Commitments agreed upon internationally by Irish political representatives often escape scrutiny at home.1 One outcome of this omission is evidenced in the debate regarding the family: Is it pivotal to the achievement of the common good, or does its unity act as an obstacle to full equality? This article examines this debate from the standpoint afforded by MacIntyre’s formulation of tradition-constituted enquiries, asking whether current political trends entail a shift in the very basis on which the Irish reason practically.

Interdependence is a phenomenon prevalent in collectivist societies. Despite being a well-known concept, it is only recently that the interaction between interdependence and independence was studied as orthogonally varying constructs (Liu & Goto, 2007). A primary finding is that individuals high on both interdependence and independence have better mental health and higher family cohesion. This article attempts to understand these findings in light of Pope John Paul II’s understanding of persons as gifts. From Trinitarian theology to its philosophical underpinnings, it will be shown that it is precisely in this gift character that interdependence finds its roots and fundamental meaning. Furthermore, this gift structure also accounts more fully and coherently for the independence-interdependence interaction.

A number of academic studies find that various types of state level pro-life legislation reduce the incidence of abortion. However, in these states, it is possible that changes in values and mores, and not the legislation itself, might be responsible for these abortion declines. Indeed, since the enactment of pro-life legislation is not a random occurrence, the analysis of these laws might be biased by what social scientists call “endogeneity problems.” In this study, I address these endogeneity problems through a series of natural experiments. I compare abortion trends in states that enacted pro-life legislation to abortion trends in states where pro-life laws were passed, but later nullified by a judge. All states passing pro-life laws should have experienced similar changes in values, however, the policy changed only in those states where the law took effect. Overall, the results contribute to the body of academic literature which finds that pro-life legislation reduces state abortion rates.

Like Pius XII, who fought to undermine the Nazis, Croatian Archbishop (later Cardinal) Aloysius Stepinac battled with the Nazi-like Ustashi regime. Like Pius, Stepinac was known to those close to him as a staunch opponent of Fascism, but also like Pius, his reputation was smeared by false accusations after the war. In fact, evidence that was manufactured by Communist authorities after the war to defame Stepinac, and which has since been established as false, has made itsway into the historical analysis of Pius XII’s papacy. That false evidence continues to confound scholars and distort their appreciation of efforts undertaken by Pius and Stepinac to combat evil regimes and protect victims of all different backgrounds.

Critics of Pope Pius XII usually fail to account for the dangerous role he took as mediator in a conspiracy against Hitler at the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Peace negotiations between German military rebels and the British government flowed through the Vatican as a secret conduit. First-hand testimonies by German conspirators, and secondary studies by historians of the German Resistance and British-Vatican relations, all give evidence of the Pope’s heroic courage in the face of grave threats to himself and the Catholic Church.

This is a summary and brief explanation of many of the key principles of the economic system called solidarism, developed by Fr. Heinrich Pesch, S.J. in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which was explicitly grounded on Christian and traditional natural law principles.

In the field of biotechnology, developments are far-reaching and frequent. As soon as we hear of one breakthrough, another is usually not far behind. The pace of change alone has made conditions unfavorable for the kind of moral analysis that is needed. As we struggle to keep up with all that is new on the scientific side of the field, we ought to turn to something that is old—as in forty years old now—for critical moral discernment. At a conference on biotechnology last year at theCatholic Studies Center of the Nassau Community College in Garden City, NewYork, Msgr. Robert J. Batule, Professor of Systematic Theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York, noted how the encyclical Humanae Vitae at 40 is helping us to respond intelligently and humanely to the challenges arising from rapid technological change. Here is the address he offered on the occasion.