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PREFACE Vatican II and the two and a half decades which followed represent the best of times or the worst of times, depending on what you read, where you sit, on your expectations, aspirations, psychological mindset and a host of other factors. I should make it clear from the outset that I believethe Council was a work of the Spirit—desperately needed, divinely inspired, devotedly and doggedly carried through. This is not an uncritical endorsement of everything the Council did and said. Far from it. There were inconsistencies and misfires. For instance, the documents on education and communications are embarrassments that deserve the quiet obsequies they have received. On the other hand, there are the great charters of the future: The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World; the Constitutions on the Church, on Divine Revelation, the Decree on Ecumenism ; the Declaration on Religious Liberty; the Decrees on the Liturgy and the Laity. These will not, thank God, go away. They quite simply define the consciousness of many contemporary Catholics. I do not mean to deny abuses practiced in the name of the "spirit of the Council." That was to be expected and could surprise only those with short historical memories. Rather I mean that these documents forever reversed certain ways of thinking in and about the Church, its being and mission, its relation to the world and other Christians and non-Christians. These "certain ways of thinking" are the basis for the Church's being and action in the world—in short, for its moral life and that of individual Catholics. This book is an attempt to see how some of these "certain ways of thinking" spell themselves out in the area of moral theology. In order to put this attempt into sharper focus, I want to make two introductory points. One concerns the author, the other the subjects selected for this volume. As for the author, this volume coincides with the completion of thirty-four years in the field ofmoral theology. During those more than three decades it has been my privilege to be involved in thousands of difficult "cases," in many committees and advisory boards and in the xviii / Preface lives of many individuals and families. Such involvement has brought me into close contact with bishops, priests, physicians, politicians, educators , married couples, attorneys and business executives. Furthermore , as teacher I have learned a great deal from my students. These have included Jesuits preparing for the priesthood (they put up with me for seventeen years), priests around the country, religious women, bishops, medical personnel, and the general public. Since 1965 I have composed "Notes on Moral Theology" for Theological Studies, a task that has brought me both enlightenment, humility (I hope) and the friendship of colleagues around the world. All of this does not necessarily bring wisdom, not by a long shot. But it does generate the desire to put together some enduring impressions . This is especially the case since the last thirty-five years span three discernibly different eras: the pre-Vatican II period, Vatican II and the years following (roughly until around 1980), and what I will call the era of reconstruction, a period covered by the pontificate of John Paul II. Undoubtedly my own analyses, emphases and even choice of subjects will bear marks from all three eras, marks that I am probably incapable of recognizing. That brings me to the choice of subjects. Clearly, the choice would have been virtually endless in a field as open-ended as moral theology . For instance, I could have detailed my own involvement in some of the following events: the 1971 Ethical Directives for Catholic Health Care Facilities; the struggle with Humanae Vitae; discussions on various versions of The Challenge of Peace; the alternate pastoral that five of us (Bryan Hehir, Francis Lally, James Burtchaell, Philip Murnion and I) developed in an attempt to improve what the late Bishop James Rausch (then secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops ) regarded as a weak and pale document (To Live in Christ Jesus}; the Catholic-Methodist dialogues of the late sixties; the emergence of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics in 1971; dealings with various bishops around the country on delicate moral questions; the ethics committee of the American Hospital Association and its deliberations, of the American Fertility Society, of the National Hospice Organization, etc. I have chosen none of these, interesting as they are in themselves. Rather than such themes, I have chosen the chapters presented here...

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