Catholic Ethics...

[matthias]

I will be taking a “Christian morality” course at a Jesuit university next semester. It has been hinted to me by a fairly solid catholic friend that this class is a bit off the track orthodox wise.

I get the impression that the “prefferential option for the poor” is the basis for the course. Now I do agree that the Church has a mission to the poor but as I understand it this is not the basis for our ethics. I believe the class is promoting liberation theology or is centered on “social justice” an expression that has sadly often been hijacked.

Any suggestions for a nice course book on legitimate orthodox Catholic morality so I can better discern any errors in the course?

 

[BillP]

Why don’t you have a look at the syllabus or better yet, actually attend the course before looking for sources to refute it?

 

[John-the-Seeker]

I think you are wise to seek direction here to a more widely accepted traditional teaching to compare the, I asume, ‘required’ course, as you have confidence in your friend and might, in your inexperience, be led astray.
I have knowledge of someone who had to go to their Bishop to get support for the removal of offensive material being taught in a course they had to take to attain their degree. It was quite a struggle for them to know how to deal with passing the course by giving the ‘right’ answers pleasing to the prof or the right answers according to the Church.
To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed (and makes it difficult to buy coats. )

 

[matthias]

BillP:

Why don’t you have a look at the syllabus or better yet, actually attend the course before looking for sources to refute it?

I’ve read the syllabus but Catholic Professors have gotten a bit more “savvy”. They tend to not blatently defy church teachings, at least in their syllabus.

My “source” instructed me that the course eventually proposes that abortion and “Physician Assisted Suicide” are legitimate within Catholicism. This I already know is not true so I was just hoping to be ready with some Catholic references to respond when or if the Prof. claims that the Catholic preference for the poor/weak would somehow justify all sorts of evil.

I hear that the class is generally ok with the exception of a few issues (listed above) but these issues are fairly big.

Anyway just figured I’d see people’s opinion. I’m not attacking the professor especially before I’ve even taken the course but I was just hoping to be prepaired.

Thanks all…

 

[matthias]

Oh, also supposedly proposes the use of contraception to prevent AIDS transmission in Africa. Clearly this is justice… :bigyikes:

 

[mosher]

At the seminary a good book we used was “Right and Reason” from Tan publications. It is excelent and I still consult it when I run into a question I can’t answer.

 

[Sparetherod]

Excuse me gang if I got in the way of ongoing conversations. I will be straight forward with you. I am an atheist. I do not come here to provoke you or convert you, and indeed I am not interested in long debates on God’s existance, causality, etc. I already know what most theists and Catholics believe and how they defend these beliefs. What I’m more interested in, is how you think. I’m afraid the atheist forums provide few perspectives from a religious view point on my concerns. A few questions: How do you convince a believer that John Edwards cannot talk to spirits, but Moses did? How do you convince a patient that reflexology (a belief that massaging the feet can affect internal organs) did not cure his kidney disease when it improved, but prayer can and might have? How would you convince an alien visitor to earth that an almighty creator cares who he sleeps with?

 

[BlindSheep]

Sparetherod:

Excuse me gang if I got in the way of ongoing conversations. I will be straight forward with you. I am an atheist. I do not come here to provoke you or convert you, and indeed I am not interested in long debates on God’s existance, causality, etc. I already know what most theists and Catholics believe and how they defend these beliefs. What I’m more interested in, is how you think. I’m afraid the atheist forums provide few perspectives from a religious view point on my concerns. A few questions: How do you convince a believer that John Edwards cannot talk to spirits, but Moses did? How do you convince a patient that reflexology (a belief that massaging the feet can affect internal organs) did not cure his kidney disease when it improved, but prayer can and might have? How would you convince an alien visitor to earth that an almighty creator cares who he sleeps with?

See that big button at the top of the Moral Theology page that says “New Thread”? Click it.

 

[matthias]

Sparetherod, please take the advice of BlindSheep. There are many many here in the CA forums that I’m sure would be very happy to respond to your questions with serious answers, but you arn’t exactly contributing to this thread here.

Thanks.

 

[matthias]

mosher:

At the seminary a good book we used was “Right and Reason” from Tan publications. It is excelent and I still consult it when I run into a question I can’t answer.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll take a look. If it’s from TAN I’m sure it will be solid theology but possibly a bit old (not that there is anything wrong with that).

 

[BryPGuy89]

matthias:

I will be taking a “Christian morality” course at a Jesuit university next semester. It has been hinted to me by a fairly solid catholic friend that this class is a bit off the track orthodox wise.

I get the impression that the “prefferential option for the poor” is the basis for the course. Now I do agree that the Church has a mission to the poor but as I understand it this is not the basis for our ethics. I believe the class is promoting liberation theology or is centered on “social justice” an expression that has sadly often been hijacked.

Any suggestions for a nice course book on legitimate orthodox Catholic morality so I can better discern any errors in the course?

It sounds like it is just promoting charity, we all know the how blessed the charitable are, which many Americans aren’t. Social ethics is important in general they share with us our obligation to people around us through our religious beleifs.

 

[mosher]

matthias:

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll take a look. If it’s from TAN I’m sure it will be solid theology but possibly a bit old (not that there is anything wrong with that).

When it comes to ethics there is nothing new under the sun. This book provides the tools to be able to discern what is morally right or wrong. Newer books tend to focus on contemporary issues but it is still the same moral corolaries that rule the day.

However, if you are intersted in the apex of books on Catholic bioethics you should get “Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life” by William May. In fact, any book by Bill May is a winner.

Another solid author is Dr. Donald DeMarco. He is also very accessable while Bill May or works by Avery Cardinal Douglas are at times a bit difficult unless you have a solid foundation in philosophy. But I still suggest “Right and Reason” as a basic text.

 

[mosher]

BryPGuy89:

It sounds like it is just promoting charity, we all know the how blessed the charitable are, which many Americans aren’t. Social ethics is important in general they share with us our obligation to people around us through our religious beleifs.

That is what one would think. However the reality is quite different. The problem with these philosophical/theological perspectives is that they can’t see the forest for the sake of the trees. In a sense there is an over emphasis on social justice issues so much so that social justice is the lense through which all other moral issues are ssen through. This becomes problomatic in praxis because it lends to some of the current moral system aborations of our time such as Liberation Theology, Situational Theology, Water Buffalo Theology, just to name a few.

 

[Ham1]

matthias:

I will be taking a “Christian morality” course at a Jesuit university next semester. It has been hinted to me by a fairly solid catholic friend that this class is a bit off the track orthodox wise.

I get the impression that the “prefferential option for the poor” is the basis for the course. Now I do agree that the Church has a mission to the poor but as I understand it this is not the basis for our ethics. I believe the class is promoting liberation theology or is centered on “social justice” an expression that has sadly often been hijacked.

Any suggestions for a nice course book on legitimate orthodox Catholic morality so I can better discern any errors in the course?

Veritatis Splendor specifically addresses the concepts of situational ethics and the flawed reasoning that leads to “allowing” abortion and contraception.

 

[manualman]

mosher:

Another solid author is Dr. Donald DeMarco. He is also very accessable while Bill May or works by Avery Cardinal Douglas are at times a bit difficult unless you have a solid foundation in philosophy. But I still suggest “Right and Reason” as a basic text.

Small quibble for those trying to research: I think you meant Avery Cardinal Dulles, not Douglas.

 

[mosher]

manualman:

Small quibble for those trying to research: I think you meant Avery Cardinal Dulles, not Douglas.

Thank you … I didn’t even notice that error. I mean … I have made mistakes before but this one is embarrassing.