Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Catholic Charities and Needle Distribution

"Formal cooperation in another's evil act (that is, undertaking to help expressly another to perform an act known to be evil) is itself evil. Davis, Moral and Pastoral Theology (1938), I: 341-342. There are no exceptions to this rule; no supervening circumstances can ever render formal cooperation in evil good."

That's how Canon Lawyer Ed Peters responds to Bishop Howard Hubbard's decision to allow Catholic Charities of Albany, New York, to distribute syringes to intraveneous drug users. There's much more, of course, all worth reading.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

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