Explanation of Catholic Morals: A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic MoralsStapleton, John H. (John Henry)
Religion
Explanation of Catholic Morals: A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals
Stapleton, John H. (John Henry)
Christian ethics -- Catholic authors
Scandal must be repaired, a mightily difficult task; to reclaim a soul
lost to evil through fatal inducements to sin is paramount, almost, to
raising from the dead. It is hard, desperately hard, to have yourself
accepted as an angel of light by those for whom you have long been a
demon of iniquity. Good example! Yes, that is about the only argument
you have. You are handicapped, but if you wield that argument for good
with as much strength and intensity as you did for evil, you will have
done all that can be expected of you, and something may come of it.
The wrong of bodily contamination is a deep one. It is a wrong, and
therefore unjust, when it is effected through undue influence that
either annuls consent, or wrings it from the victim by cajolery,
threat, or false promise. It becomes immeasurably aggravated when the
victim is abandoned to bear alone the shame and burdensome consequences
of such injustice.
Matrimony is the ordinary remedy; the civil law will force it;
conscience may make it an obligation, and does make it, unless, in rare
cases, there be such absolute incompatibility as to make such a
contract an ineffective and ridiculous one, an inefficient remedy, or
none at all. When such is the case, a pecuniary compensation is the
only alternative. A career has been blasted, a future black with
despair stares the victim in the face, if she must face it unaided; a
burden forced upon her that must be borne for years, entailing
considerable expense. The man responsible for such a state of affairs,
if he expects pardon for his crime, must shoulder the responsibility in
a manner that will repair at least in part the grave injustice under
which his victim labors.
If both share the guilt, then both must share the burden. If one
shirks, the other must assume the whole. The great victim is the child.
That child must get a Christian bringing-up, or some one will suffer
for it; its faith must be safeguarded. If this cannot be done at home,
then it must be placed where this can be done. If it is advantageous
for the parent or parents that their offspring be raised in ignorance
of its origin, it is far more advantageous for the child itself. Let it
be confided to good hands, but let the money necessary for its support
be forthcoming, since this is the only way to make reparation for the
evil of its birth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account