A Plea for the Traditional Family: Situating Marriage within John Paul II's Realist,or Personalist,Perspective of Human Freedom 1

Abstract

This article is an attempt to defend the rights of the traditional family: not simply against the redefinition of marriage, but more fundamentally against a re-conceptualization of human freedom and human rights. To this end, it contrasts what Saint John Paul II calls an individualistic understanding of freedom and a personalistic notion of the same in order to argue that human freedom is called by the Creator to be in service of, and not in opposition to, the good of the human family. From this perspective—that of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church—it argues for the harmony between natural marriage and the respect of fundamental human rights, and it presents the social dimension of marriage as fundamental with respect to the legal and social protection of the family.

Keywords

Marriage (natural)Marriage (gay)Family Rights Freedom John Paul II Personalism Utilitarianism Individualism Natural law

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agasinski

2009. Corps en miettes. Paris: Flammarion.

Aquinas

2012. Summa theologiae, trans. Fr. L. Shapcote, OP and ed. J. Mortensen and E. Alarcón. Vols. 13–20 of the Latin/English Edition of the Works of St. Thomas Aquinas. Lander, WY: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine.

Aquinas

2013. Super Ioan. Super Evangelium S. Ioannis lectura. In Commentary on the Gospel of John, trans. Fr. F.R. Larcher, OP and ed. by the Aquinas Institute. Vols. 35–36 of the Latin/English Edition of the Works of St. Thomas Aquinas, biblical commentaries. Lander, WY: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine.

Barfield

W.D.

, Manning

S.E.

, Kroelinger

, Martin

J.A.

, and Barradas

D.T.

2010. Neonatal intensive-care unit admission of infants with very low birth weight—19 states, 2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 59(44).

Benedict XVI

Pope

. 2005. Deus Caritas Est. [Encyclical letter]. “On Christian love - God is love.” December 25. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html.

Butler

1993. Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of “sex.” New York and London: Routledge.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). 1997. New York, London, etc.: An Image Book/Doubleday.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). 1986. Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the pastoral care of homosexual persons. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html.

Cottier

1996. Défis éthiques. Saint-Maurice, Switzerland: Editions Saint-Augustin.

10.

Dupré

1994. Metaphysics and culture. Aquinas Lecture. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press.

11.

Elshtain

J.B.

1982. “Thank heaven for little girls”: The dialectics of development. In The family in political thought, ed. J.B. Elshtain, 288–351. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

12.

EXPRESS Group. 2009. One-year survival of extremely preterm infants after active perinatal care in Sweden. JAMA 301(21): 2225–2233.

13.

Ide

2001. Une théologie du don. Les occurrences de Gaudium et spes, nr. 24, § 3 chez Jean-Paul II. Anthropotes 17(1): 149–78; 17(2): 313–44.

14.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1979. Redemptoris hominis. [Encyclical letter]. “On the redeemer of man.” March 4. Vatican translation. Boston, MA: Pauline Books and Media.

15.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1981. Familiaris consortio. [Apostolic exhortation]. “On the role of the family in the modern world.” November 22. Vatican translation. Boston, MA: Pauline Books and Media.

16.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1988. Mulieris dignitatem. [Apostolic letter]. “On the dignity and vocation of women.” August 15. Vatican translation. Boston, MA: St. Paul Editions.

17.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1991. Centesimus annus. [Encyclical letter]. “On the hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum.” May 1. Boston, MA: St. Paul Editions.

18.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1993. Veritatis splendor. [Encyclical letter]. “On the splendor of truth.” August 6. Vatican translation. Boston, MA: St. Paul Editions.

19.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1994a. Crossing the threshold of hope, ed. V. Messori and trans. J. McPhee and M. McPhee. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

20.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1994b. Gratissimam sane. “Letter to families.” February 2. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_02021994_families_en.html.

21.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1994c. Natural law must be measure of all human legislation. Sunday Angelus of June 19, 1994. L'Osservatore Romano. June 29.

22.

Paul

John

II Pope. 1995. Evangelium vitae. [Encyclical letter]. “On the Gospel of life.” March 25. Vatican translation. Boston, MA: St. Paul Editions.

23.

Kugelman

, Bader

, Lerner-Geva

, Boyko

, Levitzki

, Riskin

, and Reichman

2012. Poor outcomes at discharge among extremely premature infants: A national population-based study. JAMA Pediatrics 166(6): 543–550.

24.

Kwasniewski

P.A.

1997. St. Thomas, extasis, and union with the beloved. Thomist 61: 587–603.

25.

Nova et Vetera, ed. 2014. Editorial: Substitution des droits de l'individu aux droits de l'homme. Nova et Vetera 84(3):242–7.

26.

Paul VI

Pope

. 1968. Humanae vitae. [Encyclical letter]. “On human life.” July 25. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html.

27.

Pieper

1992. Abuse of language, abuse of power, trans. Lothar Krauth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

28.

Pieper

1997. On love, trans. M. McCarthy, R. Winston, and C. Winston. In Josef Pieper, Faith, hope, love. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

29.

Pinckaers

1995. The sources of Christian ethics, trans. M. T. Noble from the 3rd edition. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.

30.

Pinckaers

2001. Morality: The Catholic view, preface by A. MacIntyre and trans. M. Sherwin. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press.

31.

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (PCJP). 2004. Compendium of the social doctrine of the Church (Libreria Editrice Vaticana). London, New York: Burns & Oates.

32.

Pontifical Council for the Family (PCF). 2000. Family, marriage and ‘de facto’ unions. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_20001109_de-facto-unions_en.html.

33.

Ratzinger

2007a. Truth and freedom, trans. A. Walker. In The essential Pope Benedict XVI: His central writings and Speeches, 337–53. Originally published in Communio 23(1): 15–35.

34.

Ratzinger

2007b. “The problem of threats to human life” (from the April 8, 1991 issue of L'Osservatore Romano). In The essential Pope Benedict XVI: His central writings and speeches, ed. Thornton

J.F.

, and Varenne

S.B.

, 381–92. New York: HarperCollins.

35.

Rosen

2003. Why not artificial wombs? New Atlantis 67(Fall): 67–76.

36.

Sartre

J.P.

1957. Existentialism and human emotions. New York: Philosophical Library.

37.

Schumacher

2013. The human and legal base for protection and support of the family. In Working Papers on promoting human rights and freedoms by upholding legal and social protection for the traditional family. On the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the United Nations International Year of the Family and the 30th Anniversary of the Holy See's Charter of the Rights of the Family. Geneva: Caritas in Veritate Foundation. http://fciv.org/downloads/Schumacher.pdf .

38.

Sherwin

M.S.

2005. By knowledge and by love: Charity and knowledge in the moral theology of St. Thomas aquinas. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.

39.

Sherwin

M.S.

2007. Aquinas, Augustine, and the medieval scholastic crisis concerning charity. In Aquinas the augustinian, ed. Dauphinais

, David

, and Levering

, 181–204. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.

40.

Schmitz

1993. At the center of the human drama: The philosophical anthropology of Karol Wojtyła/Pope John Paul II. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.

41.

Schmitz

1994. Modernity meets tradition: The philosophical originality of Karol Wojtyła. Crisis 12(4): 30–6.

42.

Shivananden

1999. Crossing the threshold of love: A new vision of marriage in the light of John Paul II's anthropology. Edinburgh: T & T Clark.

43.

Trujillo

A.L.

2005. Préface. In Léxique des termes ambigus et controversés sur la famille, la vie et les questions éthiques, ed. Conseil Pontifical pour la Famille, 7–14. Paris: Pierre Téqui.

44.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. 2012. First marriages in the United States: Data from the 2006–2010 national survey of family growth. Study conducted by Casey E. Copen, Kimberly Daniels, Jonathan Vespa, and William D. Mosher. National Health Statics Reports 49. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr049.pdf .

45.

Vatican Council II. 1965. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern world, Gaudium et spes. December 7. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html.

46.

Weigel

1999. Witness to hope. New York: Cliff Street Books.

47.

Wojtyła

1979. The acting person. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company. Analecta Husserliana, vol. X.

48.

Wojtyła

1993a. Love and responsibility, trans. J.T. Willetts. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. The Polish original was published in 1960.

49.

Wojtyła

1993b. The human person and natural law. In Person and community: Selected essays, trans. T. Sandok, 181–5. New York: Peter Lang.

50.

Wojtyła

1993c. Participation or alienation? In Person and community: Selected essays, trans. T. Sandok, 197–207. New York: Peter Lang.

51.

Wojtyła

1993d. “The person: Subject and community.” In Person and community: Selected essays, trans. T. Sandok, 219–61. New York: Peter Lang.

52.

Wojtyła

1993e. The personal structure of self-determination. In Person and community: Selected essays, trans. T. Sandok, 187–95. New York: Peter Lang.

53.

Wojtyła

1993f. The problem of Catholic sexual ethics: Reflections and postulates. In Person and community: Selected essays, trans. T. Sandok, 279–99. New York: Peter Lang.

54.

Wojtyła

1993g. Subjectivity and the irreducible in the human being. In, Person and community: Selected essays, trans. T. Sandok, 209–17. New York: Peter Lang.