Patrick Hannon

Morality in Medicine Good Medical Practice Implies Good Morality

is already committed to the view that men ought to act morally, that in their choices and decisions men ought always to seek the moral good. And medicine or any other project which strives to do good to or for anyone will be truly good only if it is also morally good. Neither indeed is it necessary to labour the point for the benefit of the medical profession. Paracelsus said, &dquo;It is a lame creature who calleth himself

Aquinas, Morality and Law

At the beginning of his book Law, Liberty and Morality, Professor H. L. A. Hart distinguishes four questions which may be put concerning the relationship between morality and law. The first is whether the development of law has been influenced by morality (and vice versa). The second is whether an adequate definition of law or legal system must contain some reference to morality. The third asks whether and how the law may be open to moral criticism. And the fourth has to do with the legal enforcement of morals; the question whether the law should restrain immorality or, to put it differently, whether immorality should be a crime.’ I

Church and State in Ireland: Perspectives of Vatican II

This paper argues that Irish Bishops’ Conference interventions in the public square since the Council have accorded well with the Declaration on Religious Freedom but have lacked an adequate awareness of key themes of the two Constitutions on the Church. It shows how attention to these themes may enrich the bishops’ future contributions to debate on socio-legal issues in the changed context in which Irish Catholicism now finds itself. It maintains that public discussion of secularization has been on the whole superficial and unhelpful, and in the light of observations by Owen Chadwick and a proposal by Charles Taylor it offers some suggestions for its improvement.

Religion, the Constitution, and the New Ireland

The Preamble to the 1937 Irish Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann) invokes God as understood in Christian tradition as the source of human authority and as mans final end. It is sometimes nowadays contended that in a pluralist Ireland this is inappropriate. This contention is here considered in the light of the main arguments made for and against inclusion of a reference to God and Christian origins in a European Constitution. Drawing on work of L. Siedentop and J. Weiler, the author proposes a starting-point for informed public discussion of the issues involved.

Theological Reflection on 'the good of the spouses' (Can. 1055 #1)

The historical origins and theological meaning of the technical term bonum conjugum used in the new Code of Canon are explored with a view to assisting canon lawyers in the interpretation of Can. 1055, #1.

Law and Virtue: Aquinas and Augustine

‘From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.’ ‘Remember always with thanksgiving that the treasure now to be entrusted to you is Christs own flock, bought through the shedding of his blood on the cross.’

In Vitro Fertilisation

The development of techniques of in vitro fertilisation illustrates a characteristic predicament of moral analysis today. For humankind is now faced with moral questions of great complexity, before which even the most confident of ethical traditions is forced to pause; and these questions develop with unprecedented speed. There is no time for leisurely reflection, yet reflection and painstaking analysis are above all needed. In vitro fertilisation has been envisaged for some decades, and it has, of course, provoked ethical discussion from the beginning. And that discussion has intensified since the birth of Louise Brown in 1978. But the range and complexity of technical possibility continue to increase, and ethical debate must keep pace. Those who think that the moral issues at stake may be settled easily by recourse to existing principles from one or other ethical tradition are naive. It is doubtless a reflection of the complexity of the question that it was only in February of last year that it was formally addressed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Before that some Bishops’ Conferences had offered provisional comment. In England, for example, after the publication of the Warnock Report’ in 1984, an official statement had urged great caution in face of the new reproductive technology, and was especially critical of aspects of the report which could never be imagined·to cohere with the main lines of existing Catholic teaching concerning the sanctity of life and the sacredness of marriage. In somewhat similar vein a statement was published by the Irish Conference in March 1986.’ But it was not until February 1987 that the Vatican took a formal position, with the publication of an Instruction on Respect for Human Life and on the Dignity of Procreation. 4 In this article I wish to give an account of the Instruction, together with some remarks concerning its arguments and chief conclusions. It may be helpful to recall first the