Bishop Hubbard approves free distribution of needles to drug abusers [CWN]

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momor said:
Please define drunk.
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If you don’t know what it means to be drunk then I can’t help you.
Please support your statement that it is OK to cooperate with evil to avoid a greater evil.
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In Catholic moral theology cooperation with evil is divide up into categories. There’s formal and material. And then under material there’s proximate/direct/immediate and remote/indirect/mediate. Its origins are from St. Alphonsus Liguori and the so-called “manual tradition.”
This site deals mainly with cooperation between institutions but its basic outline is there:
consciencelaws.org/Examining-Conscience-Ethical/Ethical02.html
 
CradleCath said:
I guess the Church has just forgotten about ecumenism. My Protestant friends will run the other way when they read this headline.

Bishop Hubbard approves free distribution of needles to drug abusers

Depends on the Protestant group. Some of the more “mainstream” denominations would probably approve of it.
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I suppose it is better than them using possibly infected needles, but are they just handing out the needles, or are they also getting these people into programs to get them off of the drugs? If it gets them to cooperate in a program that weens them off of the drugs, perhaps the end justifies the means?
 
NewEnglandPries said:
In Catholic moral theology cooperation with evil is divide up into categories. There’s formal and material. And then under material there’s proximate/direct/immediate and remote/indirect/mediate. Its origins are from St. Alphonsus Liguori and the so-called “manual tradition.”
This site deals mainly with cooperation between institutions but its basic outline is there:
consciencelaws.org/Examining-Conscience-Ethical/Ethical02.html
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I read the article (too bad it’s not in the form of a decision tree). Where would you place the exchange program on this cooperation continuum?
 
Stylites said:
Are you implying that a bishop would entertain such a notion? Or that charitably helping an addict to avoid a deadly disease is a slippery slope which the Church will be unable to avoid? Let me know when you have something serious to contribute to the discussion.

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Is it outside the realm of possibility for some of the Catholic leadership? i think not.

Providing a needle for someone to sinfully use drugs is in no way “charitable” in my opinion, providing roads to avoid and overcome addiction to illegal substances IS.

i will ignore your terse last sentence. Be careful, your character is showing.

God Bless.
 
momor said:
I read the article (too bad it’s not in the form of a decision tree). Where would you place the exchange program on this cooperation continuum?
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I’m not exactly sure. I’m not claiming to have a definitive answer on this matter. I think there’s good arguments that can be made on both sides. I would probably lean against it since it seems to border too closely to immediate material cooperation to qualify but I’m not 100% on that. However, the diocese of Albany spent 5 years preparing for this so I was hoping to see some kind of moral theology response from them using the principle of cooperation. Unfortunately they haven’t released anything on that topic.
 
NewEnglandPries said:
I’m not exactly sure. I’m not claiming to have a definitive answer on this matter. I think there’s good arguments that can be made on both sides. I would probably lean against it since it seems to border too closely to immediate material cooperation to qualify but I’m not 100% on that. However, the diocese of Albany spent 5 years preparing for this so I was hoping to see some kind of moral theology response from them using the principle of cooperation. Unfortunately they haven’t released anything on that topic.
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Thanks for your reply. I too had some trouble figuring it out. The 2 things about it that stand out for me which I think contribute to it being immoral are:
  1. Causing scandal.
    The document indicated that doing something that would cause scandal can’t be morally correct. I don’t think there is any question that this will cause scandal for the Church.
  2. The intent to get directly involved in the sin of drug use, even if their intent is to reduce the danger of contracting disease and not to promote drug use.
    To expand on an example from the document - it’s morally OK to work in a secular hospital where abortions and tubal sterilizations are performed as long as you don’t participate in either preparing women to have the procedures or in the procedure itself, even if one’s participation is to make the surgery safer. I think the needle exchange program is just helping prepare someone to more safely commit a sin. Even if the addict will commit the sin anyway (also the woman in the example), the fact of that doesn’t seem to me to make getting personally involved any less immoral.
In conclusion, if causing scandal or getting involved in helping someone commit a sin is immoral then CCC 1761 applies: There are concrete acts that it is always wrong to choose, because their choice entails a disorder of the will, i.e., a moral evil. One may not do evil so that good may result from it.
 
As a purely practical matter what is to stop someone from sharing the needle they are given by this program?
Teens who have been indoctrinated to always use codoms notoriously fail to so with someone they trust or who “looks clean”. An addict’s judgment will hardly be more responsible.
 
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