The Consistent Ethic of Life: Assessing Its Reception and Relevance

Ten ethicists turn their attention to the legacy of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's Consistent Ethic of Life in the twelve years since he died in 1996. Bernardin's "seamless garment" ethic was seen as one of the most radical and thorough attempts to bring basic insights from the New Testament and Catholic tradition to bear on the questions of war, abortion, and birth control. The debates sparked by Bernardin's gambit became one of the most productive dialogues between Catholics and the rest of American civil society in the two hundred years of this nation's existence.