Embryo Adoption and the Extended Inseparability Argument

The Catholic debate over embryo adoption is at a genuine impasse awaiting resolution from the magisterium of the Catholic Church because both sides have reached a point where there is a fundamental disagreement. Several Catholic ethicists have argued that the ethical reasoning linking the acts of having sex and of making a baby, and therefore reserving both to the causality of a husband, should be extended to the act of becoming pregnant. This would rule out embryo transfer in all its manifestations. However, this dispute cannot be resolved by further argumentation, but requires authoritative definition in response to the question, Should the principle of inseparability be extended to the act of becoming pregnant?

Template Policy for Catholic Health Care and Gender Identity

Gender ideology and medical interventions for so-called transitioning pose profound challenges for Catholic health care. Unfortunately, many institutions do not offer clear, specific policy guidance addressing these issues. This template policy is offered to Catholic health care institutions and systems to assist them in drafting such guidance. The template defines the mission of Catholic health care, summarizes Church teaching with regard to gender ideology, and identifies both licit and illicit clinical interventions for gender dysphoria. The template also offers guidance on practical issues, including name and pronoun use, sex-specific facilities, employee training programs, and health benefits. An appendix offers model language that institutions can incorporate into employment documents to maintain Catholic identity and mission.

Magisterial Teaching on the Foundation of Sexual Ethics

This article seeks to demonstrate that the perverted faculty argument is at the foundation of magisterial teaching in sexual ethics. Yet new natural law (NNL) theorists have consistently condemned this argument for decades despite their claim that they support the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. This situation is incongruous. Current scholarship indicates that NNL theorists do not accept the rationale for magisterial teaching in sexual ethics because, despite their opposition to proportionalism, they still hold in common its most critical error—an error that Pope St. John Paul II was at pains to condemn in Veritatis splendor