Explanation of Catholic Morals

THE contents of Explanation of Catholic Morals appeared originally in The Catholic Transcript of Hartford Connecticut in weekly installments. These Briefs are offered here to all desirous of a better acquaintance with Catholic Morals. Morals pertain to right living to the things we do in relation to God and His law as opposed to right thinking to what we believe to dogma. Dogma directs our faith or belief morals shape our lives. By faith we know God by moral living we serve Him; and this double homage of our mind and our works is the worship we owe our Creator and Master and the necessary condition of our salvation. Faith alone will save no man. It may be convenient for the easy-going to deny this and take an opposite view of the matter; but convenience is not always a safe counselor. It may be that the just man liveth by faith; but he lives not by faith alone. Or if he does it is faith of a different sort from what we define here as faith viz. a firm assent of the mind to truths revealed. We have the testimony of Holy Writ again and again reiterated that faith even were it capable of moving mountains without good works is of no avail. The Catholic Church is convinced that this doctrine is genuine and reliable enough to make it her own; and sensible enough too. For faith does not make a man impeccable; he may believe rightly and live badly. His knowledge of what God expects of him will not prevent him from doing just the contrary; sin is as easy to a believer as to an unbeliever. And he who pretends to have found religion holiness the Holy Ghost or whatever else he may call it and can therefore no longer prevaricate against the law is to common-sense people nothing but a sanctified humbug or a pious idiot.