A Catholic Christian
Anthropology
Gerald Gleeson
Catholic Institute of Sydney
Outline
• Some current ethical debates
• The dignity of the human person
• Contrast between secular and Catholic
worldviews
• The polarities of human existence
• Conscience and moral development.
Introduction
• Some current difficult ethical issues
– Use of reproductive technologies
– Response to pre-natal testing
– Divorce, re-marriage and reception of the
Eucharist
• The vision of Guadium et Spes
– Dignity of the human person
– Is the Church an “expert in humanity”?
Articulating a Catholic worldview
• Who are we?
– [ Who am I? ]
– [ What are we? Is there a human nature? ]
• Where are we?
• What’s the problem?
– What’s the meaning of suffering?
• What’s the solution?
• What time is it?
From N T Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God.
Who are we?
•
•
•
•
Australians, New Zealanders,
ANZACS
Descendants of ….
Children of…
– Husband of… wife of… daughter of…
• People of God
• Brothers and sisters in Christ
These are all relational answers
Where are we?
• On a medium sized planet…of a sun in the
Milky Way galaxy…
• In a land of opportunity..
On track for my career …
• At work…. in a global market place..
• In God’s good creation..
• In a vale of tears…
• In exile…
• On a journey…
What’s the problem?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Not enough autonomy…
Science is in its infancy…
Global injustices…
Imperfect genes…
“Original sin”…
Wounded human nature…
We cannot ‘save’ ourselves…
What is the meaning of suffering?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Just bad luck…
Evidence there is no God…
Punishment for sin…
Symptom of the need for redemption..
An opportunity for “soul making”…
A share in the sufferings of Christ…
What’s the solution?
• Scientific progress…
• A new world order…
• The coming of the Kingdom of God…
• The death and resurrection of Jesus…
• The gift of salvation…
• Life in the Holy Spirit…
How can the gospel be heard as good news
if we don’t recognise our need for it?
What time is it?
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Early days yet…”
“5 minutes to midnight…”
“the last days”….
The day of the Lord is near…
The time for decision…
The sacrament of the present moment…
The Polarities of Human existence
We are:
• Persons with a created nature
• Spiritual and material
• Individual and social
• Free and responsible
• Male or female
FREE
MATERIAL
The
Polarities of
Human
existence
INDIVIDUAL
Male or Female
NATURE
CREATED
SPIRITUAL
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBLE
FREEDOM
SIN
Some
Polarities of
Christian
Existence
SERVICE
COMMUNAL
PERSONAL
GRACE
PRAYER
COMMITMENT
Conscience and moral
development
• The current debate over freedom of
conscience as a Catholic
• The fundamental issue: are there some
actions that are always wrong?
• The rights and dignity of an erroneous
conscience
• Moral growth and the law of gradualism
Do Catholics have freedom of
conscience?
• What is conscience?
– An ability to judge what is right…
– The final judgment one makes…
– Feelings of obligation, guilt, remorse…
– Place of personal responsibility…
• A good conscience is formed by the truth
– Is open to all sources of truth
– Is exercised with a tradition and community
– Tries to make the church’s teachings one’s
own
The fundamental issue
• In reaching a conscience judgment I draw
upon all my background moral beliefs,
including Church teachings, about the right
and wrong ways to act, to think and to feel
• Do I believe that bad actions are generally
wrong, or do I believe that some bad
actions are always wrong?
– That a good end does not justify a bad means
Moral
beliefs
Final
judgment:
“do this”
Two models of “creative conscience”
X is
always
wrong
Final judgment:
“Don’t do X, but
do this”
Erroneous conscience
• We are ignorant erring in conscience, and
often culpably so (Catechism)
• We are often ignorant and erring in
conscience, but inculpably so (Veritatis
Splendor 62; GS 16)
• the dignity of conscience derives from
what someone “subjectively considers to
be true” (Veritatis Splendor, 63)
• “Obedience, even to an erring conscience,
is the way to attain light…” (Cardinal Newman)
The gradualism of moral growth
• “It is only little by little that the human
being is able to order and integrate his
many tendencies harmoniously in this
virtue of marital chastity… Conscience
demands to be respected, educated
and formed in an atmosphere of
confidence and not of anguish.”
Paul VI, Address to the Teams of Our Lady 1970
The repentant conscience
• “The tax collector might possibly have had
some justifications for his sins to diminish
his responsibility… But his prayer dwells
on his own unworthiness…” (VS, 104)
• “We have forgotten how to stand in our
own weakness temporarily and
acknowledge our sins, or rather to
celebrate God’s mercy when we admit our
sins before Him”.
• Andre Louf, Tuning into Grace