THE OPENNESS OF MARRIED COUPLE TO LIFE

MODERN MEDICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES AND CHALLENGES — A THEOLOGICAL RESPONSE

Authors

  • J. Charles Davis Jnana-DeepaVidyapeeth, Pune

Keywords:

OPENNESS, MARRIED COUPLE, LIFE, MODERN, MEDICAL, TECHNOLOGICAL, CHALLENGES, POSSIBILITIES, THEOLOGICAL

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of the fundamental openness of the married couple to procreation of new life and the methods through which the number of children in a family can be rightfully limited. Procreation and responsible parenthood are key themes in the first part. In the second part, the article discusses the medical technological possibilities and challenges in matters of fertility and infertility and offers an ethical response in the light of the teachings of the Catholic
Church. Medical treatments that assist procreative act are morally acceptable and technological treatments that substitute for conjugal act are morally unacceptable. The article thus tries to distinguish the technologies and researches that promote and enhance human life from those that dehumanize making it a product or commodity.

Author Biography

J. Charles Davis, Jnana-DeepaVidyapeeth, Pune

J. Charles Davis is a Catholic Priest of the Diocese of Jammu-Srinagar, Kashmir/India. He has a Doctorate in Theology with a specialization in Moral Theology and Bioethics from the Philosophical and Theological Graduate School of Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt/Germany. He is a Lecturer for Moral Theology, Bioethics and Social Ethics at the Pontifical Institute of Philosophy and Religion, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. Email: davischarlesj@gmail.com

References

Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel, Trivandrum: CIPH, 2013.

George Lobo, Current Problems in Medical Ethics, Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1974.

J. Charles Davis, The Ethics of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Proposals for a Legal Framework for India, New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors P. Ltd., 2014.

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Published

2014-06-30

How to Cite

Davis, J. C. (2014). THE OPENNESS OF MARRIED COUPLE TO LIFE: MODERN MEDICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES AND CHALLENGES — A THEOLOGICAL RESPONSE. Asian Horizons, 8(02), 272–286. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/ah/article/view/2050