JUST LOVE: A FRAMEWORK FOR CHRISTIAN SEXUAL ETHICS by Sister
Margaret Farley.
Well now, let us see what the good sister said about
catholic sexual ethics that so disturbed the Vatican .
There were a number of good reviews of her book but I found
the review by Rowland Croucher most helpful.
I think the biggest difference between Farley and the Vatican is the
fact that she accepts the science that tells us that humans are born with a
variety of sexual identities which include heterosexual, homosexual and transgender
where a man is born into a woman’s body and visa versa.
These are not choices that are freely made to be “abnormal”
but are, if you wish, creations of God or of Mother Nature if you prefer and
therefore must be treated with respect and sensitivity and not just denigrated
into a sin or a disordered condition which the Vatican does and has always
done.
Her main point is that justice and love should permeate all
relationships, including sexual relationships.
She examines questions of sexual ethics by asking what kinds
of motives, under what kinds of circumstances, in what forms of relationships,
do we render our sexual selves to one another in ways that are good, true,
right and just?
Her “just sex” criteria include: do no unjust harm, free
consent, mutuality, equality, commitment, fruitfulness and social justice.
She points out that throughout history, society run by men,
stipulated the rules that govern accepted sexual behavior and up to this very
day, those rules did not and do not favor women in a just way and definitely in
a way that respects equality of genders.
I joked about the issue of masturbation which the Church
called an intrinsically and gravely disordered action, telling young boys they
will go blind if they practice it. Farley thinks masturbation is OK if it
serves relationships instead of burdening them.
As far as contraception is concerned, she believes that no
children should be conceived who will be born in a context unconducive to their
growth and development in relationships. I have always maintained that forcing
women to have children they don’t want is not a good idea for the mother or the
child and taking simple contraceptive precautions is not only the smart thing
to do but the right thing.
As far as church doctrine is concerned, it is obviously in
need of reform since most Catholics including priests and bishops, no longer
follow it or think others should follow it; it is flawed and nonsensical in
today’s world.
If the Vatican
does not reform its backward doctrine it will continue to lose not only
authority but relevance and eventually it will have to treated as a ship of
fools with a mighty leak.
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