Dear Patrick,
Thanks for your email.
I do not have any “zingers” to relay.
Basically, I think the Vatican is comprised of conservative old men who are disproportionately involved in the repression of sex - which is not to say celibacy isn’t a real virtue for those “with the gift.”
For one thing, celibacy exempts a person from the “corrupting” influence of Shakespeare’s dictum: “He who hath wife and child has given hostages to fortune.”
Clearly the “religiously celibate” can be singularly courageous people precisely because they surrendered no hostages and therefore need not worry about surviving family members if their struggles on behalf of peace and justice result in their murder.
On a very deep level – a level to which the Vatican’s old conservatives may have no conscious access -- I think Natural Law, as narrowly defined, is nearing the end of its run.
For example...
“By nature,” the primary purpose of sex is procreation.
But now that we have complied with the biblical mandate to “multiply and fill the earth,” universal adherence to the prime directive of unimpeded procreation – even big families are a great blessing for many people – we cannot continue to posit the primacy of uncontrolled multiplication and still be responsible stewards of the earth.
Nor can we impose widespread celibacy without devising a “cure” worse than “the disease.”
It is often said that 98% of American Catholic women have used contraception.
I do not see how the Church can continue to enforce hypocrisy on so many practicing Catholics without sowing such cognitive dissonance in the minds of “the faithful” that they simply “break” under stress and either 1.) stop practicing Catholicism altogether, 2.) shift allegiance to a sect that does not force them to live a lie, 3.) live a lie that becomes increasingly repugnant, or, 4.) normalize their “lived lives” with a lie residing at their center.
As you know, “arguing from Natural Law” is central to the scholastic world-view, the same world view that the magisterium has relied on since Aquinas made his masterful presentation in the early 13th century.
Although wisdom and knowledge often lead to different “valuations” – and although there is much to recommend Natural Law – changing circumstances (sometimes changes that are as mundane as “quantitative changes”) also result in qualitative shifts.
Hence, H2O has three qualitatively different properties as a direct result of ambient (circumstantial) temperature.
Above 212 Fahrenheit, H2O is a gas.
Between 32 F and 212 F, H2O is a liquid.
Below 32 F, H20 is a gas.
Searching for “reinforcement,” contemporary Catholicism has allied itself with Christian fundamentalism, failing to realize that “at the end of this road,” they will need to renounce certain consensus findings of Science (which I can not imagine them doing) or, the church will need to re-embrace Science in a way that leads to a more fluid, dynamic, paradoxical – and even contingent --understanding of Universe.
In accordance with close scientific scrutiny – and careful study of “circumstances” -- moral theology will then change traditional moral teachings. (“Just War” theology is just such an accommodation of the teaching of Yeshua in which I find NO justification for war but bedrock justification for the acceptance of martyrdom.)
Notably, the Church DID change its moral teaching some centuries ago when The Capitalist Model won the day.
Until this transition, Usury was considered a grievous sin – to such an extent that Christendom surrendered the “banking” industry to Jews who were able to make the necessary “moral” rationalization. Today, the church operates el Banco Ambrosiano! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury
There is not a single nun or priest in America who does not carry a credit card bearing a usurious interest rate even though 500 years ago any such person would have been vociferously “damned to Hell.”
Notably, not one American priest or nun feels the slightest compunction about their routine, matter-of-fact collusion with a financial practice which, “in its time,” was taken more seriously than abortion. (I think this is a fair statement.)
Sure, the sinfulness of usury may still – technically -- be “on the books.”
But “something new under the sun” has emerged – which is to say we have already fulfilled God’s command in Genesis “to multiply and fill the earth.”
In light of this changing circumstance, it is time for the church to dispatch its moral teachings on contraception and “committed same-sex union” to the same dusty storage room where usury has been “retired.”
Pax on both houses
Alan
From: Patrick
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 9:52 AM
Subject: quote from you
Hi Alan - My editor (The Indy) is asking me to address the issue of why the Catholic Church feels a need to delve into the gay marriage debate when it appears to have no impact at all on the church's "sacramental" separate and distinct marriage ceremony. Can you give me your thoughts for my story. Thanks, Patrick
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