August 29, 2012 – Catechism 1749 – 1761

The ends justify the means is NOT a Catholic teaching.  Look back on things you might have done thinking that the ends were enough to act out of line or to sin.  Was the end ever in actuality enough.  We may think that in the moment of the act, but if you really reflect on it, I bet the end never comes out exactly as you planned and the path to created to there is something that cannot be erased.  One of the biggest historical events that uses this excuse are the A-Bombs dropped on Japan.  Did the ends justify the means.  According to the paragraphs we just read, if the means are immoral, the end cannot be justified.  The question becomes “Was dropping the A-Bombs a sin”.  If the answer is yes, then the ends don’t matter.  If the answer is no, I guess I would ask you why it wasn’t sinful. 

It is hard to answer because there is a balance that was going on.  The US had to weigh using the A-Bombs verses attacking Japan.  When we looked at the damage that was caused as we jumped from island to island in the Pacific, we were taking massive losses and moving at a very slow pace.  It was agreed that we needed to end the war quickly rather than spend years trying to defeat Japan by attack.  But what was the limit.  What if two didn’t work.  How many were we going to drop.  Was it worth opening the door to the Cold War.  We are still the only country to use nuclear weapons.  Was it worth all that stemmed from that.  It is an interesting and complicated question, but simply put, from the Catholic perspective, the A-Bomb was not justified by the ends it brought about.