How to Make a Moral Decision | Dr. Cary Dabney

What do you say when someone asks, "Who are you to judge me?"

Dr. Cary Dabney, a professor of theology at Walsh University, returns to the show to unpack the simple framework he uses to teach moral theology to students who are devout, on the fence, or completely unchurched. It's the same framework that can help you talk with your kids, your grandkids, or a friend about hard moral choices without sounding judgmental or getting shut down.

In this episode:

- The four kinds of students in his classroom

- The one question he asks before mentioning a single theologian

- The three fonts of choice

- What Robin Hood can teach us about good intentions

- What relativism does to our ability to talk to each other

- Why Dr. Cary calls Jesus "the pattern of righteousness"

Dr. Cary also shares three things to check before any decision, and why humility and the option of reconciliation are always on the table when we get it wrong.

Highlights

04:44 – The question that opens every moral theology class

06:16 – The three fonts of choice

07:32 – Robin Hood and the problem with good intentions

12:10 – Circumstances: same act, different gravity

13:47 – The object of the act

17:55 – Starting with what everyone shares: reason

19:26 – Taking the emotion out of hard conversations

32:12 – Silos, echo chambers, and Benedict XVI on relativism

34:38 – Three things to check before any choice

36:44 – Humility and the door to reconciliation

37:37 – Jesus, "the pattern of righteousness"

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Chapters

• (00:00:11) - Introducing Dr. Dabney and the Dab Name Joke
• (00:01:18) - Teaching Moral Theology at Walsh University
• (00:02:51) - The Four Buckets of Students
• (00:05:33) - Three Fonts of Choice: Intention, Object, Circumstances
• (00:07:32) - Robin Hood and Intention vs Object
• (00:09:50) - Support Real Life Catholic
• (00:10:40) - Teaching Critical Thinking, Not Just Answers
• (00:11:57) - Circumstances and Culpability Explained
• (00:13:51) - The Object and the Four Ends of Aquinas
• (00:16:42) - From Human Reason to Divine Revelation
• (00:19:22) - Removing Emotion from Moral Discernment
• (00:21:48) - Relativism's Self-Contradiction
• (00:22:40) - Arriving at Jesus as the Moral Standard
• (00:23:37) - Law, Love, and the Judging of Nations
• (00:25:42) - Applying the Framework to Abortion
• (00:27:30) - Pastoral Compassion Meets Moral Truth
• (00:29:04) - Hiroshima/Nagasaki as a Moral Case Study
• (00:31:58) - Relativism Isolates Rather Than Unites
• (00:33:11) - Summarizing the Framework for Parents and Teens
• (00:37:18) - Jesus as the Pattern of Righteousness
• (00:38:17) - Closing Thoughts and Farewell