The intended end versus the intentionally-chosen act

[Ron_Conte]

There are three fonts of morality: (1) intention, (2) moral object, (3) circumstances.

These three fonts can be summarized using various terminology:

[1] the intention, or end, or intended end, or purpose, or motive, of the person
[2] the moral object, or object, or species, or nature, of the act itself
[3] the circumstances, or consequences, of the intentionally chosen act

The intention, in the sense of intended end, is of the subject, (the person). This font of morality is in the person who acts. If your act is sinful due only to the intention, then change your intention.

The font called ‘moral object’ is the intentionally-chosen act with its inherent ordering toward either a good moral object or a bad moral object. This font of morality is in the act itself. Some acts are immoral, in and of themselves, independent of the intention for which the act is chosen, and independent of circumstances. If your act is sinful because it is inherently immoral, then choose a different type of act.

Your intention can never change an intrinsically evil act into a moral act.

Examples:

1. choosing NFP (good moral object) with a contraceptive intention (bad intended end) is a sin.
2. choosing NFP with a good intention (and good circumstances) is not a sin.
3. choosing contraception (bad moral object) with a contraceptive intention is a sin, due to both a bad act and a bad intention.
4. choosing contraception (bad moral object) with a good intention is still a sin, due to the immorality of the chosen act.

Magisterial documents describing various intrinsically evil acts often state that such acts are intentionally chosen, or deliberate, or voluntary – this refers to the intentional choosing of the disordered act. The meaning is not that the same act, chosen with a different intention, somehow becomes moral. Rather, the intrinsically evil act only becomes an actual sin when it is intentionally chosen – for all sin if of the will. But all sin is not of the intention alone, but of the three fonts together.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).” (CCC, n. 2399).

Pope John Paul II: “Consequently, circumstances or intentions can never transform an act, intrinsically evil by virtue of its object, into an act ‘subjectively’ good or defensible as a choice.” (Veritatis Splendor, n. 81.)

 

[Ron_Conte]

No act ever derives its moral object from the intention of the person who acts, but only and always from the good or evil end toward which the chosen act itself is inherently directed. If an intrinsically evil act is used for a good purpose (i.e. a good intended end), the moral object of that act remains evil and the act itself remains always immoral.

Similarly, the moral object is never derived from the circumstances, such that the same act would have a different moral object in a different circumstance. The inherent moral meaning of any act is determined solely by the moral object toward which that act is inherently ordered, independent of the intention of the person, and independent of the circumstances or context of the situation.