C. Ho Chan

Drawing from normal accident theory, high reliability theory, and systems theory, we analyze the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People that is promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in response to the sexual abuses of minors by clergy members. Although the Charter is a step in the right direction, there remain some areas that require immediate attention. In spite of the goodwill processes, the safety of minors must remain the concerted efforts and responsibilities of individuals at all the various levels if the Catholic Church is to prevent further cases of abuse from happening.

Community-based participatory research is growing in popularity as a research strategy to engage communities affected by health issues. Although much has been written about the benefits of using CBPR with diverse groups, this research has usually taken place in community-based organizations which offer social services and programs. The purpose of this article is to explore the opportunities and challenges encountered during a CBPR project conducted in a small hospital serving people living with HIV and addictions issues. The structure of hospital-based care delivery required the team to account for participants’ health-related limitations, including adopting recruitment strategies built on clinical care, and modifying the original research design to better protect participant confidentiality in a small space. Although CBPR offers an important strategy for researching with members of hospitalized communities, it requires research teams to develop context-relevant approaches to ethically engaging community members that recognize the ways clinical space mediates the research process.

A Divine Command Theory of Ethics is sometimes rejected on the grounds that such a theory is incompatible with human moral autonomy. If we assume that human beings are morally autonomous, the argument goes, then no human being can be obligated to perform any action simply because God has commanded it. The incompatibility between a Divine Command Ethic and moral autonomy is a corollary of an argument James Rachels uses to deny the very existence of God. He argues that any being which can be denoted by the term God must be a being worthy of worship. But, in order to be a being worthy of worship it must be such that other beings owe it unconditional obedience. Since human beings are morally autonomous and cannot owe unconditional obedience to any other being, nothing can meet the criterion for being God. Hence, there is no possible state of affairs which includes both a being worthy of worship and morally autonomous human agents

This paper outlines a possible state of affairs in which human moral autonomy and a divine command ethical theory coexist. the theory of human moral autonomy agrees with the divine command theory that moral laws are created by an act of legislation. they disagree on who is the legitimate legislator. the paper argues that a rational agent faced with equally acceptable but incompatible solutions to moral problems or faced with disagreement among agents who insist on exercising their moral autonomy is justified in accepting unconditionally the legitimacy of divine commands legislated by a just, merciful and loving god