Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

260 STEPHEN T. REHRAUER
Social reality is pliable. What holds its fibers together are
concepts of justice. Justice and injustice however, are also
flexible concepts. They are conceived of in terms of comparative
equity, noncomparative equity, comparative equality and
noncomparative equality. Often the demands of two or more of
these conceptions are in harmony in what they require, but
there are times and situations where the demands of one type of
justice concept are at odds with the demands of another. It is
often difficult for conscience to keep them clear. The lines
between them are fuzzy enough in many peoples minds to begin
with. When they become further blurred, the result is injustice,
often carried out in the defense of justice.
The data concerning the effects of the understanding of
justice upon actual justice and injustice related behavior is
extremely important for us as moral theologians. From the
perspective of our tradition it can both remind us to look
seriously at, and also scientifically validate the accuracy of one
very important insight of our Catholic moral tradition. Sin and
virtue are in the will informed by the reason. 64 On the one hand,
the data certainly indicates that the way people reason about
justice has a consequent effect in their helping behavior. On the
other hand, there is sufficient data to indicate that the effect
reasoning has differs depending upon the nature of the task at
hand, the situation, and the particular goal in the mind of the
individual. All of these findings lend force to much of our
classical descriptions of how human moral action unfolds, and
reinforces the traditional wisdom that it is not enough to
educate the minds of our people, it is also essential to strengthen
and form their wills, and to be vigilant over the structure of the
societies in which their lives unfold. Combined with intellectual
education, there is a need for Christian discipline. Combined
with moral catechesis there is a demand for the formation of
real Christian community. By the same token, the difference in
actual behavior between how people think about injustice and
what they actually do in real-life situations reveals a universal
tendency which crosses the boundaries of both gender and
64
St. THOMAS AQUINAS, Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 20.