1. 11.1 Morality: A Response to God’s Love
Chapter 11
Promoting Peace
©Our Sunday Visitor Curriculum Division

2. Chapter Overview
We are called to counteract violence in its many forms, both explicit and hidden.
Church leaders have declared capital punishment an unnecessary affront to the dignity of human life.
The Church promotes alternatives to war and calls for restriction of warfare as much as possible.
The moral issues of nuclear weapons and the arms race, terrorism, and nonviolence challenge us to follow the gospel of Christ.

3. V Vocabulary
The Gospel of Life (p. 203): 1995 encyclical by Pope John Paul II about the value and sacredness of human life.
Explicit violence (p. 203): A situation in which someone is physically harmed or killed by direct action.
Hidden violence (p. 203): A situation in which someone is harmed or killed indirectly, because of various social factors.

4. V Vocabulary
Skepticism (p. 204): In general, a doubting and questioning attitude. As defined by Pope John Paul II, a lack of belief that there are fundamental truths, dismissing any sense of right or wrong.
Capital Punishment (p. 206): The death penalty; state-sanctioned execution of persons convicted of serious crime.
Deterrence (p. 208): Punishment or fear of punishment can help prevent crime.

5. V Vocabulary
Rehabilitation (p. 208): Programs aimed at training and reforming wrongdoers so that they no longer commit crime.
Retribution (p. 209): Restoring the social order by punishing wrongdoers, thus declaring that certain behaviors are not tolerated in society.
The Challenge of Peace (p. 211): 1983 pastoral letter of U.S. bishops addressing issues of war and peace.

6. V Vocabulary
Just-war principles (p. 213): A set of principles outlining conditions when use of violence would be acceptable.
Nuclear deterrence (p. 214): The proposition that when two nations possess the ability to inflict nuclear damage on each other, then neither nation is likely to use its nuclear weapons in the first place.

7. V Vocabulary
Nuclear proliferation (p. 214): Any increase in the number of nations that possess nuclear weapons or that have the capability to build them.
Nonviolence (p. 216): Conflict-resolving techniques that do not rely on physical or psychological injury of an opponent.
Conscientious objector (p. 216): One who for moral or religious reasons is opposed to serving in the military.

8. Review
1. What is Pope John Paul II’s term for the violence that disfigures the human community?
2. What is the difference between explicit and hidden violence?
3. Define skepticism as Pope John Paul II defines the term. How does the pope see this brand of skepticism contributing to an acceptance of violence?

9. Review
4. According to the pope, what three other problems lead to violence in our culture?
5. What addition to the fifth commandment does Jesus make?
6. In what sense is the harm of murderous anger two-sided?

10. Review
7. According to official Church teaching, what circumstance would make capital punishment acceptable?
8. Explain the difference between particular and general deterrence.
9. According to the U.S. Catholic bishops, has capital punishment been successful as a general deterrent to crime?

11. Review
10. What was a primary goal of instituting the modern prison system?
11. Define retribution. How is it different from revenge?
12. Name the four arguments of the U.S. Catholic bishops about why capital punishment should be abolished.

12. Review
13. What first principle regarding war do the U.S. Catholic bishops state in The Challenge of Peace?
14. According to the bishops, in working for peace what two options lay open to Christians?
15. Name the seven principles of the just-war theory.

13. 11.8 Review 16. Explain deterrence as it applies to nuclear weapons.
17. Concerning nuclear weapons, what three things do the bishops condemn?
18. What are Pope John Paul II’s four pillars of peace?

14. Review
19. What was the major achievement of modern nonviolent movements?
20. Name two U.S. movements that have employed nonviolent techniques.
21. What position do the U.S. Catholic bishops take on nonviolence?

15. 11.10 Review 22. What is a conscientious objector?
23. What is the legal status of a conscientious objector in the United States?
24. What is selective conscientious objection? What is the U.S. Catholic bishops’ position on both types of conscientious objection?