Moral Relativism, Part Two: "How it Affects the Church"

Both the Old and the New Testaments make clear that Almighty God does not condone compromising His standards.

The Book of Psalms reminds us:  "Joy are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the LORD. Joyful are those who obey His laws and search for Him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in His paths. You have charged us to keep Your commandments carefully” (Psalm 119:1-4). 

The Old Testament teaching is clear:   blessedness describes people of righteousness, those who observe God’s will and are wholeheartedly devoted to Him. We do not compromise or deviate from His moral law but “walk only in His path".

In the New Testament, Jesus explicitly teaches:  "If anyone causes one of these little ones -- those who believe in me -- to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea (Matthew 18: 6)."

This attitude or behavior which the Scriptures condemn, that is, leading another to do evil, is the sin of scandal.

The Church teaches that the person who gives scandal becomes a stumbling block to the faith of another.  As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:  "The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter.  He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death.  Scandal is a grave offense, if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense." (Paragraph 2284).

The Catechism goes on to state emphatically: "Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized.  Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the Scribes and the Pharisees on this account:  he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing." (Paragraph 2285)

The Catechism concludes: "Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion." (Paragraph 2286)

Now, scandal is particularly serious when it is occasioned by those in authority and entrusted with the office of teaching the faithful "the ways of the Lord" precisely because of the effect it has upon those who look to these teachers for moral guidance and direction.  

Thus, Bishops, Priests, Deacons and all those charged with the teaching ministry of the Church are to be especially watchful that, by word or example, they do not lead those entrusted to the care confused or shaken in their Catholic Faith.

Accordingly, when those in authority say or do something which is clearly in opposition to the moral precepts of Scripture or Sacred Tradition, the impact of their failing is often seriously detrimental to the faith of the community.

It is one thing to hear or see a lay person give scandal.  It is quite another to witness scandal from a Bishop, Priest or Deacon.  Why?  Because their standing within the community affects the community deeply.  The faithful are either drawn closer to the Lord by the rightful teachings and example of those ordained to represent Christ, or the faithful withdraw from the Lord on account of the scandalous behavior of their leaders.

It is one thing to see greed and avarice cloud the judgments of friends and neighbors.  It is quite another to see those same failings in the Clergy and others who represent the Church, including Religious Communities and teachers of religion to name a few.

Moral relativism witnessed at the highest levels of Church authority would cause the greatest scandal since the faithful would be shaken in their faith to see that level of Church authority compromising itself with what is clearly evil and contrary to the values of the Gospel.

In the next and final part of this reflection, I wish to take a case in point just as one notable example of how such moral relativism inserts itself into the words and actions of the hierarchy and causes confusion and scandal among the Catholic faithful.  The case I cite is not an example of a novel introduction of moral relativism into the teachings of the Church, but rather a practice which has become a traditional event since 1928.