Interest in proportionalism as an important trend in Catholic moral theology seems to have faded in the recent decade. This has led some to view it as a movement that was somehow defeated. I suggest that proportionalism's influence can still be seen in contemporary Catholic ethics, most noticeably in the current interest in virtue ethics, casuistry, and feminist ethics. I argue that proportionalism encouraged a reappraisal of the methodology for evaluating moral action in a direction that was more hospitable to concerns about the particularity and context of the agent.

Institutional religions derive much of their power from controlling and ordering human behavior. Sexual behaviors, in particular, are often the focus of intense attention because of their potential both to stabilize and to destabilize societies. Decisions about whom to have sex with, about the status of one's relationship to that person, and about specific sex acts are consequential ones, and have great impact on political and cultural arrangements. Moreover, both religion and sex are embodied practices that require individuals to interpret the meaning and purpose of their body vis‐à‐vis larger sets of concerns. In the context of religion, the believer might use her body to worship, or to engage in ritual cleansing as a way to express a connection to a transcendent other. In the context of sex, humans may use their bodies to experience pleasure in communion with another, to attract a mate, and/or to procreate. All of these actions express the desire to build community and to enhance human flourishing.

The authors of the three essays featured in this focus challenge assumptions that are central to the official Catholic teachings on sexual ethics. Elizabeth Antus and Megan McCabe do so by taking on topics that have not received much attention from the magisterium. Cristina Traina urges us to think differently about the way we usually frame the moral issue of abortion. Although they address different moral problems, I argue in this introduction that they highlight common themes—social sin, interruption, and solidarity—share methodological commitments to using empirical data and to valuing human experiences, and push us to imagine a sexual ethic grounded in a just vision of human sexual flourishing.

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The choice to pursue fertility treatments is a complex one. In this paper I explore the issues of choice, agency, and gender as they relate to assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). I argue that narrative approaches to bioethics such as those by Arthur Frank and Hilde Lindemann Nelson clarify judgments about autonomy and fertility medicine. More specifically, I propose two broad narrative categories that help capture the experience of encounters with fertility medicine: narratives of hope and narratives of resistance. This narrative typology captures the inevitable conflict that women feel when they become subjects of fertility medicine. On the one hand, they must remain hopeful; on the other, they must not surrender themselves completely. Nelson's account of counterstories as narratives of resistance helps us see how women can reconcile the experience of a strong desire to have children with the desire to remain authentic and whole.