CLT: Wildly Indeterminate

In a recent post, Rob writes:  "At MoJ, we tend not to have much to say, for the understandable reason that Catholic legal theory, whatever value it has in some contexts, is wildly indeterminate when it comes to analyzing judicial decisions that do not directly implicate natural law principles (e.g., abortion, marriage, parental rights)."

It may be that CLT is wildly indeterminate when it comes to judging the outcome of a case, order, or piece of legislation, especially in those cases where prudential judgment must be exercised and reasonable people can disagree on how best to proceed.  The value of Catholic Legal Theory is not in judging outcomes (although this may be called for in some cases) but in providing a framework for the legal aspects of our common life together; a framework that is built on a sturdier - more real - foundation than the currently prevelant alternative.  In other words, our anthropology - our account of the human person - provides a method for judging the method by which judges and others come to their decisions.