Declaration on Religious Free-

dom, 14

41. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic

Constitution on the Church, 18

42. Lk. 10:16

43. Phil. 4:13

44. Many of the matters treated

here have been discussed in

detail in papal and conciliar

documents, documents of the

Holy See and the Synods of

Bishops, and statements of na-

tional episcopal conferences.

The references which follow

note a few of the sources.

45. Vatican Council II, The

Church in the Modern World,

25

46. Cf. Gn. 2:24

47. Ho. 2:21-22

48. Cf. Eph. 5:25-32

49. Cf. Mt. 19:10-12

50. Eph. 5:25

51. Cf. Vatican Council II, The

Church in the Modern World,

48

52. Eph. 4:15

53. Vatican Council II, The

Church in the Modern World,

50

40



54. Cf. Humanae Vitae, 12, 13

55. Cf. Vatican Council II, The

Church in the Modern World,

52; Humanae Vitae, 24

56. Cf. Sacred Congregation for

the Doctrine of the Faith, Dec-

laration on Certain Questions

Concerning Sexual Ethics, De-

cember 29, 1975

57. Cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-10, 18

58. Cf. United States Catholic

Conference, Society and the

Aged: Toward Reconciliation,

May 5, 1976

59. 1 Tm. 5:8

60. Vatican Council II, The

Church in the Modern World,

26

61. Cf. Vatican Council II, The

Church in the Modern World,

51

62. National Conference of Catho-

lic Bishops, Pastoral Plan for

Pro-Life Activities, November

20, 1975

63. Eph. 5:25

64. The National Conference of

Catholic Bishops and its pre-

decessor, the National Catho-

lic Welfare Conference, have

often spoken on racial justice.

Cf., for example, The National

Crisis, NCCB, April 25, 1968

65. Col. 3:11

66. Cf. United States Catholic

Conference, The Economy:

Human Dimensions, Novem-

ber 20, 1975

67. Cf., for example, National

Conference of Catholic Bish-

ops, Resolution on Farm

Labor, November 16, 1973

68. Cf. United States Catholic

Conference, The Right to a De-

cent Home, November 20,

1975

69. Cf. United States Catholic

Conference, The Reform of

Correctional Institutions in

the 1970s, November 14, 1973

70. Cf. Vatican Council II, The

Church in the Modern World,

26

71. Pacem in Terris, 132-135

72. Cf. Jn. 19:11; Rom , 13:1

73. Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nun-

tiandi, 38, 31

74. Populorum Progressio, 53

75. Cf. National Conference of

Catholic Bishops, Human Life

in Our Day, II, November 15,

1968

76. Cf. Vatican Council II, The

Church in the Modern World,

79

77. Cf. ibid., 80

78. Ibid., 79

79. Cf. United States Catholic

Conference, Declaration on

Conscientious Objection and

Selective Conscientious Objec-

tion, October 21, 1971

80. Cf. Second General Assembly

of the Synod of Bishops, 1971,

Justice in the World

81. Jn. 14:6

82. Mt. 5:48

83. Vatican Council II, Constitu-

tion on the Church, 40

84. Ibid. 41, cf. 39-42

85. Spiritual Sentences and

Maxims, 57

41



Study Questions

I. Introduction

Christ, Our Life

1. How and why are the meaning and destiny of our lives most

fully revealed to us in Jesus?

2. How does Jesus empower us to respond to our calling?

3. What is the role of the Spirit in the Christian moral life?

4. What kind of love does Jesus command us to show to others?

5. How is it possible to say that love of God and love of neigh-

bor are really one law of love?

6. How does this law of Jesus include the Ten Command-

ments?

1. What is the difference between sin and unavoidable human

failings and limitations? How do we make ourselves sin-

ners?

2. What should our attitude be toward: 1) sin; 2) unavoidable

failings and limitations?

3. Give some examples of the social consequences of personal

sin.

4. If Jesus Himself never sinned, what does it mean to say that

he “accepted in Himself the full force of our sins”?

5. What consequences does this have for us? What is the signif-

icance of baptism in this context?

Conversion

1. What is the meaning of “conversion” as it is used here?

2. What is meant by the expression “the paschal mystery”?

3. How are we to participate in the paschal mystery?

4. How does the Sacrament of Penance relate to conversion?

Fulfillment

1. What is meant by saying that Jesus is our fulfillment —
“our happiness and peace, our joy and beatitude”?

2. The beatitudes tell us something about our life here and

now, and also about our future destiny. Explain.

42



Guidance in Christ

1. Since we must decide for ourselves what specific things we

should do and not do, why isn’t it true that whatever we

decide is the right thing for us?

2. Created goods, and our desire for them, tell us something

important about God and about ourselves. Explain.

3. Give some examples of created goods to which we are at-

tracted.

4. What should be our attitude toward created goods in our

lives and the lives of others? What wrong attitudes are pos-

sible?

5. What is meant by the universal moral law?

Conscience

1. What is the meaning of the expression “judgment of con-

science”?

2. In what sense is it true that we are obliged to act in accord

with our own consciences?

3. How can we make our judgments of conscience truthful and

informed?

The Church

1. Where should we look to learn what Jesus teaches and wills

for us?

2. Why do the pope and the bishops have a special role in the

Church as moral teachers?

3. How do you think individuals should relate the moral teach-

ings of the pope and bishops to their own efforts to make

true and informed judgments of conscience?

II. Moral Life in the Family, the Nation,

and the Community ofNations

1. How do the bishops describe their approach in this docu-
ment to complicated social and political questions?

2. Why is the emphasis placed here upon the human person?
3. How does respect for life relate to what is said here?

43



The Family

1. At a time when individuals are often valued for accidental

or extrinsic reasons (wealth, good looks, prestige, etc.), what

special role does the family have? What is its basic role?

2. What can we learn about God’s plan for marriage from the

symbolism used in the Old Testament and the New Tes-

tament?

3. How does rejection of the idea of lifelong marriage contrib-

ute to marital tragedy and marital breakdown?

4. Why does the Church teach that sacramental marriages

cannot be dissolved?

5. What are some of the things you think the Church should do

— at the national, diocesan, and parochial levels — in order
to help married couples and families?

6. What are some of the things the Catholic community should

do to minister to the needs of divorced Catholics?

Children

1. Raising children is a difficult task. In what sense, then, can

it be said that children are “the supreme gift of marriage

who in turn substantially enrich the lives of their parents”?

2. What does responsible parenthood mean?

3. What are the two basic meanings or values involved in acts

of marital intercourse?

4. What is the difference between a ‘contraceptive mentality’

and a single act of contraception?

5. Why, in the face of so much opposition, does the Church

continue to teach that contraceptive acts are wrong?

6. Why is sex outside marriage morally unacceptable?

7. What should be our attitude toward persons with a homo-

sexual orientation?

8. What special role do unmarried persons have in the Church?

What special needs?

The Aged

1. Do you see evidence in your community of a tendency to

isolate elderly people from their families and from the com-

munity at large?

44



2. How can families be more responsive to the needs of their el-

derly members?

3. What can the community and the parish do to fulfill their

responsibility to the aged?

4. How should Christian compassion be expressed toward the

dying and the terminally ill?

5. What is the difference between mercy killing and allowing a

dying person to die?

The Family and Society

1. Why should people who are concerned about the well being

of families also be concerned about such things as govern-

ment policies, the actions of business and industry, the

communications media, etc.?

2. What are some of the elements which should be part of a

well-rounded social policy to foster healthy family life?

The Nation

The Individual and the Nation

1.

What is the connection between laws and public policies on

the one hand and the moral life and growth of individuals on

the other?

Respect for the Unborn

1. Morally speaking, what is the significance of the fact that

the unborn are totally dependent on others?

2. Why is it so important to insist on the fact that the unborn

are truly human?

3. What should society and the Church do to help people who

tend to think of abortion as a solution to their problems?

Respect for Racial and Ethnic Groups

1. If an individual is not personally guilty of racist acts, what

further responsibility does he or she have with regard to the

evil of racism?

2. It is often said that ‘y°u can’t legislate morality.’ If that is

so, what can laws do about racism?

3. What evidence of racist attitudes and practices do you find

in your community?

45



4.

What can the Church do about racism?

Women in Society

1. This document says that progress in achieving equality for

women should be enriching for men, too. But isn’t such

progress really at men’s expense?

2. In what ways is the attitude that women are ‘men’s inferi-

ors, almost their property’ expressed in our society?

3. This document suggests that not everything proposed in the

name of women’s ‘liberation’ is acceptable or truly liberat-

ing. Can you think of examples to illustrate this?

4. What special motives does the Catholic Church have for

being committed to women’s equality and dignity?

5. What are some of the special problems of defining women’s

role in today’s society?

6. What should the Church do to foster women’s equality?

Employment

1. What does an economic issue like unemployment have to do

with Christian morality and the moral life?

2. Why should farm workers be singled out for special mention

in a document like this?

Housing

1. What basic value or group of values do you think are includ-

ed in the expression “genuine ‘neighborhood’ ”?

2. In line with the principles expressed here, what practical

steps might be taken to achieve justice and respect for dig-

nity for all Americans in the area of housing?

3. How would you apply what this document says to such

issues as school desegregation, busing, neighborhoods, and

Church membership?

4. What fundamental principle underlies this document’s

treatment of housing?

Crime and Correction

1. Do you think that ‘white collar’ fraud and corruption can

be compared as problems with violent crime? What makes

them so serious?

46



2. This document says the basic solution to crime is to remove

the factors which influence some people to commit crimes.

As a practical matter, how can that be done?

3. What obligation does society have to convicted criminals in

prison beyond seeing to it that their minimum needs (food,

housing, clothing, etc.) are met?

The Community of Nations

1. Can you suggest examples which show how “human interde-

pendence is constantly increasing in today’s world”?

2. What are some of the implications of saying that the central

international problem today may be the “lack of authority

and institutions” capable of dealing with global problems?

The Development of Peoples

1. Why is it that ‘liberation’ — in the essentially spiritual
sense in which the term is used by Pope Paul — can hardly
be accomplished in the absence of political, economic, and

cultural liberation?

2. In light of the principles expressed here, how would you

evaluate the United States’ role in the world since World

War II?

3. Many of the so-called developing countries do not seem very

sympathetic to the goals and policies of the United States. If

the United States is to share wealth and power with them,

does it not have a right to expect reciprocity in return?

4. Most people know very little about things like trade treaties,

commodity prices, corporate practices, and monetary agree-

ments. What can they do to foster justice in regard to these

matters?

5. What are the practical implications of stressing ‘justice’ in

discussing these issues?

Peace

1. Under what conditions can engaging in war be a legitimate

form of defense?

2. What are the practical implications of saying that a citizen

may not casually disregard or resist his or her nation’s con-

scientious decision to go to war in self-defense?

47



3. Do you agree that the right of conscientious objection and

selective conscientious objection should be recognized and

respected? Why?

4. In light of what is said here about nuclear weapons, how

would you evaluate U.S. defense policy?

5. What lessons for the future should the U.S. learn from the

war in Vietnam, especially in light of what is said here?

6. What can individuals and groups do to promote a policy of

peace and commitment to peace?

Human Rights

1. Evidently some governments which are friendly to the Unit-

ed States violate the human rights of some of their citizens.

What can or should the U.S. do about that?

2. For that matter, what can or should this country do about

human rights violations by foreign governments which are

unfriendly to us?

3. Why are our rights less secure if we condone or contribute to

the repression of human rights in other countries? N

III. Conclusion

1. In a pluralistic society such as ours, what role should public

institutions play in regard to religious and spiritual values?

2. What responsibility, if any, does government have with re-

gard to religious education?

3. A number of obligations are noted here for various institu-

tions of society: government, business and industry, labor

and the professions, the media, education, churches. Do you

agree that the obligations mentioned are real ones? Can you

think of others? Do you feel these institutions in our country

are living up to their obligations at the present time?

4. What connection do social structures and institutions have

with individual holiness?

5. Many people would say they hope to go to heaven but, rea-

listically speaking, they do not have time or opportunity to

work at being “holy.” The bishops say here that everyone is

called to be holy. Which point of view do you think is cor-

rect?

6. What does, it mean to say that the cross of Jesus Christ

shows the deficiency of other value systems?

48





NOTE TO READERS

This pastoral letter “To Live in Christ Jesus” was approved by

the Catholic bishops of the United States on November 11, 1976,

during their semiannual general meeting. The pastoral had been

commissioned by the bishops two years earlier when they approved

a proposal for “a major document on moral values” dealing with

particular problems and issues “in the context of a well developed

theory of the principles of Christian morality and the ways in

which moral values are formed and sustained.
”
(^Report of the Ad

Hoc Committee on Moral Values in Society, National Conference of

Catholic Bishops, November 19, 1974)

One of the first decisions of the committee which was appoint-

ed to prepare the pastoral letter was to engage in a wide consulta-

tion with priests, religious, and laity, and especially with Catholic

scholars in fields pertaining to the subject matter of the pastoral.

More than 8,000 letters were sent initially to members of scholarly

societies, seminary rectors, and college and university presidents,

inviting suggestions concerning the document. Dialogue with those

who responded to this and subsequent consultations continued

throughout the preparation of the letter. Though the resulting doc-

ument is the bishops' pastoral, it reflects this consultative process

in many ways.

Approval of the pastoral by the body of bishops reflects a judg-

ment on their part that it expresses the authentic teaching of the

Church. At the same time, it is the intent of the document to

express authentic teaching in a manner that reflects the compas-

sion of Jesus. Achieving holiness is difficult for all of us. But with

God’s help, in Christ Jesus, it is possible. It is in this spirit of Jesus’

love, compassion, and truth that the pastoral letter is presented.