Adriano Oliva's Amours: L'Église, les divorcés remariés, les couples homosexuels: Book Notes

I've just finished reading the new book by the noted French Dominican Thomist scholar Reverend Adriano Oliva, Amours: L'Église, les divorcés remariés, les couples homosexuels (Paris: Cerf, 2015), and would like to offer you today some notes about this important new study. Oliva is a distinguished student of the very important Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas, on whose understanding of natural law much Catholic theology has been built over the centuries. He is president of the Leonine Commission, the group charged with producing and publishing faithful critical editions of Aquinas's work, and is a research fellow at the Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes, and a researcher with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), both in Paris.

The Francis Effect: Putting Rhetoric Together with Reality on Eve of Pope's Visit (1)

On the eve of Pope Francis's visit to the U.S., I've been collecting information that, to my way of thinking, provides something of a snapshot of the Catholic church in the U.S. at this point in time. This is not a systematic project, but rather an anecdotal one, one in which I am gleaning information simply by reading the news day by day, rather than searching for it intentionally.

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: World Meeting of Families "Greasing the Skids Under Gay Folks and Their Families" and Assuring Them Catholic Church Doesn't Want Them

EyeTee responds to David Gibson's report at National Catholic Reporter about the choice of the organizers of the upcoming World Meeting of Families to make Ron Belgau, a celibate gay man, the official face of gay Catholicism at its meeting:

Blog Readers and Teachable Moments for the Catholic Community: "This Diversity Is Completely Absent from What Passes for Discourse in the Catholic Media"

In her comments at the recent Commonweal panel discussion of the topic "Fortress or Field Hospital?" that I discussed yesterday, moral theologian (and Sister of Mercy) Margaret Farley points out that the venerable tradition of natural law thinking in Catholic moral theology requires church teachers to pay careful attention to concrete reality, and to listen carefully to the graced experiences of the faithful. On any given day, much of the conversation on this blog is, it seems to me, a valuable snapshot of contemporary Catholic thinking that could, if any Catholic pastoral leader chose to pay attention to it, be extraordinarly instructive to pastoral leaders. If they chose to listen and to learn . . . .

Commonweal's "Fortress or Field Hospital?" Discussion: Margaret Farley on Natural Law Theology and Church's Obligation to Learn from Married Same-Sex Couples

Yesterday, Commonweal sponsored a panel discussion of the topic "Fortress or Field Hospital?" Commonweal editor Mollie Wilson O'Reilly moderated the disucssion. Panelists were moral theologian Margaret Farley, journalist David Gibson, theologian and professor of law Cathleen Kaveny, and Barbara Dafoe, who directs the John Templeton Center for Thrift and Generosity. 

Lisa Fullam and Gary Gutting on Catholic Natural Law Theology and Need for New Approach to Sexual Ethics

When I read Lisa Fullam's recent Commonweal essay about contraception and Gary Gutting's New York Times essay about unraveling the Catholic ban on gay sex, I'm tempted to ask, "Who knew that natural law theology would be so much in the news in 2015"? I don't by any means intend to cast aspersions on these two essays with that question. They're both fine theological expositions of the natural law theology that underlies magisterial prohibitions against artificial contraceptives, gay sex (and, as Gutting reminds us, masturbation or any sexual act between a married man and woman in which the penis is not inserted into the vagina when the man reaches orgasm). 

Robert Mickens on Pope Francis, Contraception, and Neo-Malthusian Schemes of Developed Nations: My Response

And then, of course, there's Robert Mickens's interpretation of Humanae Vitae and the ban on use of artificial contraceptives as being about protecting the poor in developing countries from neo-Malthusian policies of family planning forced on them by affluent developed nations, who don't want the poor breeding like rabbits. At least, that's Mickens's reading of HV through the optic of Popes Paul VI and Francis in the NCR article linked at the head of the posting.

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: "The Bodies Become Fully United at, Well, to Be Blunt, Ejaculation in the Vagina"

At the Little Catholic Bubble blog site, Bethany writes,

The bodies become fully united at, well, to be blunt, ejaculation in the vagina, thus fulfilling the necessary requirements to allow the potential of reproduction to take place.

Catholic Moral Theologian Lisa Fullam: An Argument for a Catholic Moral Obligation to Support Civil Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

At Bondings 2.0, Catholic moral theologian Lisa Fullam takes a careful look at the U.S. Catholic Bishops' argument that Catholics must oppose civil marriage for same-sex couples. She concludes that, in fact, Catholics appear to have a strong moral obligation to support civil marriage for same-sex couples.

More Reports in Preparation for Vatican Synod on the Family: Spain, Japan, Diocese of Westminster, England, United States

As a new work week begins, I want to mention a few more reports that have recently been issued summarizing the response of lay Catholics in various parts of the world to the Vatican questionnaire on issues including contraception, same-sex marriage, and divorce, as the Vatican prepares for the Synod on the Family. At Iglesia Descalza, Rebel Girl offers a translation of a recent article in the Spanish journal El Periódico reporting on the response of Spanish Catholics to the questionnaire.

John Corvino, What's Wrong with Homosexuality?: "It's Not Natural" (2)

Here are two more excerpts from John Corvino's book What’s Wrong with Homosexuality? (NY: Oxford UP, 2013). As with the last two I've posted here, these are from the chapter dealing with natural-law objections to homosexuality.

John Corvino, What's Wrong with Homosexuality?: "It's Not Natural"

Some more sharp observations from John Corvino's book What’s Wrong with Homosexuality? (NY: Oxford UP, 2013)--these from his chapter on natural-law arguments against homosexuality: as Corvino notes, the term "unnatural" is frequently used in an exceptionally loose way as a rhetorical tag for all sorts of practices and behaviors to which one objects. The very looseness of the term as it's usually applied is part of its rhetorical power, as the term evokes a visceral reaction of repulsion its users hope to evoke, while also precluding the kind of careful thought that might make people think twice about the easy tagging of something as "unnatural": 

Sister Jeannine Gramick Tells a Story of a Transgendered Young Man: Catholic Readers React

At National Catholic Reporter, Sister Jeannine Gramick discusses the case of Isaac Gomez, who was born biologically female, but who identified as male from early in his life, and made the decision to transition biologically to male as a young teen--with his parents' support. The lesson that Sr. Jeannine draws from this story:

Breaking News: Avila Resigns from USCCB Position

Breaking news: an email from Truth Wins Out containing this press release has just popped into my email inbox.  It states that Daniel Avila resigned today from his position as an advisor to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.   

The Gays + the Devil: More Resources about Boston Catholic Controversy (with Theological Reflections)

After I posted yesterday about the kerfuffle over Daniel Avila's recent gays + devil column in the Boston Catholic archdiocesan paper The Pilot, I found a lot of additional commentary on this story online, which I'd now like to recommend to readers.*  My first inkling of this story was from Dennis Coday's "Morning Briefing" column at National Catholic Reporter yesterday. This had disappeared from the NCR homepage by the time I posted my piece, and I couldn't locate it as I posted, so I didn't provide the link I've just given you crediting his column with bringing this story to my attention.

Thomas Aquinas, Natural Law, and Occupy Wall Street

This could well be a sign held by an Occupy Wall Street demonstrator: 

Those things which some possess in excess of reasonable needs are owed by natural law to the sustenance of the poor.

The Catholic theologian who stated this?  Thomas Aquinas, the "angelic doctor" who is often cited by the magisterium as the Catholic theologian of all time.  The citation is from Aquinas' Summa Theologiae II.II, 66, art. 7.

On the Whys and Wherefores of the Female Orgasm: Impressions of Recent Research

I am, God knows, hardly an expert on the female orgasm.  So anything I have to say on that topic ought to be taken with a mountain of salt.  

Marriage Equality Debate, Nature, and Reason: Historical Perspectives

One of the primary props of those arguing against marriage equality in the U.S. today is the constantly advanced argument that the "natural order" established by God dictates that marriage must be between a man and a woman, and tampering with that natural order will throw everything in the society that disregards natural order into chaos.  A corollary of this argument is that we know this "natural order" not only by divine revelation, but by reason, as well.

New Scientific Findings Confirm Catholic Magisterial Teachings about Sex? Semen as "Better Gift Than Chocolate" for Women

This is one of the crazy corners of American scientific research about which I'll freely admit I know next to nothing.  I first became aware that this field of research--re: the male-female union-cementing properties of semen--existed, when a proponent of the theology of the body logged onto a Commonweal thread some months ago to argue that new research shows that women crave semen (as it were), since a good dose of semen in their vagina gives them an upper-type experience unparalleled anywhere else in nature.

Orphan Trains and Symphysiotomy (and Catholic Connections): Two Recent Items Worth Reading

 

Though Gerelyn Hollingsworth evidently finds my writing blowsy, I have always found hers sprightly.  I like her wry (and often, subtly irreverent) optic on the lives of the saints and the pretensions of the holy.