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Catholic Theological Ethics Ancient Questions, Contemporary Responses Michael G. Lawler and Todd A. Salzman UniversityPressofAmerica,®Inc. Lanham•Boulder•NewYork•Toronto•Plymouth,UK Copyright©2016byUniversityPressofAmerica,®Inc. 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706 UPAAcquisitionsDepartment(301)459-3366 UnitA,WhitacreMews,26-34StannaryStreet, LondonSE114AB,UnitedKingdom Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015952131 ISBN:978-0-7618-6687-9(pbk:alk.paper)—ISBN:978-0-7618-6688-6(electronic) TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. Thisbookisdedicatedtoourvariouschildren, Ian,Aaron,Emily,Michael,Anya,andDavid, fromwhomwehavelearnedmuchaboutcontemporaryhumanreality Contents Prologue vii 1 MethodandCatholicTheologicalEthicsinthe21stCentury 1 2 TheologiansandtheMagisterium:AProposalfora ComplementarityofCharismsthroughDialogue 31 3 TheMysteryofSexuality:CatholicReflections 55 4 HumanExperienceandCatholicEthics 79 5 Theology,Science,andSexualAnthropologies:AnInvestigation 105 6 SexualEthics:ComplementarityandtheTrulyHuman 131 7 VirtueEthics:NaturalandChristian 159 8 SexualAnthropologyandVirtueEthics 189 9 DivorceandRemarriageintheCatholicChurch 211 10 ArtificialReproductiveTechnologies 235 v Prologue In1965,astheSecondVaticanCouncilrushedtoitsconclusion,itturnedits attention to the training of priests. It prescribed the teaching of philosophy “insuchawayastoleadstudentsgraduallytoasolidandconsistentknowl- edge of man [anthropology], the world [cosmology], and God [theology].” “Specialcare,”itinsisted,“shouldbegiventotheperfectingofmoraltheolo- gy.”1Inthisbook,weseektogivespecialcaretomoraltheologyorCatholic ethicsbyofferingacritiqueofsomeofthemagisterium’sabsoluteproscrip- tive moral norms and the ethical methods used to justify those norms, and suggesting proposals for its entry into the contemporary world. When Pope John XXIII announced the Council in 1959 and convoked it in 1962, there was already a growing disconnect in Catholic ethics between the Church’s absolute proscriptive moral norms and the lived experience of the Catholic faithful. This disconnect was particularly noticeable in the area of the Church’s sexual ethics, and that particular disconnect was widened by the publicationofPopePaulVI’sencyclicalHumanaevitaeinwhich,againstthe advice of the Commission he had confirmed to study the question, he reaf- firmed the Church’s teaching proscribing any form of artificial contracep- tion. The well-known Catholic sociologist, Andrew Greeley, described the encyclical as “the great disaster of post-conciliar Catholicism,”2 and always arguedthatitsteachingwasthereasonwhysomanyCatholicswereleaving theChurch. Thisbookisacollectionofessayswithtwoconnectedthemes.Thedomi- nant theme is Catholic moral theology, the sub theme is Catholic sexual ethics and the theologians who practice them. There is a broad division of moral or ethical theologians in the contemporary Catholic tradition. “Tradi- tionalist” is the general label given to moral theologians who support and defend absolute Church norms prohibiting certain types of acts such as pre- vii viii Prologue marital sex, artificial birth control, artificial reproductive technologies, mas- turbation, and homosexual acts. The Traditionalist school is contrasted with the “Revisionist” school. “Revisionist” is the general label given to moral theologians who question many of these absolute ethical norms, not qua ethicalbutquaabsolute,andproposealternatives.Thesetwogroupsdisagree on many specific ethical norms because they disagree, more fundamentally, on the methodology and anthropology that either supports these norms or questions their legitimacy and credibility. We are generally listed in the theologicalRevisionistschool.WehaveadifferentmethodfromTraditional- ists and we deal with our method in Chapter One. We have a different relationship with the teaching Church than Traditionalists and we deal with that in Chapter Two. We have a different approach to human sexuality, which we deal with in Chapter Three, and sexual ethics which we deal with in Chapters Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten. We emphasize different sourcesforourethicaltheoryandwedealwithtwoofthosesources,experi- enceandscienceinChaptersFourandFive. ThespecialcaretheSecondVaticanCouncildemandedfortheperfecting ofmoraltheologyhadalreadybegunwhiletheCouncilwasinsession,ledby the German Redemptorist priest, Bernard Häring. His book, The Law of Christ,3insisted,contrarytotheprevailingpre-conciliarmoraltheology,that theChristianlifewasnotprimarilyamatterof,first,knowingindetailwhat actionsweresinfuland,then,avoidingthem.Itwas,rather,amatteroflove, or charity, as we shall see in our discussion of virtue in Chapter Seven, of coming to know and appreciate the steadfast love of God for women and men, especially as personified in Jesus, and of practically living that love in everyday lives. The gospel Jesus gives us innumerable examples of that practical love and instructs us to “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). His great commandment is better known than obeyed: “love your neighbor as yourself” to which he immediately adds “there is no other commandment greater” (Mark 12:31; see also Lev 19:18). The Apostle Paul adds his own judgmenttothatofJesus:“Thewholelawisfulfilledinoneword,‘Youshall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal 5:14; see Rom 13:8–10). He has no hesitation in making the judgment that “faith, hope, love abide, these three; butthegreatestoftheseislove”(1Cor13:13).Häring’sapproachhadagreat influence in developing post-conciliar Catholic moral theology and ethics fromafocusonacts,bothmoralandimmoral,toafocusonthepersonallove betweenwomenandmeningeneralandbetweenloversinparticular.Inpost- conciliarCatholicethics,thefocusisnotontheactoflyingorcontraception, for instance, but on the personal actors and what the act means relationally andcontextuallyforthem. Traditional Catholic sexual morality is marital morality. In 1976, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asserted that, to be moral, “any human genital act whatsoever may be placed only within the context of