The E-catechism: January 2001
	Humanity and animality	Moral in constant generation
	Archives of Partenia
	History of Partenia, Biography of Bishop Jacques Gaillot

		Each month the team working on this catechism presents you with two texts, and we hope that with your help and cooperation they will improve. Any suggestions you may have would be most welcome, as would ideas on subject matter. We look forward to hearing from you.  Humanity and animality.   At the time of the market economy, of the world trade and the demographic explosion, animals are becoming consumer goods. Man has the technology to cruelly exploit animals even to torment them like battery hens, industrialization of eatable animal production, scandalous means of transportation, atrocious slaughtering, vivisection in laboratories, cloning…   2.6 million animals per year die in France during animal experiments. We are more conscious about the consequences of the oil sleek on fish and birds without forgetting the drama of the animal fodder. Some species are in danger. Experts are reporting that elephants, whales and baby seals need protections…  Even zoos, much visited by tourists, are made responsible for abnormal and sometimes distressing conditions in keeping animals. Any way the market law has to be applied! Facing these conditions, the international community went into action; in 1978 UNESCO proclaimed a "Universal declaration of animal rights" with an equal right to live for any species. Drugs like insulin have been developed thanks to animal experiments; today alternative methods can be used more and more, avoiding animal suffering. These changes question our mixed attitudes towards animals. By domestication, animals become dependent on us and we are responsible of them. Mollycoddling pets can lead to a lack of sensitivity towards human problems. Excessive expenses are made for pet sophisticated food when there is so much human distress! Even the defense of animal life can hide contempt for human beings. We are invited to recognize a unity in nature and solidarity with all living beings. Animals are not objects, they belongs to the cosmos like us, a cosmos in which all are related. "When a flower is picked, a star in the sky cares" said the poet Francis Thompson.

		Moral in constant generation. Today people and administration have to face yet unseen ethic problems. Aid, pedophilia or more recently a doctor is put on trial to have allowed a mentally handicapped child to be born against the will of the parents. Facing a new situation, to make a decision, we cannot rely as before on stable moral rules on which every body agrees. In each circumstance, we have to carefully accept the risk to formulate new rules. Established and well-accepted rules can be enough in our daily lives. For unseen cases, of which we have no ready solution, our moral awareness is more clearly requested and engaged. With no established rules, an internal conscientiousness and a feeling of responsibility can only be our guidance. For a prudent answer to such an unseen situation we depend on some major basic moral rules rather than pre-established ones. When we are personally concerned, we should try first to look at it objectively, avoiding being over emotional in order to have a more clear view of the problem. It is wise to speak to someone you trust, not for an answer but to be helped with the elements of the problem. To adopt a solution form a third party, which is a mistake anyway, will mean to dismiss one's responsibility, even if one cannot make a decision. One can engage seriously and profoundly to keep a personal decision only by choice. There is no ideal solution, only a compromise among contradictory elements in a complex situation. We have to accept the necessary unsatisfactory aspects of any specific solution. At the same time we have to feel concerned by the growing problems of our society. It is wrong to let the experts make the final choice of what is good or bad. Too close to their domain of expertise, they are not necessarily suited to grasp all consequences in the real life. The last decision should rely on the awareness of every body, the rank and file; this will lead to elaborate values and laws able to regulate the life of the community. Moral regulations can only stem from life experiences and are progressively evaluated from them. Immediate and categorical ruling is dangerous. In judging too quickly upon new situations, their multiple and complex elements cannot be taken into account. Although evident objectionable experiments cannot be accepted, why not leave time for progressively clarifying what is helpful and valuable both for people and the society? A moral rule gives, imposes, all-made solutions. A human moral calls upon an ability to judge and to be responsible, which makes us strong to face the frequently unseen situations of the daily life.