Marital Act Research Articles

The Unitive Meaning of the Conjugal Act in Evaluating Assisted Reproductive Technologies.

Humanae Vitae taught that sexual relations must respect both the procreative and unitive meanings of the marital act. Most Catholic ethical analysis of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has focused on whether the procedure assists or replaces the conjugal act. This paper proposes that such an approach is missing an essential element-namely, whether the procedure respects the unitive meaning of the conjugal act. Pope John Paul II's "theology of the body" provides principles for understanding the unitive meaning. In this light the conjugal act, which is a union of persons, is characterized by respect for the personalist norm, total mutual self-gift, the freedom of the gift, spousal exclusivity, and the spousal communio personarum. In addition to considering the procreative meaning, the moral evaluation of ART should also consider whether the unitive meaning of the conjugal act is respected. When viewed within this framework, certain kinds of ART that are considered morally licit by some ethicists may be impermissible because, or to the extent that, they violate the unitive meaning of the conjugal act.

The "Vademecum for Confessors" at Twenty-Five Years Old: Revisiting the Conditions for Lawful Cooperation in a Conjugal Act Deliberately Rendered Infecund by the Other Spouse in Light of the Delict of Solicitation

The then-Pontifical Council for the Family's "Vademecum for confessors concerning some aspects of the morality of conjugal life" identifies three conditions that must be met for a spouse to participate licitly in the marital act when it is deliberately and voluntarily rendered infecund by the other spouse. When these conditions are met, the spouse cooperates, albeit lawfully, in the other spouse's objectively sinful behavior. The fact that the Vademecum places conditions on what constitutes lawful cooperation sets limits to a confessor's instruction in this matter. As such, the confessor, who "as a minister of the Church is to adhere faithfully to the doctrine of the Magisterium" (c. 978 §2), may not deliberately and erroneously advise a spouse to cooperate illicitly in the marital act that the other spouse intentionally renders infecund. What if the confessor's instruction exceeds the limits for lawful cooperation? Under specific conditions, a confessor's deliberate erroneous instruction regarding grave sins against the sixth commandment, including that which exceeds the limits for lawful cooperation, is an iteration of the very serious delict of solicitation.

Order of Nature–Order of Love: Arguments against a Naturalistic (Mis-)Interpretation of Humanae Vitae

Order of Nature–Order of Love:Arguments against a Naturalistic (Mis-)Interpretation of Humanae Vitae Andrzej Kuciński The Problem: Naturalistic (Mis-)Interpretation On May 13, 2010, during the second Ecumenical Church Convention in Munich, Margot Käßmann, the former Chair of the Protestant Church in Germany, praised the "birth control pill" as a "gift from God" while speaking at the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady in Munich. Her rationale was that "it is about the preservation of life, of freedom, which doesn't have to immediately degenerate into pornography, as much as the sexualization of our society is, of course, a problem."1 In contrast, the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae, authored by Paul VI, states: "Similarly excluded is any action which, either before, or at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means."2 This conclusion is based on the natural law and the Church's teaching that "each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life."3 These positions represent two contradictory views: On the one hand "life and freedom," which claims to reflect the attitude toward life of today's European mainstream, and on the other hand, supposedly restrictive and moralizing rules and judgments, which appear out of step with reality. The serious challenge the encyclical letter was to the mainstream attitude [End Page 21] toward life, was demonstrated by the sharp protests which followed with unprecedented vehemence the publication of the papal letter, particularly in northern European countries. The encyclical letter became a genuine symbol of contradiction. One allegation that stood out among the various points of criticism was that of naturalism or biologism, according to which the Pope had translated biological laws into moral imperatives. In German-language literature, the opposition to the encyclical letter was seen as, among other things, a symptom of a departure from the neo-Scholastic approach to natural law theory with its focus on objective beings. The precepts of natural law in matters relating to contraception were criticized for defending a reactionary concept of nature, which had allegedly been adopted from times gone by, irrespective of later developments in science and society.4 In addition, general doubts were expressed with regard to the competence of the magisterium in matters relating to sexual morality. It was therefore argued that: "The encyclical Humanae vitae, which is based on a crude, to some extent virtually biologistic concept of nature, has contributed to discrediting the precepts of natural law in the Catholic sphere, as well."5 The Pope's reference to the physiological processes relating to the transmission of human life led to the fixation on the biological perspective: "If reference is made to the 'laws written into the actual nature of man and of woman' (Paragraph 12) and to something 'repugnant to the nature of man and of woman' (Paragraph 13) or to the 'natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system' (Paragraph 16), this is clearly of a biological [End Page 22] nature; on this basis, birth control through artificial means is condemned as an intrinsically immoral act."6 However, if a conclusion deduced from biology is applied to ethics, the encyclical letter can be criticized for using the naturalistic fallacy that an "is" necessarily leads directly to an "ought." However, suggestions that the content of the encyclical is naturalistic, which consequently leads to a rejection of the precepts of natural law on which the encyclical hinges, must be emphatically rejected in the name of common sense (and all the more if the Church's teachings are to be dealt with in good faith). If something which had previously been incorrectly defined is later rejected, then this is an inevitable consequence of this erroneous premise. This would mean attributing an interpretation to the positions of the Church's teachings that the Church itself, in fact, does not advocate, simply for the sake of questioning said positions and eliminating them as legitimate courses of action. The fallacy of biologism, I would argue, results from a flawed analysis of the concept of nature on which Humanae Vitae is based. This essay...

Loving Union and Procreation: The Essential Significations of the Conjugal Act. A Moral-Theological Reflection in Occasion of the Jubilee Year of “Humane Vitae”

Following the jubilee year 2018 of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae vitae (1968), the invitation of Pope Francis in Amoris laetitia should be accepted to rediscover the message of Humanae vitae. In this context it seems important to grasp the intimate conjunction of the significations of the marital act, namely loving union and procreation. In this way the fundaments for an adequate understanding of the normative dimension are laid, by pointing to the dignity of the person and the marital acts. The application of those methods of family planning which ground on the natural times of fertility might be encouraged.

To Build the City of God: Living as Catholics in a Secular Age by Brian M. McCall

Reviewed by: To Build the City of God: Living as Catholics in a Secular Age by Brian M. McCall Joshua Schulz To Build the City of God: Living as Catholics in a Secular Age by Brian M. McCall (Kettering, OH: Angelico Press, 2014), 290 pp. THE CATHOLIC ANSWER to Juvenal’s question “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”—”Who guards the guardians?”—has always been “the Church.” She safeguards a transcendent rule or measure of goodness, the eternal law, which perfects human law by ordering it to human beatitude. Since law requires a lawgiver, it follows that Christ’s reign extends to familial and civic society as well as over the Church. If our primary obligations as subjects of this King are to profess true religion and render due worship to Christ (see Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, §2105), good human laws will facilitate this, being “not a law unto themselves but rather the final stage of making concrete and particular the laws of Christ’s kingdom, the eternal, natural, and divine laws” (McCall, 22). This conclusion has many consequences for modern Catholics. First, it contradicts the liberal doctrine that civil government ought to be, in principle, “neutral” regarding competing visions of the good, whether this is understood as a Jeffersonian “wall of separation” or as Rawlsian procedural “neutrality.” The Church holds that civil and ecclesial jurisdictions are distinct but not independent, being dynamically ordered one to the other as nature is to grace. Second, the social Kingship of Christ requires us to reject the authority of civil laws that cannot be ordered to the eternal law as acts of political violence. Brian McCall’s new book suggests a further implication: since democratic procedures presuppose liberal political theory, which cannot be ordered either to the common good or to the eternal law, Catholics [End Page 961] should reject the authority of ecclesial and civic associations that use such procedures, including the U.S. Constitution and the Second Vatican Council. “The Constitution,” he writes, “is a product of the errors of Enlightenment liberalism just as Dignitatis Humanae can be viewed as product of neo-modernism” (225)—that is, premised on the diabolical notion of popular sovereignty. This third supposed consequence of the social Kingship of Christ is problematic for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that every Church council from Nicea to Vatican II has made use of majoritarian procedures. This would suggest that voting at a Church council is neither a product of neo-modernism nor diabolical. McCall’s book has many strengths, not least of which is its clear and powerful exegesis of central principles of Thomistic natural law and Catholic social teaching on matters of sexuality and family life, economics, and political authority. However, this exposition is marred in several places by the insertion of procedural objections against Vatican II into McCall’s application of these principles. Consider an example. After setting out the doctrine of the social Kingship of Christ in chapter 1, McCall turns to a discussion of marriage and family from the perspective of natural law in chapter 2. He defends marriage as an indissoluble, complementary union of the sexes for the purpose of begetting, rearing, and educating children and discusses modern challenges to each of these three ends in detail. So far, so good. Yet McCall then argues that “the Second Vatican Council is really the ultimate party to blame” for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down key sections of the “Defense of Marriage Act” in 2013 “and for Catholic’s confusion over the essence of marriage” (49). His argument for this claim is that, by utilizing majoritarian rather than monarchical procedures, the Council “adopted the idea that reality can become whatever a majority, no matter how nefariously procured, declares it to be” (49). This is so because, “if the majority of votes at a Council of the Church can declare that which has always been wrong to be right”—namely, demoting the primary end of marriage, procreation, to an end equal to or even secondary to the other ends of the marital act (50)—”then the will of the People must...

An Ethical Comparison between In-Vitro Fertilization and NaProTechnology.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is morally objectionable for a number of reasons: the destruction of human embryos, the danger to women and newborn infants, and the replacement of the marital act in procreation. Recent studies have shown a significant risk of maternal death and morbidity associated with ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome and multiple pregnancies after IVF. Due to lack of uniform regulations for IVF clinics, there is under-reporting of the adverse effects. NaProTechonology is one ethical alternative to IVF for female infertility. One study has confirmed earlier findings that NaProTechonology results in a number of live births similar to that of assisted reproductive technology, without the danger to women and newborn infants. Adoption of born children is another ethical and praiseworthy alternative to IVF.

The Missing Premise in the HIV-Condom Debate.

In a recent article in this journal, "Condoms and HIV: The State of the Debate," William Newton argues that there are basically two issues around which parties dispute. The first is whether the use of a condom by a discordant couple amounts to performing a contraceptive act. At issue here is whether a couple's use of a condom to prevent disease transmission renders the act a contraceptive act. The second issue pertains to whether the use of a condom, apart from whatever the intentions of the agents are, is itself a failure to consummate a marital act. It is the second issue that I wish to address in this paper. I aim to argue that the Canon-Law argument, as I will call it, wishes to argue that because condomistic sex fails to consummate a marriage, the sexual act performed is immoral. I argue against this inference on two grounds: the first is that the conclusion succumbs to counterexamples, and second, the inference must rely on a premise that I show is false.

The Missing Premise in the HIV-Condom Debate

In a recent article in this journal, "Condoms and HIV: The State of the Debate," William Newton argues that there are basically two issues around which parties dispute. The first is whether the use of a condom by a discordant couple amounts to performing a contraceptive act. At issue here is whether a couple's use of a condom to prevent disease transmission renders the act a contraceptive act. The second issue pertains to whether the use of a condom, apart from whatever the intentions of the agents are, is itself a failure to consummate a marital act. It is the second issue that I wish to address in this paper. I aim to argue that the Canon-Law argument, as I will call it, wishes to argue that because condomistic sex fails to consummate a marriage, the sexual act performed is immoral. I argue against this inference on two grounds: the first is that the conclusion succumbs to counterexamples, and second, the inference must rely on a premise that I show is false.

On Abandoned Embryos

At this time, the Catholic Church has made no definitive statement regarding the morality of adopting abandoned embryos. Is it intrinsically evil for a woman to elect to become pregnant, outside of the marital act and with someone else's child?

For Better or For Worse: Marriage across Boundaries

For Better or For Worse:Marriage across Boundaries Elizabeth Alexander (bio) Jiemin Bao . Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Among the Chinese Thai Diaspora. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005. xxi + 225 pp.; ill. ISBN 0-8248-2740-6 (cl); 0-8248-2879-8 (pb). Nicole Constable , ed. Cross-Border Marriages: Gender and Mobility in Transnational Asia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. vi + 220 pp. ISBN 0-8122-3830-3 (cl); 0-8122-1891-4 (pb). Theresa Strouth Gaul , ed. To Marry an Indian: The Marriage of Harriett Gold & Elias Boudinot in Letters, 1823–1839. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. xv + 222 pp.; ill. ISBN 0-8078-2941-2 (cl); 0-8078-5602-9 (pb). Mary Ting Yi Lui . The Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-of-the-Century New York City. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. xiii + 298 pp.; ill. ISBN 0-691-09196-X (cl). Renee C. Romano . Race Mixing: Black-White Marriage in Postwar America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. xiii + 368 pp.; ill. ISBN 0-674-01033-7 (cl). Camilla Townsend . Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004. xi + 223 pp.; ill.; map. ISBN 0-8090-9530-0 (cl); 0-8090-7738-8 (pb). And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. . . . And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, thou art our sister, be thou the Mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. —Genesis 24: 57, 60 As the Biblical story of Rebekah and Isaac illustrates, marriage has often been more about getting good in-laws than about love. Traditional anthropological theory considers marriage as part of a system of alliances [End Page 213] in which the exchange of women by men creates ongoing relationships between bridegivers and bridetakers. Using marriage to forge new ties of kinship provides especially powerful bonds since it produces children who have relatives in both camps.1 This traditional view denies women's agency and portrays women as mere commodities. Yet recognizing Rebekah's willingness to leave her home complicates this interpretation by adding a new layer of analysis that requires the scholar to acknowledge her choice. The six books reviewed here expand the concept of the "foreign bride" to include marriages across boundaries of race, ethnicity, and social class, as well as distance. By exploring the ways in which marriage combinations and individual agency are shaped and limited by existing and emerging cultural, social, historical, political, and economic factors, these authors question what anthropologist Nicole Constable calls the "gendered geographies of power" that underlie all cross-boundary marriages (14). All marriages cross boundaries of some sort. Even within a geographically localized, socioeconomically stable, and racially similar group, marriages involve blending family traditions and negotiating individual expectations. Marriages across broader borders of status, distance, or ethnicity strain not only the relationship of the couple but that of their families and societies who either promote or exclude the relationship. Camilla Townsend's Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma examines a marriage that crosses boundaries of race as well as distance. By portraying the marriage between John Rolfe and Pocahontas as a series of negotiated agreements—often mystifying to both—Townsend demolishes the mythical Pocahontas as "the joyful worshipper of Englishmen or power" (xi) and repositions her as a complex woman with ideas and plans of her own. When twenty-eight-year-old John Rolfe fell in love with sixteen-year-old Pocahontas, he wrote Sir Thomas Dale, governor of the Jamestown colony, requesting permission to marry her. Rolfe recognized the implications of his desire to marry the still-unconverted Pocahontas, yet he was willing to acknowledge his love for the young Indian woman. His letter demonstrates the cultural divide he expected his union to cross. What, he wondered, "should provoke me to be in love with one, whose education hath byn rude, her manners barbarous, her generation cursed, and so discrepant in all nutriture for my selfe?" (114–15). Lust, he admitted, was the origin of his feelings for Pocahontas, and he had struggled "to...

Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora. By Jiemin Bao. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004. xxi, 224 pp. $54.00 (cloth); $23.00 (paper).

Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora. By Jiemin Bao. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004. xxi, 224 pp. $54.00 (cloth); $23.00 (paper).

Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora (review)

Reviewed by: Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora Jenny Godley (bio) Jiemen Bao . Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005. 225 pp. Paperback $23.00, ISBN 0-8248-2879-8. Marital Acts is an engaging book about fascinating subjects: transnational identity, gender, and sexuality. Jiemen Bao uses the lens of gender to examine identity formation and variation among three generations of Chinese Thai. She focuses on the intersection of ethnicity, class, gender, and immigrant status, demonstrating that all are important for the formation and reproduction of identity. The book is divided into four sections: an introduction, a section on the chinkao (Chinese who migrated to Thailand before 1949), a section on the lukchin (the children of these immigrants, living in Thailand), and a section on Chinese Thai Americans (who migrated from Thailand to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s). The first part of the book, titled "Positions," provides the historical background for the study and introduces the reader to various theoretical perspectives in the study of identity formation. Bao provides a concise overview of the waves of migration between China and Thailand and the United States, and an excellent explanation of the languages and terminology used in the text. I was particularly grateful for the explanation of Chinese-Thai names, which had always confused me in the past! The theoretical chapter covers a lot of ground, integrating perspectives from anthropology, sociology, geography, feminism, and Asian studies. Bao has an excellent grasp of many literatures, bringing them together successfully in this concise introduction to her unique study. Part 1 has one glaring omission, though: there is no chapter on methodology. The careful reader will find Bao's description of her methodology, as well as an excellent positioning of herself as author and researcher, back in the Preface. This methodological section should be featured more prominently, as a separate chapter in the introductory section, and should systematically outline not only the field-work conducted but also how case studies were chosen for inclusion in this book. Part 2 focuses on the chinkao experience in Thailand. There are three chapters here: one on the gendered nature of migration and marriage; one on class, gender, and ethnicity; and one on sexuality. Bao provides an excellent explanation of the historically gendered nature of migration from China to Thailand, and the complicated family arrangements that resulted. In the late nineteenth century, Chinese men migrated for work first, leaving wives and families in China, often creating new (sometimes multiple) families in Thailand. By the start of the twentieth century, Chinese women began to migrate to Thailand, too. Interethnic marriages became more common for both men and women in Thailand, and transnational [End Page 357] marriages declined. Bao examines the economic relations embedded in chinkao marriages, demonstrating a gendered division of labor both inside and outside the home. The most interesting chapter in part 2 is "Changes in Sexual Practice: 'Same Bed, Different Dreams.'" Here, Bao provides evidence of the changing nature of sexuality for the chinkao, arguing that chinkao men have adopted "cosmopolitan polygyny" and that the women have come to accept these new relationships. While part 2 contains very interesting anecdotes about life as a chinkao, it is frustrating from a methodological standpoint. Bao hints at a survey she conducted, but never presents the results systematically. Additionally, she does not explain how she chose her case studies from the many life-history interviews she conducted. The reader is left wondering if these stories are truly representative of all chinkao in Bangkok. Part 3 focuses on the lukchin experience. Here, Bao examines second-generation Chinese Thai, born in Thailand. This section contains four chapters: one on hybrid identities, one on weddings, one on sexuality, and one on family businesses. Unfortunately, these chapters do not parallel the chapters in the first section of the book. It would have been interesting to have the chapters map onto those in part 1, to provide systematic comparisons of migration, marriage, economics, and sexuality across the two generations. The chapter on weddings is particularly weak; here she focuses on three selected marriages (including one...

Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora

Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora

Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora (review)

Marital Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity among the Chinese Thai Diaspora (review)

What's the Difference?: Infertile-period Marital Acts and Artificial Contraception

What's the Difference?: Infertile-period Marital Acts and Artificial Contraception

The Prophetic Vocation of Women and the Order of Love

Raphael (1483—rc2o). Study of Madonna and Child. Graphische SammlungAlbertina, Russia. Credit: Alinari/Art Resource, NY. Michele M. Schumacher The Prophetic Vocation of Women and the Order of Love Long hailed as "the apostle of the apostle," Mary Magdalene —a woman—is not merely the first to whom the "Good News" (evangelium) of Christ's resurrection is entrusted; she is also the one in whom are fulfilled the words of the prophet Joel: "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. ' With particular attention to the "equality" of men and women expressed in the prophet's words (sons and daughters), John Paul II explains that every vocation has a "prophetic meaning," since "vocation" implies a witness, both in word and deed, ofthe "mighty works of God" (Acts 2 : 1 1 ). The pope nonetheless addresses a "special kind of 'prophetism' thatbelongs to women in their femininity" (MD, 29). The present article is an attempt to expose what John Paul II calls the prophetic vocation of women within the context ofhis Christian anthropology and more specifically within the context ofwhathe calls the "order oflove," a term that has been largely misunderstood by his interpreters. This misunderstanding, moreover, is no small matter because the order of love determines in an essential manner LOGOS 2:2 SPRING 1999 148 LOGOS "the question ofwomen's dignity and subsequently also the question of their vocation" (MD, 29, 30). Since the order of love governs both the natural and supernatural modes ofhuman existence (which I maintain to be interpenetrating), it invites investigation from both psychological and theological perspectives, whereby is apparent its sacramental significance.2 In this way I hope to demonstrate the depth ofthe papal teaching (especially in the apostolic letter Mulieris dignitatem), which is difficult to grasp given his writing style in the form ofa meditation and his subsequent lack ofclear argumentation; moreover this teaching is perhaps too quickly discredited by many feminists whose thinking, as I will demonstrate, accords in many respects with his own. Rather than try to establish a sort ofcommon ground for the purpose of compromise, however, this essay will challenge the reader to recognize in the natural order the call to supernatural elevation as a work ofredemption. After examining other theological interpretations of the "order of love" (Part I), I will provide a justification for my own: the order of love is a mysterious "law" governing human relations, including each one's relationship with God, whereby the human person, far from being him- or herself the author of love, realizes him- or herself and his or her vocation by communicating this love once received (Part II).This understanding will become the basis for the distinction I make between dignity and vocation (Parts III and IV), and for our subsequent examination of woman's particular vocation (Part V). Finally, I will examine her particular suitableness for this mission (PartsVI and VII) as well as the dimensions in which she is challenged by John Paul II to live it (Part VIII), concluding that women are called to exercise their"prophetic" vocation as "sacraments" of God's love (Part IX). /. The Order ofLove:Theological Interpretations It might be noted that the notion "order of love" has been widely interpreted and largely misunderstood. Many commentators read women and the order of love into this term a further subordination of women (despite the revolutionary "mutual subjection" called for by the pope3) rather than a genuine promotion. In her attempt to counter a certain feminist agenda seeking the ordination ofwomen, Mary Rousseau focuses her reading ofthe apostolic letter upon the eucharistie symbolism ofthe bride and bridegroom, seeing male initiative and female receptivity in the marital act as symbolic ofme sacramental giving ofChrist, the divine Bridegroom, to the Church, His Bride, with whom He becomes one flesh in the Eucharist.4 Familiar with such argumentation , many feminists find in the words "order of love" a patriarchal schema characterized by "the polarization between activity/passivity or receptivity, and precedence/equality."5 Itis thought, for example , that in describing a woman's fertility as being dependent upon that of a man, she is presented as essentially receptive (symbolic of the Church...

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Berg, I. K. (1994). Family based services: A solution‐focused approach.Cole, R. E., & Reiss, D. (Eds.). (1993). How do families cope with chronic illness?Rolland, J.S. (1994). Families, illness, and disability: An integrative treatment model.Golden, H., & Goldenberg, I. (1994). Counseling today's families (2nd ed.).O'Farrell, T.J. (Ed.). Treating alcohol problems: Marital and family interventions.Hydén, M. (1994). Woman battering as marital act: The construction of a violent marriage.Bepko, C., & Krestam, J. (1993). Singing at the top of our lungs: Women, love, and creativity.Garrity, C. B., & Barris, M. A. (1994). Caught in the middle: Protecting the children of high‐Conflict divorce.Midgley, J., & Midgley S., (1992). A decision to love: A marriage preparation program.Schaefer, C. E., & DiGeronimo, T. F. (1994). How to talk to your kids about really important things: Specific questions, answers and useful things to say.Directions in Marriage and Family Therapy. (1993). Authors: D. A. Bagarozzi & F. Flach.

The Principle of the Family Good

OUR RECENT concentration in the Church on the very specific question of artificial birth control has perhaps given this particular issue a larger importance than it actually has among the problems facing the modern world. It seems true, as the American bishops in their pastoral letter Human Life in Our Day have stressed, that what threatens the modern world is more a loss of commitment to life in its full dimensions than the burdens imposed on men and women by the Church's teaching on the morality of marital relations. A liberalization of the Church's teaching in this area based on principles that would weaken man's respect for life or his dedication to the full dimensions of life would do more harm than good. The demands of the fully human and Christian life continually call man to an ordering of love; and when he rejects the latter, the former seem insupportable. What we primarily need in this situation is a renewed sense of the value and dignity of human life, not a compromise with its demands. There is a large number of Catholics today who would agree with this evaluation, but who nevertheless think that there is completely adequate justification for change in the Church's teaching on birth control, and that there is a critical need for such change. These Catholics question the truth of Pope Paul's conclusion in Humarme vitae that contraceptive marital intercourse is always morally evil in itself. Simple experience of the difficulties that the Church's teaching gives rise to in family life at times, and the relatively minor interference with nature involved in the use of contraceptives to alleviate these difficulties, make it seem to them unreasonable for the Church to maintain a rigid attitude in this matter. In my opinion, as in that of many others, there is a strong and objective moral basis for this feeling shared by so many of the faithful. With due respect for Pope Paul's authoritative though noninfallible teaching on this issue, I would like to present in this article what I conceive to be the basis that justifies our questioning certain conclusions of his Encyclical. To specify the basis proposed here, I would like to consider several statements central to the Encyclical, and then indicate which of these I am not questioning and which I am questioning. Pope Paul's basis for his moral judgment on the marital act is

Odpowiedzialne rodzicielstwo według papieża Pawła VI we współczesnym nauczaniu moralnym Kościoła

Aspekty odpowiedzialnego rodzicielstwa, na które zwraca uwagę papież Paweł VI w encyklice Humanae vitae, stanowią ciekawą propozycję we współczesnym przepowiadaniu Dobrej Nowiny o małżeństwie i rodzinie. Podkreślenie ścisłego związku miłości z prokreacją może być także dzisiaj światłem w dialogu z niepłodnymi małżonkami. Sama prokreacja powinna być postrzegana jako owoc miłości małżeńskiej. Stwierdzenie, że przekazywanie życia znajduje swe przedłużenie przede wszystkim w dziele wychowania, nie ogranicza się tylko do perspektyw doczesności, lecz ma odniesienie do wiecznego przeznaczenia ludzkiego. Wskazane przez papieża treści należy jednak umieć przekazać językiem zrozumiałym dla młodego człowieka, wykorzystując także całą współczesną wiedzę z zakresu antropologii personalistycznej oraz innych nauk o człowieku. Tylko wówczas nauczanie Kościoła o odpowiedzialnym rodzicielstwie będzie ważnym elementem nowej ewangelizacji.