Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

THE BASIC GOODS THEORY AND REVISIONISM 189
whether or not this (or one may presume any) doctrine has been
infallibly taught by the ordinary universal magisterium. To support
his argument, SULLIVAN cites PIUS IX’s letter Tuas Libenter
and a more recent statement by the International Theological
Commission, On the Interpretation of Dogma. 59 Whereas GRISEZ
“belittles the importance of such a [theological] consensus,” 60
according to SULLIVAN, both of these documents highlight its importance.
With regard to the former document, SULLIVAN concludes:
Given the connection that Pius IX saw between the fact that a
doctrine was being taught by the ordinary universal magisterium,
and the presence of a constant and universal consensus among
Catholic theologians upholding that same doctrine, it follows that
in the absence of such a consensus among Catholic theologians, it
would be difficult to maintain that a doctrine had been taught by
the ordinary universal magisterium as definitively to be held. But
this is precisely what Grisez wishes to maintain. 61
While GRISEZ acknowledges, “Sullivan has drawn from Tuas
Libenter a theological argument for the importance of the consensus
of Catholic theologians,” it is authentic, and not alleged
consensus that fulfills its stipulations. 62 One might pose the following
question to GRISEZ: what constitutes the difference between
these two types of consensus? Why does the pre-1962 consensus
of bishops and theologians that he and FORD cite in favor
of the infallibility of the norm prohibiting the use of artificial
birth control represent an authentic consensus, 63 and therefore
a legitimate component to “help gauge the ‘weight of this uniform
teaching,’” 64 whereas any subsequent lack of consensus
59 See Origins 20/1 (17 May 1990) 7.
60
SULLIVAN, “Reply to Germain Grisez” 735.
61 Ibid. 736-37.
62
GRISEZ, “The Ordinary Magisterium’s Infallibility” 738. See also, Living
a Christian Life 263-64.
63
FORD and GRISEZ, “Contraception and the Infallibility of the Ordinary
Magisterium” 278-80.
64
GRISEZ, “The Ordinary Magisterium’s Infallibility” 737.