Donum Vitae : continuity and development in Church teaching

Abstract

As I was teaching and doing other missionary work in Kenya my superiors asked me to come to Rome and finish my doctorate in Moral Theology. Having arrived at the end of my research, I can now say that this endeavour was a challenge worth living. Among the first reasons why I have this positive reaction is that after 15 years of teaching Moral Theology I could now have more time to study and update myself in my studies. Moral Theology is always to take into account the new developments in the society of man. There is an utmost need to update oneself. One of the areas which is changing and developing rapidly is the field of bioethics. Very frequently, news appears about new successes, particularly concerning experiments in A.P. To tell the truth, choosing to do my research on bioethics came about both because of the interest which these problems have always created in me, and also, because in my experience as a hospital chaplain and marriage counsellor I could see more and more that these problems were becoming increasingly more pressing in our times. Besides, the subject matter which I taught in Moral Theology always had to do with issues in social justice and theology of marriage. Thus, coming to choose a theme for my research, it almost came natural that I choose the Church doctrine on the respect for human life in its origin and on the dignity of procreation. For me these issues are a question of rights of the e:nbryo but also a matter of how to understand marriage. As a Moral Theology scholar, I want to deepen my studies about the theological arguments brought forward by the Church with regard to this present issue of A.P. Thus, I opted to centre my research on the Instruction "Donum Vitae" (the gift of life) as my main text: This is, in fact, the last official .and in a sense the first document of the Church which treated this issue. It was published in 1987 by the C.D.F. I want to go through the origir:, meaning and doctrinal follow-up of this Instruction. I am encouraged to continue on this theme remembering what the Instruction itself said to moral theologians. As I was teaching and doing other missionary work in Kenya my superiors asked me to come to Rome and finish my doctorate in Moral Theology. Having arrived at the end of my research, I can now say that this endeavour was a challenge worth living. Among the first reasons why I have this positive reaction is that after 15 years of teaching Moral Theology I could now have more time to study and update myself in my studies. Moral Theology is always to take into account the new developments in the society of man. There is an utmost need to update oneself. One of the areas which is changing and developing rapidly is the field of bioethics. Very frequently, news appears about new successes, particularly concerning experiments in A.P. To tell the truth, choosing to do my research on bioethics came about both because of the interest which these problems have always created in me, and also, because in my experience as a hospital chaplain and marriage counsellor I could see more and more that these problems were becoming increasingly more pressing in our times. Besides, the subject matter which I taught in Moral Theology always had to do with issues in social justice and theology of marriage. Thus, coming to choose a theme for my research, it almost came natural that I choose the Church doctrine on the respect for human life in its origin and on the dignity of procreation. For me these issues are a question of rights of the e:nbryo but also a matter of how to understand marriage. As a Moral Theology scholar, I want to deepen my studies about the theological arguments brought forward by the Church with regard to this present issue of A.P. Thus, I opted to centre my research on the Instruction "Donum Vitae" (the gift of life) as my main text: This is, in fact, the last official .and in a sense the first document of the Church which treated this issue. It was published in 1987 by the C.D.F. I want to go through the origir:, meaning and doctrinal follow-up of this Instruction. I am encouraged to continue on this theme remembering what the Instruction itself said to moral theologians. [...]