Moral Theology

The Catholic understanding of natural law — how we can know right from wrong without opening a Bible, and why this matters for everything.

'Primacy of conscience' is often used to mean that Catholics may set aside Church teaching if their conscience disagrees. Here is what Aquinas, Newman and the Church actually mean by conscience, why it really is supreme, and why that does not make it autonomous.

Sometimes a good action has a bad side effect. When is it morally acceptable to proceed? The principle of double effect — the most practical tool in Catholic moral theology.

When someone else does something wrong, and you are involved — however tangentially — are you guilty? Catholic moral theology has a precise answer.

Catholic social teaching says the earth's goods are meant for everyone. Does that mean the Church is against private property? The answer is more nuanced — and more radical — than either side expects.