Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Why the Catholic Church Needs Sr. Margaret Farley

Why the Catholic Church needs Margaret Farley

http://www.washingtonpost.com/susan-brooks-thistlethwaite/2011/03/16/ABkdESf_page.html

The Vatican has once again sharply criticized a nun, this time for writing on sexual ethics. The Vatican has accused Sister Margaret Farley, a member of the Sisters of Mercy religious order and professor emerita of Yale Divinity School, of publishing a book that posed “grave harm” to the faithful.
The book title? “Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics.”

“Just Love” is a work that sets out to find “ethical guidelines and moral wisdom for our sexual lives” taking on the task of discerning issues of “character and virtue” in relationship not just to behaviors but also to the “large questions” of what human embodiment and sexual desire mean in a moral sense. (p. 15) Our sexual relations, Margaret Farley ultimately concludes, after a cross-cultural and historical exploration, must be founded on both love and justice in an integral sense. “I propose, finally, a framework that is not justice and love, but justice in loving and in the actions that flow from that love.” She seeks to help us all define a sexual ethics that is not abstract, but “morally good and just” in reality, in actual relationships. (p. 207)
If ever there were a method of moral reasoning on sexual ethics that is desperately needed in the Catholic Church today, it is the one proposed by Margaret Farley.
Perhaps it is fitting that the attack by the Vatican on Farley’s work has come just after the Sunday of Pentecost, the time when Christians celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the apostles (Acts 2:1-4). The major spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit is wisdom. And, as noted above, the search for moral wisdom on sexual ethics is the overarching goal of Margaret Farley’s work.
The Catholic Church desperately needs to gain moral wisdom in its sexual ethics. The church around the world has been wracked by scandals over child sexual abuse, and the crisis is far from over. The Catholic Church’s continues to reject homosexual unions in marriage as one of the gifts of God’s creation and therefore good, and the full equality of women in ordination to the priesthood has not yet been achieved.
Yet, in recent months, instead of focusing on these crucial issues, the Vatican has chosen to target Dr. Margaret Farley’s work, as well as ministry of the largest umbrella group of American nuns, a group known for its work with the poor. The Vatican has subjected these nuns to investigation and criticism for “radical feminism.” These charges, the Catholic nuns have now maintained, are “unsubstantiated” and “flawed.”
This is an important moment not only for Catholics, but also for all those people of faith who care about the world-wide Catholic communion. The question really is whether, finally, the Vatican even belongs to the Catholic Church as it is emerging in this dynamic time. This was, in fact, a question considered very seriously by the Catholic Church in the 1960’s. In 1962, Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) not only to bring the Church’s message more directly into dialogue with the modern world, but also to rethink the nature of the Church, the world and the relationship between the two. During the conference, the church redefined its role; the church was now to be seen as the “People of God.”
The Vatican II concept that the church is the “People of God” continues to be important for the Catholic Church according to Fr. Richard McBrien, Crowley-O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. An important ecclesial lesson from Vatican II is that church is thus not defined as the hierarchy, or even just the clergy or the members of orders of religious. It is the community of all who are baptized. This is a rich and diverse group in terms of gender, race, class, social status, sexual orientation, ethnicity and culture.
Thus, Fr. McBrien writes, “One of the council’s most important affirmations, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, known by its Latin title as Lumen gentium, declared that charisms, or gifts of the Holy Spirit, are available to all the faithful, “of every rank” (n. 12).”
I believe that the writing of Dr. Margaret Farley, the work of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the umbrella group of 1,500 orders that represent about 80 percent of Catholic sisters in the United States, as well as that of other Catholics today working for love, justice and charity are the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the Catholic Church in this time.
The work of the Holy Spirit in bringing moral wisdom is, without a doubt, mysterious and hard to discern. But in the New Testament, love and the works of love in treating each other justly are often found together as marks of the work of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22)
And as the prophet of the Hebrew Bible, Micah says, “What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God (Micah 6:8).

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I believe that the writing of Dr. Margaret Farley, .....are the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the Catholic Church in this time."

I believe her writing is the gift of the Evil Spirit. And I don't believe you are a Catholic priest.

Thu Jun 07, 02:27:00 AM 2012  
Anonymous Mercutio Peters said...

I have'nt read the book, but considering the bouquets and brickbats it has received that I have read here in India I must say that it has come at an appropriate time and does reassess the catholic church's stand on this very sensitive aspect of human relationships. It is time that we of the universal church (the body of christ)drop all false pretences, understand that every human person is created divine and diabolic, accept this ambiguity and pro-actively become involved with the creative and redemptive work of Christ if the cross of humiliation can be converted to a universal 'tool' of salvation then I am sure that the learned of the vatican corridors will find,in and through the spirit, the saving power of the 'word made flesh' in the work of Sr Margaret Farley. It is not so much the tool, but how we embrace it

Tue Jun 12, 10:23:00 AM 2012  
Blogger chenlina said...

chenlina20151209
ugg sale
lebron 11
michael kors handbags
cheap uggs for sale
hollister
prada handbags
louis vuitton outlet
oakley sunglasses
cheap oakley sunglasses
ugg boots
coach factory outlet online
michael kors outlet
jordan 11s
cheap air jordans
ugg boots
jordan retro 11
ugg boots on sale
toms shoes
louis vuitton
air max 90
the north face uk
cheap ugg boots
ray ban sunglasses
ugg boots on sale
michaek kors handbags
canada goose jackets
michael kors outlet
michael kors outlet online
oakley sunglasses
tiffany and co
oakley sunglasses
ugg boots
uggs on sale
coach outlet
ugg sale
jordans for sale
coach factory outlet
coach outlet online
cheap nfl jerseys
michaek kors outlet online
as

Wed Dec 09, 12:29:00 AM 2015  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ninest123 16.01
true religion jeans, air max pas cher, longchamp, timberland, nike air max, converse pas cher, nike blazer, michael kors uk, vans pas cher, north face, sac guess, sac burberry, nike air force, ray ban sunglasses, polo ralph lauren, hollister, north face, true religion outlet, coach outlet store online, michael kors outlet, louboutin, lululemon outlet online, ralph lauren, abercrombie and fitch, true religion outlet, michael kors, true religion jeans, nike huaraches, air max, nike free, longchamp, oakley pas cher, michael kors pas cher, hollister, new balance pas cher, sac hermes, air jordan, nike roshe run pas cher, mulberry, hogan outlet, ray ban pas cher, replica handbags, nike tn, nike roshe, vanessa bruno, nike free pas cher, nike trainers, air max, sac longchamp pas cher, coach purses, polo lacoste

Thu Jan 28, 09:52:00 PM 2016  
Blogger Unknown said...

cheap nike air max
nike air max thea
nike free run
nike store
red sole shoes
louboutin outlet
discount mbt Shoes
mbt canada
fitflops
fitflop.com
Nike Air Huarache
Nike Air Huaraches
louboutin shoes
christian louboutin sale
jordans 2016
jordan 11 legend blue
Jordan 5 fire red
Jordan Retro 8 Concord
coach store
coach sale
kate spade wallet
kate spade bags
Michael Kors Cheap
Michael Kors Clearance
michael kors
Michael Kors Outlet Store
michael kors handbags on sale
michael kors bracelet
michael kors factory
michael kors outlet online
michael kors sale
macys michael kors
jordan retro 7

Thu Mar 24, 03:55:00 AM 2016  
Blogger Unknown said...

coach outlet online
air max 2015
louis vuitton
cheap soccer jerseys
michael kors outlet online
tory burch outlet
michael kors outlet uk
ferragamo outlet
herve leger outlet
true religion outlet
20160930caihuali

Thu Sep 29, 10:43:00 PM 2016  
Blogger Unknown said...

beats by dr dre
true religion sale
ralph lauren polo
cartier watches
calvin klein underwear
ferragamo shoes
nike air max 2015
rolex watches
coach outlet store online
supra shoes
chanyuan11.19

Fri Nov 18, 01:59:00 PM 2016  
Blogger Unknown said...

adidas ultra boost
michael kors outlet
links of london outlet store
adidas stan smith sneakers
adidas outlet
vibram fivefingers
adidas online shop
kobe shoes
cheap jordans
michael kors factory outlet

Sun Aug 20, 10:57:00 PM 2017  
Blogger Unknown said...

zzzzz2018.7.13
cheap snapbacks
longchamp outlet
christian louboutin outlet
kate spade outlet
coach outlet online
canada goose jackets
coach factory outlet
adidas superstars
oakley sunglasses wholesale
red bottom

Fri Jul 13, 03:29:00 AM 2018  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home