Catholic Dictionary
Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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MORAL SYSTEM
In Catholic thought a method of handling concrete situations for solving practical doubts in moral practice. Problems of uncertainty or doubt arise when a statement asserting the lawfulness of an act and another statement denying this are more or less conflicting positions in the objective order. Several such systems are known to ethical science, of which some have been condemned by the Church and others are tenable in Catholic morality. In the pastoral ministry, confessors and spiritual directors are advised to strive to do the more perfect thing themselves and likewise to urge others to do the same. But they are not to impose their own opinions on those whom they are directing as long as the contrary view is solidly probable.
