Those who set the Church’s moral behaviours have only ever had partial control over them – and chocolate perhaps helps explain why. Chocolate’s acceptance in the Catholic diet was clearly less the result of what theologians or canon lawyers did or said than of the decisions of ordinary clergy and laity who drank it regardless, Read more
Two Jesuit academics expect the Church will stay silent on married couples using contraception in countries where the Zika virus is active. Health officials in some Latin American nations have advised women not to get pregnant. This is because the virus, which is typically transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, has been linked to cases Read more
Asian theologians have been taken to task by one of their own for being locked into a classical Western moral theology framework. Sri Lankan Redemptorist Fr Vimal Tirimanna told the first pan-Asian conference of Catholic moral theologians, held in Bangalore, India, last month, that fresh approaches are required. Theologians have failed to take seriously indications Read more
A Jesuit moral theologian has taken issue with the labeling of some human acts as “intrinsically evil”. In a presentation at the so-called “shadow council” at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University in May, Fr Alain Thomasset, SJ, described such labelling is one of the main problems in the pastoral care of families. Understanding some acts as intrinsically evil, Read more
Church leaders in several US dioceses have poured cold water on the Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon, which has gone viral since June. The challenge involves ice-cold water being poured over a person’s head, in order to raise money for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. But some archdioceses, including Read more
The Vatican has removed further sanctions it could have imposed on Irish Marist priest, Fr Sean Fagan, who was silenced in 2008. Society of Mary Superior General Fr John Hannan told CathNews that he is pleased the threat of further sanctions, stipulated in 2010, have been removed and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Read more
A number of ministry and church leaders believe a cautious approach to same-sex marriage is needed so as not to alienate those outside the church. Father Neil Vaney, an Auckland Roman Catholic moral theologian, said the secular media and various people were “pushing” the same sex issue. He said the Church should “show great compassion” Read more
Economics is not a business science, although it has applications to business. Rather, it is part of the liberal arts and is a science of human action. Economics studies the actions that most people take in response to circumstances in their lives, but especially those actions that are visible to us. This is why economists Read more