CST #1: Life and Dignity of the Human

Person

The Language War:Abortion Battle

Write notes on the following:1. What are the keywords that each author is focusing on?2. What is controversial about each of the words according to

each author?3. What does each author propose we should do in regards to

our language surrounding abortion?4. What are your feelings/what do you think about the

language war in relation to abortion? (min. 5 sentences)5. In addition to fighting the language war, what are some

alternative measures that you think would add to the success of the ‘pro-life’ side?

So what if abortion ends a life?Groups of 4: going around in the circle, 30 seconds each, recorder to your left.1. What is your reaction to the article? What are your feelings

towards Mary Elizabeth Williams?Who will defend her? • If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should

find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow• Engrave this upon your heart: there isn’t anyone you couldn’t

love once you heard their story. -Mary Lou Kownacki• Be kind to everyone you meet, for every person is fighting a

great battle. -St. Ephraim

So what if abortion ends a life?Why do you think people don’t defend the dignity of others even if they acknowledge it? • Scared to stand out, scared of persecution, indifference, easier

to not, equating actions with person so if I defend them then it will seem like I’m condoning their actions

Back in groups: same recorders, 3 minutes to pull out the good2. What good can you spot?• Is she trying to be logical? (Yes, when…)• What point does her logic revolve around? (What has to be

refuted from the pro-life side?)

So what if abortion ends a life?Back in groups: same recorders, 4-5 minutes to tell her story and how you would approach her.3. Pro-lifers “browbeat us”, use “scare tactics”, push for “forced

ultrasounds”, falsely claim “abortion stops a beating heart”• What has led to these strong sentiments about the pro-life movement?• How you approach her is critical since you know her hostility…so how

do you approach her?• “You bet your [bottom] I’d have an abortion…I’d have the

World’s Greatest Abortion.”• WWJD? WDCSTSYSD?

Blatchford or Chesterton? You Choose

•“Pro-choice” affirms the “individual’s right to choose….something.”• “Reticent to attach an object to that choice […as if] the act of

choosing per se [is] intrinsically meritorious, without regard for the thing chosen.” • “Advocates of abortion simply demand the “right to choose” while in

fact demanding freedom from the consequences of choice.” • “It sounds as though the Catholic view is affirming choice as a good

gift from God, yet it not saying “everything is permissible,” nor that all choices are good simply because we chose them.”

•License: “the arbitrary and uncontrolled exercise of one’s personal autonomy” (CSDC 199)•“freedom” to choose and act however you want, without consequences.

•Freedom: the power to chose the good for the sake of the good.

Veritatis Splendor JPII Encyclical (1993)

• 32. Certain currents of modern thought have gone so far as to exalt freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which would then be the source of values. This is the direction taken by doctrines which have lost the sense of the transcendent or which are explicitly atheist. The individual conscience is accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of moral judgment which hands down categorical and infallible decisions about good and evil. To the affirmation that one has a duty to follow one's conscience is unduly added the affirmation that one's moral judgment is true merely by the fact that it has its origin in the conscience. But in this way the inescapable claims of truth disappear, yielding their place to a criterion of sincerity, authenticity and "being at peace with oneself", so much so that some have come to adopt a radically subjectivistic conception of moral judgment.

Veritatis Splendor JPII Encyclical (1993)• As is immediately evident, the crisis of truth is not unconnected

with this development. Once the idea of a universal truth about the good, knowable by human reason, is lost, inevitably the notion of conscience also changes. Conscience is no longer considered in its primordial reality as an act of a person's intelligence, the function of which is to apply the universal knowledge of the good in a specific situation and thus to express a judgment about the right conduct to be chosen here and now. Instead, there is a tendency to grant to the individual conscience the prerogative of independently determining the criteria of good and evil and then acting accordingly. Such an outlook is quite congenial to an individualist ethic, wherein each individual is faced with his own truth, different from the truth of others. Taken to its extreme consequences, this individualism leads to a denial of the very idea of human nature.• These different notions are at the origin of currents of thought which

posit a radical opposition between moral law and conscience, and between nature and freedom.

Base Hits• Abortion legislators and voters have an obligation to

limit the number of abortions where it is impossible to eliminate it altogether at once.

Reading: page 69-72 Notes on the following:•Personalistic norm (definition)•Relationship of issues and people•Equality of humans and differences•Why is it important to distinguish and uphold both?

Equal and Different• How are people equal?• How are people different?• Why is it important to distinguish both how people are

equal and how they are different? • What happens if we only focus on equality? • What happens if we only focus on their differences?

Less driven by “issues” and more by the people affected by issues.• What practical ways can we do this? • Abortion• In vitro fertilization• Cloning• Embryonic Stem Cell Research• Euthanasia• Capital Punishment

Abortion: p. 73-781. Definition of abortion2. What have genetic studies shown about the

development of a new human being?3. When and what was Roe v. Wade?4. What is Norma McCorvey’s story?5. What mind-set and language help make up a “culture

of death” (3 ideas)6. What are two major factors that lead to disrespect for

the sanctity of life according to the book?7. What is the SLED argument?

Abortion: p. 78-821. Are Catholics bound to obey the current abortion laws in the

US? Explain.2. Explain why the Church says no to abortion even in cases of

rape or incest.1. What is Rebecca Kiessling’s story?

3. What is Project Rachel? 4. How does St. JPII make it about the people affected by

abortion and not simply the issue of abortion?

Section 2 Notes: (p. 83-88)1. True or False The Church opposes stem cell research.

Explain your answer. 2. What are the results from stem cell research?

1. Why is this important? 2. What if embryonic stem cell research became “successful”?

3. Why is human cloning intrinsically evil no matter the intention?

4. If human cloning were “successful”, what does the Church teach about the “result”?

5. Why “at its core” is reproductive cloning contrary to the personalistic norm?

Section 3 Notes: (p. 89-94)• Copy and complete the “Note Taking” chart on p. 89

Euthanasia • Right-to-Die Legislation: Voluntary (choosing it for

oneself) euthanasia which is also known as physician-assisted suicide.

1. No value in suffering2. Extreme individualism and absolute right to freedom

(license)1. Masters of their own life and death

3. Cost effective/threats to the economic well-being of others

Meghan Daum’s Challenge • “…that delicate balance between ‘what I believe’ and ‘what

I’d do if it were me or a loved one.’” • https://www.gov.ca.gov/docs/ABX2_15_Signing_Message.pdf

• CCC ¶1503-1509, 2276-2279Dear future selves,

What do you believe about assisted suicide, suffering, etc. (bring in Church’s teaching)? Why? What would you want to tell/remind yourself if you found yourself in a situation of great suffering where you might consider assisted suicide?

Sincerely,

REVIEW• Notes

• Ch. 3 Quiz• Clarifications on the next 2 slides

•Euthanasia• voluntary• involuntary

•Stem cell research• embryonic• adult

•End of life care•Ordinary measures• Extraordinary measures

•Freedom•License

•SLED• S• L• E•D

•Death penalty• permissible• abolition

•Freedom as an absolute value (excessive individualism)• abortion• euthanasia

St. Gianna Molla• “We cannot love without suffering and we cannot suffer

without love”.• Think of someone whom you love very much. Describe

the ways in which loving them involves suffering. (3)• Think of something/someone that you are willing to

suffer for. Describe concretely how you might act towards that thing/person if you did not have love. (What is our response to suffering if love is absent?) (2)• https://onebillionstories.com/lighthouse-womens-center-

and-paula-suhr-bring-hope-to-denver-women-unborn-children/

Reproductive Technologies• The Church outlines the criteria for determining

if a particular technology is morally acceptable in Donum Vitae:

• If the technology ASSISTS the marital act in achieving pregnancy then it is morally acceptable; however is the technology REPLACES the marital act in order to achieve pregnancy it is not morally acceptable.