M. Therese Lysaught

M. Therese Lysaught is a professor at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago. She also is a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

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Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, speaks at a news conference to present the dicastery's declaration Dignitas Infinita at the Vatican press office April 8. Priests from the dicastery's doctrinal section joined reporters for the presentation. (CNS/Pablo Esparza)

Vatican's own gender ideology makes 'Dignitas Infinita' incoherent

Dignitas Infinita fails to treat women and transgender persons with the basic respect and consideration their dignity requires, writes theologian M. Therese Lysaught.

Christine Zuba holds the cross she wears when serving as a eucharistic minister at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church at her home Feb. 14, 2022, in Blackwood, New Jersey. After coming out as transgender at age 58, Zuba, a lifelong Catholic, was welcomed into the parish. U.S. Catholic bishops issued a document dated March 20 rejecting gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender individuals and reasserting that such procedures must not be performed by Catholic providers. (AP photo/Jessie Wardarski)

US bishops' transgender document fails morally, theologically — and is poorly argued

Providing such a poor analysis in such a fraught sociopolitical context does not demonstrate virtues, says moral theologian M. Therese Lysaught.

Pope Francis recites a prayer, "Forgive us for the war, Lord," composed by Italian Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, during his general audience in the Paul VI hall March 16 at the Vatican. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Reclaiming the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition from the culture wars

Commentary: Pope Francis has called for a better kind of politics. That must start with the church. There can be no room for anyone who identifies as a "warrior," who profanes Christian witness by using the tactics of war.

A medical worker administers a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine Sept. 14 at a vaccination center in Nantes, France. (CNS/Reuters/Stephane Mahe)

Catholics seeking 'religious' exemptions to vaccines must follow true church teaching on conscience

Pope Francis, the Holy See and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops say all the COVID-19 vaccines are morally acceptable. But some Catholics wrongly support "religious" exemptions on the basis of Catholic teaching on the primacy of conscience.

Susan Lavin, a member of The Madeleine Parish in Portland, Oregon, receives a COVID-19 vaccine at the Oregon Convention Center Feb. 24, 2021. (CNS/Catholic Sentinel/Courtesy of Susan Lavin)

All vaccines are morally acceptable, says member of Pontifical Academy for Life

Commentary: Statements about the new Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine have come out urging Catholics to privilege a theoretical moral purity over the value of their own lives, the lives of others and the common good. Why?

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