It's important to understand a few basics about Catholic morality before we look at the actual moral code itself. These basics used to be a part of our culture, but now they're under widespread attack by the culture.
There is a lot of confusion in the Church about these basics right now. You need to know them well yourself, or you're at risk for being steered off the right path.
These are basic concepts in Catholic moral theology:
Freedom
Truth
Natural law
Law
Conscience
There's a lot to say about these, but I'll keep it short. It boils down to this:
God creates us in the state of freedom. We are at liberty to choose, based on reason and will, whether to act or not in a specific situation. We are responsible for our choices. With these choices, we choose our own ultimate destiny: that of eternal life with God, or that of death.
We believe that moral truth is objective, and not relative to the subjective whims of culture or taste. It is valid at all times & everywhere. God is the ultimate source of all moral truth.
People have an innate sense of basic moral truth. Using human reason, we can deduce the principles of this natural law. But because sin clouds our vision of the truth, God has chosen to directly reveal the law to us.
We use our natural facility called conscience to apply the general principles of the law to specific situations, judging specific actions to be right or wrong in accordance with objective law. (Conscience is not the source of those moral principles!)
Understanding these basic principles of Catholic morality will help you avoid a lot of trouble. (Believe me, it's hard enough to avoid trouble even when you do understand these!)
Okay, so Catholic morality does have an actual moral code that you need to know!
But just remember: this moral code doesn't represent the summit of Catholic morality. It is a description of the most basic requirements of the command to love God and love neighbor.
Focus on the Beatitudes as your goal, but make sure that you don't fall below the minimum level of Christian living.
Here's the basic content of these "minimum requirements", the moral law:
The Catholic Ten Commandments describe "the conditions of a life freed from the slavery of sin" (Catechism, 2057).
Each Commandment is simply a summary of a whole category of actions. For example, "bearing false witness against your neighbor" covers any kind of falsehood: perjury, lying, slander, detraction, bragging, rash judgment, etc.
The Commandments must be understood in relation to the "law of love." (That's why we discussed it at length above!)
The Precepts of the Catholic Church are a small number of things related to the Church that any good Catholic must do at an absolute minimum. They describe things like the necessity to worship at Mass at least each Sunday and on Catholic holy days of obligation, go to Confession at least once a year, etc.
Willing & knowing violation of one of the above items (the Ten Commandments and Precepts of the Church) is considered a mortal sin: it constitutes rejection of God's law, and of God himself.
Such rejection can be repaired only by true contrition, repentance, and seeking forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation as soon as possible.
Again, remember that this moral code is only a description of some of the minimum requirements of Catholic morality. True Christian life not only requires much more of us, but...
...it is also incredibly positive in the blessings that it brings!
