evangelium_vitae the dignity of human life
TRANSCRIPT
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EvangeliumEvangelium VitaeVitae(The Gospel of Life)(The Gospel of Life)
Encyclical Letter by the Supreme PontiffJOHN PAUL II
on the Value and Inviolability
of Human Life
25 March 1995
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Some historical notesSome historical notes
-48,000-word (11th) encyclical issued on 25 March1995, Feast of the Annunciation, on the 17th year of
JP IIs pontificate.
-A response to the proceedings of the plenary
meeting of College of Cardinals held from April 4-7,
1991 to discuss threats to the dignity of human life
( Cf EV #5).
-The Cardinals, recognizing the threat, asked thePope, to give an authoritative voice and
expressionto the Churchs magisterium in regard
to the dignity of human life.
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Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth, 1993)
-presented the process of moral analysis
-the why and how of moral decision-making
Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life)
-teaches us of the what of moral decision-making
-direct and voluntary killing of the innocent, abortion,euthanasia, manipulation of life are gravely immoral
acts.
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Outline of the DocumentOutline of the DocumentIntroduction
Chapter 1: THE VOICE OF YOUR BROTHERS BLOOD CRIES TO ME
FROM THE GROUND
- a reflection on the murder of Abel by Cain (Gen. 4)
- present-day threats to human lifecontraception
abortion
techniques of prenatal diagnosis
euthanasia
the demographic question
capital punishment
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Chapter II: I CAME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE
- a Christian message concerning life
- the Paschal mystery as paradigm for fullness of life
- the notion of quality of life
- human life as essentially ordered to eternal life- death as even a passage towards fullness of life
Chapter III: YOU SHALL NOT KILL
- the culture of death- abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, etc
- legal law vis--vis natural moral law
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Chapter IV: YOU DID IT TO ME
-For a new culture of human life
-The collective duty to promote a culture of life
-The culture of life promoters
-Bishops, priests, theologians, catechists, teachers, health care
professionals
-The aids to promotion
prayer, sacraments, charity, the gift of self
-formation of conscience
CONCLUSION: MARY as model of culture of life
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Today we are witnesses of a true war of the
mighty against the weak, a war that looks to
the elimination of the disabled, of those whoare a nuisance, and even those who are poor
and useless in all the moments of existence.
With the complicity of states, colossal means
have been used against people at the dawn
of their life, when their life has been
rendered vulnerable by accident or illness, or
when they are near death.
* The Problem of Threats to Human Life *
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Modern Fixation on the Individual
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The Right to Privacy
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Modern Skepticism: All Opinions are Equal
Dictatorship of Relativism
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At the heart of liberty
is the right to define ones
ownconcept of existence, of
meaning, of the universe,
and the mysteryof human life.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
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Crimes Against Life: New Rights
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In seeking the deepest roots of the
struggle between the culture of life andthe culture of death, we cannot restrict
ourselves to the perverse notion of
freedom.We have to go to the heart ofthe tragedy being experienced by modern
man: the eclipse of the sense of God and
of man.
Evangelium Vitae 21
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Foundational PrinciplesFoundational Principles
God as ultimate origin and destination of life
And God said, Let us
make man in our own
image and likeness Inhis own image He made
them. Male and female
He created them.(Gen
1:27)
God is the source of everything we
HAVE and ARE
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Who is the Human Person?
1. Open and relational by nature
openness as the logic of life
per= to
suonare= to sound through
2. Conscious being
3. Embodied spirit
4. Historical reality
5. Unique yet fundamentally equal ( a fitting helper)
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The murder of Abel by Cain ( Gen. 4: 2-16) EV chapter 1
1. The prohibition against murder
But God cannot leave the crime unpunished: from
the ground on which it has been spilt, the blood of
the one murdered demands that God should render
justice (cf. Gen 37:26; Is 26:21; Ez 24:7-8). From this
text the Church has taken the name of the "sins which
cry to God for justice", and, first among them, she has
included willful murder Indeed "the blood is the
life" (Dt 12:23), and life, especially human life,belongs only to God: for this reason whoever attacks
human life, in some way attacks God himself. (EV 9)
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2. The prohibition vs conspiracy against life (EV 12)
- Abortion ( secular definition) :Deliberate endingof a pregnancy by medical intervention. (But
medical personnel will also use this term for a
miscarriage, which is involuntary, calling it a
"spontaneous abortion.")
- Abortion (EV #58 definition) procured abortion
is the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever
means it is carried out, of a human being in theinitial phase of his or her existence, extending
from conception to birth.
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3. The prohibition vs capital punishment (EV 9)
- Cain is cursed by God and by the earth (Gen 4:11-12)
- And yet, God is merciful in his punishment, put a
mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should
kill him (Gen 4:15)
- Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity.
God himself pledges to guarantee this. The
paradoxical mystery of the merciful justice of God
is shown forth. ( EV 9, 56)
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2. False notion of Freedom (EV 19)
The tree of knowledge of good and evil
a. Man does not create the truth, hediscovers it
b. Freedom the power to do/choose
what I ought
c. License the power to do what I like
from within people, from their hearts come evil thoughts,
unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils
come from within and they defile.(Mk 7:21-22 NAB
also 1 Peter 4: 3-5)
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Consequences of false freedom ( EV 20)
1. a serious distortion of life in society (EV 20)where natural rights can be overturned by the strong,
majority.
To claim the right to abortion, infanticide
and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in
law, means to attribute to human freedom a
perverse and evil significanceThis is the
death of true freedom: "Truly, truly, I say to
you, every one who commits sin is a slave to
sin (Jn 8:34)(EV 20)
2. A society of individuals with no responsibility. Am I my
brothers keeper?
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3. The loss of a sense of God (EV 20)
a. Cain laments, from your face I shall be hidden
(Gen 4:13-14)
b. Man no longer sees himself as mysteriously
different from all the rest of the animals, reduced to
being a thing.
c. Life itself becomes a mere thing which manclaims as his exclusive property, completely
subject to his control and manipulation (EV 22)
You and me baby, we aint nothin but mammals so
lets do it together, like they do in discovery channel.
- from a song byBloodhound Gang
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Consequences of loss of sense mans dignity (EV 23)
1. The notion of Quality of life
quality of life is interpreted primarily or
exclusively as economic efficiency, inordinate
consumerism, physical beauty and pleasure,to the neglect of the more profound
dimensions - interpersonal, spiritual and
religious - of existence(EV 23)
- Phenomenon of prenatal testing forabortion purposes
- Euthanasia or mercy killing
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Some people with poor quality of life * *
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Consequences of loss of sense mans dignity (EV 23)
Utilitarian and Functionalist Philosophies
Speciesism (T. Engelhart, J. Fletcher)
-Thou shall not discriminate on the basis of being a
member of the human species. It makes a distinctionbetween
Human a biological member of the human
speciesPerson a self-conscious, free, moral agent.
Some are considered non-persons.
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Critique of Speciesism
-being a person does not require that here andnowone is functioning as an intelligent, free,
moral agent. One must simply have the innate
powerto develop such capacities and to exercisethem more effectively under favorable and
appropriate conditions.
- Fails to distinguish and appreciate thedifference betweenpassive potencyand
active potency.
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Critique of Speciesism
Passive potency having the potential to changebut somebody/something else gives me the
capacity to do that. The capacity is not within
the person/thing concerned.Active potency having the potential to change
and develop and the capacity is not given by
somebody/something else. The capacity isintrinsic and within the person/thing
concerned.
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2. The misuse/abuse of sexuality, procreation
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2. The misuse/abuse of sexuality, procreation
- Wombs for hire
- Designer children, children as property, therapeutic
cloning
- Artificial forms of reproduction: IVF (in vitro fertilization)
3. Confusion of nature of motherhood/fatherhood
a. Natural mother
b. Genetic mother
c. Gestational mother
d. Nurturing mother
e. Genetic/gestational
f. Gestational/nurturing
g. Genetic/nurturing
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Confusion Galore
Mike Keefe, The Denver Post, 3/26/03
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Donum Vitae: Gift of Life(1987)
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Replacing nature vs.
Assisting nature
A medical intervention respects the dignity of
persons when it seeks to assist the conjugal act
either in order to facilitate its performance or in
order to enable it to achieve its objective once it has
been normally performed. (II:7)
If the technical means facilitates the conjugal act or
helps it to reach its natural objectives, it can be
morally acceptable. If, on the other hand, the
procedure were to replace the conjugal act, it is
morally illicit. (II:6)
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Selective Termination
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Excess Embryos
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4. The instrumentalization of the human body
- I have a body vs I am a body
- the commercialization of the body sale of
organs
Anatomical/physiological integrity- thephysical completeness of body parts and
organs
Functional integrity the capacity of a personto function as an organic whole regardless of
the loss of some anatomical parts
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4. The instrumentalization of the human body
Mutilation (principle of integrity)- the taking away or purposely rendering
dysfunctional of a healthily functioning part of
the body
-safeguards the principle of stewardship
Therapeutic surgery(principle of totality)
- The justifiable injury or taking away of a
diseased or pathological part of the anatomy
for the purpose of healing.
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The Bible and the Greek word Brephos
-literally means baby
Luke 1:41 the baby (brephos) leapt in
Elizabeths womb
Luke 2:12,16 and they found the newborn
(brephos) Jesus lying in the manger
Luke 18:15 and the little children(brephos) were being brought to Jesus
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Brephos
- refers to the same person identity
conception, birth, infancy and childhood.
- a continuity of the same personal dignity andidentity
the task of accepting and serving life
involves everyone; and this task must be
fulfilled above all towards life when it is at
its weakest. (EV 43)
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To reject the Culture of Death (EV 28)
- Abortion
- Contraception
- Euthanasia
- Prenatal diagnosis
- Techniques of artificial reproduction
- Capital punishment
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Some questions for reflectionSome questions for reflection
1. What feelings were evoked in me as I listen to thepresentation? Ano ang aking mga naramdaman habang
nakikinig sa panayam?
2. What challenges, if there are, were aroused in me? May mga
hamon ba akong naramdaman?
3. What is my attitude, point of view with the concerns raised?
Ano ang aking mga pananaw sa mga bagay na pinag-
usapan?
4. Where/how do I manifest my promotion of the Culture oflife? Culture of death? Saan at kailan ko naipapahayag ang
kultura ng buhay? Kultura ng kamatayan?