Today’s moral landscape

Our environment

Scientific techniques and the development of society in the last 40 years have contributed to a quite extraordinary range of possibilities for mankind. Air travel, the computer, advances in medicine and the ease of communication are just a few examples of how life is more easy and efficient for many people than it ever was. The progress of the human community in such ways has always been encouraged by the Church. Indeed, the Church has always recognised that there is no opposition between the pursuit of such progress and the practice, or living-out, of belief in God. Reason and faith are, after all, “Like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth” (John Paul II, Fides et ratio 1,i).

However, with the advance of technology there also arise some quite tricky issues, which can sometimes set the teachings of the Church against popular opinion. As a result, a Catholic can often feel isolated in the workplace or even amongst family and friends. In this section we will look at a few of the more common issues with the hope of giving readers the opportunity to reflect on them.

Perhaps it is worth noting at the outset a fundamental principle. Catholics are not obliged to accept what the Church teaches “just because the Church teaches it”. Many people think this, but it is wrong to do so. On the contrary, the Church teaches what she does, because what she teaches actually makes sense. All the teachings of the Church, on anything from angels to contraception, from the Holy Trinity to care for immigrants, from the use of candles to the liturgical seasons, are taught for a reason. The doctrines are connected; what is more, they make sense because they are reasonable. And being reasonable, the teachings of the Church correspond to the deepest yearnings of the human heart.

What might seem difficult questions are dealt with by the Church because she is concerned with teaching what is actually true.

Truth is not an arbitrary set of defunct rules and regulations. Truth is that which corresponds to how things actually are, independent of what anyone – whether he is the pope or the most militant atheist – might think. The Church does not claim to own the truth. On the contrary, she transmits it.