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 of Abortion History.
- Also in the Winter 2011 issue, a conversation about the mechanism of action of “Plan B” (the levonorgestrel “emergency contraceptive”) continues, with a letter by Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, OP, who has been arguing that the scientific data indicate with ‘moral certitude’ that “Plan B” affects only fertilization, not implantation.
- The conversation between Martin Rhonheimer and some critics of his ‘vital conflicts’ theory (which I’ve mentioned before) continues in both issues. The Winter 2011 issue includes a letter by Rhonheimer responding to an article by Marie A. Anderson et al., who reply in turn to Rhonheimer. In the same issue is an essay, “Vital Conflicts and Virtue Ethics: A Response to Rev. Martin Rhonheimer,” by Benedict M. Guevin, OSB, and an article, “Vital Conflicts and the Catholic Magisterial Tradition,” by Kevin L. Flannery, SJ. The Summer 2012 issue includes a letter by Helen Watt responding to an earlier article by Rhonheimer, and a letter by Rhonheimer responding to Guevin.
- Finally, on the topic of organ donation, the Summer 2012 issue contains an essay, “Objections to Donation after Cardiac Death: A Violation of Human Dignity,” by Gina M. Sanchez, and an article, “Preserving Totality and Integrity in Donation after Circulatory Determination of Death,” by Thomas J. Driscoll Jr.