The Kantian and Patristic starting points of Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar respectively show up in their differing descriptions of the inculturation of the Christian Faith. Despite the dispute over the notion of the "anonymous Christian," the two authors' practical theologies are very similar. Von Balthasar's retrieval of the notion of form takes us beyond the limitations of Rahner's focus on the conditions of possibility of the faith which leaves the "anonymity" of the faith amorphous and describes the concrete encounter which constitutes concrete Christian existence. This retrieval also enables a more detailed description of the form of Christian existence itself

This article examines the transformation of the field of social work over the past century, noting its increasing and almost total secularist viewpoint at this juncture, as well as its overall failure to provide genuine help to those it so laudably seeks to serve. A call for strong reform is made, using the concept of a Catholic social servant as a viable and very desirable alternative and competitor to the present model The article makes use of (among other sources) the social encyclicals to make the case for social work to be something much more than it has become. The best of social work wisdom can be brought into a model based on Catholic social and moral teaching, producing a field ordered by Truth and filled with Divine mercy, thus well equipped to serve the poor and suffering more effectively — in short, a new social work profession for the New Springtime foreseen by Pope John Paul II.

This article presents a theoretical and research agenda for the study of marriage and the family. This agenda is formulated on the basis of an integral perspective which combines faith, reason, and empiricism in a harmonious scientific system of truth. The integral approach to family studies is presented as focusing on the causes and consequences of benevolent love. This focus is explored relative to marriage and family as a group and as an institution. Scientific, reform, and practical aspects of an integral approach to family studies are considere

Since we are created in the image of the Trinitarian God, it comes as no surprise that the theology of the Trinity has anthropological implications which can serve to illumine the Catholic social principles of subjectivity, solidarity and subsidiarity. This illumination serves as a response to the modern and postmodern objection that revealed religion is prohibitive of human flourishing. Trinitarian doctrine, far from being a distant theological construct, is friendly to our being: it grounds our human dignity (subjectivity) insofar as each Trinitarian person has his own substantial being as a person; it grounds our communal nature (solidarity) insofar as the relationality of the Trinitarian persons is intrinsic to their personhood; and because the unity of the Trinity cannot absorb its relationality, it even points in some important directions for our understanding of the State's relationship to society (subsidiarity).

Reasoned argumentation has an important part to play in helping persons make morally upright choices, however it is not, and can never be thought of by Christians, as an adequate substitute for Christian hope. Modern technology provides choices for avoiding suffering and death that can be immoral Without Christian hope it is unrealistic to expect persons to choose well even in such difficult cases

This article attempts to sort out "rights" language by identifying (1) the claimant to the right (A), (2) other persons (B), and a specific action (X). It shows that if the action in question is an act on the part of the claimant to the right then the right at stake is in truth a "liberty" and not a right in the strict sense, whereas if the action specified is an act on the part of others then the right at stake is a right in the "strict sense." Thus the claim of pregnant women to a right to abort their unborn children turns out to be a claim to a liberty because the act in question, to abort, is an act on the part of the pregnant women, whereas the claim that unborn children have a right to life is a claim to a right in the strict sense, because here the act in question is an act on the part of their mothers, this time, an act of forbearance, i.e., of forbearing killing them by aborting them. A similar analysis shows that the right to die claimed by those championing voluntary euthanasia is a claim to a right in the strict sense, because the action specified is required not of those claiming the right but of others, namely, to kill mercifully those freely choosing to be so killed.

In international law, there are norms from which no derogation is permitted (jus cogens) and obligations binding on all States without exception, every State having an interest in their protection (erga omnes) What is the ultimate foundation of these categories of norms and obligations? Is it the will of the stronger States (or of a majority of them acting arbitrarily) or is it a higher moral law to which International law, like all human law, must conform?

Although Monsignor John A. Ryan is the central character in conventional historical treatments of American Catholic social thought in the 1930s, there were other important figures representing Catholic approaches to the social question. Many of these social thinkers divergedfrom Ryan, particularly on the point of the degree to which they were willing to grant government a dominant role in the realization of social justice. The Catholic critics of the New Deal deserve a place of prominence in our historical understanding of Catholic social thought in the United States.

This article is an attempt to advance the discussion on the necessary integration of pastoral theology and psychology in pastoral psychology. After briefly reviewing the history of psychology as it diverged from its philosophical roots, this article then presents the thought of The Catechism of the Catholic Church on the nature of the human person, focusing on the subject of the passions as discussed by St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica. A case example is given to contrast a counseling approach that is not specifically pastoral with one that is rooted in Catholic teaching.

U.S. and Canadian critics complain of activist judges; judges complain of ignorant critics. Their debate is vain because both sides have spurned God, Christ and the Magisterium who founded our laws and gave them unity, consistency and coherence. Instead of applying divine principle, purpose and authority, judges now interpret words of human Will and critics appeal to it: i.e. public policy, public opinion or statutes all controlled ultimately by sexual hedonists in Hollywood. Judicial independence and professionalism have gone. Holds that all must proclaim Divine and Papal authority or perish.

For many years, research has pointed to substantial differences between couples who practice natural family planning (NFP) and couples who use artifical birth control. Using data collected from a sample of women in the United States of America who practice natural family planning and comparing them to well-known national surveys, this study examines the effects of natural family planning and artifical birth control on several dimensions of marital andfamily Ufe. The study finds that NFP women have lower rates of abortion and divorce, (0.2%), than women in the national samples. The NFP women are more likely to be married and are more likely to recommend premartial chastity to young women. The study also finds a high level of success in family life among NFP women, as well as strong religious faith. Results support the hypothesis that naturalfamily planning is associated with positive spousal relationships and family stability. Interpretations of new data are discussed.

This essay, attempts to show why so many luminaries and discerning minds throughout the ages, both within the Catholic Church and outside of it, have held St.Augustine in the highest esteem. It will show that a great part of his enduring reputation rests on the Confessions, the immortal narrative of his difficult ascent tothe Throne of God. For it is there above all that the saint offers instruction in the choices we all must make, as we journey through a fallen world. The incomparable journey of his soul's journey has endeared Augustine to countless readers and pilgrim souls, as a guide to sanctity and the fullness ofgrace