Nun berated over sexual ethics book

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican criticized a popular American nun on Monday, saying her book on sexual ethics, including topics such as masturbation and homosexuality, contradicted Catholic teaching and must not be used by Catholic educators.

The Vatican’s doctrinal department, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a stern “notification” about Sister Margaret A. Farley, a member of the Sisters of Mercy and a professor emeritus of Christian ethics at Yale University.

The Congregation sharply criticized Farley, saying her writings manifest a “defective understanding of the objective nature of natural moral law” and pose “grave harm to the faithful.”

Two months ago the Vatican issued a stinging report saying the umbrella body representing most American Catholic nuns promoted radical feminist ideas. Monday’s notification, signed by department head Cardinal William Levada, an American, and approved by Pope Benedict, sharply criticized Farley’s award- winning 2006 book Just Love, a Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics.

The review of the book took years, as the Vatican repeatedly urged Farley to change her text to conform with church doctrine. She refused, explaining in letters to Rome that the book was not intended to represent Church teachings but rather help readers move beyond a reflexive “taboo morality” and think through sexual ethics in the context of justice, wisdom and love.

“I do not dispute the judgment that some of the positions contained within it are not in accord with current official Catholic teaching,” Farley said in a statement issued Monday. “The book was not intended to be an expression of current official Catholic teaching, nor was it aimed specifically against this teaching.”