One Catholic View of Morality

Let me introduce a practical consideration for heuristic purposes, a coat rack we might all be able to hang our doctrinal coats on, whatever our different perspectives. Specifically, lets think of gender issues and sexual issues, the whole smorgasbord: married clergy, women priests,
contraception, homosexuality, masturbation, natural family planning and such. Generally, let's make a grand oversimplification, aware that we are doing so, aware that these are doctrinal issues that require much nuancing.

The grand oversimplification is this. If we inventory what Frs. McBrien, McCormick, Curran et al have said over the years, then we can come up with two slates of approaches to the interpretation of natural law.

One slate emphasizes the essentialistic, the authoritative, the deductive, the deontological, the minimalistic, the biologistic, the physicalistic, the parochial, the infallibilistic, the manualistic, the obligational, the conformistic, etc

The other slate emphasizes complementary approaches that are existentialistic, sometimes nonauthoritative, inductive, teleological,
consequentialistic, aspirational, personalistic, psychological, spiritual,universal, ecumenical, more modest and tentative, fallibilistic,
probabilistic, pluralistic, etc

Now, it seems to me that our Magisterium has taken the both/and approach before, incorporating both the essentialistic and existentialistic approaches. It moved away from the solely essentialistic in sexual morality when it gave the unitive dimension status alongside the procreative in marriage, when it allowed sex during infertile periods, when it allowed the sterile to marry and enjoy conjugal relations, when it opened the door to NFP for "grave and serious" reasons, etc It even introduced an element of probabilism in some of these matters. Now, if the Magisterium could just
see that it has already let the existentialistic camel's head into the natural law interpretation tent, then it might be able to reform certain teachings and make an appeal to human reason, at the same time. It could regain some reliability, credibility, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (that which it thought it was preserving with Humanae Vitae, certain CDF
declarations, Veritatis Splendor, etc).

It is disingenuous for some to claim that the Magisterium's voice is being diluted (and thus ignored) by the forces of skepticism and secularism, our People of God being seduced by same. That's as silly as claiming that the
Spirit is still calling clerical and religious vocations but our youth are simply turning a deaf ear or saying no (it's also highly judgmental). I think a claim can be made that, when we do combine the essentialistic and
existentialistic approaches, we do better access human reason and that natural law, which is imprinted on every heart. And, we do see our
Magisterium making a difference (and not just re: slavery, usury, NFP, etc).


For example, our Church still has a great deal of moral credibility on social issues. The voices of America�s bishops seem to be taken very
seriously on matters such as economics, just war theory (we're trying to raise the bar) and the death penalty, for instance.

I think a case can be made that this credibility derives from the methodology used in Catholic Teaching on Social Morality, especially since
John XXIII and Vatican II. We now employ an historical consciousness, a personalist approach (with an emphasis on human freedom, equality and
participation) and a relationality-responsibility ethical model (reflecting
a realization of pluralism in the use of both deontological and teleological models, neither mutually exclusive even where one is primary).

This reflected a movement, through time, from an approach that was mostly classicist (deducing conclusions from premises which are eternal verities), concerned with merely physicalistic and biologistic aspects of our human nature and faculties, and based on a law model of ethics (deontological and legal models)to an approach that was more complementary vis a vis those
other approaches I set forth above.

Contrastingly, our Church has no authoritative voice, whatsoever, when it comes to Catholic Teaching on Sexual Morality (perhaps virtually
irrelevant?). I think a case can be made that this is due to the methodology used in its teaching, which does not supplement its
essentialistic approach with an adequate historical consciousness, a more fully robust personalism and a more pluralistic ethical model that is more relational-responsible, iow, a more existentialistic approach.

Our methodological improvement in social teaching helped us overcome our support for slavery and our prohibition on usury, is helping to raise the bar for just war invocations, is causing a reexamination of the death penalty (ecclesially and in civil arenas). The very same methodological improvements are a prescription for a more compelling morality of human sexuality, too.


Where can the Church turn to get more up to date in its methodology, that is to say more teleological in its approach to ethical theory?

Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), the intrinsic teleologist

Now, I am not advocating existentialistic and teleological approaches over against the essentialistic and deontological, necessarily, but rather in a very catholic, both-and way. The whole human condition needs to be taken into consideration and a plurality of systems used to illuminate some of the thorny biomedical ethical issues, which are emerging as we write (debate, discuss, dialogue ... whatever).

Well, that's just my recap of McCormick, McBrien and Curran from diverse sources and notes. I apologize for the lack of more formal attributions and citations, but once you get immersed in an issue for a few decades, certain
ideas and phraseologies become old friends. Any misconstructions are my own.

I do believe the Thomistic analysis of Jim Arraj may be new to some, however, as it is his interpretation of Maritain's philosophy/theology,
which provided the essentialistic-existentialistic dyad that I used to complement and illuminate the other theologians' dyads. I commend his book, available online:

http://www.innerexplorations.com/catchtheomor/is.htm

pax tibi,
jb