Category Archives: ethics

Does a Catholic business owner sin by cooperating with the HHS Mandate?

Posted on 2 August 2012 by Ron Conte

The HHS Mandate of the Obama administration has gone into effect, as of August 1st, 2012. All businesses that provide health insurance must include contraception and abortifacients in that coverage. There are numerous complicated conditions to this Mandate and to … Continue reading →

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A Moment of Silence for the Victims

Posted on 25 July 2012 by Ron Conte

Suppose that we were to observe a moment of silence for each person killed in a tragic event. To be specific, one second of silence for each victim. How long would the silence be, for various tragedies that have occurred … Continue reading →

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Can a person be not guilty of sin by reason of insanity?

Posted on 22 July 2012 by Ron Conte

In the U.S. legal system, a person can be found not guilty of a crime that the person, as a matter of fact, did commit, if the person is so severely mentally ill that they could not understand right from … Continue reading →

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Is lying only immoral if you intend to deceive?

Posted on 18 July 2012 by Ron Conte

This is not an open question. The Magisterium has a definitive teaching on lying: 1753 A good intention (for example, that of helping one’s neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or … Continue reading →

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Updated article on marital foreplay

Posted on 11 July 2012 by Ron Conte

I have now updated my article on marital foreplay: Unnatural sexual acts as marital foreplay Question — Are unnatural sexual acts moral to use as foreplay, prior to an act of natural marital relations open to life? I’ve added a … Continue reading →

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Prevenient Grace and Subsequent Grace

Posted on 7 July 2012 by Ron Conte

Operating grace is distinguished from cooperating grace. Operating grace occurs when God acts on the soul without any cooperation by our free will. This type of grace is also called prevenient (from the Latin: ‘to go before’) because it occurs … Continue reading →

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When is a lie mortal and when is it venial?

Posted on 22 June 2012 by Ron Conte

The Roman Catholic Magisterium has definitive teachings on what makes an act a sin, and what makes one act a venial sin and another act a mortal sin. There are three things that can possibly make an act, the knowing … Continue reading →

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130,000 Patients Euthanized a Year

Posted on 21 June 2012 by Ron Conte

A British doctor is speaking out about a program of very extensive euthanasia of elderly patients in the UK. Under the British Health Service, a program called the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is being used to murder elderly patients. Originally, … Continue reading →

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On The Marriage Debt

Posted on 15 June 2012 by Ron Conte

Is a wife morally obligated to have natural marital relations open to life with her husband? Is he similarly obligated to her? The following answer to this question is taken from my book, Roman Catholic Marital Sexual Ethics: Pope Pius … Continue reading →

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Catholic Confusion on Intention and Moral Object

Posted on 12 June 2012 by Ron Conte

Over at Catholic Lane, Rebecca Taylor writes a post on ethics and genetic enhancements: Catholic Confusion on Enhancements; the post is also here. That post is a follow-up to her earlier post at NC Register: Human or Superhuman. In the … Continue reading →

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John Paul II: Contraception is profoundly illicit

Posted on 4 June 2012 by Ron Conte

Pope John Paul II: “Contraception is to be judged objectively so profoundly illicit that it can never, for any reason, be justified. To think, or to say, anything to the contrary is tantamount to saying that in human life there … Continue reading →

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CDF notification re: Sr. Margaret Farley

Posted on 4 June 2012 by Ron Conte

There is an error in the CDF’s notification concerning the book ‘Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics’ by Sister Margaret A. Farley, R.S.M. It is a pretty significant error, one that you might not expect the Holy See … Continue reading →

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