CHAPTER 8

Chapter 8

Respect
for Life
 You are
lovable
because God
made you.

The Beginning of Respect for Life

Love of Self (Self-Esteem)
1. You should love yourself because you are made in God’s image.
2. You should love yourself because Jesus loves you, forgives your sins,
and died on the Cross for you.
3. You should love yourself because of your unique talents and inherent
dignity.

The Beginning of Respect for Life

 The Fourth Commandment

“Honor your father and your mother.”

The Fourth Commandment

The Domestic Church recognizes the family as the Church in miniature.
The Domestic Church models:
• the love and community of the Triune God
• the theological virtues
• God’s Word
• prayer

The Fourth Commandment

Responsibility to the Fourth Commandment
Parents Children
• educate their children • obey parents’
reasonable wishes
intellectually, socially
• honor others who
• provide a safe warm nourish their faith and
environment of care, growth
love, forgiveness, • as adults, seek advice of
tenderness and parents, express
service gratitude, support them
spiritually,
• educate their children psychologically and
religiously and morally financially if necessary
The Fourth Commandment
 Other ways to keep the
Fourth Commandment
• Honor legitimate government and
Church authorities; authorities honor all
people by upholding basic human rights.
• Citizens must obey the legitimate regulations of people who hold authority
(teachers and police officers).
• Catholics must bring Christ to the world by working for social justice causes.
• Never forget that God is always the ultimate authority.

The Fourth Commandment

 The Fifth Commandment
“Thou shall not kill.”

• Teaches respect for human life.

• Condemns direct killing of an innocent person as gravely sinful.
• Disobedience of the commandment springs from anger, hatred
and vengeance.

The Fifth Commandment

Pope Francis on the Death Penalty

“The death penalty is inadmissible

because it is an attack on the
inviolability and dignity of the person,”
reads the Catechism of the Catholic
Church now on the death penalty, with
the addition that the Church “works
with determination for its abolition
worldwide” (August 2, 2018).

The Fifth Commandment

Is Self-defense a justifiable reason for killing?
“The act of self-defense
can have a double effect:
the preservation of one’s
own life; and the killing of
the aggressor. . . .The one
is intended, the other is
not” (CCC, 2263, quoting
St. Thomas Aquinas).
Assignment
What is a recent example
of genocide from the
news? What is the origin
of this genocide? How
can it be solved?

In 1994, 75 percent of the Tutsi ethnic population in

Rwanda was brutally killed in a state-led genocide.
 The Sin of Abortion
• Abortion is a violation of natural law.

• Abortion is a direct challenge to the

ethics of Jesus, who clearly
instructed his followers to care for
the weakest and most defenseless.

• Abortion incurs excommunication,

the condition of a baptized person’s
no longer being “in communion”
with the Church.
Sins against the Fifth Commandment
Euthanasia is defined as
• Any “action or omission which
of itself and by intention causes
death, with the purpose of
eliminating all suffering”
(Evangelium Vitae, 65).
• Remember that good
intentions do not justify evil
means.

Sins against the Fifth Commandment

What are morally permissible choices at
the end of life?
• 2278 Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome,
dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected
outcome can be legitimate…. Here one does not will to cause death;
one's inability to impede it is merely accepted.

• 2279 …. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying,

even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity
with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means,
but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable.
Catholic options for those considering abortion

• Option Line (optionline.org): Toll-free resource connecting callers to

pregnancy resource centers to answer questions about abortion,
pregnancy tests, STD’s, adoption, parenting, medical referrals, housing and
other issues
• Birthright (birthright.org): network of almost one thousand pregnancy
help centers through the US offering testing, counseling and resources such
as medical, financial and person assistance. Philosophy: “every woman… is
a human being looking for help and support in a time of need”
• National Life Center (nationallifecenter.com): 24 hour hotline for
pregnancy crisis
• Other organizations: Bethany Christian Services, The Nurturing Network,
Several Sources Foundation, Gabriel Project
Violations against the Fifth Commandment
Factors that Contribute to an Unhealthy Body

• Tobacco use
• Misuse and abuse of drugs
• Eating disorders
• Bulimia
• Anorexia nervosa
• Compulsive overeating

The Fifth Commandment and Personal Health

Ways to Take Drugs
There are basically three ways to take drugs:
1. Use—only as intended, when needed, and as directed
2. Misuse—against medical instructions (e.g., using another person’s
prescription to get high or steroids to build strength at an artificial rate)
3. Abuse—in a way that is not medically intended and is illegal
Only the first way is correct. The Church teaches that the use of drugs,
“except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense” (CCC, 2291).

The Fifth Commandment of Personal Health

 Virtue of
Temperance
Temperance regulates your
attraction to pleasure and helps you
use God’s creative goods in a
balanced way.
• Abstinence tempers your desire for
food and other pleasure-producing
substances.
• Sobriety moderates your desire for
alcohol.
• Chastity helps you control your sex
drive in a way that is compatible
with your state in life.
The Allegory of Temperance Luca Giordano, 1680’s
The Fifth Commandment of Personal Health
References
• https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/08/02/pope-francis-changes-
teaching-on-death-penalty-its-inadmissible/
• http://www.priestsforlife.org/crisis.html