Do No Harm, Medical Ethics, and the Catholic Moral Tradition: A Narrative Reflection on the Care of Children Experiencing Gender Dysphoria
2026 Victor R. Claveau, MJ The ancient maxim primum non nocere—“first, do no harm”—has long occupied a central place in the moral imagination of medicine. Though not found verbatim in the Hippocratic Oath, the principle expresses a fundamental truth recognized by physicians, philosophers, and theologians throughout history: the healer must never intentionally inflict injury upon […]
For Those Considering a Vasectomy
©2011 Victor R. Claveau, MJ — Expanded Theological Treatment Introduction A few years ago, I was asked to conduct 35-weekly sessions based upon the foundations of Catholic theology. During the second session, a participant asked me to explain the Church’s teaching on artificial contraception. At the time I hesitated to do so as I had […]
Suggestions for safe dating
Why Wait
Approximately one million teenagers become pregnant each year and approximately 2.5 million contract a sexually transmitted disease. Sexual activity at earlier ages has proven to adversely affect many teenagers’ sense of self-worth. In order to improve the training in counseling teenagers on sexuality it is important to understand their current behaviors. There is strong evidence […]
Premarital Relations
What is so wrong about supporting Christian moral principles? Premarital relations have become so common in some segments of Western society that Christian teaching on its sinfulness is a scandal to some defendants of contemporary morality. Like contraception, however, fornication as the voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons was forbidden to the followers of Christ […]
CONTRACEPTION … IS IT ALWAYS WRONG?
We refer this delicate question also to the prudent consideration of those who are competent. Here we only touch upon it to remind you that any act, willfully malicious, which tends to deprive the conjugal union of its reproductive power is gravely culpable. This is an especially demanding element of God’s law. Married couples should […]
Sex Before Marriage
Followers of the Roman Catholic Church are strongly advised against having sexual relations before getting married. Referred to as fornication, having sex before marriage is considered to be a mortal sin, requiring one to go to confession before they are allowed to take part in Holy Communion again. However, it is not just strictly the […]
CELIBACY FOR THE KINGDOM & THE FULFILLMENT OF HUMAN SEXUALITY
Christopher West “For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this let him receive it” (Mt 19:12). A eunuch […]
The Pastoral Problem of Masturbation
John F. Harvey, OSFS Introduction Since volumes have been written about masturbation, one wonders why still another theologian feels the need to write about the subject. Is it not presumptions to believe that one has something new to say about an inveterate problem of both men and women over the centuries? I respond that there […]
Fornication
Victor R. Claveau, MJ “Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there is corruption […]