Toward Liberating Conscience

Anne Patrick starts her chapter by introducing Pope John Paul II's encyclical Veritas Splendor by saying that it is important because it highlights the danger of celebrating individual liberty in modern society and shows that true fulfillment comes from expressing one's freedom. She states that the encyclical's purpose is to "inspire moral seriousness and a life of loving discipleship," (170). Going off of these ideas from Veritas Splendor, Patrick introduces McCabe and says that we should take this document as a training manual instead of a rule book. She explains that since everyone is different and has different dispositions, even in moral theology, different moral advice will work for different people, as if the training book were a set of glasses that someone could look through to see clearer, knowing that everyone has different vision strengths and weaknesses.

Then she points out that the idea of moral theology came out of the practice of confession, which has recently been declining among Catholics. In contrast to this, seeking "spiritual direction" has been increasing among Catholics. Because of this, the church has been hesitant to say that pluralism is right for certain debatable moral issues, one of these being sexuality. Because of recent scientific data, Catholic sexual teachings are being questioned by some Catholics.

Patrick then returns to the idea of the rule book and training book. She quotes McCabe again who says that the virtues cannot be fitted into a rule book without reducing them. He wishes that Christian morality could be looked at the way Aristotle and Aquinas looked at it, which is "the movement towards our real selves and towards God guided by the New Law which . . . is no written code but nothing other than the presence in us of the Holy Spirit," (173).

Patrick then returns to the idea of pluralism. She suggests that the spiritual life recognizes diversity in morality, and one way we can see this is by the recent shift from patriarchal to egalitarian-feminist understandings of goodness in recent literature (174). She thinks that spirituality is on the rise because of the appeal to question, search, experiment and discern spirituality without having to be right all the time, as she thinks people feel they have to be with studying doctrines. This is especially appealing to those that feel religious authorities can be overly controlling, (175). Also, she thinks by appreciating historical change, people have more hope for the future when we see how far we have come and that there is a possibility for things to change. Also, she points out that appreciating other religions comes into play here, especially ones which share some of the same ideals. She notes even nonreligious religions, such as secular feminists or peace actiists. This helps those in touch with spirituality to question ideas such as sexuality and patricarchy. Here she quotes Elizabeth Johnson who questions God's role as male: "Is this idea of God not the reflection of patriarchal imagination, which prizes nothing more than unopposed power-over and unquestioned loyalty? Is not the transcendent, omnipotent, impassible symbol of Go the quintessential embodiment of the solitary ruling male ego, above the fray, perfectly happy in himself, filled with power in the face of the obsreperousness of others? (177).

Patrick also thinks that this idea of spirituality holds a different meaning for fulfillment here on earth as opposed to traditional views "when earthly existence was regarded mainly as a testing period preliminary to 'real' fulfillment in the afterlife," (177). Also, she thinks this approach means we can understand grace in more personal terms, for example, as understanding grace to be the "spirit of God."

What these new understandings of God and grace do, in her mind, is to consider matters of justice and egology to be at the heart of discipleship (178). She points out that while there are various ways of understanding spirituality, they all share an appreciation for history. Patrick quotes Roger Haight who writes that in Matthew's gospel, it is how we treat others that matters, not on orthodoxy or regular church attendance. What Patrick is calling for is a balance between an "other-worldly" spirituality and a "this-worldly" spirituality.

What she thinks we should do, then, is renew moral theology to include connections with spirituality and collaboration between experts from both disciplines (180). Here is where Patrick brings in the example of the man on a bus with a shotgun and the two editorials resulting from that incident. Here is where responsibility is questioned. Patrick suggests two types of responsibility: passive and creative. She states that "Creative responsibility looks beyond the predefined role descriptions of the 'good Catholic,' 'the good homemaker,' and the like and sees a myriad of needs and possibilities for action--indeed, a world calling for transformation," (184). She notes here that she believes that both men and women are at a disadvantage when it comes to practicing creative responsibility because of our society, but especially women because of the passive roles they are conditioned to practice because of our culture. Here she quotes sociologist Virginia Sapiro and her findings from 1983. Patrick then quotes Madonna Kolbenschlag's study of fairy tales where women are taught to wait for someone else to "awaken them to existence," (186), instead of taking their spirituality into their own hands.

Then Patrick talks about the "Map of the Moral Life," where she identifies 5 crucial and interrelated elements: God, the moral agent, the context or situation calling for a moral response, the principles and values inflencing that response, and the persons who mediate or interpret for the agent the other factors (188-189). For God, she points out how crucial it is the way we understand God, and how different that can look to different people. The agent is looked at as having a different level of responsibility to situations depending on age, commitments, marital status, and gender. Principles and values include rules or norms and goods. Patrick points out that rules and values can sometimes be in conflict with each other, making this element difficult to grapple. Circumstances and events, can be, as Patrick points out, different "Depending on one's experiences and perspective, the same objective data will have different meanings for different agents," (192). Her last element shapes how we view the other four elements.

Then Patrick talks about "The Rachel Principle," where the biblical Rachel is looked at as everywoman, "mourning every loss from violence and injustice," (196). Here Patrick introduces the idea of solidarity, or challenging us to love our neighbors, which is more than support for a people's cause (196). Here is where we are called to look at those who are oppressed and change the structures that make the people oppressed, and not just agreeing or supporting their cause. Patrick says, "Asking Rachel what she is going through will invite a whole range of activity designed to allow Rachel to know that there is hope for her future," (196). Also, by looking at who Rachel was in the Bible, Patrick wants to point out that even Rachel is product of scandal. Patrick says, ". . . we will do well to remember that for every Rachel we encounter, there is a Leah and a Zilpah and a Bilhah, a less-favored sister and a pair of female slaves," (197).


So....
1. what do you guys think about spirituality vs. doctrine? what are the dangers in each? (especially in spirituality, as Patrick already touched on the dangers of doctrines in the chapter).
2. what do you think about the issue of patriarchy? what about women as being in charicteristically passive roles? is this true?
3. what do you think about the inclusion of other religions in regards to spirituality? what about questions of sexuality? (this really ties in with the first question).
4. what about thinking of the here and now as a fulfillment of our lives instead of the traditional afterlife fulfillment?


Thanks guys! see you tomorrow! hope you had a happy thanksgiving! :)