Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Conscience Feeding
In RCIA last night we discussed the 4th and 5th commandments: Honor Thy Father and Mother and Thou shalt not kill. I was again struck by the enormity of the 10 commandments and how each commandment can inform a multitude of moral decisions we face daily. We talked about a lot of things, but some stand out:
It is growing more difficult to justify support for capital punishment. We talked about Ted Bundy, who escaped from prison in Aspen and went on a murder spree in Florida. Would it be possible, with today's technology, to prevent a Bundy escape? What about the poorer nations, how hard is it for them to maintain prisoners on death-row for decades?
Our teacher asked if anyone in the room knew anyone personally who had committed suicide and every hand went up. I was shocked...
We talked about PVS (persistent vegetative state) and Terri Shiavo and the Pope's directive on feeding tubes. These are all things we talked about and discussed, but it was a conscience feeding evening and no conclusive directives were given we students. We walked out into the cold night of a grey world.
It is growing more difficult to justify support for capital punishment. We talked about Ted Bundy, who escaped from prison in Aspen and went on a murder spree in Florida. Would it be possible, with today's technology, to prevent a Bundy escape? What about the poorer nations, how hard is it for them to maintain prisoners on death-row for decades?
Our teacher asked if anyone in the room knew anyone personally who had committed suicide and every hand went up. I was shocked...
We talked about PVS (persistent vegetative state) and Terri Shiavo and the Pope's directive on feeding tubes. These are all things we talked about and discussed, but it was a conscience feeding evening and no conclusive directives were given we students. We walked out into the cold night of a grey world.
