Catholic Sexual Ethics: A Summary, Explanation, and Defense by William E. May, Ronald Lawler, Joseph Boyle, Jr. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 645 important fact too often omitted by Christian scholars: the acknowledgment of our direct and continual dependence on God must lie at the very core of any Christian moral theory. Pinsent’s reminder is both timely and valuable. ANGELA KNOBEL The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. Catholic Sexual Ethics: A Summary, Explanation, and Defense. By WILLIAM E. MAY, RONALD LAWLER, and JOSEPH BOYLE, JR. Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor, 2011. Pp. 352. $18.00 (paper). ISBN: 978-1-59276083 -1. William E. May and his coauthors have distinguished themselves as moral theologians par excellence with a superabundance of books and articles in the field. A profound defender of the Magisterium of the Church, who appeals to reason in order to bring intelligibility to some very hard moral demands, May shows no less scholarship and insight into very difficult intellectual and practical challenges in this latest edition of Catholic Sexual Ethics. With over 509 endnotes and three times as many books and articles referenced, he shows other Catholic theologians the road to becoming a master in the field. Much of this branch of theology concerns itself with advanced or “third level” questions that only the “wise” can grasp (cf. STh I-II, q. 100, aa. 1, 3, and 11; STh II-II, q. 49, a. 3) since the desire for pleasure obscures reason’s ability to discover the norms of behavior in the sexual sphere. After a foreword by Donald Cardinal Wuerl, the first five chapters take the reader through the Church’s teaching on sex, the biblical teaching, the Catholic Tradition down through the ages, the way to think about matters in moral theology, and finally conscience informed by truth. Following on this, three final chapters deal with Christian marriage and virginity, chastity and love in the marital vocation, and lastly, chastity for unmarried persons. The authors explain, “Catholic teaching follows necessarily from the whole scriptural vision of what man and woman are, of what sexuality means, and of the nature of morality.” So, many concepts within the later chapters depend upon earlier ones and are brought back to one’s mind, so that the reader can grasp the unity of the subject matter. A “Pastoral Conclusion” offers suggestions of a pastoral nature for motivating the followers of the Lord to learn and acquire the virtue of chastity. The authors show, in accordance with a virtue-based morality, the underpinnings of the virtue of chastity, and its contrary, the various species of 646 BOOK REVIEWS the vice of lust. Virtue is the result of choosing to follow the precepts of God and, in the case of the married, the counsels of Christ concerning marital acts, as articulated by St. Paul and as taught by the sacred Magisterium of the Church. One can understand neither premarital nor perpetual chastity unless one studies the meaning of sex in marriage, which is why the authors chose to conclude their analysis with a consideration of the single state, whether of those waiting to get married or those who by force of circumstances may not have a vocation to marriage. Throughout the book, the authors attempt to give the authentic teaching of the Church on the goods of marriage and why they are to be pursued in the marital state especially through authentic conjugal acts. The many vices are those human habits that attack and undermine these goods of marriage. Authentic conjugal acts express the following: openness to offspring as a gift from God, a permanent bond whether sacramental or not, and the friendship and affection between the spouses who are meant to achieve holiness. All of these goods can be attacked by any of the vices against chastity, whether contraception, fornication, rape, or adultery. But the authors do not stop there. They cast light on why the pursuit of the goods of marriage is the road to authentic fulfillment and why choosing moral evils that make sexual pleasure an end in itself is a false road. The authors also choose to face dissenters from the received teaching on sexuality, and they attempt to refute the many rationalizations that come principally from proportionalism, a method that attempts to defend the goodness...