THCP614 - Catholic Sexual Ethics

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

Understanding the theological and ethical underpinnings of Catholic perspectives on human sexuality, intimacy, relationships and sexual ethics is valuable to anyone who seeks to integrate such perspectives in their work in a variety of fields, in future research into such topics, and in their own lives. The unit explores such issues by considering them in relation to our understandings of God, the human person, and human society, as well as to various approaches to moral reasoning. The unit is necessary for anyone seeking such knowledge as part of their course learning outcomes. This unit addresses a variety of contemporary issues related to Catholic perspectives on sexual ethics.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1- Reflect on the relationship between conceptions of God, human beings, and human society and Catholic thought relating to sexual ethics and intimacy (GA4) 

LO2 - Integrate faith-based claims, and reasoned argument into analysis, critique, and reasoning about sexual ethics (GA5) 

LO3 - Create plausible solutions to the challenges of communicating meaningfully and effectively about issues of sexual ethics in contemporary society (GA3) 

Graduate attributes

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

Content

Topics will include: 

• Faith and reason as characteristic of a Catholic perspective 
• The human person as the image of God  
• The equality of male and female 
• Relationships and human flourishing 
• Love and marriage 
• Natural law 
• Sin and Sins against chastity  
• Formation of Conscience and modes of moral reasoning 
• Contemporary issues concerning sexual morality 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit will be taught in Attendance or Multi-mode. 

Attendance Mode strategy and rationale 

The attendance mode will be selected when this is required by the needs of stakeholders who are funding cohorts of students to undertake the unit to meet stakeholder requirements. This will typically be as intensives. The students in this model, coming from the same stakeholder(s) benefit from direct interaction with their peers, many of whom share similar positions working for the stakeholder. This insures a common understanding of the learning outcomes and their attainment, which is of benefit to the students and their stakeholders funding them, because they take this shared understanding into the workplace.  

Multi-mode strategy and rationale 

The multi-mode mode will be used when the attendance mode cannot be run due to insufficient numbers on a single campus, or when a stakeholder funding a cohort requests it. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

Attendance Mode 

The oral presentation enables peer review and comment, which supports the development of critical and reflective thinking, especially for sponsored cohorts of peers. This is then integrated into a written task requiring the creation of solutions which will have practical relevance in current or future employment. The written task provides the students with an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of terminology and reasoning specific to the topics covered by the unit.  

Multi-mode 

The oral or written presentation enables peer review and comment either in a webinar like Adobe Connect, or via forums in LEO, which supports the development of critical and reflective thinking. This is then integrated into a written task requiring the creation of solutions which will have practical relevance in current or future employment. The written task provides the students with an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of terminology and reasoning specific to the topics covered by the unit. 

Overview of assessments

Attendance Mode ;

Multi Mode 

Representative texts and references

Benedict XVI, Pope. (2005). Deus Caritas Est - Encyclical Letter. Vatican. Retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html  

Finnis, John. "Personal integrity, sexual morality and responsible parenthood." Why Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader (2014): 171-92. 

Francis, Pope. (2016). Amoris Laetitia – Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation. Retrieved from https://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf 

John Paul II, Pope. “Theology of the Body.” The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 3, no. 2 (2003):165-176 

Knieps-Port Le Roi, Thomas, and Roger Burggraeve. “New Wine into New Wineskins: Amoris Laetitia and the Church's Teaching on Marriage and Family.” Louvain Studies 39, no. 3 (2015-2016): 284-302. 

Paul VI, Pope. (1968). Humanae Vitae – Encyclical Letter. Retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html 

Rubio, Julie Hanlon. "Family Ethics: Beyond Sex and Controversy." Theological Studies 74, no. 1 (2013): 138-161. 

Salzman, Todd A., and Michael G. Lawler. Sexual ethics: A theological introduction. Georgetown University Press, 2012. 

Selling, Joseph A. "Regulating Fertility and Clarifying Moral Language." The Heythrop Journal 55, no. 6 (2014): 1033-1043. 

Sherlock, Richard. "The Beauty of Marital Love in the Thought of Saint John Paul II." Quaestiones Disputatae 6, no. 2 (2016): 120-131.