Christian morality is conduct that reflects faith in Jesus Christ and in his principles. It is based on the limitless love of God and the dignity of every human person as created by God. The focus of Christian morality is not rules but relationships. The purpose of the Beatitudes and commandments is to enable the relationship between God and ourselves to grow and to be expressed in our approach to our neighbor.

The law of love, which Jesus preaches to his disciples and to the whole people, provides a positive motivation for morally good behavior. As such, it goes beyond the negative motivation of fear expressed in the old law of the Ten Commandments and the legislation of the priests and Scribes. The New Commandment, developed in the Sermon on the Mount, fulfills the requirements of the Ten Commandments and calls us to go beyond them.

Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby we recognize the moral quality of a concrete act that we are going to perform, are performing, or have already performed. We are obliged to follow what we know to be just and right.

The theological virtues are faith, hope, and charity. They are the foundation of Christian moral activity. They inform and give life to all moral virtues, and are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to enable them to act as God’s children.

The Beatitudes speak to the attitudes and actions that are to be characteristic of our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. They challenge us to live fully; they speak to authentic happiness. Happiness is not found in things, possessions, nor even in successes, but rather in developing right relationships with family, friends, and those with whom we work and associate.

As the Ten Commandments were first given to the Israelites, so they are proclaimed today to the new people of God and to all men and women of faith. The commandments challenge us to deepen our relationship with God and to see the world around us from God’s loving and caring viewpoint. Observing God’s commandments is the first step to becoming followers of Christ, and in doing so we are thus being called to greater holiness.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus proclaims that the forgiveness of sin is the priority in his mission to the world. The message that God is always ready to forgive even the worst of sins is present in numerous New Testament stories. The Church has developed a tradition of forgiveness and reconciliation through the sacraments, beginning with Baptism. The theology of sin, forgiveness, and reconciliation is best expressed in the Rite of Penance or Sacrament of Reconciliation.

God calls every member of the Christian community to a particular role in the service of the Church. Although our vocation may be to serve as a priest, religious or lay person, teacher, missioner, or liturgical minister, we all derive our mission from our baptism into the Church. Our vocation is strengthened by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation and encouraged by our participation in the Eucharist. Most Catholics are called to serve in their parishes and neighborhoods and to become models of service for other parishioners, young and old alike. This vocation lived out in the parish, the workplace, and the community brings about the growth of the Church and has the effect of inspiring others to respond to their own callings as Christians. Through prayer and our experience in the Christian community, we will be able to discern God’s call to us and commit ourselves to our particular vocation in the Church.

Religious sisters are women who live in community and take religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. By promising to live simply, in community, and in accord with the wishes of their bishops and superiors, sisters are free to serve the Church community and all those to whom the Church ministers. Religious sisters are involved in every aspect of Church life and mission, and often bring the message of Christ into the community at large through their presence in many different professional service organizations. The contribution of religious sisters to the life of the Church in the United States has been and continues to be essential.

Missioners are men and women, priests, religious brothers and sisters, laymen and laywomen, whose vocation it is to establish the Church in areas where there is no viable Catholic community. In many cases the first step is to care for the physical needs of the people and to promote justice in places where there is great poverty or oppression. The ultimate goal is to build the Catholic Christian community so that eventually new leadership for the Church – bishops, priests, religious brothers and sisters, and lay workers – evolves in that community. The work of many missiioners has been successful all over the world.