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FAMILY AND SOCIAL MORALITY

(The Fourth Commandment)

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RULE OF RELATIONSHIP

• The fourth commandment is the foundation of the second table of the law.

• It deals with all kinds of relationships.

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Based On:

• Equality• Authority• And obedience

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FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS

– Family• Husbands and wives• Parents and Children

– Rulers and citizens– Masters and servants

• employer-employee• subject and authority

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THE FAMILY

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It is designed by God, prior to the state in origin and cannot be re-invented.

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CCC 2202

2202 A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. This institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it. It should be considered the normal reference point by which the different forms of family relationship are to be evaluated.

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CCC 2209

2209 The family must be helped and defended by appropriate social measures. Where families cannot fulfill their responsibilities, other social bodies have the duty of helping them and of supporting the institution of the family. Following the principle of subsidiarity, larger communities should take care not to usurp the family's prerogatives or interfere in its life.

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It is the nucleus of society, the original cell of social life.

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CCC 2207 2207 The family is the original cell of social life. It

is the natural  society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom,  security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community  in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE

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Ephesians 5:21-25 • 21 Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for

Christ. • 22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to

the Lord.• 23 For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is

head of the church, he himself the savior of the body.• 24 As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives

should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.• 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the

church and handed himself over for herConfraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, &

United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Eph 5:21). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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• Husband is the head but not the “boss”

• Mutual submission (subject to each other as equals - CCC 2203)

• Authority confused with power; obedience confused with inferiority

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CCC 2203

2203 In creating man and woman, God instituted the human  family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Its members are persons equal in dignity. For the common good of its members and of society, the family necessarily has manifold responsibilities, rights, and duties.

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ESSENCE OF MARRIAGE

• Unitive and • Procreative

• Marriage cannot be dissolved • Unlawful marriages may be annulled• Legal separation

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CCC 2201

2201 The conjugal community is established upon the consent  of the spouses. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. The love of the spouses and the begetting of children create among members of the same family personal relationships and primordial responsibilities.

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Matthew 19: 3-9 (Not Dissolved) • 3 Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, “Is it

lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”• 4 He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the

Creator ‘made them male and female’• 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother

and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?• 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has

joined together, no human being must separate.”• 7 They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man

give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss (her)?”• 8 He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses

allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

• 9 I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.”

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Mt 19:3). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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Luke 16:18 (Not Dissolved)

18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Lk 16:18). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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Mark 10:2-12 (Not Dissolved)• 2 The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband

to divorce his wife?” They were testing him.• 3 He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?”• 4 They replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and

dismiss her.”• 5 But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he

wrote you this commandment.• 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and

female.• 7 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (and be

joined to his wife),• 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two

but one flesh.• 9 Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must

separate.”• 10 In the house the disciples again questioned him about this.• 11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries

another commits adultery against her;• 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she

commits adultery.”

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CCC 2384 (Not Dissolved)2384 Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It

claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery: – If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches another

woman, he is an adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery; and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another's husband to herself.

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CCC 2385 (Not Dissolved)

2385 Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society.

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CCC 2383 (Not Dissolved)

2383 The separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage  bond can be legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law. – If civil divorce remains the only possible way

of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.

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Matthew 5:32 (Annulled)

32 But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Mt 5:32). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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1 Corinthians 7:10-11 (Legal Separation)

• 10 To the married, however, I give this instruction (not I, but the Lord): a wife should not separate from her husband

• 11 —and if she does separate she must either remain single or become reconciled to her husband—and a husband should not divorce his wife.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (1 Co 7:10). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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CCC 2383(Legal Separation)

2383 The separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage  bond can be legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law.– If civil divorce remains the only possible way

of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.

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DUTIES OF PARENTS

• To respect and love their children (fully committed, open communication and spend time with them - CCC 2222)

• To educate their children (includes the essential duty to guide them in the ways of the Lord – CCC 2221; 2223-2224; 2225-2226)

• Discipline but not provoke them (Eph. 6:4)

• To provide for their children’s physical and spiritual needs (CCC 2228)

• To advise them but avoid undue pressure re: choice of profession & spouse (CCC 2230)

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CCC 2222 (To Respect and Love)

2222 Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons. Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, they educate their children to fulfill God's law.

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CCC 2221 (To Educate)

2221 The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be reduced solely to the procreation of children, but must extend to their moral education and their spiritual formation. "The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute." The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.

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CCC 2223 (To Educate)2223 Parents have the first responsibility for the education

of heir children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self- denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery - the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the "material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones." Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them:– He who loves his son will not spare the rod. . . . He

who disciplines his son will profit by him.– Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but

bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

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CCC 2224 (To Educate)

2224 The home is the natural environment for initiating a human being into solidarity and communal responsibilities. Parents should teach children to avoid the compromising and degrading influences which threaten human societies.

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CCC 2225 (To Educate)2225 Through the grace of the sacrament of

marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the  mysteries of the faith of which they are the "first heralds" for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church. A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one's life.

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CCC 2226 (To Educate)2226 Education in the faith by the parents should begin in

the child's earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in the faith. Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God. The parish is the Eucharistic  community and the heart of the liturgical life of Christian families; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents.

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Ephesians 6:4 (To Discipline)

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up with the training and instruction of the Lord.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Eph 6:4). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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CCC 2228 (To Provide)

2228 Parents' respect and affection are expressed by the care and attention they devote to bringing up their young children and providing for their physical and spiritual needs. As the children grow up, the same respect and devotion lead parents to educate them in the right use of their reason and freedom.

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CCC 2230 (To Advise)2230 When they become adults, children have the

right and duty to choose their profession and state of life. They should assume their new responsibilities within a trusting relationship with their parents, willingly asking and receiving their advice and counsel. Parents should be careful not to exert pressure on their children either in the choice of a profession or in that of a spouse. This  necessary restraint does not prevent them– quite the contrary - from giving their children judicious

advice, particularly when they  are planning to start a family.

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DUTIES OF CHILDREN

To obey and respect their parents (CCC 2214 - 2217)

– To support them in situations of distress, sickness, loneliness, or old age

(CCC 2218; Sir. 3:12-13)

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CCC 2214 (To Obey)

2214 The divine fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood; this is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. The respect of children, whether minors or adults, for their father and mother is nourished by the natural affection born of the bond uniting them. It is required by God's commandment.

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CCC 2215 (To Obey)2215 Respect for parents (filial piety) derives

from gratitude toward those who, by the gift of life, their love and their work, have brought their children into the world and enabled them to grow in stature, wisdom, and grace. "With all your heart honor your father, and do not forget the birth pangs of your mother. Remember that through your parents you were born; what can you give back to them that equals their gift to you?"

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CCC 2216 (To Obey)

2216 Filial respect is shown by true docility and obedience. "My   son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching. . . . When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you." "A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke."

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CCC 2217 (To Obey)2217 As long as a child lives at home with his

parents, the child should obey his parents in all that they ask of him when it is for his good or that of the family. "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." Children should also obey the reasonable directions of their teachers and all to whom their parents have entrusted them. But if a child is convinced in conscience that it would be morally wrong to obey a particular order, he must not do so.

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CCC 2218 (To Support) 2218 The fourth commandment reminds grown children of

their responsibilities toward their parents. As much as they can, they must give them material and moral support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress. Jesus recalls this duty of gratitude.– For the Lord honored the father above the children, and he

confirmed the right of the mother over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and whoever glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure. Whoever honors his father will be gladdened by his own children, and when he prays he will be heard. Whoever glorifies his father will have long life, and whoever obeys the Lord will refresh his mother.

– O son, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives; even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance; in all your strength do not despise him. . . . Whoever forsakes his father is like a blasphemer, and whoever angers his mother is cursed by the Lord.

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Sirach 3:12-13 (To Support)• 12 My son, take care of your father when

he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives.

• 13 Even if his mind fail, be considerate with him; revile him not in the fullness of your strength.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Sir 3:12). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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DUTIES OF CITIZENS

• Obedience to lawful authorities unless contrary to God’s law (CCC 2242)

• Pay taxes/vote (CCC 2240)

• Fulfill their roles in the life of the political community (CCC 2239)

• Defend one’s country (CCC 2240)

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CCC 2242 (To Obey) 2242 The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the

directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their   demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. "Render therefore to Caesar the things that  are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.“ "We must obey God rather than men":– When citizens are under the oppression of a public

authority which oversteps its competence, they should still not refuse to give or to do what is objectively demanded of them by the common good; but it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel.

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CCC 2240 (Taxes)2240 Submission to authority and co-responsibility

for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one's country: – Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are

due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

– [Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners. . . . They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. . . . So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it.

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CCC 2239 (Community)2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute

along with the civil  authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.

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CCC 2240 (To Defend)2240 Submission to authority and co responsibility

for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one's country: – Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are

due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

– [Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners. . . . They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. . . . So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it.

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DUTIES OF NATIONS

• To function for the common good of persons (CCC 1912 & 2213)

• To welcome foreigners (CCC 2241)

• Avoid excessive intervention (CCC 1883)

• To aid poor nations

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CCC 1912 (Common Good)

1912 The common good is always oriented towards the progress of persons: "The order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around." This order is founded on truth, built up in justice, and animated by love.

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CCC 2213 (Common Good)2213 Human communities are made up of

persons. Governing them well is not limited to guaranteeing rights and fulfilling duties such as honoring contracts. Right relations between employers and employees, between those who govern and citizens, presuppose a natural good will in keeping with the dignity of human persons concerned for justice and fraternity.  

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CCC 2241 (Foreigners)

2241 The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.

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CCC 1883 (Intervention)1883 Socialization also presents dangers.

Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which "a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities   of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good."

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To aid poor nations

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End

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