Amoris Laetitia debate (theological type article)

[BarbTherese]

I am putting this into the Debate Forum as I think it will engender debate - and am hoping that it will.  To be honest, I have some understanding here and there sometimes of what the theological debate is all about in the article below re Amoris Laetitia.  Rather often we Catholics, who are just the very ordinary people in the pews uneducated formally in theology, can find theology too complex to grasp. For me, it can sometimes be theological debate that informs and helps me clarify my own understandings.   Unfortunately, what many of us can do is rest in "absolutely no idea" or perhaps even worse, take to heart and spread abroad completely incorrect understandings.  And it is not unusual for very ordinary Catholics in the Laity to be asked about controversial matters in The Church. And yes, I am sufficiently audacious to use the "we" and "us" writing about very ordinary every day type Catholic in the Laity.  Mea culpa.

Hence, I am hoping that if there is debate in this thread, that it will also be in terms an ordinary Catholic in the Laity can understand, at least sometimes - the article is heavily weighted towards the theological.

While I had some understanding here and there of the article, in the end it just took too much concentration and I abandoned trying to understand and continuing to read in order to form a conclusion.  I think it would be unfair to criticize Pope Francis for the sake of criticizing him.  And if one guilty of breaking rules rather often at times can set the pace, please restrict comments to theological concepts, not subjective and personal criticism of those who might be expressing their concepts in the article - or even expressing their ideas of concepts purported (or actual) to be those of Pope Francis and others.

Do stay on the subject, not the personal please.  As the guidelines for the Debate Forum state "Get charitable"..........after all we are called to Charity by vocation from God -  no matter what that vocation might be at all times and everywhere including Catholic forums and discussion sites.  Big mea culpa again.  Off me rickety pulpit.......again..........till next time that is.

 

Here goes and I am really hoping debate will unfold:  

"In Amoris Laetitia, Francis' model of conscience empowers Catholics"

(National Catholic Register (NCR) has an excellent review on Catholic Culture here )

Authors:Todd A. Salzman is a professor of theology at Creighton University. Michael G. Lawler is the emeritus Amelia and Emil Graff Professor of Catholic Theology at Creighton. They are the co-authors of The Sexual Person (Georgetown University Press).

Quote

Excerpt: "In Fuchs' formulation, there is a much more complex relationship between the object-orientation of conscience and the objective norm. Since conscience can err from invincible ignorance and not lose its dignity according to Aquinas and Gaudium et Spes (16), the emphasis in Aquinas, Gaudium et Spes and Dignitatis Humanae is on the authority and dignity of conscience, not on the authority and dignity of the norm. Objective norms exist externally and are formulated and justified on the basis of the four sources of moral knowledge: Scripture, tradition, reason and experience."

 

Edited September 19, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

[Amppax]

Thanks for posting this Barb. I'm commenting now to remind myself to come back in a couple days, read, and respond.

A quick note, the article you linked isn't from the National Catholic Register, but the National Catholic Reporter. Unfortunately for two papers that share an acronym and target audience (Catholics) they couldn't be more different. Here is the Catholic Culture review of the Reporter (referred to tongue and cheek by one blogger, Fr. Z, as The Fishwrap): https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=60&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=1656562. 

Additionally, Professors Lawler and Salzmann's work has been controversial, to say the least. Their book, The Sexual Person, was criticized by the USCCB Committee on Doctrine for containing "inadequacies in theological method and conclusions." Here is a link to the document the Committee published concerning the book: http://www.usccb.org/about/doctrine/publications/upload/Sexual_Person_2010-09-15.pdf. 

I would say we should approach the above article with caution, and realize both the source and authors have a history of dissenting from the Church on moral issues. 

That being said, I think it's good to be aware of dissident views and be familiar with their reasoning so that we can answer it with sound objections, rather than fall back solely on appeals to authority. 

*edit: When I wrote the above, I hadn't yet read the excerpt. Josef Fuchs, SJ, who is mentioned, is one of the most prominent dissenters (here I use the term to mean those moral theologians who advocated wholesale change in the Church's moral theology following Vatican II, rather than renewal and reform) of the 20th century. He was, in fact, the principle author of the infamous "Majority Report" which was the proposal, before Humanae Vitae, to allow for artificial birth control. So again, I would urge caution. 

Edited September 21, 2016 by Amppax
See postscript.

[Guest]

 

 MY bad !!!

 

Thank very much, Amppax - you are very kind and gentle in correction indeed.  In future I will be on the watch for is it NCR or is it NCR? 

Correction appreciated