| Summary: | Till now the problem of moral compromise has been only scantily treated in Catholic moral theology, although materials for such a study are certainly available, in expositions of moral systems, in the treatment of « ordo caritatis », and so on. In reformation ethics, however, the question has been examined quite acutely. So the Catholic moral theologian must first of all consider the Reformers' answer before he attempts one of his own. He must consider the value and function of « orders of conservation », and reflect to what extent in his thinking he can admit the « acceptance of guilt ». He will find that every decision is resignation to the moral possibilities of action given here and now. In the context of salvation history this means that every decision is always admission of a culpable limitation of one's love. Activity and passivity are involved. What is true for the act of decision holds equally for the determination of the moral norm: it too reveals that understanding is culpably obscured, in both an active and passive way. This is the terrain on which the dialogue with protestant ethics is to be conducted. It may then appear that the differences between protestant and catholic thought concerning moral compromise stem from diverse philosophical and theological starting points and conceptual frameworks.
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