The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) in its decree on priestly formation called for the renewal of moral theology. In particular, Vatican II specified that moral theology needed “livelier contact with the mystery of Christ” and should be “more thoroughly nourished by scriptural teaching.”¹ The decades following Vatican II have seen a variety of responses to this call. Among these treatments one often finds disagreement not only on specific moral questions, but on the very sources and methods to be used in moral reasoning.

How, then, can one begin to discern what constitutes authentic renewal in moral theology? One way...

Before examining biblical and historical sources that can be used to shape a contemporary sexual ethic, some attention must be given to the actual cultural situation to which such an ethic is addressed.This is necessary for a number of reasons.

First, it is important to attend to the context in which biblical teaching can be received and heard.While it is reductionist to totally identify the teaching of Scripture with one’s own cultural horizon and experience, modern hermeneutical theory has made it clear that one’s cultural horizon and experience does impact the reading of the biblical text. Therefore some awareness of...

The task of addressing the disconnect experienced by many contemporary Catholics between their faith and their understanding of sexuality is a difficult one.¹ Recent debates in moral theology have often focused on specific moral norms and the authority that proposes them.² However, when such debates are heard within the framework of a morality of obligation, they are easily colored by the adversarial clash between individual freedom and laws imposed by an external authority. In order to resolve the tension, an emphasis is either placed on the binding force of the norms and the submission they require, or on a casuistic...

While the idea of covenant is integral to the development of a vision of sexuality grounded in the teaching of Scripture and the Church’s liturgical tradition, there are other important biblical themes that should also be consulted in this effort. This chapter will focus on some of the most important of these: Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of God, the invitation to discipleship, the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the Beatitudes, and New Testament descriptions of Christian character. Some implications of the interplay of these various themes will then be considered in the form of a contemporary...

Certainly one of the most maligned and misunderstood virtues in contemporary culture is chastity.¹ The word often evokes connotations of inhibition, prudery, dysfunction, and perhaps even neurosis. This is especially true in a culture that sees sexual expression and pleasure as integral to personal health, happiness, and fulfillment. If one has to be sexually active to realize oneself, then continence or celibacy can seem perverse and any form of sexual restraint suspect. If sexual expression is not necessary limited to monogamous covenantal relationships for it to be seen as good, then even the notion of fidelity can come to be...

Moral virtues, of course, do not exist in the abstract. They exist within the persons who habituate themselves to them through repeated moral choices. By repeatedly choosing the good over time and in a variety of situations, a person’s character becomes conformed to that specific form of moral goodness.The virtuous person develops a new power to act excellently that he or she did not previously possess.

Virtues, therefore, presuppose persons as their subjects.Virtue theory in turn demands an anthropology, an account of the person who develops and exercises the virtues. Given that the focus of the present work is on...

The virtue of chastity is ordered to more than respect for the dignity of persons and the unique capacity of sexuality to express the human vocation to self-giving love within marriage or consecrated virginity. Virtually the whole of the Christian tradition has also insisted on openness to life or respect for the procreative aspect of sexual union as a fundamental value toward which chaste sexual expression is ordered.

However, one of the most striking features of contemporaryWestern thinking regarding sexuality is precisely its jaundiced view of procreation. Unlike the ancient world or medieval society, many contemporary observers see human fertility...

This chapter examines issues of moral education from the standpoint of a virtue-based approach to moral enquiry. How is it that one can teach moral virtue to others or foster it in onself, particularly in the often vexing and contentious area of sexuality? The preceding chapters have made clear that an insistence on particular moral rules is not enough, though these may well have a place in the interiorization of moral values and the person’s habituation to them through moral action. One must also attend to the larger vision of human sexuality and its place in the person’s call to...