The Gault article has produced an interesting set of responses which tend to be more defensive than analytical. One exception is the reference to the Murray article. Gault’s thesis and charges seem to deserve a more critical analysis based on psychological theory and new knowledge about moral development gained in the last one hundred years.
I suggest that further discussion might be based on three ideas: Jung’s theory on individuation and the development of the self, studies on the development of personal moral responsibility, and the notion of human rights.
Jung wrote in response to the apparent lack of personal responsibility in the collective atmosphere of communist oppression in the 50’s in Eastern Europe where identification with social norms provided little critique of them. A strong sense of self should lead to critical analysis. Psychological studies about the process of moral development are numerous and new emphasis on human rights questions under what circumstances it is morally responsible for an individual to give up those rights.
Having lived the three vows for over sixty years, I am in a position to question how it is that religious orders have not done the critical analysis it seems is necessary to address the very rapid and fatal decline in membership. A new understanding of the vows in light of new psychological knowledge may be the place to start.
Philip Aaron, S.M.
Dayton, OH
The Gault article has produced an interesting set of responses which tend to be more defensive than analytical. One exception is the reference to the Murray article. Gault’s thesis and charges seem to deserve a more critical analysis based on psychological theory and new knowledge about moral development gained in the last one hundred years.
I suggest that further discussion might be based on three ideas: Jung’s theory on individuation and the development of the self, studies on the development of personal moral responsibility, and the notion of human rights.
Jung wrote in response to the apparent lack of personal responsibility in the collective atmosphere of communist oppression in the 50’s in Eastern Europe where identification with social norms provided little critique of them. A strong sense of self should lead to critical analysis. Psychological studies about the process of moral development are numerous and new emphasis on human rights questions under what circumstances it is morally responsible for an individual to give up those rights.
Having lived the three vows for over sixty years, I am in a position to question how it is that religious orders have not done the critical analysis it seems is necessary to address the very rapid and fatal decline in membership. A new understanding of the vows in light of new psychological knowledge may be the place to start.
Philip Aaron, S.M.
Dayton, OH