"Unto thine own self be true": Christian conscience
Three items follow, all with this theme -
(1) MELBOURNE: 19th February 2010 -- A book by prodigious
Salesian author, moral philosopher and member of the EAO Region, Fr
Norman Ford, may have escaped public attention outside the restricted
area of Catholic Health Care in Australia, but it deserves wider
readership. Christian Conscience, with the subtitle taken from Shakespeare's
Hamlet, is in fact not available in bookshops, but could be
ordered directly from the Catholic Health Care
site.
While working as Scholar in Residence with CHA, Fr
Ford was given the opportunity to study conscience in depth and
write on it for those working in the healthcare sector – nurses,
physicians, allied health professionals and pastoral care
practitioners. It is his hope that this small book will be of benefit
to Christian and Catholic lay healthcare professionals and other
professionals, e.g., teachers, scientists, etc., in their daily work
and lives since they all have a conscience.
Great sacrifices are made by people who live
according to their conscience. Throughout the centuries people
have died rather than to act against their conscience – think of the
martyrs for the Christian faith or Marxists who have died for their
conscientious convictions. Such people were prepared to die
rather than to live deprived of the freedom to act in accordance with
their conscience.
The book begins with a local setting - the
restrictions imposed by the State of Victoria's Abortion Law Reform Act
to the right of healthcare professionals to follow their conscience in
some situations regarding abortion. This serves as a clarion call
to consider the importance of conscience for doctors, nurses,
allied health professionals, indeed for all professionals, and when
necessary to defend the moral rights of conscience.
In Part One Fr Ford presents his own reflections on
the nature and meaning of conscience, how we arrive at judgments of
conscience, the moral principles of conscience, especially in relation
to an erroneous and a doubtful conscience. He gives his own
practical exposition of conscience for lay people, with an eye to
applications for healthcare professionals involved in hospitals,
nursing homes and aged care facilities.
In Part Two, he explores the meanings and usage of
the term conscience and its moral principles in the Tradition. He
begins with the term used by the ancient Greeks and how their term for
conscience made its entry into the New Testament, especially the
Letters of St Paul, the champion of conscience. A study is then made of
the use of the term conscience and its related moral principles in the
writings of St Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Newman, the Second Vatican
Council, Papal teachings and Catholic scholars.
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(2) Rector Major reduced to silence, recounting Haiti experience
ROME: 19th February 2010 -- On the evening of 18th, the Rector
Major addressed the Pisana Community after returning from an
unscheduled trip to Haiti. He was accompanied by a combined ANS and
Missioni Don Bosco, Turin, team who have put together an eloquent video
which has almost no words - just some brief comments by Fr
Chávez as he moves through the ruins. Last night the Rector
Major began to speak of that experience, but was forced to stop for a
long period to recompose himself. He spoke not just of the images that
everyone by now is familiar with at a distance, but of the close-up
impact on the visitors.
While fully acknowledging the debt of gratitude to
outside donors of every description and the enormous work being managed
by the Congregation in this regard (balanced by the enormity of the
work that has to be done even just to still find bodies and provide
decent burial, clear rubble, provide basic needs...) he focused on the
impact on our Salesians there, the need that he felt to give clear
leadership in a context where the fabric of life in the country has
come apart, leadership in the political sphere is absent, other
political currents in the region are hovering, some with self-interest,
and our confreres are stretched to physical but especially
psychological limits, many suffering trauma and needing to care for
tens of thousands of people who have flocked to our land (one can
hardly say 'buildings' ). He also spoke of the extraordinary
generosity he has experienced from confreres all over the world, our
students even in the poorest places, one agricultural school in Africa
selling their prize bull and handing him the money during a recent
visit.
His Good Night concluded with a reminder that all of
our consciences have to face up to this situation - asking ourselves
what God is 'saying' in this 'unspeakable' disaster - '"yet another
motive for experiencing Lent this season", he concluded.
CELBRIDGE: 19th February 2010 -- Fr Pat Egan writes from
Celbridge, outside Dublin, where the Salesian College there is working
at developing a paddock adjoining the school to set up an eco-friendly
horticultural alliance between the Salesians and the local
Celbridge/straffan community (Co. Kildare). Pat asks us to pass this
information (the YouTube link is clickable above) to austraLasia
readers to get worldwide support in the 'AIB Better Ireland'
competition which began on 15th February and runs until 15th March. To
vote by email, after viewing the project "which we want the whole
Congregation to do", he says, "and help us win the €5,000 first prize",
go to www.betterireland.ie, click on the Celbridge sign and follow the
three simple steps to cast a vote for the Salesian ACRE Project.
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