Abortion

My current stance on abortion is that it should be allowed for women under special circumstances which consider factors such as age, health risks, and whether or not the pregnancy was a result of rape. In general, I do support that women should be presented with an option if they have an unwanted pregnancy. However, my stance considers a restriction on people that abuse that option. Therefore, I have to say that although I am not opposed to abortion, there needs to be a limit on the number that are allowed. The main reason why I hold this opinion is because I know a woman who is right now considering a third abortion. Although she is not married, she does live with a man who supports her and the two children they have had together. However, she has been unfaithful to him and without any hesitation, has chosen to abort yet another child. I find situations such as these absolutely frustrating because I believe that the decision to abort a pregnancy should not be taken lightly. If one had chosen to have one in the past, I would expect an individual to learn from the experience and avoid having to make a similar decision again. If the option of abortion is readily available for all women whenever they choose, some individuals would take it for granted. It is in cases like these where I have to say no to allowing abortion in every case which it is requested.

I believe the group who did their presentation on abortion did a very good job of presenting the various aspects of the debate. One of those aspects is considering the question of when life begins.  Also, the presentation did teach me more in depth about the alternative options that are available besides having an abortion, one of them being adoption. I definitely felt that the group did a great job in presenting a pro life perspective in their presentation which is very informative for individuals such as myself who do believe some women should have the right to abort. I could not help, however, to find a problem with the adoption argument. I single that point out of the presentation because I feel it was the most emphasized. I felt that the presentation portrayed giving up a child for adoption as a simple solution to an unwanted pregnancy. However, that decision is much more complex than just  giving a child up when you do not want it. Pregnancy is neither physically, emotionally, nor financially easy to do. And giving birth is such a life changing experience, I don't know if its the right to say that it is immoral for a person not to give their child up for adoption because I think these are serious aspects that need to be considered. Overall, I do feel that I have better insight on both perspectives, but I think right now abortion is a debate so complex that my stance has continually changed (and may continue to change) as I find that my own perception of moral ethics has changed over time.

St. Augustine's Confessions has caused me to look at the decisions that I have made in the past, and reflect on whether or not I have developed a sense of purpose in my life.  Since I was a child, my mother has always been very religious. Much like St Augustine's own mother, my mother found Catholicism to be a very integral aspect required in both the lives of my sister and I. She enrolled us in Sunday school during my early youth, hoping that it would be a huge influence on our lives. However, as soon as I completed my First Communion, I did not find it necessary to go back. In my perspective, it was just another thing to mark off of my checklist. It was not for another eleven years that I began to feel a need to return to the Church.

I find it very problematic when parents try to force their children to believe in something that they don't understand fully. I am not accusing my own mother of doing this, for when I decided to stop going to Church, she never tried to make me go against my will. She merely introduced me to the faith, and let me follow the course of my own beliefs. I think that I was not ready for a religious commitment in the same manner that St. Augustine was not ready for it either. I finally reached a point in my life where I found that religion was essential to my identity. To understand my humanity and my relation to others and to God has enriched my perspective on what I am meant to be doing. Therefore, I have realized that there has been a complete reorientation of the manner in which I make decisions. 

Sometimes it’s difficult because I am aware of how young people my age are, and I hear so many people say "We're only young once". However I disagree with this motto to a degree where the severity of our mistakes is disregarded. There comes a point in our lives when you have to stop making decisions only in relation to yourself, and think about it in perspective to the world that you live in.  My faith has allowed me to realize that I live in a community of people and that we are all united in that we share the same life. After reading Confessions, I am glad to have discovered this early in my youth as opposed to so much later in my life like St. Augustine. He realizes the amount of time that he has lost indulging in the immediate pleasure of his youth in comparison to the joy which his relationship to God has given him. I have definitely found this realization to have come at a great time in my life, and therefore St. Augustine’s reflection has allowed me that it is important for me to have this sense of purpose now, rather than later in my life. It ultimately makes every decision of mine much more significant to myself and my developing identity as a Catholic. 

Reflection on Death Penalty

The death penalty is controversial because people disagree about whether the capital punishment system serves justice appropriately. There is no manner in which to agree upon this because everyone's concept of justice varies along with each individual's sense of morality. According to Keenan's book Moral Wisdom "Conscience 'dictates' that we pursuit justice" (35). Therefore, those people that support the death penalty believe in their conscience that it is justice to make a person who has committed a crime of exceptionally high degree to be sentenced to death. However, Keenan notes that conscience can be erroneous, and what matters is what a person's motivation is during the course of moral decision making. The entire concept of the capital punishment system is malicious in that it carries vindictive sentiments towards another individual. As an opponent of the death penalty, I will have to say that I look towards Jesus in the New Testament as a guide in how we as Catholics should follow Him in the moral decisions that we make each day.

Keenan describes Jesus' three greatest virtues as being loving, obedient of God's will, and merciful. If anything, the death penalty contradicts all three of these virtues. A supporter of capital punishment may say that the sentence is justice done in love for the victim and the victim's family. This "love" is negated with the hateful sentiments towards the criminal. The anger that it arouses detains people from being merciful, which is significant in that mercy is what distinguishes Christianity from other religions. As to whether or not taking a life is obedient to God's will, I cannot say because I do not know the answer to that. I think that it is condescending for human beings to assume that they do know the answer and therefore believe that it is acceptable to determine a value of a person's life. I think that only God Himself can determine what the value of a life is and therefore it should be put in His hands whether to end it, however, I do believe that we all share a sense that the criminal has to repent as it is also a significant aspect of our faith. This is why I believe in the alternative of life imprisonment because it is still a manner of protecting our citizens and it allows us to abide by our faith, which encourages us to believe, hope, and love.

Question of Morality

How do I choose to make moral decisions? Although I initially underestimated the difficulty of this question, I find that it requires me to to make an analysis of what significantly drives me as a human being. I believe that in order to establish this as accurately as possible, I must introspect about the diverse aspects of my growth development. I begin with the very person who instilled in me a first perception of what is right or wrong: my mother. As a child, the motivation to act in a manner that was deemed to be "right" originated in my desire to gain approval from my mother, who of course was significant in her status as my sole provider. Because she was my main source of interaction, I mistook morality for an exchange of benefits. I did something that was "good" and my mother would reciprocate by showing me affection. However, once I began to interact with people outside of my home, the simplicity of that idea began to develop into something much more than what I had estimated morality to be. People external to the home do not naturally possess the unconditional love that a parent or family member has for one. Therefore one will find variance within the responses that one receives to an act which an individual might have initially perceived to be "good". It is these social interactions which allow one to transform themselves into a state that is more independent from their parent's ideals, as one modifies these moral foundations which were influenced by their family into ones that also fit into their society's norm. Human experience from both familial and social interactions are significant to how my sense of morality has molded.

As one develops the concept of morality, an effect attributable to the interaction between the home and public setting, it is still a complicated matter as to whether logic or intuition are more significant into what morality entails. I will categorize anything that is learned from human interaction (speech, visual aids, writings, etc.) under logic, and will only refer to the sentimental aspects of the psychical as being categorized under intuition. Logic includes religion, for one would not have the concept of God without some form of education on behalf of another human being (whether it be word of the mouth, scriptures written by apostles, etc). While logic does greatly influence one's conscience, I will have to say that logic would not have significance without intuition. We would not follow instructions blindly from logic as to what is morally correct unless we felt emotionally guided by the information it provides. Although one may argue that children follow parents instructions blindly, it is not so, because from within they are seeking approval from a person whom unconditionally loves them. A child loves the affection which they receive from their parent and in love they try to reciprocate the favor. As Keenan mentions in the first chapter of Moral Wisdom, love is a driving force. Therefore I will have to conclude that intuition is the strongest influence on my moral decisions. My intuition guides me immediately as to whether or not I believe something to be morally right depending on how confident I feel about the logic which I have acquired through human interaction and experience.

Elimination of fear through Overcoming of Tragedy

"How should members of a tradition respond when their tradition is implicated in tragedy or evil?"

When I was a child, I would always dread the moment when I would first walk into church. My parents always made sure to arrive a couple of minutes early, just in time for us to make our way over to the giant statue of Jesus' crucifixion that was right at the entrance of mass. I remember it perfectly, the way that Jesus would look down at me in agony. I remember the blood stains all over his wounds, and the nails that were pounded into his hands and feet. I watched as people would stare right into his face, and tenderly place their hands on his wounds. My mother always would urge me to do so as well, but I always rejected her offer as I found myself to be experiencing complete and immediate fear at the thought of it. I just simply could not comprehend how people could purposely confront such a gruesome image, and then symbolically put themselves in the situation by relating to it and TOUCHING it. I was scared of it all. And this image made me somewhat afraid of all that was religious and that which is labeled as "holy". It all always brought me back to that image.

So how exactly should one react to the traditions of the church when its origin derives from a tragedy? That is a question that I have struggled with since my childhood when I watched those people embracing Jesus in that graphic depiction of his crucifixion. This image made me fear Jesus. With the look of agony that the statue gave me, I could not help but feel guilty as well. I felt that his look was a cry for help, and there I was, doing nothing. Therefore, I also feared that Jesus would spite me. And growing up I thought that the only way I could escape that fate was by completing the rituals that the Church offered. I found that there was no alternative to that because if I didn’t follow through with the traditions, I would be punished by God.

Now that I am older, I still believe that my initial reaction to the Church and its rituals is a very natural one. The crucifixion of Jesus is a very dark and powerful image that requires maturity to confront. And initially fear is how I approached it and what motivated me to follow the Church’s traditions. However, as a child I lacked the understanding that Jesus died for our sins. It was something that I heard all of the time, but I never understood what it meant until very recently in my life. It is at this point when I started to approach the church and its traditions very differently. It is not something I have to do anymore, but something I choose to do. Understanding the tragedy behind the crucifixion allows us as Catholics to understand why we follow through with the traditions of the church. Most importantly, it gives us purpose and erases that fear which we may initially feel. It is difficult to know how to react to tragedy, but overcoming it eliminates fear and allows for development in one's faith.

Defining the terms "holy" and "apostolic"

From my perspective, to define something as holy is to describe it as being associated with the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I interpret the Holy Trinity to be the epitome of the divine; therefore in my opinion, any person, place, or thing that is blessed with its presence is considered to be holy. I also believe that sacraments are holy, both the community valued Seven Sacraments and the individual sacraments that we experience in our everyday lives. I think that these moments generate the awareness of such a holy presence that exists in our world and therefore, they are just as holy. They enable us to form a relationship between the secular and holy which is why they hold so much significance within our faith. As to whether or not something is holy, I believe it is the Church’s responsibility of determining its genuineness. I believe that it is the Church’s responsibility to determine whether or not something is holy comes along with the authority which God has granted the Church in guiding us through interpretation of the word. I think that through this authority, the Church is a more qualified candidate in making that decision.

What is resonant to me in the term apostolic is the reference to the apostle’s mission to spread the word of God. I think that this aspect of Catholicism emphasizes the model Christian way of life. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I don’t believe that God would reject an individual who declares their faith in Him. By this, I don’t mean to say that I don’t believe in the significance of Sabbath, but I believe that a person should foremost be actively engaged with the apostolic mission, whether it is by spreading the word or living according to it. The apostolic mission encourages each and every one of us to become active members within our Church which should be a priority. Faith is an activity; one is not truly engaged in it unless one is actively participating in it. Therefore, if one truly declares their faith in God, one is fully involved in the apostolic mission and its message. I think that the Church most represents the apostle’s mission through its teaching of God’s word. However, it also represents those that live according to the word of God because the Church is charitable in its teaching and promotes hospitability within it (which was something heavily emphasized within the Bible). Despite my opinion that one does not necessarily have to go to Sabbath to be part of the apostolic mission, I think that those that go demonstrate great dedication to the mission and contribute to its purpose.

What is the Catholic Church?

The role of the church within the Catholic faith is one that I have always struggled to understand. I have to admit that it is not something that I am well informed of, and that my opinions of the church all concern either rumors that I have heard or assumptions that I have made. When I currently think of the Catholic Church, I am under the belief that it is intended to be the "mediator" between God and the individual. I currently assume this on a basis of two rumors that I have heard: 1. The Church is responsible for the establishment of regulations within the faith, and 2. The Catholic church is necessary because one cannot communicate with God unless an individual follows through with certain rituals under the presence of a priest. If that information is correct, my stance on the Catholic church would be greatly challenged. To me, the necessity of clergy presence for there to be a relationship with God sounds inaccurate, for I could never imagine that He would reject a relationship with any person who declares their faith in Him. For this reason I have developed my own perspective of what the role of the Catholic church is as a result of my experience and developing faith.

I will emphasize once more that this opinion of mine lacks any serious knowledge and therefore is mainly a result of my experience and very basic knowledge of Catholicism. I believe the role of the Catholic church is to bring together people of one faith and share in the recognition that there is a holy presence in this world and praise its existence. This holy presence is of the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). When we come to appreciate this presence as a community, we are both physically and spiritually bonded as God's creation and share a common aspiration towards salvation. However, I do not think that this excludes other members of the Catholic faith who do not attend Sabbath. I think that it is especially important to have developed a personal relationship with God prior to attending church on its own. If one does not have a personal relationship with God developed, then it becomes increasingly difficult to become publicly involved . I think that the Catholic Church and regulations ultimately serve as guidance towards how things are translated into modern day and to encourage people to expand one's relation to God to a more public level. However, I don’t think that it is absolutely necessary (although highly recommended) because all of us are striving towards the same individual goal, which is salvation. By either going to Church or praising God on your own, we share the same intention which is to reach out to God .