Decisions and Dreams
Life's exciting. We have many dreams. Each day we make many decisions and choices which can spell the difference between success and failure. The list is endless and includes such things as:  money, friends, school, sports, parents, alcohol, drugs, and sexuality. As people of faith, we turn to Jesus and the Church to help us make sense our of life. Faith is the gift from God which helps us to make the best possible moral choices.

Our Catholic understanding of morality is simply a matter of learning how to be the best human being that God created us to be. Morality gives us direction and thus helps us understand what true happiness is. Each of us needs a goal in life. As Christians, our goal is to live as a follower of Christ by living a holy, healthy, and happy life. To help us reach that goal we have "rules" to guide us, such as, the Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, the Precepts of the Church, and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Once we learn the rules, they become part of us. Each day Jesus challenges us to be the best disciples we can be!

Moral Decision-Making Process
Step 1: Look at the Situation
The first step is to take time to make sure we  have the facts straight and that we are not missing any of the crucial details. Good moral decisions involve the head and heart; by using our head at this point, we can avoid making mistaken decisions later on. In this step, we ask questions like these:
What exactly is happening?
Why is it happening?
Who is involved? What are their motives?
How is it happening, that is, by what means or method?
When and where is it happening?

Step 2: Identify Possible Responses and Effects
We look at all the possible ways to respond to the situation and ask what influences we might be under to choose particular solutions. These influences we might be positive or negative. Ask yourself the following:
What are the options?
What would my family say I should do? Who benefits? Who gets hurt?
What would my friends and peers say I should do? Who benefits? Who gets hurt?
What would society say I should do? Who benefits? Who gets hurt?

Step 3: Identify the Faith Response
In this step, we look to our faith to help us choose responses that best reflect the values of Jesus. We rely on the wisdom of the Catholic Church to give us answers and to help us sort out the many confusing messages we receive. Here we move closeer to the heart of the matter, the response of real love, but do not yet determine our particular response. Questions you may want to ask yourself:
What would Jesus do?
What do the Scriptures say? The Ten Commandments? The Beatitudes?
What is the teaching of the Church on this matter?
What do I want to ask the faith community to pray with me for and about?

Step 4: Make a Personal Decision
We want to make a decision that best lives our the Catholic faith response determined in the previous step. Failure to do so means that we will not be successful in our goal of living a holy, healthy, and happy life. The questions we need to struggle with are:
What do the vision and values of Jesus lead me to in this particular moral dilemma?
What does love look like in this situation?
If I choose the Catholic response, who benefits? Who gets hurt?
If I am to be true to my call to be holy, healthy, and happy, what must I choose?
In the long run, what kind of person will I become if I choose the Catholic faith response?

Step 5: Act on the Decision
A moral decision made and acted upon in love is truly the heart of the matter. Living a Christian moral life is not easy. To make a moral decision and not act on it is itself a sin - because it is in acting that we are in union with God and are a light to the world. Thus, we pray for the strength and courage to act on our moral decisions. The final questions are:
What are the steps I need to take to act on this decision?
What is the first thing I will do?

In this step, we need to evaluate our actions. Some questions to answer:
Did I do the right thing?
Did I hurt anyone with my actions?
What would Jesus have done?

Assignment
Choose three of the following case studies in morality by clicking on the title. Answer the questions posed, using the Moral Decision Making Process. Return the completed assignment to your catechist, then notify the Youth Office as to which cases you chose, so that the appropriate Catholic response can be emailed back to you for comparison.

Case Study 1: Tips and Taxes
Miranda listened to the IRS recording again. There was no mistake. It said, "If you receive more than $20 in tips in one month, you must report it to your employer." Miranda recently got a job as a waitress at a new restaurant in Clifton. She makes much less than minimum wage per hour, but she doubles that in tips. This has been a great blessing. Miranda comes from a large family, and her parents do not have a lot of money. She's had to wear hand-me-downs and miss many of the camps and trips sponsored by her church and school. For the first time in her life, she has money not only to buy new clothes from Willowbrook but to save for college and special trips.

When Miranda started this job, her employer told her that at the end of every month, she would have to report her income to him so that he could withdraw the appropriate amount from her paycheck for the IRS. But another waitress, Diana, advised: "Girl, don't you go worrying about that. Just report forty or fifty dollars a month. We make little enough here as it is without Uncle Sam dipping into our pockets." Miranda sometimes makes forty or fifty dollars in tips in one night. Now it's time to make her monthly report to her employer, and she's not sure what to do.

Questions
Step 1
What choice is Miranda faced with?
What conflicting values does she have to sort out?
Are there special circumstances that might affect her decision?

Step 2
What are Miranda's options?
What would Miranda's friends and peers advise her to do?
If she does this, who benefits? Who gets hurt?

Step 3
What commandments or beatitudes apply to this situation?
What teachings from the Bible or from the Church apply?

Step 4
What would the vision and values of Jesus lead Miranda to do?
What would authentic Christian love look like in this situation

Case Study 2: Capital Punishment
Lucanda stands in the voting booth trying to make a final decision. On the ballot is a referendum to reinstate capital  punishment for certain violent crimes. It was put on the ballot by several lawmakers who feel that capital punishment needs to be brought back because of the state's rising crime rate, including an increase in murder. The issue has been hotly debated in the news media over the last several months.

Lucanda is confused about the best way to vote. On the one hand, she is upset about the rising violence she sees in her neighborhood every day. In the last year, a boy she knows from school was shot and killed, and her best friend was cut with a knife during an argument in the school cafeteria. But on the other hand, she's heard the statistics that minorities are sentenced to death more often than whites, and that seems unjust. And the billboard she saw that said, "Why do we want to kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?" also made sense to her. It's her first time voting , and she wants to do the right thing.

Questions
Step 1
What choice is Lucanda faced with?
What conflicting values does she have to sort out?
Are there special circumstances that might affect her decision?

Step 2
What are Lucanda's options?
What would Lucanda's friends and peers advise her about how to vote?
What would be her friends' reasoning?

Step 3
What commandments or beatitudes apply to this situation?
What teachings from the Bible or from the Church apply?

Step 4
What would the vision and values of Jesus lead Lucanda to do?
What would authentic Christian love look like in this situation

Case Study 3: Pornography on the Web
Carlo's friends Scott and Paulo regularly come over to his house after school to do homework and goof off. The last couple of days, they've been using the family computer to explore the internet, where they have found museum exhibits, NASA phots, Star Wars sites, and on-line shopping.

Today, as they begin to go on-line, Scott says: "My brother at State gave me these web site addresses yesterday. He said to check them out if we really  want an education." So Carlos types in the first address. Up on the screen comes a page titled "Join the Revolution," with further topics like "Secrets the Government Doesn't Want You to Know" and "How to Build Your Own Bombs." "Wierd," says Carlos. "Try the next address," urges Paulo.

Now they see a  picture of a half-naked woman on a page entitled "The Fantasy Club." At the bottom of the screen is the warning "This site contains explicit sexual content. You must be 18 to enter." "Come on, let's try it," says Scott. Even though he is very curious, Carlos replies, "I don't know; we're not eighteen." "They just have to put that there, they can't tell if you are or not," Scott says sarcastically. "If you guys open that file, I'm not hanging around," says Paulo. "The Bible says, 'Avoid temptation,' and this certainly qualifies in my book."

Questions
Step 1
What choice is Carlos faced with?
What conflicting values does he have to sort out?
Are there special circumstances that might affect his decision?

Step 2
What are Carlos's options?
If Carlos goes into the X-rated area, who benefits? Who gets hurt?

Step 3
What commandments or beatitudes apply to this situation?
What teachings from the Bible or from the Church apply?

Step 4
What would the vision and values of Jesus lead Caarlos to do?
What would authentic Christian love look like in this situation?

Case Study 4: Sexual Harassment
Su Kim has heard of this but never believed she'd be in this situation. First, she never imagined the courses at the university would be this hard. Chemistry is giving her an especially difficult time, and she needs to do well in it. If she does not, she will have to kiss her dreams of a career in medicine good-bye.

Two graduate students are assigned as tutors for chemistry. One is no help to her at all. The other, Jerry, is much better-except for one problem. He seems to have more than just an academic interest in her. In the tutoring sessions, he tells her how attractive she looks. He often puts his arm around her as they are working on a problem, and his hand brushes across her in places where she is not comfortable having it. Once he told her that he has heard that Asian women are incredible lovers.

The chemistry final is coming up next week. She will have to ace it to get at least a C in the course. If she does worse, she might not even pass. When she asks Jerry for an extra session to prepare, he replies: "I'm awfully busy in the next week. The only way I can fit you in is if you come over to my apartment Tuesday night. I'll fix some dinner." Then he gives her a strange smile: "I might even be able to get you a copy of the test if you wear something sexy."

When Su Kim tells her roommate about Jerry's offer, her roommate replies: "What's the big deal? If you can get help by showing some cleavage and letting him think you're interested, you're a lucky woman." This only confuses her more, and now Tuesday is only two days away.

Questions
Step 1
What choice is Su Kim faced with?
What conflicting values does she have to sort out?
Are there special circumstances that might affect her decision?

Step 2
What are Su Kim's options?
If Su Kim follows her roommates advice, who benefits? Who gets hurt?

Step 3
What commandments or beatitudes apply to this situation?
What teachings from the Bible or from the Church apply?

Step 4
What would the vision and values of Jesus lead Su Kim to do?
What would authentic Christian love look like in this situation?

Case Study 4: Lying to a Friend
It had all been planned: Samantha, Carol, Laura, and Mindy will have lunch together at the mall and then go shopping. Now Laura and Mindy are electing Samantha to uninvite Carol. "Call her and tell her we can't go," Minday says. "Then we'll just go without her." Laura and Mindy do not like Carol. They say that Carol used to be okay, until she started getting into religion. Lately Laura and Mindy feel uncomfortable around Carol.

Even though Carol is Samantha's friend, Samantha also feels uncomfortable with the religious stuff. She is beginning to feel that her friendship with Laura and Mindy is more important to her than her friendship with Carol. She would feel bad about canceling the lunch with Carol, but if she does not, Laura and Mindy might not have anything more to do with her. She gets up and begins to walk over to the phone.

Questions
Step 1
What choice is Samantha faced with?
What conflicting values does she have to sort out?
Are there special circumstances that might affect her decision?

Step 2
What are Samantha's options?
What advice would society give Samantha?
If she does this, who benefits? Who gets hurt?

Step 3
What commandments or beatitudes apply to this situation?
What teachings from the Bible or from the Church apply?

Step 4
What would the vision and values of Jesus lead Samantha to do?
What would authentic Christian love look like in this situation?

Case Study 5: A Friend Who Is Homosexual
It is one of those hot, muggy days in July. Anthony and Tyrone have been playing a wicked game of beach volleyball. They have been best friends for many years. They spend most of their spare time together, always having fun. As they walk down the beach after the game, Anthony is not saying much. "Something on your mind, Tony?" Tyrone asks. "I haven't seen you this quiet since your dad died." "I'm just thinking," Anthony replies, but the depressed look on his face concerns Tyrone.

The next day Tyrone finds a letter from Anthony in his mailbox. It says that Anthony has been struggling over his sexual feelings for a long time. He's finally had to admit to himself that he is gay. He's not ready to tell his mom, or anybody else, but he had to tell Tyrone. He thought that he owed it to his best friend. "I understand," says the letter, "if you don't want to hang around together anymore. I don't want you to be affected if word gets out that I'm homosexual."

Tyrone is floored. How can this be? He and Anthony have mad crude comments about homosexuals. To be considered gay is to be a social leper with most people at school. If word gets out that Anthony's gay, Tyrone will be guilty by association. But he has been Anthony's friend for so long, how can he turn his back on Anthony when Anthony needs him the most?

Questions
Step 1
What choice is Tyrone faced with?
What conflicting values does he have to sort out?
Are there special circumstances that might affect his decision?

Step 2
What are Tyrone's options?
What advice would Tyrone's peers give him? Who benefits? Who gets hurt?

Step 3
What commandments or beatitudes apply to this situation?
What teachings from the Bible or from the Church apply?

Step 4
What would the vision and values of Jesus lead Tyrone to do?
What would authentic Christian love look like in this situation?