More 2015 Conference information – hotels
Our 2015 Conference page now includes hotel information. Several hotels near the conference site offer special rates.
Another Life Issue: The Death Penalty
A former student of mine works for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. He asked me to write a guest column for the diocesan newspaper clarifying what the teaching of the Catholic Church is regarding the death penalty. Since this is a topic of interest to many people, both Catholics and non-Catholics – in the […]
What do the abortion and marriage issues have in common (besides judicial overreach)?
Blessed Pope John Paul II writes in The Gospel of Life (1995), no. 97: It is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not help the young to accept and experience sexuality and love and the whole of life according to their true meaning and […]
Pro-life voting
I don’t think that I want to comment one way or the other on the question of whether those who regard abortion as a political issue of the greatest importance should vote for Mitt Romney, or more generally for Republicans, this fall (and in any case I definitely don’t want to do so right now). I […]
Highlighting a few recent items in the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly
The Spring 2012 NCBQ arrived in yesterday’s mail (many academic journals tend to run a few months behind), and I’d like to make brief mention of several things from the previous issue (Winter 2011) and the new one. In the Winter 2011 issue there is a review, by Germain Kopaczynski, OFM, of Joseph W. Dellapenna’s Dispelling the Myths […]
The latest on “brain death”
My post a few months back also mentioned a NCBQ piece on diagnosing death using neurological criteria. The Autumn issue includes a review of what sounds like an interesting and relevant book. Jason T. Eberl reviews Russell DiSilvestro’s Human Capacities and Moral Status (NCBQ 11 [2011]: 596-98). According to the review, DiSilvestro departs from the […]
The latest on natural-law theory and unborn human life
In a past post, I mentioned the dialogue between philosopher Fr. Martin Rhonheimer and his critics – or, perhaps one should say, one of the dialogues, or one aspect of the dialogue – namely, that concerning his ‘vital conflicts’ theory. In the Autumn 2011 issue of the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, there is more, dealing […]
Contraception, health, and desire
Andrew Haines makes basically the same point apropos of Tollefson’s essay as I did the other day. And here’s just one more way of putting it that occurred to me this morning. I think it’s safe to say that we have a natural desire for health (and even a natural inclination to health – I […]
Yet another item on the Obama contraception mandate
Here is Prof. Christopher Tollefsen: “Contraception and Healthcare Rights.” I think it’s pretty carefully thought out and argued (one possible quibble based on a quick first reading would be with the “great gravity and urgency” criterion, though that probably has nothing to do with the point about contraception). And I think Tollefsen implicitly points to […]
Speaking of the National Catholic Bioethics Center …
The new (Summer 2011) issue of their National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly arrived in my mailbox the other day. A few things of note from the contents: The “Colloquy” section includes an exchange of letters regarding an article in a previous NCBQ critical of philospher Fr. Martin Rhonheimer’s recent Vital Conflicts in Medical Ethics: A Virtue Approach to […]