It boggles my mind. It really does. How is it possible, however remote, that this woman can call her self a Catholic? Additionally, how is it possible, that this nun completely forgot (or chose to forget) BASIC CATHOLIC TEACHINGS of sexual morality? I as a lay faithful who is truely in love with our Mother Church, I can easily see that what this woman wrote is not only against what our Church teaches but, is completely at odds with Christianity itself.
I will use the press release and the Catechism to prove my point. The press release states that Mercy Sister Margaret A. Farley states on page 236 of her book, Just Love: A Framework for Christian sexual ethics, that:
"Masturbation… usually does not raise any moral questions at all. … It is surely the case that many women… have found great good in self-pleasuring – perhaps especially in the discovery of their own possibilities for pleasure – something many had not experienced or even known about in their ordinary sexual relations with husbands or lovers. In this way, it could be said that masturbation actually serves relationships rather than hindering them. My final observation is, then, that the norms of justice as I have presented them would seem to apply to the choice of sexual self-pleasuring only insofar as this activity may help or harm, only insofar as it supports or limits, well-being and liberty of spirit. This remains largely an empirical question, not a moral one"
Wow, where to start? To begin with, notice how female masturbation is something good to be discovered by some women since they may have never discovered it with their husbands or lovers before...or lovers before...OR LOVERS. WTF? What the Sister here is implying is that a woman should be free to "sexually find herself" since a man - whether committed or a one-night stand - may not be able to sexually satisfy her. So, instead of preaching the teaching of chastity (we'll get to that in a moment), she instead chooses to wax lyrical about pre-marital sex and the selfish pleasures to found within it. I don't want to come off as a prude or as being "out of touch" with the real world here people but, it seems to me that as an authoritative figure of the Church,
Methinks the good Sister forgot what the Catechism says in regards to chastity. According to the CCC #2352:
"Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action. The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."
How such a beautiful and simple a statement could even be misconstrued and undermined by a heretic "c"atholic nun, is beyond me. Clearly, Sister Farley is more interested in testing the limits of established Church teaching instead of promoting them.
Another interesting quote from her book is found on page 295, she states:
"My own view… is that same-sex relationships and activities can be justified according to the same sexual ethic as heterosexual relationships and activities. Therefore, same-sex oriented persons as well as their activities can and should be respected whether or not they have a choice to be otherwise"
On page 293 she states, with regards to homosexual unions:
"Legislation for nondiscrimination against homosexuals, but also for domestic partnerships, civil unions, and gay marriage, can also be important in transforming the hatred, rejection, and stigmatization of gays and lesbians that is still being reinforced by teachings of ‘unnatural’ sex, disordered desire, and dangerous love."
Oh where, oh where could we find out what the Church says about homosexual acts? Oh, yeah! That's right, it's in the Catechism just 5 paragraphs down from #2352! It says (with my emphasis):
"Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved."
According to wikipedia, Sister Farley earned her Ph. D. in 1973 from Yale Divinity School which means that 5 years before I was born, this woman (appearently?) knew more about Catholicism then me, it would seem though that I can easily say with 100% certainty that when it comes to sexual ethics, I and anyone who just read this, is light years ahead of Sister Farley in the area of sexual ethics within Catholicism. I would encourage everyone to read the link above because it goes on to discuss how Sister Farley views divorce and remarriage as well as her thoughts on the indissolubility of marriage; I wonder, if the good Sister believes that a marriage - which is a Sacrament - can be dissolved if a person "changes" or is no longer commited, can the Sacrament of Baptism also be undone? How about the Sacrament of Confirmation, surely we can renege and refuse to accept the chrism from our Confirmation - because we have more power then what the Holy Spirit endowed us with, right? Thanks, Sister Farley, the Devil must truly be proud of all your hard work.
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