Contemporary Controversies in Sexual Ethics: A Case Study in Post-Vatican II Moral Theology

More than twenty years now have passed since the Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church first assembled in Rome to participate in the Second Ecumenical Council held at St. Peter’s in the Vatican. Since that time, the religious practices, if not the beliefs, of millions of Catholic Christians worldwide have been significantly modified and changed. One only has to reflect on the widespread abandonment and ignorance of the Church’s heretofore hieretic and sacred language (Latin) by contemporary clergy to grasp the profundity of the change that has taken place. The Bishops of Vatican Council II called for a reexamination of every aspect of the Church’s life and teaching so that its message of salvation could be more clearly understood by contemporary men and women.