What are the three sources of knowledge that Catholic morality draws on to help a person discern right and wrong?

• A. Divine revelation alone
• B. Human reason, human experience, and natural law
• C. Human reason, Divine inspiration, and tradition
• D. Human reason, human experience, and divine revelation

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is that Catholic morality uses three sources to discern right from wrong: human reason, human experience, and divine revelation. Reason provides the capacity to think about universal moral principles—principles that can be known through reflection on human nature and the ordering of life. Experience grounds those principles in real-life situations, helping us test and apply them with a conscience shaped by lived events, culture, and practical wisdom. Divine revelation gives authoritative guidance from God—through Scripture and the Church’s teaching and tradition—so that moral understanding isn’t left to guesswork or mere opinion.

This combination is powerful because it keeps morality both intelligible and applicable: reason lets us know general norms, experience shows how those norms play out in concrete cases, and revelation provides binding truth about God’s will and the higher good. The other options either leave out one of these sources or substitute something not treated as a distinct, authoritative source in Catholic moral tradition, making them less comprehensive.