Sub judice rule and the forgotten virtue of epikeia, a reasoned liberal interpretation of the law

Faithful pro-lifers are unusually silent in the face of the pending Supreme Court decision on the Reproductive Health Law, while the pro-choice, pro-RH writers and leaders are having a heyday in the press.

I hope the anti-RH and prolifers are not overly cautious due to the sub judice rule, the non-public commentary of pending court cases -- which "applies almost exclusively, or at least most of the time, to criminal proceedings.. and is stricter with lawyers than with the press."

Moreover, national public morality of the highest importance should have precedence over these judicial niceties, as per the Catholic moral doctrine of epikeia.

Epikeia, the reasoned, liberal interpretation of the law, is in fact a virtue, according to no less than St. Thomas Aquinas!

Thomas explains that "since human actions, with which laws are concerned, are composed of contingent singulars and are innumerable in their diversity, it is not possible to lay down rules of law that would apply to every single case. In framing laws, legislators attend to what commonly happens."

Epikeia  comes from the Greek epieikes, meaning reasonable. It is defined as "an indulgent and benign interpretation of law, which regards a law as not applying in a particular case because of circumstances unforeseen by the lawmaker. The lawmaker cannot foresee all possible cases that may come under the law, and it is therefore reasonably presumed that were the present circumstances known to the legislator he would permit the act, e.g., a mother presumes that she may miss Mass on Sunday when there is no one present to care for her baby."(SQPN)


This doctrine proves once more the primacy of reason -- over everything else, including the law.

And the reasonableness of the Religion of the Logos, the religion according to Reason.

Importance of leafleting

Why are leaflets important?

One of the most successful Catholic evangelizers, St. Francis de Sales, converted 72,000 Calvinists, who at first rejected his preaching, through pamphlets.

St. Josemaria, called by St. John Paul the Great the modern apostle of the laity, started his work of evangelization by printing out a "folleto", translated as pamphlet or leaflet, containing 246 considerations, which will later become his most influential best-seller, The Way.

The great American evangelist Billy Graham, whose lifetime audience is estimated to have reached above 2.2. billion, declared: "Nothing surpasses a tract for sowing the seed of the Good News."

It's logical that pamphlets have such great evangelizing power. Remember that the very Word of God, the Bible, was not put together in one great volume that we presently have until centuries passed. The Word of God was written in epistles, short Gospels, letters, that were passed on by one believer to the next.

Throughout history, great revolutions which have changed the landscape of nations, whether for good or for ill, were preceded by "propaganda movements", using short and effective written materials distributed to the populace. Included here are Luther's Reformation, the French Revolution, the Philippine Revolution,  and the anti-Catholic revolution which generated the Post-Vatican Crisis, during which thousands of priests and nuns left the faith.

Recent Popes have called us to a New Evangelization, to engage people with ideas that can change the world according to Christ's values.

Below is a list of the advantages of spreading leaflets, which puts together points from a Catholic journalist and film-maker, an Evangelical writer and the US Military Psychological Operations Manual, a highly effective method of winning people psychologically:

• Printed leaflets are an opening for giving people new ideas that can change their lives. People are stuck with their old ideas and usually read or surf for items that already interest them.
• They respect the freedom of the person. People read it whenever they want.
• These papers can enter people's houses, when people can't.
• They forestall heated arguments. 
• Printed materials tend to have more prestige and credibility than oral persuasion. 
• Their content is permanent.
• Leaflets can be hidden and kept in private. 
• They can explain complicated topics with greater clarity.
• They can be re-read and further digested.
• Leaflets are easy to pass on to others, producing a wider multiplier effect. 
• They are a very useful aid for one-on-one conversation, one of the best ways of evangelizing.  

A writer who always carries with him leaflets to give away passes on this tip:  If you want people to accept your tract from you, don't say, "Would you like this?" They will probably say, "What is it?" and then you're in trouble. Instead, say, "Did you get one of these?" That question has a two-fold effect. You stir up curiosity and make them ask "One of what?" That's when you pass it to them. That phrase also makes them feel as though they are missing out on something. And so they are.

If you want people to accept your tract from you, don't say, "Would you like this?" They will probably say, "What is it?" and then you're in trouble. Instead, say, "Did you get one of these?" That question has a two-fold effect. You stir up curiosity and make them ask "One of what?" That's when you pass it to them. That phrase also makes them feel as though they are missing out on something. And so they are.

Read more at: http://www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/methods/tracts.html

f you want people to accept your tract from you, don't say, "Would you like this?" They will probably say, "What is it?" and then you're in trouble. Instead, say, "Did you get one of these?" That question has a two-fold effect. You stir up curiosity and make them ask "One of what?" That's when you pass it to them. That phrase also makes them feel as though they are missing out on something. And so they are.

Read more at: http://www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/methods/tracts.html

St. Josemaria, taught: "God's truth has to reach everywhere through publications, movies, radio, TV... And this task if yours!" He also exclaimed: "Let us cover the world with printed paper!"

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Please check out the other free leaflets in this blog. Please distribute them widely. 

Foundations of the Faith (Apologetics)  

• A Most Intelligent Choice: rational foundations of the truth of Catholic belief
• Ten Reasons the Catholic Church is the One True Church of Jesus

Summaries of the Faith and Key Catechetical Ideas

• What Catholics Believe:  a One-Page Catechism
• Basic Catholic Doctrines:  Formulas of doctrine and key excerpts of the CCC
• The Key to Love According to Pope Francis (about the Kerygma)

Encountering Jesus (in the Eucharist, the Bible, the Pope, Mary, the Poor)

• Why Go to Mass?    
• Meditating on the Bible
• The Pope: his role, responsibility, mission and the best attitudes towards him
• Loving Mary: beautiful sayings, and practical ways to show our love
• Loving the Poor

Family and Chastity

• Strategies for a Great Family
• Purity and the Best Remedy for Lust 
• Giving Real Love to Your Child
• Key Facts about Homosexuality
• The Pope's Most Insistent Message 
• Science Facts on Contraceptives
• Leadership Wisdom of St. Josemaria
• Benefits of All-boys and All-girls Schools:  Q&A on what the best research says
• 10 Reasons Why Same-Sex "Marriage" is Harmful

You can find other free leaflets on these sites:

• Free Catholic Mission Leaflets
• Pope John Paul II Society of Evangelists 
• SA Catholic Online - South African Site
• Catholic Planet - Basic Catholic teachings

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ITS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

Here are some Catholic documents I have put together that can be a framework for the laity and the hierarchy to work together to keep our Catholic schools faithful to Catholic doctrine and morals.

I. EX CORDE ECCLESIAE: 

OBJECTIVE:

·         “every Catholic University, as Catholic, must have...fidelity to the Christian message as it comes to us through the Church.”

·         “One consequence of its essential relationship to the Church is that the institutional fidelity of the University to the Christian message includes a recognition of and adherence to the teaching authority of the Church in matters of faith and morals.” 

ROLE OF BISHOPS:

·         Bishops have a particular responsibility to promote Catholic Universities, and especially to promote and assist in the preservation and strengthening of their Catholic identity, including the protection of their Catholic identity in relation to civil authorities. 

·         This will be achieved more effectively if close personal and pastoral relationships exist between University and Church authorities, characterized by mutual trust, close and consistent cooperation and continuing dialogue. Even when they do not enter directly into the internal governance of the University, Bishops "should be seen not as external agents but as participants in the life of the Catholic University." (EC 28)

·         Each Bishop has a responsibility to promote the welfare of the Catholic Universities in his diocese and has the right and duty to watch over the preservation and strengthening of their Catholic character. If problems should arise concerning this Catholic character, the local Bishop is to take the initiatives necessary to resolve the matter, working with the competent university authorities in accordance with established procedures and if necessary with the help of the Holy See. 

EXPECTATIONS FROM FACULTY

·         In ways appropriate to the different academic disciplines, all Catholic teachers are to be faithful to, and all other teachers are to respect, Catholic doctrine and morals in their research and teaching. 

·         In particular, Catholic theologians, aware that they fulfil a mandate received from the Church, are to be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church as the authentic interpreter of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

  

II. CANON LAW

Can. 808 Even if it is in fact Catholic, no university is to bear the title or name of Catholic university without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.

Can. 810 §1. The authority competent according to the statutes has the duty to make provision so that teachers are appointed in Catholic universities who besides their scientific and pedagogical qualifications are outstanding in integrity of doctrine and probity of life and that they are removed from their function when they lack these requirements; the manner of proceeding defined in the statutes is to be observed.

§2. The conferences of bishops and diocesan bishops concerned have the duty and right of being watchful so that the principles of Catholic doctrine are observed faithfully in these same universities.

III. BENEDICT XVI: ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND BETRAYAL OF CATHOLIC IDENTITY

·         Any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission

·         Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. 

IV. FRANCIS: UNAMBIGUOUS MORAL TEACHING AND CATHOLIC IDENTITY

In my Exhortation on the Joy of the Gospel, I stressed the missionary dimension of Christian discipleship, which needs to be evident in the lives of individuals and in the workings of each of the Church’s institutions. 

This commitment to “missionary discipleship” ought to be reflected in a special way in Catholic universities (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 132-134), which by their very nature are committed to demonstrating the harmony of faith and reason and the relevance of the Christian message for a full and authentically human life. 

Essential in this regard is the uncompromising witness of Catholic universities to the Church’s moral teaching, and the defense of her freedom, precisely in and through her institutions, to uphold that teaching as authoritatively proclaimed by the magisterium of her pastors. It is my hope that the University of Notre Dame will continue to offer unambiguous testimony to this aspect of its foundational Catholic identity, especially in the face of efforts, from whatever quarter, to dilute that indispensable witness. And this is important: its identity, as it was intended from the beginning. To defend it, to preserve it and to advance it!