Volume 16, Issue 1, Winter 2019
Annie Selak
Pages 83-102
Missing Voices in Amoris laetitia
An Examination of Law, Narrative, and Possibilities for Inclusion in Roman Catholic Church Teaching
Catholic social teaching appeals to the universal dimension of the Church. Specific details and lived experience are sacrificed in an effort to address the universal Church. In striving to speak to the universal, particular voices are missing. American case law approaches the universal through the particular by grounding law in the cases of specific persons. Narrative is tied to the case, and as a result, embedded in the law. This paper asks how the study of Church teaching might be enriched by being in conversation with American case law. In examining the benefits and liabilities of including narrative in an apostolic exhortation, this paper addresses ecclesiological questions and the relationship of law and religion.