Catholic questions

Question 1

What is moral theology and how does it relate to bioethics?

Answer 1

Moral theology is a twofold enterprise of ethics and morals. It is concerned with clarifying the foundations of the moral life on the basis of Christian religious conviction (ethics) with the interpreting how to judge and act in light of these convictions (morals). Moral theology can be fundamental or special. Bioethics is a kind of special moral theology.

Question 2

What is the difference between a classicist and historical world view and how has it changed?

Answer 2

Classicist thinking: from this point of view, moral theology only needs to make different applications of its eternal principles to the new problems and questions which may emerge; the modern, historically conscious point of view, on the other hand, sees each thing as part of a whole which has yet to be discovered. “historical consciousness” the age of Enlightenment marks the beginning of the shift; the belt of comparable science and philosophies “turn to the subjects” were major influences. the historically conscious worldview of contemporary moral theology supports a method that is inductive; an inductive method encourages the learning teaching process of coming to truth; inductive method assumes that its conclusions are, at best, tentative summaries of the present state of the question

Question 3

What does ‘the human adequately considered’ mean?

Answer 3

Persons are relational, embodied, historical and original. In this thinking we take the totality of the human person into consideration and not just ‘human nature’ generally. the advantage to “human nature” is that it underscores what is common to all. It’s greatest disadvantage, however, is that it does not adequately express one’s fundamental originality

Question 4

What must a theologian keep in mind before she dissents?

Answer 4

1. The reasons for dissent must be serious and well-founded,
2. The manner in which one dissents must not impugn the teaching authority of the church,
3. The dissent must be such as not to give scandal.

Question 5

What are the current debates about natural law?

Answer 5

Many today want to enfold a morality based on reality, experience, consequences, history, proportional thinking, and the ‘person’ (vs. Nature) into a profile of morality based on natural law.

Question 6

What is physicalism and why is it bad?

Answer 6

The danger physicalism is to derive moral imperatives from bodily structure and functions and to exclude the totality of the person and his or her relational contexts in making a moral assessment. Physicalism, however, does light up some truth. Part of being human is to have a body whose structure and functions cannot be arbitrarily treated next and the weakness of this approach however is to mistake the “givens” of human nature as the whole of human nature, or to take the fixed character of human existence as being close to beyond control of the human creative development.

Question 7

What is the difference between a rationalist and a voluntarist?

Answer 7

For the rationalist something is commanded because it is good. For the volunteer asked something is good because it is commanded

Question 8

What is the 3 font principle?

Answer 8

The 3 point of reference for determining the morality of the human action are the physical act in itself (the object of the act or the means) fees, the intention (end), and the circumstances (which include the consequences)

Question 9

What is the rule of double effect?

Answer 9

1. The action itself is good or indifferent
2. A good effect is not produced by means of evil effect
3. Evil effect is not directly intended
4. Proportionate reason supports causing a tolerating evil effect

Question 10

What is the difference between intrinsic evil and pre-moral/ontic evil?

Answer 10

Intrinsic evils are always wrong regardless of circumstance. Pre-moral/ontic evils are virtually exceptionless but take into account the circumstances of an act.
What are some objections to proportionalism?

Question 11

What is the difference between formal, synthetic and material norms?

Answer 11

Formal norms relate to character when they are expressed in the language of virtue or vice; are moral absolutes.
Material norms relate to action; they relate to the sorts of actions we ought to perform. Synthetic terms: act and intent come together, being virtuous or things that are always wrong, murder, genocide rape, those are intrinsically wrong always; act of the human person adequately considered, in totality.

Question 12

How do you determine the authority of a church document?

Answer 12

It use of: Scripture, Tradition, Authority, History and how often it is used in subsequent documents.

Question 13

What was the ‘Phoenix Case’ and what was debated in it?

Answer 13

a summary: severe pulmonary arterial hypertension and right heart failure and cardiogenic shock mother and child would probably die and less infant were taken from the mother’s womb the ethical code for Hospitals allows the early delivery of a viable infant for a proportionate reason. The court also allows an indirect abortion, that is, when the direct effect of the procedure is secure of the serious pathological condition, for example removal of a cancerous uterus, and infant dies as a result of the procedure the Bishop excommunicated the sister because she had cooperated in picturing a direct abortion.
Sister Margaret Mary McBride became news the committee on doctrine of the US conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement concerning abortion–the statement was occasioned by the Phoenix case Catholic teaching that “nothing can justify direct abortion.” The purpose of this article is not to comment on the facts or decisions of people involves a Phoenix case, but rather to investigate whether there is a foundation for determining that termination of a pregnancy in such circumstances is an indirect abortion rather than a direct abortion. Both mother and child will die unless the pregnancy is terminated but the mother will live if the pregnancy is terminated.

Question 14

What is vitalism and why is it problematic?

Answer 14

The idea that the prolongation of life is an absolute moral good. All life is foundational good but needs to be referenced to the totality of the human person are we keeping a body alive or maintaining life

Question 15

What are the two approaches to emergency contraception and how are they justified?

Answer 15

1. Pregnancy test: do not want to abort existing pregnancy
2. Ovulation test: tests for pre-existing pregnancy and assess whether the woman is at or near the time of ovulation in order to determine the possibility of conception resulting from the sexual assault involves inquiring about woman’s menstrual history and or administering one or more tests to screen for ovulation seeks high degree of certainty will prevent conception only by inhibiting ovulation – not offered when assume there is abortifiacient effect

Question 16

What are the debates about Humanae Vitae? Why do they matter?

Answer 16

Some still protest because the majority report was replaced with the minority opinion on the use of contraception within marriage. Majority Report said that infecund acts are incomplete and derive one aspect of their moral quality from their relationship to the fertile acts already placed or to be placed. This analysis was rejected by encyclical on grounds that an act deprived of its procreative power is intrinsically evil. Most Catholic in America use birth control and theologians are doubtful of the encyclical. The norms are doubtful, most theologians conclude that the encyclical identified natural law with natural processes and this is unacceptable (the argument doesn’t justify the conclusion, and a good deal of evidence denies its thesis. The encyclical also insists priests teach this. It is the opinion of many competent loyal scholars is part of public opinion in church should be a source of possible new knowledge and reflection, might enlighten our consciences, conscience is formed within the Church.

Question 17

Why is NFP ok?

Answer 17

It is not contraceptive act, contraception is a positive action and NFP is not considered contracepting if it involves moral quality of the act even if the ends are the same.

Question 18

What is the difference between formal and material cooperation; as well as immediate, mediate, remote, implicit?

Answer 18

Formal requires you know what is happening, you intend what is happening, you participate in the act itself (you will it, you give it form); if you set up the act (not if coerced) make the act happen; intent, will, act.
Material I have participation in it but do not intend the outcome.
Immediate cooperator contributes something essential,
Mediate implies cooperator contributes something antecedent or consequent to performance of evil action
Explicit and implicit: explicit when I may act my own, in the object of the act (I hire hitman); implicit I accept as means to end (I want to get property, something bad is done there- like sterilization)
implicit formal – even though person cooperating maintains she is not assenting to an evil action, he or she is in fact contributing to its essence in a way that causes others to believe it unreasonable to assume that there can be any other motive but assent (catholic legislator votes for abortion funding for the poor)

Question 19

What kind of ARTs are allowed?

Answer 19

Ones that do not intrude on the unitive aspects of sex. an use techniques that assist marital act, says Pope John Paul II. Can do: Perforated Condom to Circumvent hypospadias (urethra opens at underside of penis, helps direct sperm) removes an obstacle and morally licit. Low Tubal Ovum Transfer relocates ovum when damaged. Moving Sperm Deposited in Vagina into Uterus and Fallopian Tube uses instruments to propel sperm already deposited in vagina into uterus

Question 20

Why might it be ok to rescue frozen embryos?

Answer 20

Women are not participating in the evil act and so she does not share in the grave evil of freezing embryos. The life has already been generated.

Question 21

What are the debates about IVF?

Answer 21

HV says cannot do, it seperates unitive and procreative conjugal act. McCormick says the papal analysis is too physicalist. Inseparability does not rule out generative acts outside of marriage. Inseparability can be understood in 2 ways, a narrow sense as only in the conjugal act (which would not exclude IVF) or in a more broad sense that procreation cannot occur outside the sexual act. McCormick things in vitro is justifiable when the gametes are from the husband and wife, when the embryo wastage is not significantly higher in the artificial profess than in vivo, the likelihood of fetal abnormailtiy is not higher than normal procreation, and there is no intention to abort if abnormality does occur. Arguing that ‘the physical or embodied aspects of marriage and parenthood are not as important morally as those which are psychospiritual and social’ allows Cahill to justify recourse to assisted reproduction where it is necessary in order for the infertile couple to realize reproduction. However, while the union of sexuality, reproduction, and parenthood need not be realized in an absolute sense, it remains a fundamental value in a Christian treatment of marriage. Cahill thinks we should determine ethical nature IVF case by case and make arguments that are acceptable to all people.

Question 22

What are the debates about using ‘quality of life’ criteria in end of life cases?

Answer 22

May says no: ‘quality of life’ asserting that persons’ lives are not longer of any value; quality of life arguments are too ambiguous
McCormick: Can be argued human relationships would be so threatened, strained or submerged that they would no longer function as the heart and meaning of the individual’s life as they should

Question 23

What is the difference between ordinary and extraordinary treatments?

Answer 23

Criteria for Determining Whether treatments are ‘Ordinary’ (Proportionate) or Extraordinary (Disproportionate): 1. excessive risk and cost 2.Treatments too hard to cope with 3. Burdens outweigh benefit 4. Pt is dying no obligation to prolong life 5. Treatment is futile (2 overriding principles: burdensomeness and uselessness) Unfortunately extraordinary vs. ordinary have become categories; needs to be related to patient; people don’t like disproptionate sounds too much like proportionalism. (EV) says to forego extraordinary or disproportionate means is not the equivalent of suicide or euthanasia; it rather expresses acceptance of the human condition in the face of death. Address to Anesthesiologists: Normally one is held to use only ordinary means, means that do not involve any grave burden for oneself or another. Here indicates ‘ordinary’ medical treatment is kind of treatment which offers reasonable hope of benefiting whereas ‘extraordinary’ medical treatment is treatment which imposes unacceptable burdens on the subject and or others. O’Rourke argues that a means is ordinary only if enabels a person to pursue a spiritual life and that t is ‘extraordinary’ and hence not obligatory if it is ineffective in helping a person strive for the spiritual goal of life. May disagrees, the mentally impaired are not able to make judgments and choices necessary for spiritual lives.

Question 24

What are the debates about ANH?

Answer 24

In PVS: Pope and CDF say pt needs ANH. ohn Paul II emphasized that the providing of good and water even by artificial means is to be regarded ‘in principle’ ‘ordinary’ and ‘proportionate’ and as such morally obligatory.
McCormick: Catholic tradition has never required that one wait until death is imminent and inevitable before removing life support. A more traditional way to express the teaching of the Church in this regard is to say that life support may be withdrawn if it does not offer hope of benefit or if it imposes an excessive burden. These criteria are stated in the Ethical and Religious Directives, which provide ethical norms for Catholic health care providers in the US. Moreover, the criteria of hope of benefit and degree of burden are to be judged by the patient or the proxy for the patient. May and crew they seek to present and prolonging of life, no matter the condition of the patient, as a good that must be pursued.
May: The insertion of a feeding tube, particularly through enteral and not parenteral means, is neither futile nor burdensome in almost all cases. The burden families carry is not caused by the feeding but rather by the seriously debilitating condition of those for whom they care. The teaching follows tradition. JP II’s teaching in no way requires that tubally assisted feeing and hydration be maintained at all costs, but only when the benefits such assistance provides are present and no excessive burdens are imposed. If in particular instance such feeding/hydration would not effectively preserve life or alleviate suffering, it would lack its beneficial effect and would be futile.
Ashley-O’Rourke-deBlois: such feeding is usually very burdensome on the families of such persons that therefore it can be rightly withheld or withdrawn.

Question 25

What are the debates about the phrase ‘terminally ill’?

Answer 25

“Terminally ill’ is capable of two readings:

narrow: incurable condition that will lead to death in a short time whether interventions are used or not
broad: incurable or irreversible condition that, without the administration of life-sustaining treatment, will, in the opinion of the attending physician, result in death within a relatively short time

Question 26

What are the debates about medical ‘certainty’?

Answer 26

Ecclesiological shift in conscience; how certain does your knowledge have to be when you are making decisions about life and death; we are moving from moral certainty to absolute certainty
Moral certainty: certainty that does not exclude every possible, but every reasonable doubt. you aren’t doing anything intrinsically evil
Absolute Certainty: mathematical certainty

Question 27

What are the debates about children doing research?

Answer 27

McCormick: non therapeutic situations posing no significant risk or minimal risk and in which great good is promised, proxy consent for children and other non-competent is justified inasmuch as one can reasonably assume that the non-competent themselves would consent if they could because they would realize that they ought to consent to such experiments because of their social nature and obligation to promote the common good of society when they can do so with little effort and no danger or minimal risk to themselves
May: Changed position to accepting research on children with no significant risk (ie risk accepted in everyday life)

Question 28

What are the debates on Sterilization?

Answer 28

McCormick argues that The pontiff explicitly rejected the use of the principle of totality to directly sterilizing interventions. Teach authority of the Church has stood firm, however, in maintaining that unless there is an existing pathology that needs to be corrected, surgical sterilizations are intrinsically evil and may not be performed in catholic hospitals, no in non-Catholic hospitals under the management of a Catholic sponsor. CDF says uterine isolation is only acceptable if mother’s life is currently under threat. You cannot formally cooperate with hospitals that do this.

Question 29

How is virtue ethics used in Catholic ethics?

Answer 29

Begins after Vertatis Splendor. Stresses the function of the laity; Harrington and Keenan argue against principles and for virtue. virtue ethics arises out of a rejection of proportionalism and Absolutes; tradition is richer. You know God is at work because you see the fruits of the spirit. Panicola stresses social justice and virtue ethics. We debates issues using sentiments rooted in right relations, justice, solidarity, relationality, common good, human flourishing. Doesn’t rule things out in principle, like IVF, but asks about the burdens on individuals and groups. virtue ethics might be more traditional, but with hutzpah that is counter-cultural in ecclesial and medical context