Mission statement

We are a group of North American Catholic moral theologians who come together in friendship to engage each other in theological discussion, to aid one another in our common search for wisdom, and to help one another live lives of discipleship, all in service to the reign of God.  We understand our role as scholars and teachers to be a vocation rooted in the Church and so we seek to place the fruits of our training at the service of the Church,  as well as the academy and the world.  We recognize that we as a group will have disagreements, but want to avoid the standard “liberal /conservative” divide that often characterizes contemporary conversation, as well as the bitterly divisive tone of so much ethical discussion (particularly on the internet). We therefore endeavor to converse with each other and others in a spirit of respect, charity, and humility.

Questions or comments? Please direct them to:

David Cloutier and Jana Bennett, editors, at cmtblog@udayton.edu

Comments policy

We welcome comments at catholicmoraltheology.com. The mission statement of this blog highlights the importance of respectful, charitable, and constructive discussion. We will moderate the comments according to the following guidelines:

  1. Comments that include insults, personal attacks, and crude language will not be posted.
  2. One-line or two-line comments should be avoided. Such responses are rarely useful, and will not be posted unless they concretely add something to the discussion. Also, avoid simply posting links to other articles or sites without explaining how you think the link contributes to the discussion.
  3. The blog is committed to serious discussion of issues, and comments should reflect this level of discussion and thought. This is why we have instituted registration for comments.
  4. Christian charity demands, at a minimum, a desire to understand a view one is criticizing, a presumption of good will on all sides, and an avoidance of stereotyping others’ views.
  5. Remarks that insinuate or state the “lack of Catholic faithfulness” of others (bloggers or other commenters) will not be posted. Please respond to the SUBSTANCE of others’ reflections.
  6. Similarly, remarks that include insinuations or statements of malice and disrespect toward authority figures in the Catholic tradition will also not be posted. Raising questions about specific views or statements is acceptable, but again,please direct your comments toward the SUBSTANCE of a view or statement, in charity.
  7. Remarks that contain blatant errors of fact will not be posted.

We reserve the right to remove any comments deemed contrary to the mission of the blog, and suspend any discussion threads.