Sister Margaret Lecture

Will Appelt
Event Analysis
September 26, 2007


Margaret A. Farley Lecture


Sister Margaret Farley is one of the most well-known ethicists of our time. She has been fight for human rights, social justice. She has also help in creating new ways to help promote education with these issues. Her views have been published in many books and articles. She has established herself as a true Christian and a person of equality.
Sister Margaret’s lecture that was held Thursday 20, 2007 was mostly on sexual ethics and how it is shown in society and in Christianity. She emphasized the educating of children on certain issues that will help them understand in a religious aspect of love and hate. This view of educating has been a huge part of the Jesuit teachings which was shown in the Conference on Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education. She talked about relationships through marriage the how divorce has been seen as a scapegoat to relief all problems. Sister Margaret talked about how marriage is a religious duty and the world today doesn’t see it that way. There are 3 words that define sex and religion when both compared. Defilement: irrational taboo, or rap, against one’s will to have relations. Sin: moral evil breakdown between human and God. Guilt: choice of divorce. She talked about how love and sex are different. Love is compassion between two people and there connection through God. Sex is usually mistaken as passion, but is really a way of satisfying ones urge. She said that the purpose of pro-creation is through sex and when we are not pro-creating then it should be considered love.
Justice was a main part of her lecture. She discussed how men dominated the writing of the Bible and how women were of very little important in some books. The main discussion of injustice was same sex marriage. She talked about how people and religious figure have frown on same sex marriages. Sister Margaret emphasized that we don’t except relations of the same sex because they are not doing God’s will of procreation. We see husband and wife as the only way of engagement. We as people of faith and just should not judge and say it is morally wrong for two people of the same sex to have the same feelings as a man and a woman do. Sister Margaret put it in a better way then I am explaining it, but the Jesuit way of justice to all people seems to play a role in what she was talking about. Are belief may be different then those of same sex couples, but we must respect those decisions that they make.
Sister Margaret is a person who takes action in what she believes. In Jesuit teaching and in the article we read last week, a true Jesuit is some who doesn’t just have faith but acts on it either through the community or any other way that helps one another become a better Christian.