Handbook of Roman Catholic Moral Terms

James T. Bretzke

• Publisher: Georgetown University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781626160033
• eBook ISBN: 9781626160040
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

The Handbook of Roman Catholic Moral Terms contains more than 800 moral terms, offering concise definitions, historical context, and illustrations of how these terms are used in the Catholic tradition, including Church teaching and documents.

James T. Bretzke, SJ, places Catholic tradition in a contemporary context in order to illuminate the continuities as well as discontinuities of Church teaching and key directions of Catholic thought. The author also provides extensive cross-referencing and bibliographic suggestions for further research.

Designed to serve as a vital reference work for libraries, students and scholars of theology, priests and pastoral ministers, as well as all adults interested in theological enrichment or continuing education, the Handbook of Roman Catholic Moral Terms is the most comprehensive post–Vatican II work of its kind available in English.

A

ABC (abstinence, be faithful, condom use) is the acronym for a public health program used widely in sub-Saharan Africa, which is ravaged by HIV/AIDS. Since condom use is specifically recommended, this program has been contested by public health officials, theologians, and even popes and bishops. While the exhortation to abstain from sexual relations and to remain faithful to one’s spouse in marriage alone could in theory prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS virus, many people realistically argue that condoms have to be included in comprehensive public sexual health protocol. Bishop Kevin Dowling of South Africa has said a number of times that “abstinence before marriage and faithfulness in a marriage is beyond the realm of possibility here. The issue is to protect life. That must be our fundamental goal.” However, other bishops and Benedict XVI assert that condoms alone can never resolve the HIV/AIDS pandemic. No doubt this status quaestionis will continue until a reliable HIV vaccine and cure for AIDS are found. For further reading, see John Coleman, “Bishop Kevin Dowling: AIDS and Condoms” America, June 9, 2009, with reader responses (See also compromise with evil, lesser evil, marriage, safe sex, sexual ethics, STDs, and tolerance.

Abomination (Old Testament). See Holiness Code

Abortion as a moral concept refers to the elective and direct termination of fetal life that otherwise would be viable if the pregnancy were to continue to its normal conclusion. The Catholic Church has always held abortion to be a serious intrinsic evil, with a latae sententiae canonical penalty of excommunication for those who procure an abortion (CIC #1398). However, it is important to distinguish a direct abortion from other foreseen terminations of fetal life, such as an ectopic pregnancy, which is judged to be indirect in terms of both the moral object (finis operis) and the accompanying intention of the agent (finis operantis) and morally licit if proportionate reason is present. The USCCB’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (ERD) at #47 states that “operations, treatments, and medications that have as their direct purpose the cure of a proportionately serious pathological condition of a pregnant woman are permitted when they cannot be safely postponed until the unborn child is viable, even if they will result in the death of the unborn child.”

Since the 1973 US Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, which gives the legal right to abortion, many hold as a basic tenet of feminist ethics of reproductive choice that termination of a pregnancy is the sole, elective decision of the woman herself. The effort to recriminalize abortion remains a hot-button political issue and, while some argue that no Catholic politician or voter should ever support any piece of legislation that contains pro-choice or abortion provisions, John Paul II in his 1995 Evangelium vitae outlines situations in which elected officials (and by extension voters) “could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and at lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and public morality. This does not in fact represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects” (EV #73). For further reading, in addition to Evangelium vitae, see also CDF, Questio de abortu (“Declaration on Procured Abortion”) November 18, 1974; John R. Connery, Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1977); John T. Noonan Jr., ed., The Morality of Abortion: Legal and Historical Perspectives (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970). See also canonical penalties, direct and indirect; double effect principle; ectopic pregnancy; and finis operis and finis operantis.

Absolutes (moral absolutes) hold that some moral norms, usually expressed as either prescriptions or proscriptions, are universally binding both in time and space. Such moral choices admit no legitimate exception, regardless of when or where (i.e., circumstances) or intention. These moral absolutes are grounded in either God’s lex aeterna (eternal law) such as the Decalogue or natural law. Absolutes that express proscriptions are termed intrinsic evils, and absolutes that express prescriptions are usually cast as duties according to deontology. Thomas Aquinas expressed the foundational moral absolute that grounds all the rest: Bonum est faciendum et prosequendum, et malum vitandum (“The good is to be done and fostered, and evil avoided” ST I-II, Q. 94, art. 2). Discernment of what constitutes a genuine moral absolute has been the locus of much casuistry over the centuries as well as considerable moral debate, especially since the promulgation of Paul VI’s 1968 Humanae vitae, which holds that the prohibition of artificial birth control is absolute, although the practice of NFP was morally permissible under certain circumstances (see HV #14–16). Much of this debate centers on just how we can discover with certainty the level, universality, and moral rectitude of the various moral norms. These debates grow out of larger debates such as physicalism versus personalism and the classicist and historical worldviews, and the epistemological competency of the magisterium to pronounce definitively (e.g., de fide definita) on concrete moral norms. John Paul II’s 1993 Veritatis splendor charged that some contemporary moral theories, especially those connected with consequentialism, utilitarianism, and proportionalism, effectively denied the possibility of moral absolutes, although this latter charge is sharply contested by many revisionist moral theologians. In the ensuing debates, unfortunately, it is often overlooked that the manualist moral tradition never held that every moral norm is necessarily absolute. Thomas Aquinas observes that some norms are generally true but allows for certain legitimate exceptions (lex valet ut in pluribus). As we descend further to the concrete application in practical reason due to contingency and fallibility, concrete material norms will be necessarily less certain and less universal than those more general and abstract norms arrived at through speculative reason. For further reading from a variety of perspectives, see Charles E. Curran and Richard A. McCormick’s Readings in Moral Theology, No. 1: Moral Norms and Catholic Tradition (New York: Paulist Press, 1979); John Finnis, Moral Absolutes: Tradition, Revision, and Truth (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1991); Josef Fuchs, “The Absolute in Moral Theology,” ch. 1 in Moral Demands and Personal Obligations (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1993), 15–29; Bernard Häring, “Traditions, Laws, Norms and Context,” ch. 7 in Free and Faithful in Christ: Moral Theology for Priests and Laity, vol. 1 (Slough, UK: St. Paul Publications, 1978), 302–77; and William E. May, Moral Absolutes, Catholic Traditions, Current Trends, and Truth (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1989).

Absolution is the prayer given by the priest for the forgiv...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Abbreviations
• Terms
• Selected Bibliography