People sometimes use the phrase “moral compass” to describe the innate sense of right and wrong that human beings have.
President Obama, for example, recently mentioned in one of his speeches how we need to, “keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction.” Although he didn’t spell out what that true direction might be, his remark nevertheless highlighted something that all can agree upon, namely, the importance of being guided by a moral compass.
To the editor:
We love receiving your paper for many reasons; one of them is because we can leave it in the reading area and read throughout the week.
It is edifying and enlightening; we are happy that our son — who can now read — enjoys paging through it. I was surprised that Fr. Tad Pacholczyk’s article on perversions went into such detail. While I completely agree with his views on the subject, I do not feel the editorial should have been included or if it was, it should have had some kind of editorial note on content that could be found in the online edition.
Many of us have probably heard single women talking among themselves about men, where one of them ends up saying, “That guy, he’s just a pervert — he’s only interested in sex.”
When women detect that a man’s focus has become the pursuit of pleasure, and that unbridled sex has become an end in itself, they tend instinctively to back away. Women often intuitively understand that sex can’t be reduced to mere pleasure without hurting both individuals involved, and negating other important goods, like love, family, children, and marriage.
Resuscitating a patient who undergoes a cardiac arrest or stops breathing often involves multiple procedures.
When a resuscitation “Code Blue” is called in the hospital (or on a TV show), something like a medical “flash mob” comes together to try to save the patient.
The sequence of events typically involves a combination of CPR, airway assistance, medications, and shocks to the heart when the resuscitation is performed in a clinical setting.
In March, 2013, the British paper The Independent ran an article entitled, “Children in gay adoptions at no disadvantage: Research confirms same-sex couples are just as good at parenting as heterosexuals.”
The article, based on a study at Cambridge University, concluded there was “no evidence” to support the claim that children’s masculine or feminine tendencies were affected by having gay or lesbian parents, nor were the quality of their family relationships significantly different.
Physicians will sometimes prescribe a hormonal regimen (in the form of a hormonal contraceptive like the Pill) to treat certain gynecological problems like heavy menstrual bleeding, dysmenorrhea (painful periods), PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome), endometriosis, or other conditions like severe acne. In these cases, the Pill is used not as a contraceptive, but as a therapy for a medical condition.
This can be morally permissible under the principle of double effect, which allows for the treatment of a serious medical problem (the good effect), while tolerating its unintended consequences, when other less harmful treatments are not available. In this case, the unintended consequences would be the impeding of one’s fertility and the potential health risks and side effects of the Pill (the evil effect).
On TV these days, we’re seeing more and more programs about “body art” and tattoo design. Despite the apparent widespread acceptance of the practice, there are several problems with tattooing that go beyond the sanitary issues, disease transmission, and unclean inking needles that can be found in second-rate tattoo parlors.
Tattoos, as some who have gotten them have recognized, have negative associations. An article in the Dallas Morning News a few years ago chronicled the story of a young man named Jesus Mendoza, who was “going to great lengths to remove the six tattoos that hint at his erstwhile gang involvement. . .. He feels branded. ‘It’s the stereotyping,’ he said. ‘The question is: What do you think when you see a young Hispanic male with tattoos? You’re going to think gangs. And I think that, too, now.’”
