Nota Bene

2003-10-30T07:55:00.000-06:00

Ending Nota Bene

A couple of days ago I announced that I had accepted a writing job at The Criterion, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and that this job change would take effect sometime in the next three months. At the time that I announced this I noted that Nota Bene would be coming to an end at the time that the job change actually occurred.

In the time since I posted that announcement, I have decided to bring this weblog to an end sooner rather than later. This, therefore, will be the last post of Nota Bene.

I thank all of my readers who have come here either purposefully or simply by accident. I hope that it has provided, as its title suggests, a 'good word.'

May the grace of Almighty God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, descend upon you and remain with all of you forever. Amen.

2003-10-28T06:33:00.000-06:00

On Baby Patrol

My wife Cindy is working today, so I'm at home taking care of Michael. Expect little blogging.

2003-10-27T17:24:00.000-06:00

An Announcement

Last week I was asked to become a full-time writer for The Criterion, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. After speaking about this opportunity with my wife Cindy, I decided to accept it. I will therefore be leaving my current position as the director of religious education in the parish where I currently work. This will happen sometime in the next three months.

I also suspect that at the time of this change I may bring this weblog to a close. I have enjoyed posting my writing in it. But then I will be working as a full-time writer and so will want to devote my energies to that.

This is something that I have been thinking about for a while and something that, in practice, has been slowly taking effect over the past several months. I do much less blogging now than I did, say, a year ago. And many of the things that I post now were not written first for the blog but for another purpose.

In the final analysis, I chose to accept the writing position so that I could be a better husband and father, the real vocation to which God has called me. Being a writer will provide me with much better hours than being a DRE. Wow--I'll actually be able to drive to Mass with my family on a Sunday and spend the entire day with them.

Ending my blogging is also, in the final analysis, directed to this purpose as well--being a better husband and father.

But until the job change officially occurs, I will continue to do my regular posts. And, in the end, I will continue to lurk at other blogs and their comment boxes after this humble one has come to an end.

2003-10-27T10:02:00.000-06:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope--1 Pt 3:15

Q: We in the Catholic Church celebrate the Feast of All Souls on November 2. I know that this is a day when we are especially encouraged to pray for the souls in purgatory. Please help me to understand why we believe it is important to do this. Other Christians don’t believe it is necessary.

A: Before explaining why it is important to pray for souls in purgatory, I think that purgatory itself should be discussed.

The Catholic Church believes that in order to see God face to face in heaven one must be totally pure (Rev 21:27). Each of us who are baptized are made pure by God’s grace through baptism. But afterwards we can reject this purity by choosing to sin.

Sin (mortal sin in particular) has two effects: an eternal effect and temporal effects (CCC 1472). The eternal effect is total separation from God. This is taken away from us when we become sorry for our sins, confess them in the sacrament of reconciliation, and receive absolution from God through the priest.

The temporal effects of sin can include penance that is due for our sins and our attachment to sin.

When our sins are forgiven in the sacrament of reconciliation, the eternal effect of sin may be removed, but we still have temporal penances to accomplish and we may still have an attachment to the sin.

If we die in a state of grace but still have penances or have attachment to sin, we do not yet have that purity that that we need in order to experience the total blessedness of heaven. We believe that we will eventually be there because we died in God’s grace, but that we aren’t ready yet for it because of the remaining temporal effects of sin.

Therefore we believe that those who die in this way will experience purgatory after death (CCC 1030-1032). Among the passages from the Bible that lend support to this belief are the following: Rev 21:27, 1 Pt 3:19, 1 Cor 15:29-30, 2 Macc 12:43-45. This has been a belief of the Church from its earliest days and only began to be rejected by the leaders of the Reformation in the 16th century.

Having established the Catholic Church’s belief about purgatory, it is fairly simple to understand the validity of praying for the souls in purgatory. In principle it is no different than our praying or for a friend or relative who is still living here on earth.

Our intercessory prayers, penances, Masses that are offered, etc. for the souls in purgatory are ways that we can apply the merit that God freely gives to us through our prayers to them.

In essence, our belief about our prayers for the dead are tied to our belief about the nature of the Church. We believe, along with St. Paul, that the Church is the mystical body of Christ (Rom 12:4-5, 1 Cor 12:12-31, Eph 5:23-27, Col 1:18). It extends from the body of believers here on earth all through purgatory to heaven where it is united with Christ himself and all of his holy ones who surround his throne for all time.

When members of the faithful die in a state of grace none of us who are still living are ever spiritually separated from them. We can pray for them and even do penance for them while we are still living.

Do we know with certainty that a friend or loved one who has passed away is either in purgatory or in heaven? No. But even if we pray for a person who may already be in heaven, we can believe that God will be pleased with such prayers and apply for the good of those who still need them.

Therefore on this November 2, the Feast of All Souls, I encourage all parishioners to pray for the souls of all of the faithful departed and perhaps especially for your friends and loved ones who have passed away. Not only will God bless them because of your prayers, you yourself will surely be blessed as well.

2003-10-20T16:07:00.000-05:00

Taking a short break

I'll be taking a short break from blogging, probaby four or five days. I'm always interested to read your comments, though, especially on my column on Terri Schiavo (a few posts back).

2003-10-20T13:08:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope--1 Pt 3:15

Q: Does the Bible require priests not to marry?

A: The Bible does not require priests to live as celibates. On the other hand, it does not forbid celibacy either. Indeed, celibacy is praised in the New Testament, even by Christ himself: “Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it” (Mt 19:11).

Later on in that same chapter Jesus again praises those who freely give up the goods of family life: "And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29).

A bit further in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus states that there are no marriages in heaven: “At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven” (Mt 22:30). This is not to say, of course, that marriage is not a good and holy thing. Nor does it say that the love that binds a husband and wife will be forgotten in heaven.

What our Lord does say here indirectly is that the love of God that joins a husband and wife exclusively on earth will apply to all people in heaven. In the Church on earth, when a priest chooses a life of celibacy in order to give of himself in loving service to all of God’s people given to his care, he becomes, through God’s grace, a living sign of that life in heaven where ‘they neither marry nor are given in marriage.’

St. Paul lived a life of celibacy and wrote of its value in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am, but each has a particular gift from God, one of one kind and one of another...I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife…” (1 Cor 7:7, 32-33).

Later on in his writings, St. Paul seems to contradict himself in counseling St. Timothy on how to select the proper man for the office of bishop: “a bishop must be...married only once…” (1 Tm 3:2). However, St. Paul is not requiring that a man who would be a bishop must be married. Instead, he is teaching that a widower who aspired to the office could not remarry or that a man who was married at the time of their selection for the office could not remarry if his wife then died at a later date.

In the next chapter of the same letter, St. Paul seems to reject celibacy in principle when he condemns those who “forbid marriage” (1 Tm 4:3). However St. Paul here does not condemn celibacy in and of itself but only the total rejection of marriage in all cases. There were indeed many religious groups in St. Paul’s day that were very dualistic, affirming only what was spiritual and rejecting anything to do with matter and the body—including marriage. St. Paul condemned such groups and their beliefs.

In contrast to such dualistic groups, the Catholic Church has always placed a high value on marriage. At the same time, it also has valued celibacy as well. Either are ways of life that the Lord calls individuals to and so should not be rejected in principle.

As we can see from the various passages of Sacred Scripture that I have laid out here (as well as others to which I could have appealed), the Bible praises celibacy and encourages those who would give themselves to God’s service to live this way.

In being in accord with the teachings of the Bible, the Catholic Church has never taught that celibacy is an essential part of the priesthood. Yet over the course of its history it has come to require it nonetheless in ordinary circumstances because of the biblical and sacramental principles that I have laid out here and because of the practical openness that it allows for men who would serve the faithful.

2003-10-17T09:53:00.000-05:00

Prince? A Jehovah's Witness?

Yeah, you heard it correctly. And apparently he's hitting the pavement and knocking on doors too. I guess the Kingdom Hall now has a prince or, rather the Prince.

2003-10-16T10:38:00.000-05:00

The Pope, Terry Schiavo, and the Gospel of Life

The following is a column that I have submitted to the local newspaper for which I write a weekly column. Hopefully it will get published.

Pope John Paul II, along with Catholics around the world, celebrates today the twenty-fifth anniversary of his papal election. When he was elected on October 16, 1978 (when this writer was only eight years old), he was a robust 58-year-old man whose pastimes were skiing and mountain climbing. The boldness of his body was matched by the courage of his soul and the challenging words that flowed forth from it, words of eternal meaning that ultimately played a vital role in the collapse of communism.

Today, a quarter of a century after that Polish priest appeared before the faithful in St. Peter’s Square for the first time as pope, his body is no longer robust. Now it is wracked by the effects of an assassination attempt, hip replacement surgery, severe arthritis, and Parkinson’s disease. But the power of his papacy endures.

In every country to which he has traveled he has trumpeted the eternal message of the Gospel of life, defending the inherent and sacred dignity of every human person. Now this message flows forth from his entire body and not simply through his words. For no physical infirmity, no matter how challenging, can destroy the dignity of the person who bears them. We are not ultimately defined by the changeable condition of our bodies but the unchanging dignity of our God-given souls. This is the powerful message that Pope John Paul now proclaims to the world in the twilight of his life.

How odd, then, that during this week of the Pope’s anniversary when he reminds the world once again of the Gospel of life that it seems to have been tragically ignored in Pinellas Park, FL where the feeding tube of Terry Schiavo was removed by a court order.

Terry had been severely disabled in both mind and body as the result of a heart attack that she suffered when she was 26, some thirteen years ago. However, she is not totally comatose or in a vegative state as some have claimed. She is able to breath on her own, look directly at the visitors to her room and express emotions, if not through words. It was a sad dispute between Terry’s husband and her family over the possibility of her physical recovery and her wishes regarding her life that led to the court decision that ordered the removal of her feeding tube.

Should a person’s life be preserved in all cases, at all costs? No. This is not a part of the Gospel of life that Pope John Paul has proclaimed. But there is a difference between using ordinary and extraordinary means to preserve life. In dire circumstances when extraordinary means to preserve life (such as a ventilator) are removed, the person in question will die naturally in a relatively short amount of time.

But Terry Schiavo’s case is not dire. Her life, until yesterday, was not being preserved by extraordinary means. Only an ordinary feeding tube was keeping her alive. When it was removed she slowly began to starve to death—an unnatural process that will only be complete over the course of an agonizing and pain-filled ten to fourteen days.

I can understand why Terry’s husband was distraught over his wife’s long-term condition. But she had no less dignity on the day that her feeding tube was removed than she had when she was a robust young woman of 26. In the same way, Pope John Paul still maintains his God-given human dignity despite the ravages of age that he is experiencing. His grace-inspired perseverance in the face of his many infirmities powerfully proclaims the Gospel of life. May we in the United States, in the face of the tragic case of Terry Schiavo, be attentive to this message and take it to heart.

2003-10-16T07:53:00.000-05:00

Taking care of Michael

My wife is working today, so I'm at home taking care of Michael who is, at present, making quite a mess in the kitchen. I'd better go check it out...

2003-10-15T08:14:00.000-05:00

A Prayer Request and a Short Reflection

Please pray for 23 teenagers from the parish where I serve as DRE. Tonight they will receive the sacrament of confirmation from Archbishop Daniel Buechlein at S.S. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis.

Pray for whatever specific intention for them that you think is appropriate. But consider praying that the Holy Spirit fill their hearts and form them into disciples of Jesus.

I find it interesting that these young people are being confirmed on the evening before the 25th anniversary of the election of Pope John Paul II. Most of them are 16 years old. That means that when they were born the Holy Father had been in his office for almost ten years already.

I myself who have overseen the catechists who formed them for this sacrament was only eight when Karol Wotyla succeeded Pope John Paul I. Although I have memories of his immediate predecessor, I really only became conscious of the leadership of the Pope during Pope John Paul II's pontificate.

In reality, then, there is an entire generation of young Catholics around the world who are coming to maturity in their faith solely under the ultimate leadership of the current Holy Father.

It will be interesting to note in the coming years the nature of the impact that his long span of powerful leadership will have on their lives of faith. I pray that the impact will be a positive one. If the various powerful messages which John Paul has proclaimed over the past 25 years sink into the hearts of the young Catholics who were born and matured in the faith during the period of his leadership, then I believe that the future of the Church is very bright indeed.

2003-10-14T11:57:00.000-05:00

Looking forward to the 25th Anniversary of the Holy Father's election

Here is the first of two columns that I have written for the occasion, both of which have or will appear in The Criterion, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

____________________________

In just a few days Pope John Paul II will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his election. The entire Church will celebrate with him this great blessing of life which God has given to him and us. On this occasion, we might wonder, what is it that has allowed the Holy Father to live so long after his election, to provide such outstanding leadership to millions of people around the world, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, to be such a longstanding, inspiring witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

In the final analysis it is surely the grace of our Lord that has sustained Pope John Paul in his ministry. But how has that grace been applied to him? How has it been mediated to him, invoked for him? In considering these questions one cannot ignore the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Holy Father has had a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother throughout his life and has indeed given over his petrine ministry to her care.

One need only look to his coat of arms to see evidence of this. It is dominated by a deep blue field and a large, golden ‘M’, all symbols of Mary. The motto of his papacy is ‘Totus Tuus’ (‘Totally Yours’), a sign of his dedication of all of his efforts to Jesus through Mary. Given all of this, it is quite fitting that the Holy Father was elected in the month of October, one which (along with May) Catholics have traditionally dedicated to the Blessed Mother.

I suspect that as we approach the anniversary of his election on October 16 the Holy Father will give special attention to the Blessed Virgin Mary in his various addresses and homilies. This may be especially the case since we are coming to the close of the “Year of the Rosary” which the he declared at this time last year as his 25th year as Pope was just beginning.

All of this should lead to us to consider what role Mary can play in the life of our Catholic homes. If she has played such an important part in supporting the ministry of Pope John Paul, she just might be able to be a strong intercessor for our families.

Perhaps this October might be a time when you and your family might begin to nurture a devotion to the Blessed Virgin if you have not already. Parents could pray a daily rosary on their own, asking Mary to intercede for the needs of their spouse and children. Families could take the time to pray a family rosary, or at least a decade if young children might not have the attention span for this at first.

Another way to build a love for our Blessed Mother within families would be to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Monte Cassino, located near St. Meinrad Archabbey, on a Sunday afternoon in October. Hundreds of people from across the region gather there at those times to hear a monk of the monastery give a presentation on Mary and to then pray the rosary together.

Ultimately, a family devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary will only lead us closer to her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of the entirety of the life and love of any family. She is the one person who was and always will be the closest to him. Let us, with the Holy Father, turn to her that she might reveal him to us.

2003-10-13T14:49:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope--1 Pt 3:15-16

Q: What is a mortal sin?

A: The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) describes mortal sin as that kind of sin which “destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him” (CCC 1855).

In contrast, a venial sin is one that “allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it” (CCC 1855).

Such a distinction between what we describe as mortal and venial sin is based directly on this passage from the First Letter of St. John: “If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly” (1 Jn 5:16-17).

The CCC goes on to explain the three conditions which must be present for a sin to be mortal. First, it must involve grave (i.e., serious) matter. An example of this would be sins against any of the ten commandments (CCC 1858). Second, it must involve “knowledge of the sinful character of the act” on the part of the person committing it. Third, it must involve the freedom of the person committing the act (CCC 1859).

So, in short, a person committing a mortal sin must know that the act that he or she is doing is serious and freely chooses to do it anyway.

When the CCC says that a mortal sin “destroys charity in the heart of man” it essentially means that it is a rejection on the part of the person committing it of the grace of God that is poured into hearts first at our Baptism and then later through the other sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Another way to describe this is to say that a person who has committed a mortal sin is no longer ‘in a state of grace’ and therefore should not receive Holy Communion.

Such a person should not do this because, by his mortal sin, he has separated himself from the Church through which the grace of God flows to us and in which we are free to receive our Lord in Holy Communion.

Returning to that grace that one rejected through mortal sin involves, in a very real way, a kind of conversion, as the CCC explains: “Mortal sin...necessitates a new initiative of God’s mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation…” (CCC 1856). So, after having returned to the Lord and his grace through repentance which happens in our continuing conversion and experienced in Reconciliation, a person who has committed a mortal sin may then receive Holy Communion and return to the other sacraments as well.

Although the Church gives us a clear definition of mortal sin, it is impossible for us as individuals to know whether or not another person’s actions are mortally sinful or not. Why? Because we cannot know another person’s heart, whether or not that person has knowledge of the sinful character of the act, whether or not the person is truly free in committing it. Only our heavenly Father knows all men’s hearts.

2003-10-13T09:02:00.000-05:00

Fox News as well as a local ABC affiliate have picked up the Mockingbird story

The principal of Columbus East High School was quoted in the WRTV story:

The school's drama teacher asked the play's publisher to let the students take the "N-word" out of the dialogue, but the publisher refused, Principal William Jensen said.

Jensen said students worked for five weeks on the play, which never got to the dress rehearsal phase. He said some of the students are not happy with the decision.

"I think it's one of those things where we've got to look at the whole picture," Jensen told RTV6's Sy Jenkins Wednesday...

Exactly. I think that if the folks involved in making the decision had looked at the *whole picture* of the play, including its eloquent anti-racist message, instead of just focusing on one word, the students might now be still rehearsing to perform it.

Interestingly enough, the local affiliate is running an unscientific poll on the cancellation as a sidebar to it story on the topic. 84% of the respondees thus far voted that the school should have not cancelled the play.

2003-10-13T08:48:00.000-05:00

A Busy Day at the Parish

Yesterday morning I caught myself coming and going at the parish where I serve as DRE. The fact that the day before I had sprained my ankle while doing work outdoors didn't help matters.

At any rate, at our 8:00 Mass the sophomores who are just starting their preparation for Confirmation celebrated what we call their 'Rite of Enrollment.' Its a way for them to commit themselves in a public way to the preparation that lies before them and for them to receive the prayerful support of the parish, their sponsors, their parents, and, of course, the grace of God that flows through all of them.

The parish has its Religious Education Program from 9:00-10:15. Yesterday we collected non-perishable food items for a food pantry in the community and infant and baby supplies for a nearby crisis pregnancy center. In all the students donated close to 400 items yesterday. They'll bring in donations next Sunday as well. One factor that is there to motivate them is that the class with the highest average giving per student will get free tickets to a Indiana Pacers basketball game.

At 10:30 Mass the Confirmation class just finishing up their preparation were honored. At both this Mass and at 8:00 Mass the pastor strongly emphasized to the students that their free choice to be confirmed was their choice to commit themselves to the Catholic Church. He especially emphasized their commitment to come to Mass on Sundays, even when they're no longer living with their parents.

In many respects I thought that this approach was good. Some of those students may indeed choose to walk away from their faith later on, although I pray that this doesn't happen. But if they do, it will in all likelihood be a much more conscious and deliberate act after having heard the pastor's message and their making their commitment.

However, I think that if I were one of those young people, I would have gone away from those rituals thinking that the weight of that commitment was totally on my shoulders. If I were in the pastor's position, I would have equally emphasized that the grace that God gives them through the sacrament will help not only live out that commitment, but also make it a fulfilling thing for them and help to be a living sign of Christ in the Church for others.

The parish also hosted an open house in its church for the broader community from 12:00-1:00. We had advertised it in the local newspaper and had sent out letters to about 35 local churches announcing it and asking them to publicize it in their bulletins and announcements. The open house was intended (and publicized as) a way for the people of the community to learn more about our historic church building and the faith community that has enlivened it for one hundred years.

Unfortunately, only two people showed up for it. But they received a great tour of the place and answers to all of their questions (including one about The DaVinci Code--grrr...). Why didn't it attract more people. First was the scheduling of the event--which was chosen by the pastor. Duh, lots of people eat lunch from 12:00-1:00. But I also think that it had to do with a lack of interest in our community of members of the various Protestant churches to engage members of other churches (especially Catholic parishes) on matters of faith.

All of that happened in the morning alone! Later on in the day we had another one of our Masses in Spanish--something we do twice a month now and, by the end of year, hopefully weekly.

2003-10-11T19:23:00.000-05:00

An Indianapolis Star editorial on the Mockingbird controversey

Our position is: Columbus East High School officials made the best of a trying situation in their recent drama crisis.

The old wisecrack "Better to ask forgiveness than permission" comes to mind in the struggle over a planned staging of the play "To Kill a Mockingbird" at Columbus East High School.

No, it's not better, decided Assistant Principal Gary Goshorn. He and staff members involved with the drama were right about that, and right in making the tough call to cancel the production rather than perform it with volatile racial language included. Art may trump concerns about negative impact when it comes to professional or even collegiate companies, but high school activities are not so simple...

I don't think that any high school educator involved in staging the drama would have taken an arts gratia artis position. Of course drama in a high school context is going to involve some sort of educational purpose.

The fact that various articles on the topic quote students from both Columbus East and Decatur Central (in Indianapolis, where the play was recently performed) who were able to see the educational value in the play and make the distinction between language used on stage and used in real life reveals ample evidence that the play could have been an educational experience with a significant impact on its young audience.

It could have been this, that is if the vice principal would have had some courage in the decisions that he made.

2003-10-11T19:06:00.000-05:00

Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily

Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Wis 7:7-11
Ps 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Heb 4:12-13
Mk 10:17-30

Christians who have great wealth make for easy targets. I can easily accuse them of being inherently evil people by using the verse from the letter of James that money is the root of all evil. I can create a loose stream of logic if I say that all rich people are evil by nature. As we have heard, Jesus told his disciples that rich people will have great difficulty entering the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not as though the Kingdom is off limits to them. Perhaps we believe it is the case as a result of knowing the parable of Lazarus and the rich man from Chapter 16 of Luke’s Gospel because the rich man went directly to eternal torment after he died.

People who knew Hebrew Scriptures would have known both the reasons why the rich man was in torment and the difficulty of entering heaven as wealthy people. Within the book of Deuteronomy, the rich are reminded that their wealth comes only as a result of God’s favorable blessing. Woe was cast upon them if they forgot the principle. Within Deuteronomy, God reminded Israel that rich people had the tendency to forget about God and allow their personal pride to increase. When rich people claimed that their wealth came as a result of their own talent, then they fell because they set their own laws and lived by them rather than following the laws of God. These laws called for the protection of the widow, the orphan, and of anyone else in need. These laws were written so that all people within Israel could remember their collective poverty both during their servitude Egypt and during the Exodus.

These teachings were reiterated within the Book of Sirach. Israel was commanded to rely on God rather than on wealth. Israel was commanded not to boast that they were free from reproach because, as it is written, “the Lord bides his time”.

During the time that Jesus walked the earth, it would have been easy to equate wealth with evil. Tax collectors were known widely to be some of the richest people in Israel. Merchants were behind them both in wealth collected and in corrupt acts committed. Jesus knew that these types would have faced tremendous obstacles in order to enter heaven because their wealth was based on corruption and maintained through corrupt means, too. Jesus knew that these rich people conveniently ignored the warnings that were given to them in the ancient scriptures. They acted as if the old rules did not apply to them. Jesus used two means to shock these people: he offered them both sudden enlightenment that wealth brought neither eternal life nor true happiness and he offered them the stark, scary picture of what awaited the people who followed neither the old laws of Israel nor the fulfillment of the Law that was his Eternal Word. His message was received and accepted to some degree. His tactics worked on at least two men named Matthew and Zacchaeus.

Any of us can fall into the trap of believing falsely that wealth begets absolute security, but I also ask you if you have ever met a wealthy person who was always secure. Wealthy people can live much of their lives in fear that their wealth either is withering or not growing at all. Many wealthy people do not want to let go of what they have. Even during the time of Jesus, many wealthy people did not want to live as truly religious people because there was no way they could trust in anything other than themselves and their wealth. As Tony Montana said within the early 1980s remake of the film “Scarface”: “Who do I trust? Me.” Of course, those who acted in such a manner would then meet Satan who would point to his pitchfork and say: “Say hello to my little friend.”

All people continue to fight between heavenly security and financial security as if the latter provides greater security than the former provides. Yet Jesus’ words have not been altered. They continue to stand true. These words continue to be difficult to follow, but the promise remains that anyone who forsakes wealth or connections and thereby relies on the providence of God will be cared for. Does that mean that we should give away everything? No. But there are many people in this area who are in need of assistance. To our visitors who have summer homes, I ask of you to continue to help the people who struggle to keep their only home. To our tourist visitors, I ask that you put into our poor box an amount close to what you plan to put into a slot machine.

I am proud to serve people here who have built and maintained an outstanding reputation for serving the less fortunate of this region. I am honored to serve people who have given the gifts that they have received so that many people can share many divine blessings. I hope that we do not grow slack in remembering what God has called us to do. He wants us to show our gratitude to Him by extending that same gratitude to our neighbors. By doing this, we bring forth the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and we gain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven itself when the Lord calls us to share in the wealth of being united with him forever.

2003-10-09T08:05:00.000-05:00

More on the Mockingbird Controversey

Here are some excerpts from today's coverage of this sad story in Columbus, IN's daily The Republic (its online content is accessible only to print subscribers):

A mural at Columbus East High School features a montage of classic books with an open page from “To Kill a Mockingbird” and a quote from the novel’s hero, Atticus Finch.

The quote reads, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”

Ironically, the passage portrays some of the reason that school officials at East canceled a student production of the novel’s stage version, scheduled for performances in late October and early November...

...I wish they would produce the show as it is,” he said. “It’s a very strong show and a message that needs to be heard.”

East called Dramatic Publishing, in Woodstock, Ill., last month to ask permission to change “nigger” to a less offensive word, but the company denied, saying that removing the word would soften the script’s portrayal of racism.

“The fact that this word is uncomfortable — that doesn’t make it go away,” Sergel said. “To be able to not confront it is wrong.”...

...According to Dramatic Publishing records, 260 amateur theaters, including Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis, have produced “To Kill a Mockingbird” in the past three years.

Will Wilson, a black Decatur Central senior, played Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman in the play.

He said the story, despite its language, is a lesson about acceptance.

“It’s a play, and it’s telling a story,” he said. “You have to understand that it’s a production and what’s coming out is not the feeling of the actors.”

One local black activist agrees.

Paul Jones, co-founder of Addressing Columbus Cultural Education and Promoting Trust, said communities must acknowledge racism and slurs to defeat them.

“I’m kind of angry about it being shut down,” he said. “It’s part of the play, and you got to hear that stuff for people to feel the pain and start healing.”...

...In place of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” students will perform, “Fabulous Fifties Affair,” a murder mystery about a talk show involving television stars from the 1950s...

From substance to fluff. Very telling about the direction in which our culture is going.

I also see as significant the comments of the black senior at the Indianapolis high school who played Tom Robinson. It seems to me that the young people are more thinking more intelligently in this affair than the adults.

Here are excerpts from the editorial in today's newspaper:

...School officials in effect chose the path of least resistance by terminating the production based on the acclaimed book by Harper Lee which told the story of a Southern lawyer who defended a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman...

...“To Kill a Mockingbird,” which is arguably one of the greatest pieces of American literature, can be an important element in education, from a historical and literary perspective.

Indeed, school officials and NAACP leaders could have seized the opportunity of this play to add to its educational value while at the same time preparing audiences for its impact.

One step that could have been taken would have been to hold a panel discussion before each performance to talk about the play and its content, emphasizing the time frame in which the original material was written and how it came to play a critical role in the civil rights movement...

2003-10-08T10:05:00.000-05:00

A Sad Day in Columbus, IN: The Stage Version of To Kill a Mockingbird Cancelled

(Please note: I'd have a link to an article on this story, but the newspaper of the town where I live only allows its print subscribers to access its website and even then you have to register online--which I am in the process of doing at present. When that happens, I'll at least be able to provide excerpts from the article.)

Columbus East High School had planned to perform the stage version of Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. However, the head of its drama department contacted the local leader of the NAACP to see if she and its members would object to its performance. The leader of the chapter felt that the use of the 'n word' in the play (and I only designate it in this way here so that various internet filters won't block my blog) rendered it inappropriate. Therefore the high school has cancelled the performance.

The leader of the local NAACP chapter felt that the play might give the message to the school's students that it is acceptable to use such language in their own lives.

Does the word appear in the play? Of course. Is it used in the play in a hateful manner toward other characters in the play? Of course. Does that mean that the play should have been cancelled? Never.

The play could have sent forth a powerful message against all forms of racism, including the use of racist language. Teachers could have shown their students through the play how wrong racism is, how our society was terribly marred by it in the past, and how we are still struggling for healing, still burdened with its evil effects.

The use of drama in communicating such a message can be more powerful than a simple classroom lesson or discussion. I can speak to this personally. I read the novel as a high school sophomore and then watched the motion picture version of it with the rest of my classmates. Like any other average sophomore I was, more often than not, sophomoric. And yet that novel and especially its movie version brought tears to my eyes.

In the right context (and I firmly believe that To Kill a Mockingbird is a right context), the truth comes across more convincingly when it is presented next to what is false, beauty is more striking when it is presented next to what is ugly. Art can educate the mind and the heart, bringing them together in harmony.

This is what happens in To Kill a Mockingbird. It confronts its audience with the witness to truth in Atticus Finch and the litany of lies in Bob Ewell, the beauty of respect for all human beings, and the repulsive image of racism. Yes, the play shows the fact that, in our fallen world, what is true and beautiful is still sometimes tragically rejected. But it in no way justifies or glorifies this. In fact, it condemns it.

The lessons that can be drawn from the evils of our society cannot be learned if its history and its dramatic portrayals are buried. In fact, if they are so ignored, those evils will only continue. Auschwitz and other concentration camps were preserved because of this.

It is a sad day when a similarly powerful lesson--one that through art proclaims the truth and condemns what is false--is kept from the young students of Columbus East High School.

Update: I've gotten access to the online version (only print subscribers can have this. Here are some excerpts:

Columbus East High School has canceled a student production of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” because the play contains racial slurs, according to the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The play was scheduled for performances Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2.

Gwen Wiggins, president of the Columbus-Bartholomew County chapter of the NAACP, said Janelle Runge, an East drama teacher, called her late last month for advice on how to handle the word “nigger” in the script.

“I told her I could not give her permission to call any of the students using that word,” Wiggins said.

Parents of black actors had told Wiggins their children were uncomfortable when white students used the slur to refer to them, she said...

...Columbus East Assistant Principal Gary Goshorn said the school canceled the play, because it did not want students to become part of a racial or political controversy...

...Students had been working on “To Kill A Mockingbird” about five weeks, and some were disappointed about the cancellation.

Sophomore Mark Presto already had built part of the set for what he calls a powerful play. He said the language would have been suitable for the audience.

“Maybe younger kids won’t understand, but teenagers like us should,” he said.

Wiggins, however, said she enjoyed reading the play but worried it would set a bad example for the school.

“They are going to think, ‘If you can do it in the play, then you can do it outside the play,’” she said.

Wiggins said she appreciated East speaking with the NAACP but wished the school corporation would alter its high school required literature, which includes “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Huckleberry Finn.”

“There are better books about African-American history and literature,” she said.

2003-10-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

Tom over at Disputations argues that one of the secrets of the Rosary is that it is not particuarly Marian

What do you think?

I had a couple of posts last week where I raised different possibilities for dialogue between Catholics and other Christians about Mary. Perhaps what Tom has to say here is another way to broach this somewhat (but, in my opinion, unecessarily) thorny topic.

2003-10-07T10:29:00.000-05:00

And in other sports news...

The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs have both made into their respective league championships series. They are both one step closer to winning a World Series championship.

Is this a sign of the endtimes? If one of them wins the World Series will the rapture happen right after the last out has been made?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

2003-10-07T07:21:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'll be the first to admit it.

I'm a Hoosier and I'm a big Indianapolis Colts fan. But I turned off the TV last night when they were down to the Tampa Bay Bucs 35-14 with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter. I thought that the game was all but over.

How could I have known that the Colts would make one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history?

2003-10-06T07:56:00.000-05:00

Participating in the “Life Chain” on Respect Life Sunday

As many of you know, millions across the nation observed yesterday as Respect Life Sunday. One particular way that this observance has been carried out since 1987 has been through participating in a ‘Life Chain.’ Supporters of the cause to increase respect for all life line a designated portion of a city street for an hour, silently holding signs that call on all who see them to grow in awareness of the attacks on life throughout our society, especially through abortion.

My wife, son, and I participated in this yesterday. We and other participants lined the sidewalks of Meridian St. in Indianapolis from near downtown all the way up to 40th St—around 35 city blocks in all.

However, at least where we were standing, people were fairly spread out. There were large portions of blocks within my line of sight where no one stood. Considering the enormous negative impact that abortion and other attacks on life have had on our nation, especially in the past 30 years, one could have hoped and expected to have people shoulder to shoulder all along the long route.

But, as it was, motorists driving up and down Meridian could still not miss what was going on. Several showed their support either by honking their horns or showing a thumbs up sign. But, in the end, the participants in yesterday’s Life Chain weren’t there to experience the support of others in the city. They were there to stand as a witness to the preciousness of all life.

My family and I stood just north of 14th St. and Meridian, near S.S. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Following the end of the event, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis sponsored a ‘Life Fair’ in the Assembly Hall of its chancery building. I’d estimate that a dozen or more organizations were there to show others how they work to support life and to elicit their participation. It was a vibrant way of showing that the Catholic Church's support of life is manifested in multiple ministries and not just through protest, as important and vital as that is.

There were representatives from Project Gabriel, another ministry that seeks to bring healing to women who have had abortions (similar to Rachel’s Vineyard), the Couple to Couple League, and lots of ministries. All of this was carried out by the Archdiocese’s Office of Pro-Life Activities.

There was also a booth there from Truth and Compassion Ministries--a small ecumenical organization in Indianapolis that schedules trained sidewalk counsellors (my wife is one of them) to offer their help in love to women going into abortion clinics to have the grisly procedure. They had a book there with a fairly large collection of letters of thanks sent to them by women who, through their ministry, were persuaded to save the life of the children that they had carried in their womb but who were just minutes away from death.

The beauty of it all was that everyone was there in a spirit of joy. A young man who writes and performs contemporary Christian and Catholic music was there performing. Lots of young people from area Catholic high schools were up front listening to him and also learning about the other ministries. A toddler was running about with a basket full of stickers that showed a little bear on which read ‘I love the unborn.’

And Life Chain t-shirts and sweatshirts were being sold quickly by the dozens. The front of them had on them a quote from Mother Teresa: “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” The back had a design created by a local student at a Catholic middle school. It showed various little babies wrapped up in either blue or pink blankets. You are able to only see their faces. On the blankets were letters that spelled out “All life is precious.”

Overall the event showed the great joy that can be had by living life simply and valuing it tenderly.

Lots of people were there for the Life Fair, but most of them had been participants in the Life Chain. I suspect that very few of the probably thousands of folks driving up and down Meridian during the event came in. It is my prayer that yesterday's Life Chain was just one more step to help all of them grow in their knowledge of the preciousness of all life, to invite them into sharing the joy that so many of its participants exuded at the Life Fair.

2003-10-06T06:53:00.000-05:00

The Pope, in his meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, recognizes "new and serious difficulties have arisen on the path to unity"

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 5, 2003 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II told the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury at a weekend audience that "we must … recognize that new and serious difficulties have arisen on the path to unity."

The Pope made that observation Saturday when he received Rowan Williams, primate of the Anglican Communion, at the Vatican.

"As we give thanks for the progress that has already been made, we must also recognize that new and serious difficulties have arisen on the path to unity," the Pope said in his English-language address to Dr. Williams.

"These difficulties are not all of a merely disciplinary nature; some extend to essential matters of faith and morals," he added. He did not elaborate on the point.

On Friday, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said that the Anglican Communion's ordination of practicing homosexuals is a problem affecting its relations with the Catholic Church...

2003-10-04T06:31:00.000-05:00

Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily

Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Gn 2:18-24
Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
Heb 2:9-11
Mk 10:2-16 or 10:2-12

When we encounter certain Scriptural passages, we tend to expect predictable responses. Preachers are susceptible to preparing predictable sermons; listeners are susceptible to expecting predictable sermons. Numerous preachers will proclaim that our culture has little or no regard for the sanctity of marriage. I agree, in some respects, but I prefer to confront the Pharisee who lives inside of all of us. It is much easier to complain about the divorce rate than it is to confront the way that many people in our society behave in any given circumstance.

Recall that the Pharisees asked Jesus about the lawfulness of divorce. Pharisees, on average, maintained high moral standards; unfortunately, they based their decision-making on what was allowable more than on what was either good or bad. Pharisees sought to determine whether a command was always definite, if possible loopholes could be allowed without risking the integrity of the law, or if a law could be
completely discarded if the loopholes revealed defects within the law itself.

The following may appear corny at first glance, but I use the following example of Pharisaical behavior within our Church: We know that it is a general law of the Church that Catholics should abstain from eating meat on a Friday during Lent. This law does not apply either to children of young age or to elderly people, but the law can be followed if those dispensed from it prefer to follow it. Consider the following examples: either St. Patrick’s Day or St. Joseph’s Day falls on a Lenten Friday. In the case of 2004, the feast of our patron, St. Joseph, does this. Both Irish Catholics and Italian Catholics protest against this law as a result of their dietary traditions for the day. The Irish refuse to change the menu to fish and chips. The Italians have already
purchased red wine and they cannot serve a white clam sauce with a red wine. As a result, they ask to be dispensed from the Friday law. Good Irish Catholics and good Italian Catholics alike ask for the dispensation with the promise that another day of the week will be observed as a day of dietary penance: they resolve to eat Scottish cuisine. In all seriousness, many people look at their calendars before they look at the spiritual significance of the season.

Disciples run the risk of seeking dispensation from human authority in order to avoid something rather than seek the disposition with the help of divine authority to confront something. The message that runs deeper than a teaching concerning divorce is that people spend much of their time seeking to know what is permissible rather than seeking to do what is right. In the case of marriage, Jesus wants us to be
so thankful for the opportunity to be married to another person that we seek to create a covenant relationship that neither spouse would want to rupture either as a result of their own conduct or because of what is permissible by law.

In the cases of abortion and euthanasia, Jesus wants our only fundamental choices to include loving, nurturing, and protecting all human life as it is a gift from God. He wants us to love all people from their first moment until their last moment. He does
not dispense us from loving people as a result of their skin color, religious beliefs, or their manners of conduct. Pray for all the people who say that they love babies. Would they love them if they could find out now whether these children would grow up to become, for examples, non-Christian, homosexual, anarchist, or someone who speaks a different language? Would such people then seek God’s permission to be dispensed from honoring human life as a divine gift? Even if I am disgusted by non-Christians, homosexuals, anarchists, or people who speak in another tongue, I am called to honor them without exception as creatures of God. Through God’s power, we can see to love all people. We are called to love one another rather than merely respect each other.

The inner Pharisee can help us to live as good Christians, but each of us needs to amend how we use this Pharisee in regard to our daily lives. We must discipline the Pharisee within us only to ask God how we can make human law live in conjunction with the love of God rather than use the Pharisee to see exceptions and dispensations from divine obedience. Jesus said within the Gospel, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Our inner Pharisee can help us to accept this teaching. Unfortunately for us, the Pharisee fights it so much that the ensuing tension makes the burden heavier.

God entered this world as a man so that we could be free from the burden of sin. Freedom is much easier than what we make it out to be at times. We gain true freedom by uniting our minds, hearts, and souls with the mind, heart, and soul of Jesus. Through such an intimate union with Jesus, we will not merely consider what is permissible.

2003-10-03T08:48:00.000-05:00

Praying for a Parakeet

Yes, you read correctly. A church in the town where I live has placed a parakeet on its prayer list. Our local newspaper ran a story this morning (must be a slow news day) about a family that had its prized parakeet escape. They're worried about it now that it is getting colder.

At any rate, the good folk at "The World of Pentecost" (yeah, thats the name of the church--sounds more like a theme park to me) are now praying for that little bird. Who knows, maybe they can have a hymn sing for it with their choir leading off with that old great spiritual, "I'll Fly Away."

Hey, if The World of Pentecost were a theme park, what would be the name of some of its roller coasters and other attractions?

2003-10-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

On Baby Patrol...

My wife Cindy is working today so I'm at home taking care of Michael, carefully watching him as he develops his climbing habit.

Therefore I don't hold out much hope for posting today. But do take a look at some of my most recent posts. I'm interested to read your comments on them.

2003-10-01T14:32:00.000-05:00

Friendly Fire

This was the phrase that came to mind last night as a Catholic friend of mine described to me the practice of a crisis pregnancy center run by a Protestant church in a nearby city. Apparently they require all of their paid workers and volunteers to sign a statement of faith which includes beliefs directly opposed to some doctrines of the Catholic Church (e.g., the signer needs to affirm that the Bible is the sole authority in matters of faith, etc.).

There are times and places where it is appropriate for congregations to be discriminatory (properly understood) when choosing those with whom they work and who work for them, whether they receive monetary compensation or not. There are times and places where discussions and arguments can take place between different groups of Christians about those things which are at the root of such discrimination.

However, I think that the arena of pro-life ministry is, by and large, not one of these arenas. The effectiveness of our proclamation of the Gospel of life is directly related to the unity of our witness to it. When Christians set up barriers like the one described above we are only dividing ourselves in an area where no divisions are really necessary and where unity in action is a good.

This kind of barrier is a form of the friendly fire that came to my mind when I heard about it. I strongly suspect that the Christian congregation which established and runs the crisis pregnancy center is in agreement with the Catholic Church on matters of the dignity and sanctity of human life, especially as it relates to the unborn.

Why do they need to fire back at Catholics who would like to lend a helping hand in their ministry?

2003-09-30T12:34:00.000-05:00

Speaking of Mary and of Dialogue between Catholics and other Christians...

Here's an interesting reflection taken from the writings of Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap. on Mary's Immaculate Conception--a topic about which it can seem very difficult for Catholics and other Christians to enter into dialogue on:

When talking of hte title "full of grace" with which the angel addressed Mary, it is easy to make the mistake of insisting more on Mary's grace than on God's grace. The title "full of grace" was the privileged starting point and the basis for defining the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and almost all of Mary's other privileges.

All of these constitute progress of the faith. But once this has been understood, we must move back to the original meaning, which talks to us more of God than of Mary, more of him who gives grace than of her who receives it, because this is exactly what Mary herself wants. Without this balance, grace might actually and imperceptibly indicate its opposit, which is merit.

In defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the Church declared that Mary was preserved from sin, "in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, our Savior."

In this brief reflection Cantalamessa, who holds the title "preacher to the papal household", gets right to the heart of some objections that some Christians to this dogma defined by Pope Pius IX.

Many Christians, but I suppose most especially the Orthodox, would object to Cantalamessa's use of the phrases "progress of the faith" and "original meaning." They might argue that no progress is needed in the faith, that which was handed down whole and entire from Jesus to his apostles and that the original meaning is the only one that we need.

If such an objection were raised, I would first point out that this excerpt was not drawn from a text of systematic theology where a high value is placed on preciseness. It seems to me that, in this case, 'progress of the faith' refers more to the progress of the Church's public stated understanding of that faith handed on from the beginning and that to go back to the 'original meaning' by no means implies that a later formulation of the doctrine differs in any fundamental way from what was believed in the past. Instead, it seems to me that, in referring to the 'original meaning', Cantalamessa is really referring to the heart of the doctrine.

And that heart has to do only with what God did through his grace for Mary and not what Mary, in any way, merited for herself. This, then, points to one of the primary objections that many Protestant Christians might raise about what Cantalamessa has to say here.

But it seems to me that the Capuchin preacher is trying to answer such an objection before it is ever raised. He reminds Catholics that Mary's Immaculate Conception is a total gift of God's grace, nothing which she merited in any way.

Whether or not Protestant Christians would accept such an explanation of that aspect of the dogma is an open question.

Those of you who are Protestant Christians, what do you think of Cantalamessa's explanation? Those of you who are Orthodox, do you think that he is promoting an understanding of the faith that has room for progress, understood as is?

2003-09-30T09:09:00.000-05:00

George Weigel on Pope John Paul II as the 25th anniversary of his election approaches

...Q: What would you say have been his three greatest accomplishments?

Weigel: The great question for the Catholic Church at the end of the second millennium of its history was: Could the Church give a coherent, compelling, comprehensive account of its faith and its hope?

John Paul answered that question in the affirmative: through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, through his own magisterium, and through this remarkable capacity to make Catholic convictions "come alive" in history -- as in the collapse of European Communism.

So it all fits together -- the renewal of the Church and the impact on the world. It would be hard to identify three "greatest" accomplishments within that framework, but three emblematic accomplishments would be the Catechism, the June 1979 Polish pilgrimage, and the Great Jubilee of 2000...

I have seen Christians, who otherwise could be described as being rather anti-Catholic, give great praise for the work and witness of Pope John Paul II. No less than Jack Van Impe has done this, praising the underlying teachings of Veritatis Splendor and claiming to have been impressed with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Could, then, the ministry and, possibly, even teachings of Pope John Paul II be a starting point for discussions between Catholics and other Christians?

Q: The Holy Father credited the Blessed Virgin with saving his life on May 18, 1981. How has his devotion to Mary affected his pontificate?

Weigel: The Pope has constantly proposed Our Lady as the pattern of all Christian discipleship, and I think that's been his most important Marian theme.

John Paul seems to accept Hans Urs von Balthasar's insight that all Christian life is, somehow, formed in the image of Mary, whose "fiat" makes the Incarnation possible and is in some sense the beginning of the Church.

John Paul also insists that all true Marian piety is Christ-centered and Trinitarian. As at the wedding feast at Cana, Mary always points beyond herself to her son -- "Do whatever he tells you"; and because her son is both son of Mary and Son of God, by pointing us to him she points us into the heart of the Trinity itself...

This last point, about Mary being a (the) model of Christian discipleship could be an interesting topic for discussion between Catholics and other Christians. I think that it would be a difficult discussion to begin, but if it could start, I think that it could be fruitful, one that could begin to dispel the great phobia that many other Christians seem to have about giving attention to the Mother of God.

Pope John Paul has indeed given a great amount of attention to her during the course of his pontificate. At the same time, as his apostolic letter on the rosary emphasized last year, all devotion to Mary is ultimately to be Christocentric. Perhaps the way in which John Paul has shaped his devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the way that he has encouraged other Christians to do so could be a starting point in these possible discussion.

2003-09-29T15:56:00.000-05:00

Open House

The parish where I serve as DRE is hosting an 'open house' for the broader community on Sunday, October 12. It is being organized as a part of the parish's participation in Make-a-Difference Day (which is actually observed on Saturday, October 25), sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation and publicized by USA Weekend.

The open house will be on that Sunday afternoon and will allow the people of the broader community to come and see our church building and learn of its history and the people who have filled it in the past and who do so today.

I just sent out a mailing to 34 Protestant churches in our community announcing the open house and inviting them to announce it at their services and in their bulletins. We're also advertising the open house in the local daily newspaper.

It will be interesting to see if there will be a responses to the letter or the advertisement. I sent out the letter to a broad range of churches--from mainline churches (United Methodists, Presbyterians, etc.) to those that could be considered more on the periphery (Seventh Day Adventists, Baptist Temple, etc.).

I hope that the open house goes well. It could be a real opportunity for the parishioners to meet other Christians in the community and for other Christians to learn about the Catholic Church's presence here. Hopefully some good natured dialogue will spring from it.

2003-09-29T11:35:00.000-05:00

My son Michael on the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel

This is the patronal feast of my son, Michael Joseph. Cindy (my wife), Michael, and I will be celebrating it with special joy this year having experienced so much fear and uncertainty this past summer when he was suffering from a severe case of pneumonia. I trust that, among the many other prayers offered for him, it was the intercessions of his holy angelic patron that invoked the healing grace of God upon him.

And yet we're still experiencing some after effects of his illness. The inability of his immune system to fight the infection caused his doctors at Riley Hospital to wonder if he had any kind of deficiency. We're still waiting on some test results that will give us the answer to that question.

Michael has also had a fever over the past day. Ordinarily it would be something that I wouldn't think twice about. But, after what happened last summer, Cindy and I aren't living in ordinary circumstances. I suppose our family doctor doesn't think that we are either because she brought us into the hospital yesterday afternoon to examine him after we made a phone call to her. He had visual signs of strep throat, but the initial tests came back negative. I'm not really worried about this case. Its more of a worrisome nuissance than anything else.

Interestingly enough this could be considered an 'interreligious' feast day, as St. Michael is honored by Jews and Moslems as well as Christians.

There are also a whole boatload of various professions for which St. Michael is a patron, some of which were very appropriate this summer when my own Michael was so sick. (He's the patron of EMTs, ambulance drivers, radiologists, and sick people).

Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And you, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

2003-09-27T07:23:00.000-05:00

Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily

Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Nm 11:25-29
Ps 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14
Jas 5:1-6
Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Catechetical Sunday is not a celebration on the Official Roman Calendar, but it is a great tradition that deserved to be celebrated in all Churches. It is usually celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of September, but we have done things a little differently here. I’ll go ahead and say that it was intentionally moved because catechists are the present-day Eldads and Medads of the Church. Catechists are people who believed that the Holy Spirit has rested upon them and given them the desire to educate people of all ages about God and the Church. The Holy Spirit has not only called them to serve in the manner, but the Spirit also helps the teachers teach well both in their presentation and in their living examples.

As much as I thank God that He has entrusted a great responsibility on me, I am thankful that I am not the only person within this church to whom the Lord has given the power of the Spirit. Whether everyone here has been confirmed or has not been confirmed according to the rites of our Church, the Lord has called down the Holy Spirit to rest upon us so that all of us can educate the world about the love that God has for all his people.

I know that I have been called to act on behalf of the bishop and I know that there are gifts and duties that I have received through the Sacrament of Holy Orders that not every believer has been given, but I am not the only teacher here. I hope that I am never the only teacher here. Jesus is the teacher. Jesus has sent the gift of the Holy Spirit to all people so that everyone can bring forth the Kingdom of Heaven and also to manifest the presence of God in this world by doing beautiful works in His name, especially teaching.

If you are Christian, then you have been called to be a catechist. If you have been called by God to share in eternal life, then you have been called to do works in His name during this life. The phrase “in His name” is important because that phrase keeps a believer from becoming an egoist. If we do things in His name, then we do not do them simply for the sake of our own gain, but for the sake of giving praise to God.

Catechists show the people in their care how to see the glory of God both in daily life and in the way we worship as a Church. Perhaps you have heard before the parents are a child’s first and most frequently-consulted catechists. I hope that it is the case for all parents in the Church. Do not wait for someone else to be a good example; be the good example yourself.

Moses has been quoted at the end of our first reading as saying: “Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit upon them all!” We believe that the Lord did just that after he rose from the dead. Whether it occurred on Pentecost, as in the Gospel of Luke, or on Easter Sunday, as in the Gospel of John, it occurred. The Lord has bestowed His Spirit upon all of us. He has done this with the expectation that all of us, in some way, will use this Spirit to teach the world about the love of God. Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! That is exactly what the Lord expects us to be each day.

2003-09-25T08:06:00.000-05:00

Is Notre Dame Catholic in Its Morals?

I'd have to say a qualified yes. The University of Notre Dame owns two NBC affiliates, WNDU in South Bend, IN and KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, UT and has refused to broadcast NBC's new sitcom "Couplings", whose humor seems to be centered on the sexual licentiousness of its characters.

I'm glad that Notre Dame has made such a public stand, especially given the fact that they could have felt pressure from the network because of its lucrative contract with them to broadcast their home football games. Still, if they are objecting to the show because of the immoral way that it approaches sexuality, one could make the argument that the university should refuse to broadcast a whole boatload of shows.

But, at the least, its a start. And its one that is getting some attention. Hopefully the show will be a bust and will be cancelled fairly quickly.

One thing to note in closing. Although Notre Dame took action to try to prevent their viewing audiences from being exposed to this raunchy show, NBC has outflanked them anyway, contracting with a UPN affiliate in South Bend and a WB affiliate in Salt Lake City to broadcast the show despite the university's stand.

2003-09-24T19:54:00.000-05:00

Passing on and Receiving the Faith

Catholics make a big deal about the faith, the Gospel, the Gospel message--whatever term you want to use for it--belongs in a very real sense to the Church, the Church that Christ established and which was brought to life on Pentecost.

It proclaims the Gospel, passes on the faith. Those who have not heard it receive it. They can choose to accept it or reject it. If they accept, become a disciple of the Lord, and are baptized, they then become a part of the Church. Then they become apostles, proclaimers of the same faith which they received from someone else who had proclaimed it to them.

Of course the Gospel originates and finds its fulfillment in the person of Jesus. But Catholics believe that, after his ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the task of proclaiming that Gospel has been entrusted to the Church, his body on earth--a complex reality that is both visible and spiritual.

This, in short and in general, is the Catholic vision of the relationship between the faith of the individual and the faith of the community. Of course, when getting down to brass tacks, the process by which this relationship takes shape happens in countless formal and informal ways.

Is there much of a difference between the Catholic understanding of this relationship and those held by Protestant Christians? In some respects, yes. But I think that it has much more to do with what is emphasized rather than its fundamental meaning. Protestants tend to emphasize the individual accepting the Gospel, Catholics tend to emphasize the Church proclaiming it.

Although our ecclesiologies are, to varying degrees, fundamentally different, I still believe that both Catholics and Protestants would hold that it is the Church that proclaims the Gospel and the individual who receives it and comes to accept it.

What is a common story of a non-Catholic (perhaps also non-Calvinist) Christian coming to accept the Gospel? I was going along, living a life filled with sin. Then I met this fellow. He told me about Jesus Christ. He told me how he could save me from my sins if only I repented and accepted him in my heart. So I became convicted and accepted Christ as my Savior. My life has been very different from that day to the present.

Some adults who come into full communion with the Catholic Church experience a conversion not unlike the one described above. Of course, it would also involve at some point, the celebration of all of the Easter sacraments (if the person is unbaptized) or confirmation and the Eucharist (if ther person was already baptized).

Others experience their conversion in a much more slow, drawn out way but still experience it and come to accept the Gospel as proclaimed by the Catholic Church. It might happen through a relationship with a spouse or a co-worker. But it is often the case that adults who come to be Catholic cannot identify the specific day on which they knew that they had to come into full communion with the Church.

But in any case, what is so much different, at a fundamental level, about the somewhat typical Protestant story of coming to the faith that I described above from the various ways, either outwardly similar or different, that adults come to choose to accept the Gospel as proclaimed by the Catholic Church?

I would argue that there is nothing fundamentally different here. In either case someone who had accepted the Gospel in the past and so became a member of the Church proclaimed that Gospel to someone else who had not heard it, at least in its entirety. That person then accepted the Gospel as proclaimed, fundamentally, by the Church.

It is the same for Protestants and Catholics alike.

What do you think?

2003-09-23T15:53:00.000-05:00

Reasons

Mark Shea in the post to which I linked yesterday gave one of the reasons why he became a Catholic. It was relatively easy for him to do that since he came into full communion with the Church as an adult.

However, in the best of situations it should be no less easy even for those of us who were baptized as Catholics as infants.

If you came into the Church as an adult or as an infant, what were your reasons either for coming into full communion with it or remaining with it once you were grown?

If you decided to leave the Catholic Church at some point in your life, what were some of the reasons that led to that choice?

For those Christians who have never been in full communion with the Catholic Church, what were the reasons that you became (or remained) a Christian if you were raised in a Christian home? If you were not raised in this kind of environment, what were the reasons that you became Christian and have remained so?

And if you would have described yourself as a Christian at one time but not necessarily now, what were the reasons that led you to make such a change in your life?

I ask these questions because I think that Christians of various kinds, Catholic or not, will find when they view the reasons why others chose the faith that they now or at one time professed, they will see many important things that unite them, without ignoring the usual differences as well.

Such stories of coming to or being raised in the faith can be the launching pad for deeper conversations about those things that unite and divide us.

2003-09-22T11:35:00.000-05:00

Mark Shea on one of the reasons he became a Catholic:

...The non-denom Evangelicalism that I hail from made a frequent practice of identifying our sinfulness with our humanity...The Catholic faith insists, on the contrary, that sin destroys, not constituted our humanness. Yes, sin is endemic in the human race. But the merely means it is normal. It is *never* "natural"...

This sounds like the beginning of an interesting discussion on the various anthropologies that Evangelicals and Catholics work with.

What do you think?

Update: Oh, by the way, go here for a little interesting thing that he had to say today on the deuterocanonicals.

2003-09-22T10:53:00.000-05:00

My Day at Notre Dame

Last week I explained to you how I received a couple of tickets to last Saturday's ND football game against Michigan St.

Well, the game wasn't much to blog about--for either side. It was ugly all the way around. But for a Domer like me, even though I'm a huge sports fan, going to an Irish football game is always about much more than the game.

My cousin and I arrived at around 11:00 am, after a three and a half hour drive from south-central Indiana. After paying $20.00 to park in some guy's yard we made our way onto the campus. Just as we were grabbing some lunch at a student run stand (the guys of O'Neill Hall were staffing it) the football team came walking by. They seemed to me to have rather glum looks on their faces. In hindsight, I can understand why.

After scarfing down our lunch while sitting by the statues in front of O'Shaughnessy Hall, we made our way over to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Of course there were the streams of tourists going through it as if on a conveyor belt. But there were also a relatively large number of individuals there on their knees praying.

I stopped by a large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in a side chapel near the Lady Chapel in the back. The image is relatively new. It certainly wasn't there when I was a grad student from '93-'95. At any rate, as I knelt there I asked for the Blessed Virgin's intercession for my wife and son who had gone to a pro-life Mass and were going with a group to pray in front of an abortion clinic in Indianapolis. I also offered it for the others who were praying with them and for those for whom they were praying.

After leaving the Basilica we went and heard the band play very well on the steps of the Architectural Building. At least I tried to listen to them. While standing in the back off to the side, a 68-year-old member of the subway alumni from Scranton, PA started talking to me. He never introduced himself to me, I didn't introduce myself to him. But once I happened to let slip out that I had actually gone to the school, the flow of stories from didn't stop.

With my ears still ringing from all of the tales from my new found friend, my cousin and I made our way to the Grotto where I tried to light a candle and say a prayer. The first part didn't happen. There were no more candles. And even if there were, there were no spots on the candle stands on which to put one. So I knelt on the kneeler there and offered my prayer, with about a dozen other people doing the same, and with several dozen more milling about behind me.

Finally meandered over to the stadium. Our seats were in the northwest corner of the stadium on the next to last row. I suppose the bright side to that location is that, if you're going to be in the corner of the stadium, its better to be high up than at field level. As I noted earlier, there wasn't much in the game to write about, but it was fun for my cousin and I to watch.

The start of the game was a bit touching. Newly sworn-in governor of Indiana, Joe Kernan (an ND alum, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and the former mayor of South Bend) presented the flag to the Irish Guard. I got to see the flag raised to the top of the pole and then lowered to half-staff in honor of the recently deceased Gov. Frank O'Bannon.

The half-time show was great. All biases put aside as best as I can, I honestly think that Notre Dame's band sounded much beter than Michigan State's.

Now I just wish that ND's football team was as good as the band...

Update: One thing I forgot to mention was that I noticed a group of women of various ages standing together at the band concert all sporting 'Howard Dean for America' t-shirts. I'm just hoping that they weren't alums or students. However, I sadly suspect that at least some of them were...

2003-09-21T13:18:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope--1 Pt 3:15

Q: What does it take to get to heaven?

A: In short, what it takes to get to heaven is the sanctifying grace of God.

Rev 21:27 tells us that nothing unclean will enter heaven. Therefore everyone who enters heaven will be perfect just as our heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48). It is sanctifying grace alone that achieves this in us.

This is something that we cannot earn. It is a totally free gift of God. His sanctifying grace is poured into hearts for the first time when we are baptized. God expects us to cooperate with this grace by choosing to do his will, allowing our faith in him to work through love in doing good for others (Gal 5:6).

However, at any time we are free to reject the sanctifying grace given to us at our baptism. This happens through our choice to commit a mortal sin. We can then be reconciled with God and have his grace restored to us by the sacrament of penance. The other sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist, are other instruments of God’s grace. We can also be strengthened his grace through living a life of prayer.

In establishing his Church, Jesus paved the way for us to enter heaven. He established the Church as the primary channel by which his sanctifying grace is poured out upon us and the entire name.

As we receive his grace and the live the life it offers us, God will be preparing for sharing fully in his eternal life forever in heaven.

Q: If I had my leg amputated, would it be waiting for me in heaven?

A: A person who would have had his or her leg amputated during his or her life on earth would have it restored at the resurrection of the dead, not just after death when he or she might go to heaven.

At a person’s death, he or she receives what the Church describes as his or her ‘particular judgment’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], 1021-22). This will result in the person either entering heaven, being purified in purgatory of any remaining temporal punishments for sin or any attachment to sin, or in everlasting damnation. This particular judgment is illustrated in several places in the New Testament (Lk 16:22, 23:43, Mt 16:26, 2 Cor 5:8, Phil 1:23, Heb 9:27, 12:23).

If a person’s particular judgment results in either of the first two possibilities (for all who go to purgatory eventually go to heaven), when he or she enters heaven it will only be with his or her soul, although he or she will fully experience the entire blessedness of heaven.

It will only be at the last judgment (CCC 1038-41) when our bodies and the bodies of all who have died will be raised. Although we will have already as individuals received our particular judgments, at the last judgment all judgments will be revealed for all to see.

At the final judgment our bodies will not simply be raised as Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11:1-44). Lazarus died again. At the resurrection of the dead, we who, in our particular judgments, went to heaven or to purgatory will have our bodies raised and transformed just as Jesus was at his resurrection from the dead.

St. Paul speaks of this in his Letter to the Romans: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Rom 8:19-23, RSV).

At the final judgment we who would have died in God’s grace and so would have either immediately or eventually gone to heaven will experience the redemption of our bodies of which St. Paul wrote. They will be just as God created them to be, no longer subject to the effects of original sin. Therefore, they would presumably include two fully redeemed legs.

2003-09-19T11:36:00.000-05:00

An interesting interview on the process of canonization

The interview was with Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes. Here's an excerpt:

...Q: Some people think that too many saints are being canonized.

Cardinal Saraiva: The Church of today needs models and examples. Moreover, our world has no values and society is in need of ideals for man. Sanctity is the proclamation of human and Christian excellence.

In fact, sanctity is no more than the fullness of man. We say of Jesus Christ that he is the perfect man because he is holy.

Q: But, what does the Church obtain with a canonization?

Cardinal Saraiva: The principal fruit for the Church of any beatification or canonization is the glory that is given to God and, in addition, the great quantity of "moral miracles" that accompany it.

Every canonization or beatification is accompanied by a wave of grace which impels to conversion [and] faithfulness, and which elicits the desire for holiness in other people. They produce extraordinary spiritual fruit...

The Catholic Church's beliefs about the saints can often be an occasion of division between Catholics and other Christians.

I wonder if the way in which Cardinal Saraiva discussed saints here, as an instrument through which glory is given to God, could be an avenue for some serious discussion about this topic between Catholics and those who do not share our beliefs on this topic?

Let me know what you think about this.

2003-09-19T11:14:00.000-05:00

Anti-Catholicism Watch: Australian Bill Aims to Break Seal of Confessional

ADELAIDE, Australia, SEPT. 18, 2003 (Zenit.org).- A Catholic archbishop wants to meet with a member of the state Parliament who proposed legislation that would force priests to report confessions of child sex abuse.

The bill by Nick Xenophon, the Independent Member of the South Australian Parliament, would require priests, church workers and all volunteers who work with children to notify authorities of child abuse concerns, including priests hearing confessions, the Adelaide Advertiser reported...

2003-09-19T09:38:00.000-05:00

Mark Shea on Catholics, Evangelicals, and being prone to fads

His post was actually inspired by Amy Welborn linking to two articles about the 'Purpose-Driven Guy.'

Here's his overall take: "These sorts of fads tend to gust through Evangelicalism in ways that are much more uncommon in Catholic circles. Catholics tend to have long slow steady breezes from the culture..."

True or false?

2003-09-18T11:39:00.000-05:00

My RCIA Presentation for Tonight: "What Do Catholics Believe"

Editor's Note: The title of the presentation comes from a booklet that the participants will have read prior to this evening. It is a short set of reflections on the Nicene Creed. Last's week booklet was on faith in general and how individuals come to faith. This week is on how the Church presents faith to those individuals.

Please also note that this outline is just that, an outline. I expand upon various points and digress at other points. If any of you have any suggestions for other things that could be added to the presentation, please share them.

Finally, please take into account that last week's presentation was by the parish's pastor, not myself. Therefore I did not prepare any material for the session.

Last Week: The Journey of Faith

§ Last week we explored what it means for an individual to have faith in general and to come to faith in God in particular. This is sometimes hard in a world that seems place a priority on scientific proof.

§ The booklet for last week ended with a short commentary on what it means to believe in God in the midst of a community of other believers. It stated that faith comes through hearing the word of God (Rom 10:17), heard as it is proclaimed by another person.

§ Earlier in that same passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, we learn a little more about the way in which the word of God is proclaimed and its relationship to how those who hear it come to faith: “But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent?” (Rom 10:14-15a).

§ Each of you who are participants in RCIA have responded to God’s call to you in particular to consider strengthening your relationship with him through becoming a member of the Catholic Church. But how was that call made to you? Through a spouse? Through Catholics whom you have known? Through simply learning about the Catholic Church and its message? In any case, that call was made to you through other people, other people who were, through either word or deed or both, proclaiming the faith of the Catholic Church.

So, what do Catholics believe?

§ Hearing the call and responding to it are just the beginning. God doesn’t reveal the entirety of his Good News through the call in and of itself. This didn’t even happen with St. Paul who was given a rather clear-cut call from Jesus.

§ Instead, as the title of this series of booklets suggests, this happens on a ‘journey of faith.’ This journey is truly a journey of a lifetime. But over the course of the next several months, all of us together will be taking the first steps in this journey down the particular path of the Catholic faith.

§ The Catholic Christian faith, as today’s booklet seems to imply, can be summarized in the Creed, that which we proclaim and pray at every Sunday Mass after the homily which the congregation starts by saying, “We believe…”

§ What is the Creed?—First, lets look at the very word itself. Why do we use it and not something like “Articles of Belief” or something like that? The Catholic Church (and, indeed, many other Christian faith traditions) use this term because it has been used by Christians for well over 1,000 years to refer to the beliefs that we profess in it.

The word “creed” comes from the Latin word “credo” (pronounced “craydo”) which means “I believe.” We have translated it as “We believe” because it is something that is professed and proclaimed by the entire Church, especially at the Mass.

§ Why have the Creed? Isn’t it just divisive?—Some Christian denominations, such as the Disciples of Christ, made in the beginning of their history a deliberate move away from proclaiming a particular creed, claiming that they only served to divide people. Such a choice was informed by the history of the Reformation and the controversies and wars between different groups of Christians that followed for many decades and, indeed centuries.

The Disciples of Christ, instead, choose as a kind of motto, “No creed but Christ”, thus implying that the only thing that would ultimately unite believers was Jesus Christ himself. In so far as this goes, the Catholic Church has no problem. All of the Catholic Church’s beliefs about God, expressed in its Creed, was ultimately revealed to us through Jesus Christ. It is him who is the source of our unity in God.

§ Our Creed is an Expression of Love—But the Catholic Church believes that, in Jesus Christ, God has revealed himself to us to heal our relationship with him that had been broken by sin. And the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us is one of love.

When two people love each other they want to know more and more about each other. Although God knows everything about us at all times, he showed how he wanted to know us in a special way by becoming man in Jesus Christ. We show our love for God by coming to know more about him through paying attention to the way that he has revealed himself to us in Sacred Scripture and in Sacred Tradition. This love for God through coming to know Him that we have is expressed in our Creed.

Love, in the end, is never divisive but unifying. The Creed of the Catholic Church (which it shares with the majority of other Christians) is intended to be an expression of our knowledge of the God in whom we place our faith, a knowledge that flows from our love for him, a love that always originated with him.

§ The Creed we profess—In particular at Mass we profess what we call the “Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed” or Nicene Creed, for short. It is called this after the places where two Church councils were held in the 4th century, Nicaea & Constantinople (both in present day Turkey).

However if we look at Sacred Scripture, we see evidence of primitive creeds in the very beginnings of the Church (see Rom 10:9, 1 Cor 15:3-5) (see CCC 186).

Creeds also are intimately connected with Baptism. One enters the Church through Baptism and expresses their sharing in what the Church believes in the profession of faith in that sacrament. Baptismal creeds can be boiled down to a profession of faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (see Mt 28:19-20). All other truths professed in a Creed are always related back to the Trinity (see CCC 189).

The primitive creeds of the earliest days of the Church were expanded later on as the Church grew, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in its understanding of the truth that had been handed on to it by Jesus (see Jn 16:13).

Another creed that is important to the Catholic Church and many other Christians is the Apostles’ Creed. It was given this name because the believers in the early Church trusted that it reflected the beliefs of the apostles themselves. St. Ambrose, living in the 4th century, described it as “the Creed of the Roman Church, the See of Peter, the first of the apostles, to which he brought the common faith” (see CCC 193).

To view the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed side by side, you can find it immediately following CCC 184.

More on the Creed and the Church (see CCC 166-184)

§ The Individual Believer and the Church—As noted before, the choice for faith is a personal act, but one that is intimately related to a community of believers. The individual believer is brought to belief in God through the proclamation of his word by his Church.

§ In essence, it is the Church that believes first. We can see this in Jesus’ address to the beginnings of his Church, just before he ascended to heaven: “Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:18b-20).

§ The apostles then go forth to proclaim the Gospel, to baptize, and to teach. Those who heard their words and come to faith, received their faith from the Church, as it were. When they are baptized, they then received the same charge to go forth and make disciples. We are baptized now have the same commission.

§ The Church and the New Life of Salvation—Still, it is important to remember that the Church is means that Jesus uses to continue the proclamation of his Gospel, to bring more and more people to salvation. “Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother: "We believe the Church as the mother of our new birth, and not in the Church as if she were the author of our salvation." Because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the faith” (CCC 169).

Although the Church, like a mother, in a sense gives birth to new believers through its continual proclamation of the Gospel, it is not the source of the life of those who are new born, just as a mother is likewise not the source of the life of her new child. God is the source of all life, spiritual and physical.

§ Creeds and the One in Whom We Believe—As important as creeds are in the life of the Church, its members do not place their faith in the words of the creeds themselves, but “in the realities they express” (CCC 170). St. Thomas Aquinas explained it this way: “The believer’s act of faith does not terminate in the propositions, but in the realities which they express” (quoted in CCC 170).

Nevertheless, the creeds represent the way in which the Church is the “pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tm 3:15), the way that it protects “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). The Creeds, again, are a primary expression of the Church’s loving relationship with God the Father, in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

§ Creeds and Different Cultures & Languages—Since the creeds are symbols of the Church’s relationship with the Blessed Trinity, it does not change in its essence when it is proclaimed to peoples of different languages and cultures.

In this light, consider what St. Paul teaches us in his Letter to the Ephesians: “I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:1-6).

The Church’s understanding of this unity in God amid the diversity of humanity grew quickly. St. Irenaeus of Lyons did much of his writing in the second half of the second century. He had been a student of St. Polycarp, who had been a student of the apostle, St. John.

St. Irenaeus had this to say about how the Church guards and proclaims the faith given to it by Jesus:

"Indeed, the Church, though scattered throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, having received the faith from the apostles and their disciples. . . guards [this preaching and faith] with care, as dwelling in but a single house, and similarly believes as if having but one soul and a single heart, and preaches, teaches and hands on this faith with a unanimous voice, as if possessing only one mouth...

For though languages differ throughout the world, the content of the Tradition is one and the same. The Churches established in Germany have no other faith or Tradition, nor do those of the Iberians…nor those established at the center of the world. . ." The Church's message "is true and solid, in which one and the same way of salvation appears throughout the whole world.

We guard with care the faith that we have received from the Church, for without ceasing, under the action of God's Spirit, this deposit of great price, as if in an excellent vessel, is constantly being renewed and causes the very vessel that contains it to be renewed” (CCC173-75).

Conclusion

§ From the first days of the Church there has always been an intimate relationship between the faith of individuals and the faith presented to them by the Church. They both give life to each other and help each other to grow. The Church’s faith becomes the faith of more and more individuals who then become part of the Church. Those individuals then go out and proclaim their faith (the faith of the Church) to others who have never heard it. These newcomers accept the faith, presented by individual members of the Church, and join the Church. And the cycle goes on and on.

§ It is going on right now in our midst. And it will not come to an end if, God willing, you make the choice to embrace the faith presented to you and become part of the Church that Jesus established to proclaim his Gospel. You will then become one of its newest apostles. professing its Creed, proclaiming the Good News contained in it, the Good News of the relationship that we can have with our Heavenly Father.

2003-09-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

Jim Bakker is back on the air

And this time its with his new wife, Lori. But apparently he's sing the same old song, at least according to this reporter of the Charlotte Observer (or Disturber, as Fr. Shawn O'Neal refers to it):

On "The New Jim Bakker Show," the TV evangelist sits beside his perky wife, pleads for money, occasionally cries and closes the show with "God loves you. He really does."

I wonder if he'll talk about Revolve? Better yet, I wonder if TBN will pick him up?

(link via ut unum sint)

2003-09-17T09:14:00.000-05:00

Go Irish!

There is an interesting post over at Mark Shea's blog about the state of the life of faith on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. Its a topic of interest to me as I earned an MA there in medieval Church history. But I think that it could a topic of broader interest for Catholics in America because of the relative prominence that Notre Dame has in the Church here and, indeed, in the broader American culture as well.

I've added a few comments to the discussion going on there. But something happened last night that seems typical for Notre Dame grads like me. Yesterday was the first time in quite a while that I stood up to defend my alma mater, while still not ignoring its faults.

Well, you see, I haven't been to an ND football game in three years. So last night I got a call from a parishioner who had tickets to this weekend's game. And I just happened to be able to go to it. Was God blessing me for speaking in defense of Notre Dame? That may be what a typical ND grad would say (after all, one of the chants that we used to do up there was "God's on our side!"). It may not be a true interpretation of the events. But its a fun one for an ND grad like me.

2003-09-16T10:44:00.000-05:00

Lutheran blogger Josh S has some interesting things to say about Catholics being Christian

I have disagreed with Josh S on more than one occasion, and I have some problems with some of the things that he says in this post. But I think that he has some sensible things to say here, especially in regard to how Christians who are not Catholic can approach the issue of whether or not Catholics can be Christian by virtue of the fact of their Catholic beliefs.

2003-09-15T16:46:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope--1 Pt 3:15

Q: Please explain the three liturgies (liturgy of the word, etc.).

A: It would appear from the request that the questioner is interested in learning more about the basic structure of the Mass, the celebration of the Eucharist. In it there is indeed a ‘Liturgy of the Word.’

However, in the Mass there are two liturgies, not three. These constitute the two main sections of the Mass. There is the Liturgy of the Word in which there are readings from scripture, a homily, a profession of faith, and the prayers of the faithful.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist immediately follows. It consists of the preparation of the gifts, also known as the offertory, when the gifts of bread and wine are brought forward to the altar. Next is the prayer over the gifts in which the priest asks God to bless them. The eucharistic prayer then follows.

This is the long, extended prayer in which the priest gives thanks and praise to God for all of creation and for especially sending his Son to us to die and rise for us. It is in this prayer that we pray that the Holy Spirit might sanctify the bread and wine on the altar, consecrating it, making them become the true Body and Blood of the Lord. Finally, it is in this prayer that the priest repeats the ‘words of institution’, the words that Jesus said at the Last Supper (“This is my body…”, “This is my blood…”).

Following the Eucharistic prayer, the congregation prays the Lord’s prayer, exchanges a sign of peace, and prays the ‘Lamb of God.’ The congregation then comes forward to receive Jesus in Holy Communion. Finally, the Liturgy of Communion concludes with the prayer after communion.

Those of you who know the Mass well or observe it closely may have made note that in explaining the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist I have not mentioned everything that goes on at Mass.

That is because, in addition to these two liturgies (the main parts of the Mass), there are also two short sets of ‘rites’, one that begins the Mass, and one that ends it.

The ‘Introductory Rites’ start with the priest’s entrance into the church and his veneration of the altar. Then, within the Introductory Rite, we observe the ‘penitential rite’, in which all present prepare themselves for the sacred rituals to come by calling to mind their sins and asking God for his mercy, confident that he will answer their prayer. On Sundays and holy days the Gloria is sung. The Introductory Rites then conclude with the Opening Prayer which leads the way into the Liturgy of the Word.

Following the end of the Liturgy of the Eucharist are the Concluding Rites. These can start with any announcements to be made. There is blessing of the congregation by the priest and then they are dismissed (‘The Mass is ended. Go in peace.’) Finally, the priest again venerates the altar and leaves the church.

And so in every celebration of the Mass there are the Introductory Rites, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the Concluding Rites.

_______________________

Catholic Reasons for Hope is a weekly Q & A column that appears in the bulletin of the parish in which I serve as DRE. Any reader of Nota Bene is welcome to submit questions for the column by e-mail.

2003-09-15T08:09:00.000-05:00

The Holy Father in Slovakia on Evangelization and on the Sanctity of Life

(yes there was other news about his trip other than his health)

ROZNAVA, Slovakia, SEPT. 14, 2003 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II urged Slovakians and others to carry out an evangelization not just with words but with the witness of their life.

On the third day of his stay in Slovakia, the Pope celebrated Mass on Saturday in the Podrakos Field, on the outskirts of Roznava, an old city of some 20,000 inhabitants.

"Words admonish, examples move," the Pontiff told 150,000 pilgrims, who included 15,000 Hungarians and 10,000 Poles.

"You, with the style of your Christian life, can make a great contribution to the evangelization of today's world and to the construction of a more just and more fraternal society," the Holy Father said during a homily in which he addressed the main concerns of the local people.

Roznava, near Poland and Hungary, is a mining city with an unemployment rate over 50%. Many inhabitants feel abandoned by the nation's politicians...

The commitment to Christian life requested by the Pope was exemplified when a pair of twins made him a gift of their dolls. The girls, born Siamese twins joined at the hip, were successfully separated in an operation in 2000.

The twins, Lucia and Andrejka, were introduced by Bishop Eduard Kojnok of Roznava, as examples of the commitment against abortion. "The mother could have killed two beautiful healthy girls if she had decided to abort," he said.

The gesture served to support the decision of Slovak President Rudolf Schuster, present at the Mass, who refused to sign an amendment of the Slovak Parliament to extend the legality of abortion...

Go here for the entire text of his homily.

2003-09-13T16:22:00.000-05:00

Govenor of Indiana, Frank O'Bannon, passes away at 73

Earlier in the week the govenor had suffered a cerebreal hemorrhage while attending a conference in Chicago. His condition worsened today and he quickly passed away.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon him.

May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

2003-09-12T13:58:00.000-05:00

Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily

Editor's Note: Fr. Shawn O'Neal, former blogger, is a priest of the Diocese of Charlotte and the administrator of St. Joseph Parish in Bryson City, NC and of the mission church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Cherokee, NC.

Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Nm 21:4b-9
Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
Phil 2:6-11
Jn 3:13-17

To those of you who do not recall celebrating this feast last year on a Sunday, I say do not be confused; our Church has not celebrated this feast on a Sunday since 1997. In an attempt to explain the laws and intricacies of the Roman Catholic Church calendar, I turn to the rules of poker. As a flush beats a full house, so does a feast of the Lord take precedence if the feast occurs on a Sunday during Ordinary Time. That is one of the easiest of calendar rules to explain. Believe me, the determination of feasts can be as complicated as anyone can imagine within the Roman Catholic Church.

This feast day has a complicated history to it, too, and I will give you a very compact history. The legends are as good as the facts. This feast was first celebrated in the Holy Land around 335 for the sake of celebrating the anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. The construction was ordered by the Roman Emperor Constantine after his mother, Saint Helen, our Church’s patron saint of archaeologists, discovered the True Cross on Calvary. Another reason why this feast is celebrated on this date involves the return of the Holy Cross back to Jerusalem in September 628 by the Roman Emperor Heraclitus. The cross was stolen by the Persian army on May 4, 614 during a successful invasion of Jerusalem which included the burning of the interior of the Church of the Resurrection. I could add much more detail about these events, but I prefer to add more to the complications concerning the Holy Cross.

When the emperor returned the Cross to Jerusalem after a successful retrieval, pieces of the Cross were sought after both by pilgrims with good intentions and thieves who sought to gain some dishonest income. Protection of the Cross was of the highest priority; deacons were instructed not only to guard the Cross, but to make sure that pilgrims did not bite the Cross as they came to venerate it with a kiss

You probably know that you cannot go to a specific church in Jerusalem and see the True Cross these days. As far as we know, it was carved down into numerous pieces not for the sake of public sale, but so that churches throughout the world could share in a sense of unity by having a relic of the True Cross. Many critics of the Church accused it of never having the Cross in the first place as if it were all a stunt. Many other critics assaulted the whole of the Catholic faithful for being a pack of idolatrous souvenir-chasers who sought to possess an item rather than worship the one who died on that item. Along with that, Protestant critics accused Catholics of having so many supposed pieces of the True Cross either in possession or in distribution that if all the pieces of the cross were put together, it would build a monstrously tall ship. If you want to read something incredibly astounding, then read the book published in 1870 by Frenchman Rohault de Fleury within which he mathematically concluded that the Protestant critics were incorrect, as according to his calculations, only 4 million cubic millimeters of the True Cross were known to have been in possession, thereby leaving an estimated 174 million cubic millimeters still at large.

All this is rather complicated, do you not agree? Here are some things that are not complicated. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. As complicated as the human history of the feast day is, what God always does for us is simple. God loves us. He wants us to be with him. God came to our world as a man so that man could be reunited with God. As complicated as religion can be at times – especially the theological aspects of it – what we believe is rather simple. One of the simple things that we believe is that when Jesus died on the cross, death died, too. When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, death could not match him. Game over; it’s that simple. God is love. Love is stronger than death. Jesus proved that when he walked away from the tomb on the third day after he died.

2003-09-12T08:24:00.000-05:00

Mark Shea & one of his readers on different styles of evangelization and understandings of conversion among Evangelicals and Catholics

Interesting stuff. Check it out.

One thing that I would add to the analogy that Mark sets up. He argues that Evangelicals tend toward a 'Pauline' understanding of conversion (one that happens in a flash) while Catholics tend toward a 'Petrine' understanding (one that happens slowly and gradually over time). I might add that one could use the image of Mary as a way of understanding the way in which many (but not all) Catholics experience the grace of conversion.

Catholics, of course, believe that God, in a singular act of mercy, kept Mary free from all sin from the first moment of her conception. That does not mean that she came out of the womb with a full understanding of all things. She in a very real sense still had to grow, like Jesus later, in wisdom and in grace.

(There is a beautiful statue at my parish depicting this. It is a statue of St. Anne instructing a youthful Mary who is standing at her side, holding a small book.)

The amazing grace that God gave to Mary from the first moment of her life in her mother's womb prepared her to be able to make that free choice to bear in her own womb the Word made flesh when the angel Gabriel came to her many years later.

Similarly, while Catholics believe that the grace of conversion can lead a person to the grace of Baptism, we can also believe, without contradicting ourselves, that the opposite can happen as well. The grace of baptism can lead to the grace of conversion. It can be a continuing conversion for an adult who came to the faith later in life. Or it can be the first experience of a conversion for one who was baptized as an infant. (I say 'experience' because, in a real sense, a conversion happens at every baptism when original sin is washed away once and for all. It happens even if we do not necessarily experience it immediately.)

2003-09-11T10:41:00.000-05:00

A Reflection on the Second Anniversary of the Attacks of September 11, 2001: The Twin Towers and Our Common Human Calling

Earlier this week I watched a documentary broadcasted on PBS on the building of the World Trade Center. The French high wire artist Philippe Petit was interviewed as a part of it. He described how he was mesmerized in the late 1960s by a drawing published in a newspaper of what the Twin Towers would look like when they were completed.

Petit noted that, at the time, he had not even begun to walk on high wires and that his seeing this drawing of the Twin Towers was part of what led him to start. They were very much bound up in his own particular artistic vocation, one that came to something of a climax on August 7, 1974 when he secretly spanned a wire from the top of one tower to the other and then walked across it.

In his book The Genesee Diary the late Fr. Henri Nouwen reflected on Petit's act of daring. He had read a newspaper interview after the event in which Petit had explained why he had chosen to walk on a wire that was over 1,000 above the ground. "When I see three pears, I have to juggle. And when I see two towers I have to walk."

Nouwen saw in this simple statement something of what it means to live out a vocation. It is something that is very simple to the one who is called. Yet it is a profound mystery, perhaps even an absurdity, to those who are not. This is true for men called to be priests or ministers, for men and women called to be monks or nuns, missionaries, and even those called to be married.

Nouwen noted that the New York City Courts also seemed to recognize this truth about the nature of vocations. For although Petit was charged with breaking various laws in the carrying out of his stunt, the only 'punishment' that was laid upon him in return was to perform various high wire acts in Central Park for the children of the city.

The buildings of the World Trade Center were for Petit those two towers that compelled him to walk. They could not be separated from his particular calling. Yet the Twin Towers can also be understood as being closely tied to the more general vocation of all of humanity.

Each one of us as individuals and all of us together were created in the image and likeness of God. Formed out of the dust of the earth, we were created to transcend it. In their decision to sin, our first parents rejected the destiny of rising above the earth, thus falling from the summit to which God had destined them and all of us. The Son of God was thus sent in human flesh to us who had fallen, reversing the course of sin by freely choosing to die on the cross for all of us.

The rising of the Twin Towers thirty years ago can symbolize for us that general human calling to transcend the earth from which we were all created. Their falling continues to stand for us as a sign of the tremendous heights from which we have fallen through sin. Now we who witnessed the destruction of those buildings are called, like all of our ancestors before us, to rise above the pit of the sinfulness of our race through the grace that God provides.

Still, in the wake of the destruction of September 11, this common call to transcendence can seem to us as absurd the particular vocation of Philippe Petit. It is only given meaning through the dying and rising of Jesus Christ. Through the grace that comes to us through this greatest of mysteries we are all given the ability to climb out of the crater of sinfulness our own Ground Zeros and rise to the heights of heaven itself. This is the calling of all humanity. Even in the remembrance of 9/11, let us all, in the courage of faith, choose to embrace it.

2003-09-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

Some possible interesting fruits of the ecumenical dialogue going on in Aachen

A rapprochment between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church? Perhaps:

AACHEN, Germany, SEPT. 9, 2003 (Zenit.org).- A representative of the Moscow Patriarchate said that the time has come for a change in the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

On Monday, Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad addressed the meeting "Men and Religions," organized in Aachen by the Community of Sant'Egidio in collaboration with the local archdiocese. The three-day event, which ended today, attracted 500 religious leaders.

The head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate spoke during a discussion entitled "Catholics and Orthodox: The Challenge of Ecumenism." Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, also participated in the discussion.

"The time has arrived to change the present difficult situation between the Orthodox Church of Moscow and the Catholic Church," Metropolitan Kyrill said.

"Moscow is ready to discuss; the issues are on the table," he said. "Once these difficulties are surmounted, the meeting between the Pope and the patriarch of Moscow will serve to turn definitively the difficult page of the past."...

2003-09-10T11:02:00.000-05:00

Evangelization--something dear to my hear

Go here to see what the relatively new Archbishop of Milan wants to do about it in his Archdiocese.

2003-09-10T10:20:00.000-05:00

Chris Burgwald at Veritas posts an interesting note that he sent to Andrew Sullivan

He also notes that he and Sullivan earlier exchanged e-mails on the topic of infallibility. Those notes would probably make for some interesting reading.

2003-09-09T19:35:00.000-05:00

A website of one organization's vision of what it means to be an Evangelical Catholic

2003-09-09T11:42:00.000-05:00

The bishop of Aachen, Germany on interreligious dialogue

AACHEN, Germany, SEPT. 8, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Aachen Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff inaugurated an international interreligious meeting, stressing that the aim of dialogue is not a mixing of religions, but rather the promotion of mutual respect...

(Aachen, by the way, is a neat place to visit)

2003-09-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

More Thoughts on RCIA

Many of the people who participate in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) are those who are Christian but not Catholic and who are married to a Catholic spouse.

I've experienced some serious and well-meaning Catholics who observe this and say, "That man should be making that choice for himself alone. He shouldn't be doing it just because his wife is Catholic."

Ok, there's some truth in that statement. Each person should seek to follow God's will for his or her own life when making choices about the faith that that person will embrace. At the same time, I believe that it is consistent with the Catholic understanding of the sacrament of marriage to say that a spouse's choice of faith may be very well intertwined with his or her relationship with his or her spouse.

The Catholic Church's belief about the sacrament of marriage is drawn very much from the Bible. It looks at Gen 2:24 ("Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.") and believes that, through the grace of God, that a man and a woman in a spiritual yet very real way become one through the sacrament of marriage. Their identities become inextricably bound up in one another.

Yet at the same time they mysteriously retain their own identity, their own uniqueness. Its kind of like the Blessed Trinity in that way. This, of course, is very appropriate since Catholics believe that they are given a share in the very life of God (grace) through the sacraments.

So while the person is correct who thinks that each person who enters the Catholic Church should do so for his or her own reasons, it is not incorrect for a person to chose to do this because of his relationship with his spouse or children.

What do you think of this issue?

2003-09-08T10:10:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope--1 Pt 3:15

Q: Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead, and came back to earth in a glorified body. His disciples recognized him. It is obvious that our human bodies are not made to last forever. Scripture tells us that we will receive a glorified body when we get to heaven. But will we be able to recognize each other?

A: The issues that surround this question have been pondered ever since Christ ascended to heaven 2,000 years ago. I suspect that we will only come to know the full answer to this question and other ones like it either at our own deaths or at Christ’s glorious second coming.

The experience of Jesus following his resurrection seemed to have led his first followers to speculate how they would be changed either at their own deaths or at Christ’s second coming. St. Paul wrote about this in his First Letter to the Corinthians:

Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. (1 Cor 15:51-53—RSV).

In his first letter, St. John seems to point to this transformation that we will undergo of which St. Paul wrote: See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 Jn 3:1-2—RSV)

The precise nature of the change which we will experience still seems to be something a mystery. Yet I believe that we can answer this particular question in the affirmative. We will be able to recognize each other in heaven, when will have be clothed with those ‘celestial bodies’ of which St. Paul wrote.

Why, because, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches: “The life of the blessed [in heaven] consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of redemption accomplished by Christ” (CCC 1026). In heaven we will be fully alive in God, the Blessed Trinity, having the ability to know and be known perfectly. In the present our ability to know and recognize one another is impeded by the ongoing effects of original sin. In heaven, since we will possess an ability to know that has been perfectly redeemed by Christ, we will be able to know each other in a way that far surpasses even what we can experience now, in this life.

St. Paul eloquently writes of this change in his beautiful thirteenth chapter of his First Letter to the Corinthians: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1 Cor 13:12--RSV).

We share in this now ‘dimly’ through the life of God given to us first in the grace sacrament of Baptism and later through the other sacraments, especially the Eucharist. In heaven, where there will be no sacraments, we will share in the life of God to a degree that is far beyond our current understanding.

_______________________

Catholic Reasons for Hope is a column that appears weekly in the bulletin of the parish where I serve as DRE. Any reader of Nota Bene is welcome to submit questions for this column by e-mail.

2003-09-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

Some Strong Words on Contraception

(link via Ut Unum Sint)

From Lutheran Aaron D. Wolf no less:

...Despite the keen attention given by pro-life crusaders to matters concerning abortion, with far too much detail regularly offered regarding such monstrous practices as partial-birth abortion, very few are willing to consider the possibility that The Pill is an abortifacient. A new life torn asunder from a wicked mother’s womb is deemed horrible, but let’s roll the dice, when it comes to the chances of discreetly flushing one down the toilet, and hope that those fanatical Catholic anticontraception zealots are wrong....

Regarding the Protestant view on natural and contraception, Wolf has this to say:

...the notion that the observable order of nature demonstrates God’s gracious design and intention for His Creation is ignored when it comes to so-called birth control.

This stance is not a reflection of the heritage of Protestantism but of the extent to which Protestant theologians have become victims of their times—especially in the realm of biblical exegesis and natural law. We see this in Professor Van Leeuwen’s statement that, “where there is no law, our choices are free.” It is the Enlightenment, not Sola scriptura, that tells us that we cannot see the intention of the Creator in the basic operations of nature...

Dialogue on this topic in any forum and with any group of individuals is going to be a challenge for the time being because the prevailing culture in which we live takes contraception so much for granted that when anyone questions its use they seem to be like men from the moon.

Nevertheless, the emergence of folks who speak out on the dangers of contraception like Wolf, Evangelicals Sam and Bethany Torode (whom Wolf discusses in his article), a growing number of Catholics, and even those who do not traditionally identify themselves with Christian groups but who are striving to live a more 'organic' life as free as possible from artificially produced medicines (including various forms of the Pill) make this topic less and less avoidable.

Hopefully there can be more and more meaningful conversations about this between folks of different opinions.

2003-09-04T16:38:00.000-05:00

Busy again today

The RCIA of the parish where I serve as DRE begins tonight. So far we have eight signed up. Thats three more than last year but a lot less than I would like to see participate. However, I am thankful for each one of them.

Interesting enough, over half are unbaptized. These include two folks who had been baptized in the Church of Latter Day Saints (a baptism that the Catholic Church does not consider as valid). Usually the majority of participants have already been baptized in another Christian tradition.

Have any of you participated in RCIA in any way (as a catechumen, candidate, sponsor, team-member, etc.)? What was your impression of it? How was it good? How could it have been improved?

Those of who are unfamiliar with RCIA at all, let me tell you that the letters stand for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It is the ordinary way that unbaptized adults learn about the Catholic faith and enter the Church. It can also be used for those who have already been baptized in another Christian tradition, although it is better suited for the first group.

If any of you who are wholly unfamiliar with RCIA have questions about it, let me know.

2003-09-03T15:33:00.000-05:00

I've been busy today...

...preparing an outline for a presentation that I will giving this Saturday to a Catholic young adult group in Indianapolis. The topic will be on the new evangelization and will be based on an article that I have written and which should be appear in the next issue of Envoy.

If any of you have any thoughts or questions on that topic, please share them with me.

2003-09-02T11:16:00.000-05:00

Mark Shea offers us a short primer on the redemption of Mary

2003-09-02T08:51:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope--1 Pt 3:15

Q: We read in the Acts of the Apostles that Matthias replaced Judas as one of the Twelve. However, St. Paul is also considered an apostle. In the book of Revelation we read about twenty-four elders that are the twelve apostles and the twelve tribes of Israel. Is it Matthias or Paul who is considered as one of the elders?

A: It seems to me that your question may be based on a misunderstanding of a couple of different matters: one regarding the Bible and the other regarding the early history of the Church.

We read about the 24 elders of which you ask in the fourth chapter of the book of Revelation: “…a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne…Round the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clad in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads” (Rev 4:2, 4).

Now it could very well be that the twenty-four elders do indeed represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. However, nothing in this passage beyond the number twenty-four would make necessary such an interpretation. I would suggest that the number of elders surrounding the throne could instead symbolize the completeness and perfection of the eternal praise given to God in heaven, twenty-four being a doubling of twelve, a number that in the Bible symbolizes completeness.

If we use the different way of interpreting this passage from Revelation that I suggested, we will not have to confront the question of who, in particular, are among the twenty-four elders.

I think that it is also important to take into account how the early Church understood the office of apostle. It was not restricted solely to the Twelve, the special group of men that Jesus chose out his larger group of disciples which he charged with the proclamation of his Gospel to all the nations. All of the Twelve are indeed apostles, but not all apostles are the Twelve.

St. Paul, who considered himself and was considered by the early Church an apostle, seems to refer to this distinction in his First Letter to the Corinthians where he explains to the faithful there the different offices in the early Church: “…God has appointed in the Church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues” (1 Cor 12:28).

It would appear that in this and other similar passages St. Paul is referring to the office of apostle in more general terms and not specifically and only to the Twelve.

In the end, all of the baptized are considered apostles in so far as all of us are charged to proclaim the Gospel in the world in which we live. The word ‘apostle’ comes from a Greek word that means ‘one who is sent out with the authority of the one who sends.’ An apostle is an ambassador, an envoy.

In the Latin text of the Mass, the last words said by the priest are “Ite missa est” (indeed, it is from the word “missa” that our word “Mass” is derived). Translated literally, this means, “Go, it is sent out.” We are being given our marching orders: “Go.” And what is being sent out with us? The Gospel of our Lord and his very presence in our bodies that we received in the Blessed Sacrament.

And so all of us are apostles in this very important sense. We look to the Twelve and the other first apostles as our models and as our heavenly intercessors. And every time that all of us who are baptized gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we are in a very real way joining ourselves to that eternal worship of God in heaven which St. John had seen in his vision and which he recorded for us in his book of Revelation.

All of the faithful, you and I, along with all of the laity, religious, deacons, priests, and bishops are spiritually seated on thrones around the throne of God when we gather together to celebrate that foretaste of the eternal worship of heaven, the Mass.

_______________________________

Catholic Reasons for Hope is a question and answer column that appears weekly in the bulletin of the parish where I serve as DRE. Any reader of Nota Bene may submit questions for this column by e-mail.

2003-08-29T13:59:00.000-05:00

A Sneak Preview: Tomorrow's Installment of My Column "Spiritual Reflections"

I have been observing over the past few weeks the struggle of Roy Moore, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, and his supporters to keep a two and a half ton monument of the ten commandments in the rotunda of the state court house in Montgomery. Moore has opposed one court decision after another which stated that the presence of the monument in the building contradicted the establishment clause of the United States Constitution.

As I have watched news reports and read articles about the struggle, I have had many mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I feel sad that we as a society feel unable to distinguish between a monument recognizing the historic basis of our legal code and a government’s endorsement of a particular religion. In my opinion, I do not feel that the monument represented a governmental endorsement Judaism or Christianity (the two religions which recognize the ten commandments as revealed by God) to the exclusion of all other faiths.

I sympathize to a certain extent with the Christian protesters who came to the side of Judge Moore. Many of them feel that the basis of our legal code in the ten commandments and other biblical texts has been being slowly eroded over the past several decades. Those who protested the removal of the monument chose the steps of the Alabama state court house as their line in the sand. They moved back there and did not want to go back further.

And yet I believe that all Christians have at their disposal a testament that is much more powerful than that granite memorial of the ten commandments. It is the human heart turned by grace toward the Lord, seeking to follow in his steps in every thought, word, and deed. The prophet Jeremiah called the people of Israel to this powerful testament, encouraging them to look forward to a new covenant with the Lord:

“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer 31:31-33).

The covenant of which Jeremiah spoke is the covenant established by Jesus Christ and continually renewed in his people, the Church, by the working of the Holy Spirit. Were all Christians to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and live out fully that covenant relationship with our heavenly Father, then there would be powerful living monuments filling every courthouse and public square in the land.

The meaning of these monuments would be clear and could never be blotted out or taken away. The meaning would be nothing less than this: following the law of the Lord is a light yolk, an easy burden, one that leads us through torment and pain to the Kingdom of God.

2003-08-29T13:43:00.000-05:00

Food! Glorious Food!

From a reader who found this letter to the editor of Crisis at The Corner:

Sir:

I was delighted to read the Manichaean ramblings of Danel Paden, director of the Catholic Vegetarian Society ("Letters," June 2003). It confirmed my theory that fanaticism in Western society alternates between nudism and vegetarianism, both of which contradict the order of grace.

As an optimist, I happily trust that Paden confines his extreme commitments to vegetarianism.

Taste is one thing; it is another thing to condemn meat eating as "evil" and permissible only "in rare and unfortunate circumstances." Paden disagrees with no less an authority than God, Who forbids us to call any edible unworthy (Mark 7: 18-19), and Who enjoins St Peter to eat pork chops and lobster in one of my favorite revelations (Acts 10: 9-16). Does the Catholic Vegetarian Society think that our Lord was wrong to have served up fish to the 5,000, or should He have refrained from eating the Passover Lamb? When He rose from the dead and appeared in the Upper Room, He did not ask for a bowl of Cheerios, nor did He whip up a meatless omelette on the shore of Galilee.

Man was made to eat flesh (Genesis 1: 26-31; 9: 1-6), with the exception of human flesh. I stand on record against cannibalism, whether it be inflicted upon the Mbuti Pygmies by the Congolese Army or on larger people by a maniac in Milwaukee. But I am also grateful that the benevolent father in the parable did not welcome his prodigal son home with a bowl of radishes.

Vegetarians assume an unedifying posture of detachment from the sufferings of vegetables that are mashed, stewed, diced, and shredded. In expensive restaurants, cherries are publicly burned in brandy to the applause of diners. It is not uncommon for people to submerge olives in iced gin and twist the peels of lemons. Be indignant, vegetarian, but not so selectively indignant that the bleat of the lamb and the plaintive moo of the cow drown out the whine of our brother the bean and the quiet sigh of the cauliflower.

Vegetables have reactive impulses. Were we to confine our diet to creatures that lacked sense and do not even respond to light, we could only eat liturgists and liberal Democrats.

The Rev. George W. Rutler
New York City

I somehow sense the spirit of G. K. flowing through the pen Fr. Rutler.

2003-08-27T14:06:00.000-05:00

Why write posts when others put out such good writing?

Reformed Christian David Heddle writes well here. Mind you, I don't agree with his arguments for sola scriptura, but its still good writing.

2003-08-27T12:58:00.000-05:00

Take a look at an interesting post on the inerrancy of Sacred Scripture over at Disputations

2003-08-27T12:28:00.000-05:00

Mark Shea pens some provocative thoughts on Evangelicalism...

...and presents this ministry as exhibit A.

2003-08-27T10:46:00.000-05:00

On the feast of St. Monica

Today in the Catholic Church is the feast of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine. His feast will be celebrated tomorrow.

St. Monica died over 1,600 years ago. Nevertheless I believe that the example of her life of faith is becoming more and more relevant every day.

She lived much of her life in a 'mixed-marriage', her husband not becoming a Christian until late in his life. More and more marriages in the Catholic Church today are either mixed in that one party is Catholic and the other is a Christian of another tradition or it is mixed in the sense that Monica's was, where a Catholic is married to one who is not Christian at all.

St. Monica also experienced the hardship of her son refusing for many, many years to embrace the faith which she had introduced to him as a child. This is the sad experience of many Catholic parents today who are forced to witness the choice of their children to walk away from the Church.

And yet the story of St. Monica is ultimately a story of hope. Yes, she carried heavy crosses. She daily died to herself in her relationship with her husband and her son. And yet she and they in the end experienced the new and eternal life of our risen Savior. Her husband embraced the faith and became a Christian. Her son, St. Augustine, did as well and became a great leader in the Church in his time and a theologian whose writings are still honored today.

Yet these happy outcomes that all of these people were not the result of any efforts or perseverance of St. Monica in and of herself. No, they occurred because of the grace of God flowing through her, through her God-given faith working in love in their lives.

A sign of this can be seen in one incident in St. Monica's life. One day she felt the weight of her son's faithlessness fall especially heavily on her shoulders. So she went to her bishop to speak with about it. Shedding many tears, she shared with him her troubled relationship with her son, how she continued to fail to persuade him to embrace the faith. The bishop looked at lovingly and simply said, "Monica, it is time that you speak less to Augustine about God and more to God about Augustine."

Following the bishop's advice required an act of faith on the part of Monica. She had to trust that God would lead her son closer to him without her external efforts. The story of her life and of the life of her holy son tells us that she did place her trust in the Lord. And the Lord did not fail her but brought her, her husband, and her son into the communion of his life and love.

2003-08-26T11:25:00.000-05:00

Pope John Paul I

Today is the 25th anniversary of the election of this interesting figure in the recent history of the papacy, a man who sat on the seat of St. Peter for one month. I have faint memories of him being elected and, of course, of his charming smile. I certainly remember his death and my going over to our neighbor's kids and telling them about it. They weren't Catholic and so looked at me as if I was talking about the man on the moon.

Some fifteen years later when I was a senior in college I made a trip to Rome and visited the crypt of St. Peter's. While there I stopped by the tomb of John Paul I. Interestingly enough, his tomb sat directly across from the tomb of Pope Marcellus II, a Reformation era pope who held the office for only 22 days. Today his name is primarily only known among music historians and lovers of Renaissance polyphony. For there was a famous and very beautiful Mass setting composed by Giovanni de Palestrina dedicated to him. Any student of music history (as I was then) would certainly have heard of the Pope Marcellus Mass.

So a music composer's dedication preserves the memory of a man who lived 500 years ago who was pope for a month. What will it be that will maintain the memory of Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I in the years and centuries to come?

2003-08-26T07:10:00.000-05:00

Another Sad Case of the Christian Faith Gone Awry

The 8-year-old autistic boy who died during a weekend prayer service suffocated after a church elder sat on his chest, police said Monday. The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office has ruled the death a homicide...

Terrance Cottrell Jr. died Friday night at the Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith on Milwaukee's northwest side. The cause was "mechanical asphyxia due to external chest compression," according to the medical examiner's office...

A high-ranking Milwaukee police source said Ray Hemphill told investigators that he would sit on the boy's chest for up to two hours at a time during prayer services at the small storefront church at 8709 W. Fond du Lac Ave. The nightly prayer services started three weeks ago, police say Hemphill told them...

This report from CNN has the accused's brother, the pastor of the church, cite Mt 12:43 as a justification for their particular practice of faith healing.

Here's the text: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none."

I just don't know one could read into this the practice of an adult man sitting for two hours on the chest of an eight-year-old boy. Sad...very sad.

2003-08-25T11:35:00.000-05:00

Mark Shea and a reader having a go-around about transubstantiation

2003-08-25T11:22:00.000-05:00

A Sad, Sad Case of the Christian Faith Gone Awry

Sheriff's deputies continue to investigate the death of a Johnson County infant from an infection after her parents did not seek medical treatment because of their religious beliefs.

Now, the life of the baby's mother could be in danger if she also is suffering from sepsis, an infection that an autopsy determined killed 2-day-old Rhianna Rose Schmidt, said David Lutz, Johnson County deputy coroner.

The infection is one newborns can acquire in the first 24 hours after delivery, and one that can be successfully treated with antibiotics, Lutz said.

But Maleta K. and Dewayne Schmidt's religious beliefs don't include seeking medical treatment, authorities said.

The couple, members of the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, trust in God to cure illness, said Tom Nation, an elder at the Morgantown-area Protestant church attended by the couple.

"We have a love for our children. Really, I think it's greater than people that go to doctors," Nation said. "Our bond is closer."...

I'm curious to know how such congregations justify their beliefs regarding medical treatment and faith healing. If it is a scriptural justification in any way, it is, in my opinion, a serious, deadly misunderstanding of the meaning of God's word.

2003-08-25T07:57:00.000-05:00

Slow blogging day

I'll be taking care of Michael until the early afternoon today so don't expect much if any blogging until then.

2003-08-24T11:07:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope

Q: What are the major religious differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants?

A: The answer to this question is a bit mysterious, for it is both big and small at the same time. It is big because the differences between Catholics and Protestants are very important. But it is also small because there are still some very fundamental things that we share in common.

Explaining the differences is a bit tricky, because there is a much variety of belief and practice among Protestant Christians. Therefore it is really impossible to give a blanket description of the differences.

However, one difference that all Protestants would have in common is their lack of recognition of the spiritual authority of the bishops of the Catholic Church in union with the bishop of Rome, the pope. Still, different Protestants would give different reasons for this.

Related to this difference is the lack of ‘apostolic succession’ in Protestant congregations. We in the Catholic Church believe that our bishops in union with the pope are the true successors to the apostles and St. Peter in their leadership of the Church. A small number Protestants (e.g., Episcopalians) would argue that they have maintained this, although the Catholic Church holds that they have not. Still other Protestants would say that the understanding of apostolic succession held by the Catholic Church is false from the start and so would recognize no need to have bishops, priests, and deacons as our Church does.

A result of this difference regarding apostolic succession is a difference regarding the Eucharist and most of the other sacraments. We in the Catholic Church believe that in order to validly celebrate the Eucharist, one in which Jesus becomes truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, it needs to have as its celebrant a priest ordained by a valid bishop of the Church, one in apostolic succession. Although some Protestant congregations (e.g., Episcopalians and Lutherans) believe in some form of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist ,we in the Catholic Church believe that their celebrations of this are invalid, that Christ is not truly and fully present in there.

Other Protestants don’t believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist from the start and so aren’t concerned about the relationship of what they call ‘the Lord’s Supper’ to apostolic succession.

Similarly, nearly all Protestants do not accept that Confirmation, Reconciliation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick are truly sacraments as the Catholic Church understands them to be.

However nearly all Protestants recognize the importance of Baptism and so the Catholic Church accepts as valid the Baptisms performed in most Protestant congregations. This is one of those things that I mentioned at the start that Catholics and Protestants have in common that are of fundamental importance.

Another piece of common ground that joins us together is our mutual love and reverence for the Bible, the inspired word of God. In addition, nearly all Protestants believe, along with Catholics, in the Blessed Trinity, the very foundation of all of our beliefs, that which we worship and adore in all of our worship, and that in which we profess belief in our Baptism.

The importance of these and other commonalities, especially in moral teachings, cannot be underestimated. At the same time, we must recognize that those areas of divergence (including others not listed here) are significant as well and must not be ignored.

In the end, we should all continuously pray to the Holy Spirit to bring about that unity among all Christians for which our Lord Jesus Christ prayed at the Last Supper: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (Jn 17:21-22).

__________________________________

Catholic Reasons for Hope is a column that appears in the bulletin of the parish where I serve as DRE. Any reader of Nota Bene is free to submit questions to me by e-mail for it.

2003-08-23T11:35:00.000-05:00

A Reader Writes:

Regarding the discussion in which I participated over at Josh S's blog on the supposed 50% divorce rate in the United States:

I've been told that the "50% divorce rate" is an application of voodoo stats: it simply takes a # of marriages in a year in the U.S. (let's say 1,000) and a # of divorces (say, 500) and extrapolates that half of all American marriages end in divorce. This wouldn't take into account the intact marriages already existing prior to that particular year. Does that make sense, or were the pro-marriage sources I've read comforting themselves for naught?

So, class, how would you answer the reader? Any statisticians out there, please chime in.

2003-08-23T11:33:00.000-05:00

Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21, 22-23
Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32
Jn 6:60-69

I must share with you that I will preside at a wedding near Philadelphia next Sunday and today’s second reading is not on the list. Imagine that! Also, one thing I love about both today and the Feast of the Holy Family (celebrated the Sunday after Christmas) is that I get to see many husbands receive a cold stare, at the least, if not an elbow to the ribs, from their wives.

If you thought that Jesus’ commands to eat His flesh and drink His blood were hard teachings, then your head must be spinning as a result of the second reading. Many people consider subordination, whether voluntary or involuntary, to be no good whatsoever. Few people want to be a subordinate when they grow up; those who do are looked upon with scorn. Millions of people have come to our country for decades so that they can be free from many types of subordination as they were under the conditions from which they departed. This nation was founded because we could not tolerate being subordinate to both a monarch and his cronies who lived across an ocean from us.

Numerous women hate the words of the second reading today because they find it difficult to believe that a man has some type of tacit advantage over women simply because of anatomical reasons. At the same time, many women who both love their husbands and love sharing their lives within the Sacrament of Marriage do not like the word “subordinate”; however, that dislike is more within the context of how American people in general hate the word “subordinate”, as previously described.

The key to understanding this reading is recalling that all disciples of Jesus have been called by God to be subordinate to Him in one manner or another. Many men love that passage from the letter to the Ephesians because they believe falsely that this passage gives them license to say and to do what they want when they want to do it. A good Christian does not act in the manner. A good Christian knows that they gain true joy only when they are subordinate to God. Many men mistakenly believe that they are the “brains of the family” simply because they are the head of the household, but a good Christian man asks God to occupy his mind so that the man’s thoughts may be directed always toward and for bringing forth God’s plans for all of us, but especially for each member of his family. A good Christian husband/father understands that his role involves service much more than it involves dominance. A good Christian husband/father never tells anyone to do anything that he should not seek to do himself – and what he should seek to do at all times is seek the Kingdom of God.

I hope that the couple whose marriage I am going to witness next Sunday is going to serve each other and their future children as they would seek to serve Jesus. I hope and I pray that all disciples seek to serve all people as they would seek to serve Jesus. Perhaps what we need to be subordinate to most of all is a greater understanding of how Jesus is alive within all people at all times. This type of subordination can both clarify the mystery for us and help us grow in desire to be part of the great, beautiful divine mystery that is Our Lord.

2003-08-22T13:04:00.000-05:00

Is the Navy being ecumenical or discriminatory?

That seems to be the question of a law suit filed against it by a group of Evangelical chaplains, detailed in this story. It also involves the alleged actions of the late Cardinal Archbishop of New York, John O'Connor.

The chaplains claim that the service unfairly promotes Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants ahead of evangelicals, thereby forcing the latter out, and that the resulting mix fails to represent the religious preferences of sailors...

Initially, the evangelicals maintained that the Navy's alleged discrimination began in the late 1980s, with the introduction of what they call "the thirds policy" -- a purposeful organizing of the Christian element of the Chaplain Corps into one-third Catholic, one-third Mainline or "liturgical" Protestant and one-third evangelical, or "nonliturgical."

The chaplains claim such a system fails to reflect the numbers of evangelicals in the Navy. The Navy denies any such policy...

Evangelicals complain that sermons have been censored or watered down in the name of pluralism, or cooperation among religions. Spiers, the Navy personnel spokesman, said pluralism is important.

"It's your job to help out everybody, regardless of their faith preference."

Those in the lawsuit say that they'll help everyone, but won't modify their message in the process.

According to court documents, the suing chaplains filed a motion to move the date of review back to 1977 after discovering that the then-chief of chaplains, the Rev. John J. O'Connor, ordered a "stacking policy" requiring at least two Catholic priests to sit on every chaplain selection board. Schulcz said the practice was stopped in 1986 due to a lawsuit, but he believes the precedent bolsters his position.

"Rear Admiral O'Connor's placing of two Catholics on the board is typical of the arrogance with which the Chaplain Corps and Navy deals with promotions," Schulcz said...

2003-08-22T12:55:00.000-05:00

More on the end times watch

A Christian author who specializes in end-times prophecy says world events are pointing toward the return of Christ for his Church.

Mark Hitchcock, an Oklahoma pastor and Bible prophecy expert, says current events and political and social unrest throughout the world should reassure Christians that God's Word is true and perfect. Hitchcock, who has written a series of books looking at biblical prophecy and current events, says the war in Iraq and other events in the Middle East and around the world fall in line with biblical accounts of the days leading to Christ's rapture of the Church.

Hitchcock lists the re-gathering and return of Israel to her homeland, the European Union, the reunion of Rome, and the trend of globalism among modern developments that end-times prophets foresaw. And he says the rebuilding of Babylon, or present-day Iraq, is further evidence that the current generation is watching the unfolding of Biblical prophecy...

The 'reunion of Rome'? What's that all about?

2003-08-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

Look what I've started now...

Josh S, Lutheran blogger of "I Think I Need a Stiff Drink", contemplated in this short post the difficulty of marriage today with our 50% divorce rate. So he was wondering why even take steps to establish any kind of long-term relationship.

In the comment box I merely noted that couples that use NFP have a divorce rate of less than 5% and that this was simply advice to think ahead.

Then the comments from other readers came flooding in. Take a look at it all if you wish.

2003-08-20T16:26:00.000-05:00

Mark Shea on what he feels is the conundrum of 'Once Saved Always Saved'

2003-08-20T14:17:00.000-05:00

Want a quick guide to TV preachers?

Go here. I liked his take on Benny Hinn: "Please send this guy some breath mints. Everytime he blows on people they fall down!!"

2003-08-20T13:30:00.000-05:00

An interesting call from a Reformed Christian to 'join Rome'

(thanks to Mark Shea for the link)

No, it isn't an encouragement to become Catholic, but to cooperate with the Catholic Church in its work to bring the Christian faith to bear on the prevailing culture.

The particular issue that motivated this piece was the issuing of the document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that called on Catholic governmental leaders to oppose the legal recognition of same-sex marriages. However, the thoughts expressed in this piece speak to some a fundamental principle of the faith: that if we are to be faithful to the covenant with God of which are a part, then we are to bring the faith to bear on the culture in which we live.

...Rome, both the engine behind and the recipient of Christian culture for 1000 years (c. 500-1500), has a long history of introducing the Faith into the socio-political realm. Unlike many pietistic Protestants, for whom the Faith is about little more than “Jesus and me,” a tidy Sunday-go-to-meetin’ affair with a daily “quiet time” tacked on for good measure, Rome is fully aware that, over time, the Church and the Faith require a culture to sustain them. Culture and Faith are inextricably interwoven. To assume that Christians can keep the Church and family unspotted from cultural depravity by building sufficiently high walls of isolation is naiveté of the highest order...

This could be the stuff of some very fruitful discussions between Catholics and other Christians.

2003-08-20T10:30:00.000-05:00

Evangelization, RCIA, and the relationship of Catholics to other Christians

The leadership of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II following the Second Vatican Council has sought to bring about a greater awareness among all of the Catholic faithful of the duty of all who are baptized to participate in evangelization. The have taught that the proclamation of the Gospel is to happen in all places, not just in places where it has not yet been heard.

They feel that this is needed because many societies that were in the past Christian (e.g., in western Europe and even, to a certain extent in the United States and Canada) are now tending to shed that aspect of their identities.

Such a perspective obviously needs to bring about a distinction in different kinds of evangelization. At times this has been described as the difference between 'primary evangelization' (or ad gentes evangelization, to those who have never heard the Gospel) and 'secondary evangelization.' Pope John Paul II in particular has elaborated upon the latter and called it 'the new evangelization.'

(It must be noted, however, that some aspects of the new evangelization apply to ad gentes evangelization, especially that part that seeks to engage a society's culture and embrace those parts of it that are consistent with the Gospel and transform those that are not.)

One simple way that average lay Catholics can actively participate in the new evangelization is something that I described in a post from last week. They can learn more about their faith and deliberately bring it to bear in conversations with those who are not Catholic or poorly catechized Catholics.

I believe that I participate in it by my work as a freelance columnist in the local secular daily newspaper in the town of the parish where I serve as DRE. Many of the topics about which I have written bring my Catholic faith to bear on ordinary topics in a person's day to day life: the change of seasons, the relationship of parents to their children, education, etc.

I have also begun to use the column periodically as a question and answer forum where readers can ask me about aspects of the beliefs and practices of Catholics, about how Catholics understand themeselves and their Christian identity. I have chosen to do this not to use my column as a public platform on which I can trumpet the superiority of Catholicism. I simply lay out how the Catholic Church understands its beliefs or practices and allow the readers to place a value judgment on it.

At any rate, I have had a reader who may be a Christian (I haven't had an in-depth conversation with her yet) but who is not Catholic contact me and express interest in participating in our parish's Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. I am happy that this person has done this and will be learning more about the faith of the Catholic Church, but I did not write my column with the express intention to convince non-Catholic Christians to come over to the Church.

I think that Catholics have to be very careful about the way that they approach their conversations with other Christians. Catholics need to respect them and the fact that they (in most cases) are baptized and seek, with God's grace, to follow the way of the Lord. They should not, in any way, think of such people as not being Christian. They are brothers and sisters in Christ and have a fundamentally different relationship with we who are Catholic than those who are not Christian.

I think that it is good for Catholics to enter into conversation with other Christians about those many beliefs and practices which they already share and those in which there are differences that separate us. But I believe that the intent of the conversation from the perspective of both participants should not be to show the other is not Christian, must accept his point of view in order to be a Christian, must abandon his current beliefs in order to be assured of salvation, etc.

Even though this may be felt by the person saying it to be a form of evangelization, it is not. It is a form of proselytism, a way of trying to force someone to enter the church of which the other person in the conversation is a member, be he Catholic or a Christian of another faith tradition. It is a form of communicaiton which is usually seeks to nurture fear in the hearts of others and does not respect the freedom of conscience of other individuals.

I am entering my fourth year in my ministry as a director of religious education in a Catholic parish. During that time I have had numerous non-Catholic Christians come to me to seek to learn more about the Catholic faith and possibly enter into full communion with it. In most of these cases, it has been the non-Catholic who initiated the process. There have been a few cases where I have made the first step, but in all of those cases I merely presented RCIA as a way for them to simply learn more about the Catholic faith.

This is also the approach that I took in advertising the classes in the local newspaper. Although RCIA is the primary way that the Catholic Church prepares adults for entering into full communion in the Church, the choice to do that is always with the participant. In no session of RCIA in the three-years that I have been doing them did I ever try to show how Catholicism was superior to another Christian tradition. I may point out differences here and there, but, as with my column in the newspaper, I leave the value judgment up to the participant.

And when the rites come up in the RCIA, the rites through which participants step by step enter the Church, I in no way try to force any participant to make a choice for Catholicism. In fact, in my first year, I had a fellow go all the way through until Palm Sunday, a week before he would have been accepted into the Church, and then choose not to do so. I accepted his choice and went on.

That may happen again this year. So far I have signed up two former Mormons, one who was raised in the Disciples of Christ, and two others with whom I will be speaking tonight. Others have also called me and I hope to speak with them in the coming week. In all of these cases, if the person with whom I am speaking is a Christian, I respect that fact very much. The Catholic Church as a whole does as well, treating their baptism as being valid (it must be noted, however, that the Catholic Church does not accept as valid a Mormon baptism since the LDS have such a radically different understanding of the Trinity than the Catholic Church and most other Christians do).

I believe that my journey of faith through RCIA with other Christians in the past three years have been fruitful for all who have been involved. But I think that this fruitfulness is directly tied to the respect that the Catholic Church has for the Christian identity of those who are not in full communion with it. Were that respect lacking, I think that I would have had few if any participants.

2003-08-20T07:04:00.000-05:00

Chilean Evangelical Christians burn a statue of Mary

Fundamentally what these Christians did was simply vandalism. But it was an act of vandalism that showed disrespect for the religious freedom of other people. It was also an act that would make honest, open dialogue between Catholics and Evangelical Christians in that area much more difficult to happen than if they had not done it.

2003-08-19T06:58:00.000-05:00

On Baby Patrol

My wife will be working today, so I'm taking care of Michael. I'll wait to see how much blogging I'll be able to do between chasing him down here and there.

2003-08-18T13:04:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope

Q: We believe that Mary is in heaven and that she was crowned “Queen of Heaven and Earth.” Who told us this?

A: Strictly speaking, we in the Catholic Church believe that God told us this.

I say this because the Catholic Church believes that Mary’s Assumption into heaven and her Queenship over heaven and earth are a part of divine revelation that comes to us through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

Her being assumed, body and soul, into heaven has been celebrated liturgically by the faithful for over 1,500 years. The Church, in reflecting upon Sacred Scripture, has recognized as a kind of veiled evidence of this event St. John’s vision in the twelfth chapter of Revelation: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon at her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1).

Immediately preceding that verse, in the last verse of chapter 11, St. John described this vision: “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of the covenant could be seen in the temple (Rev 11:19). Mary was often described by the Church fathers of the first centuries of he Church as the ‘ark of the covenant.’ Just as in the Old Testament the people of Israel believed that the Lord was truly present to them in the ark of the covenant which they carried with them through the desert, so the Blessed Virgin Mary is understood to be the ark of the new covenant since she carried God incarnate in her womb.

Although Catholics have believed in and celebrated the Assumption of Mary for a very long time, it was not formally defined as a dogma until November 1, 1950 when Pope Pius XII did so in his apostolic constitution, Munificentissimus Deus (Most Gracious God).

Our belief about Mary being the Queen of Heaven and Earth is closely tied to our belief regarding the Assumption and is just as ancient. It is also founded upon Sacred Scripture. The same vision of St. John quoted above from Rev 12:1 describes the woman wearing a ‘crown of twelve stars.’ Crowns, both within biblical imagery and in our own language to this day, is regarded as a sign that person wearing it is a monarch.

(It should be noted here that these passages from Revelation have several layers of meaning, only one of which is reflected in these interpretations traditionally understood by the Church.)

On October 11, 1954, four years after defining her Assumption, Pope Pius XII reflected upon Mary’s Queenship in his encyclical, Ad Caeli Reginam (On the Queen of Heaven) and declared May 31 to be its feast day. Following the Second Vatican Council the date of this feast was changed to August 22, one week following the Solemnity of the Assumption, thus reinforcing the connection of these two aspects of the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in salvation history.

The bishops at the Second Vatican Council renewed the Church’s teaching on Mary’s Assumption and Queenship in Lumen Gentium (“Light of the Nations”), the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: “Finally, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all guilt of original sin, on the completion of her earthly sojourn, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe, that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and the conqueror of sin and death” (paragraph 59).

The Assumption and Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary have come to us primarily through that part of Divine Revelation which is Sacred Tradition. However, as has been shown here, Sacred Scripture does not contradict these beliefs but, indeed, lends support to them.

__________________________________

Catholic Reasons for Hope is a column that appears weekly in the bulletin of the parish where I serve as DRE. If any read of Nota Bene would like to submit questions for this column, he or she is free to do so by e-mail.

2003-08-18T08:58:00.000-05:00

The most recent installment of my column, "Spiritual Reflections"

In the coming days our young people will be going back to school. Many of our college students will soon be leaving for their campuses as well.

In my work as the director of religious education at St. Joseph Catholic Church I have been very busy over the past few weeks preparing for the beginning of our Religious Education Program, our Sunday school for children and youth from three-year-olds through the 10th grade, as well as the start of our Thursday night adult program.

This time of the year, with its many beginnings in education, can serve as a reminder to all parents of their duty to ensure the good education of their children.

Any teacher at any level will quickly confirm the vital role of parents in the schooling of their children.

The way in which parents either implicitly or explicitly encourage or discourage their children in their task of learning will have a direct impact upon their work in whatever classroom they will be entering in the coming days.

If this is true for the Monday through Friday classroom setting, it is all the more so for religious education.

Most Christian children will have, at best, one or two opportunities a week to learn more about faith in a church setting. Overall, this will usually amount to no more than three to four hours a week in any kind of formal religious education.

These statistics should make it clear to everyone that parents are the first religious educators of their children. The work done by pastors, Sunday school teachers, and other church-based volunteers is secondary at best.

This would be true even if children had formal religion classes every day. It is all the more true in the real context in which we all live.

Children learn so much from their parents. Some of you moms and dads may not think that you take an active role in the religious education of your children, but you do.

The ways in which you strive to live out your faith deliberately day by day — or fail to do so — has a direct impact upon the way your children will come to practice their faith.

When I was growing up, my family didn’t talk much about our faith around the house. We didn’t even pray that much as a family in our home.

But going to church on Sunday was always a top priority, no matter what other plans we had, no matter how inconvenient going to Mass might have been. This valuing of Sunday worship was abundantly clear to me as I grew up.

What was a little more implicit then, but much more clear to me now, was the way in which my parents modeled good Christian behavior for my sister and me.

In their choices and the ways that they interacted with others, my parents showed me what it meant to live out my faith in a good and positive way.

Hopefully the way that I live my life now is a good reflection on my parents as my first religious educators.

I encourage all of you who are Christian parents of young children to take seriously your duty as the first and foremost religious educators of your children. The impact that you have on them, for good or ill, will be a lasting legacy.

By exhorting you in this manner it may seem that I am laying a heavy burden on the shoulders of parents.

But, in the end, it is important for us all to realize that parents simply sow the seeds of faith in the hearts of their children. It is God alone who does the hard work of bringing forth the growth.

2003-08-15T19:51:00.000-05:00

A very nice reflection on the Assumption from Mark Shea

2003-08-15T16:20:00.000-05:00

Following in the Way of Humility:

A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 16
1 Cor 15:20-26
Lk 1:39-56

What great irony there is in the wisdom of God. He exalts that which we consider to be the humblest of all. That is the message for us in today's feast.

Mary's cousin Elizabeth greeted her as if she were a queen: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Mary took her startling words in stride, not considering them flattery at all. Instead of focusing on herself, she only heaped praise upon the Lord: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed."

Mary sings that she will be called blessed forever, not because of any greatness on her part, but because of what the Lord did for her. It is this focus on the Lord and his greatness, this attributing any good in ourselves solely to him that will be our pathway to the place in the heavenly kingdom that he has prepared for us.

On the night before he revealed the perfection of humility, Jesus told his disciples and us that he was going ahead of them to prepare a place for them. At those words the disciples expressed confusion. They didn't understand him and didn't know where he was going. To this Jesus declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Jesus' way of the cross, was his way of humility, revealing the truth of our humanity, opening to us the eternal life of the kingdom.

We can look to the example of Mary, Jesus' mother, to see what it means for us mere humans to follow Jesus' way of humility. Her life of humility, the fruit of the fullness of grace poured upon her from the first moment of her existence in her mother's womb, led her, body and soul, to the place prepared for her in heaven, the place which St. John saw in his vision which he recounted in his book of Revelation which we heard in today's first reading.

Jesus prepared that place for her when he ascended to the right hand of the Father. He has prepared a place for us as well. If we live according to the grace offered to us, we too will be humble like Mary and point only to the Lord at the remembrance of any good in ourselves. If we walk this way of humility we, like Mary, will be raised up in our proper order, just as St. Paul promised in today's second reading. Mary preceded us as our model in humanity alone. We, with the grace of God, will go where her Son has gone before her and us.

2003-08-15T14:40:00.000-05:00

An interesting discussion on the canon of scripture and the magisterium

Go here for the post. Check out the comments where, fittingly enough for the day, the issue of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is raised.

2003-08-15T09:24:00.000-05:00

Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption

Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 16
1 Cor 15:20-27
Lk 1:39-56

Many of you have heard numerous catechetical exhortations concerning the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but at this time, I invite you to think about our assumption into Heaven. God wanted every child he created to be assumed into Heaven, body and soul, as we believe Mary was when it was her time to leave this earth. He said so through the words of Paul who said "all shall be brought to life, but each one in proper order".

The proper order so far has been of Jesus and then Mary having both their souls and their bodies brought up to Heaven. But remember that it is not supposed to end with the two of them. The proper order has not yet been fulfilled. We believe that Jesus will return and that He will return with the desire to bring us in both body and soul to His realm. It is a pity that many people seek something other than being part of this assumption. We need to pray for them because they are not going to find out what they are missing until the door is locked in front of them and the master at the other end says to them: "I do not know who you are."

As much as this is a day of celebration for our Church, it should also be a day of preparation for us. All of us need to ask God on this day what we must do in order to be assumed into heaven as our Mother has been assumed. It is not enough today to think about Mary's special place in Heaven; we have been called by God to sit near her in the presence of Our Lord. So what are we going to do to let Jesus bring us to life in this glorious manner? How are we going to prepare for the assumption that God wants to give each of us?

2003-08-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

A Small Word on Prayer

A Catholic priest who was a friend of mine (he passed away a few years ago) once said that 'unless a we see prayer as the best use of our time, we will find it hard to make time for it.'

2003-08-13T14:30:00.000-05:00

Some thoughts on the vocation of the laity

Catholic blogger JACK's decision to restart his blog Integrity has spurred me to think about the vocation of the laity (the exploration of which is the primary mission of that blog) and its relationship to our entering into dialogue with other Christians (the exploration of which is the primary mission of this blog).

There is a great deal of religious diversity here in the United States. Think of most any religion that exists anywhere on the face of the earth and you will most likely find adherents of them here in this country. Even simply within Chrisitianity there is a lot of diversity in the United States.

Any lay Catholic will most likely experience various manifestations of this diversity every day of his or her life. If the person is married, there is a fairly good likelihood that his or her spouse is not Catholic. He or she may any number of other relatives who are not Catholic. A large portion of his or her co-workers, friends, and other acquaintances will also not be Catholic.

One way to look at this situation is to see it as an opportunity to learn more about the faith (or lack thereof) held by these other people. Another way (which is not mutually exclusive from the first) ito look at it is to see it as an opportunity to share the Catholic faith with these others.

This give and take is a fundamental part of the task of evangelization which every Christian receives at his or her baptism. But this sharing of the faith need not happen in a context which is seen first and foremost as formally evangelistic. Yes, we are all missionaries. But we are called to carry out this task with the context of our lives in which we find ourselves at any one moment.

For example, during a lunch break various co-workers might start talking about one issue or another which has a moral aspect to it, say, the fraudulent accounting practices carried out by companies like Arthur Andersen, Enron, or Worldcom. This would be a good opportunity for a Catholic to learn more about what the faith tradition of another co-worker has to say or not say about the moral aspect of that issue. It would also be a good opportunity to say what the Church may have to say about it from a moral perspective.

Sometimes this might happen in such a way that the particular faith traditions of each participant in the conversation is never specifically mentioned. But there may be times when it would be good to specifically ask of a co-worker who, for the sake of the example, is a Methodist, what his tradition might have to say about the morality of such practices. Yes, we assume (safely?) that it would say that they are wrong. But why? That is the important question to ask.

Even if the person is unable to answer the question, it might spur him to find out. One little question like that might help another person grow in his faith.

There may also be times in a conversation like that where a person who is Catholic might be able to speak specifically about what the Church might have to say about the moral questions which such situations bring up. It wouldn't be said so much in any sort of argumentative tone, but simply one that offers to add another perspective to the conversation. Now in order for a Catholic to do this, he or she would have to know ahead of time what the Church might have to say about it. So the desire to add these kinds of perspectives to a conversation can serve as a motivation for a Catholic to grow in his or her knowledge of the faith.

These are the little things that, when done again and again, make up a lot of the work of evangelization of a lay Catholic. They can be signs of the slow but sure growth of the Kingdom.

What do you think of all of this? Do you explicitly add the perspective of your faith tradition to ordinary conversations? Is the addition an implicit one or is it explicit? How do you think that you could do this without seeming to be pushing your faith on another?

2003-08-13T11:32:00.000-05:00

Birthday Greetings...

...for my dear wife Cindy. The day on which she was born will always be one of great importance for me.

2003-08-11T20:37:00.000-05:00

One more prayer request for Michael

Michael has an appointment tomorrow at Riley Hospital for Children. He'll have a CT scan, an appointment with his infectious disease doctor to look at the scan, and an appointment with surgery if the scan shows that he's recovered enough from the pneumonia to remove his central line (the heavy duty IV line in his chest through which he's received IV antibiotics twice a day for the past three weeks).

Hopefully he's recovered enough that that the surgery will happen. Hopefully the surgery will go well. If the surgery does go on, Michael will have to have been sedated twice tomorrow--once for the CT scan, once for the surgery.

At any rate, please say a prayer for him. While you're at it, say a prayer for those children who were in Riley before Michael arrived there in mid-July and will still be there after he leaves tomorrow. And even though I named this post 'One more prayer request for Michael', I didn't mean to imply that you don't have to pray for him again after this ordeal is finally put behind us. I think that it is a good thing for all of us to pray for all of God's little ones at all times.

Update: Michael is safely home from Riley Hospital for Children. Hopefully he won't be making any return visits there.

We spent most of the day waiting. First it was waiting for Michael's sedative to take effect for a CT scan that he needed. He got a full 1000 mg of it (I fail to recall which kind of sedative it was) and fought the good fight, for about an hour. I tell you, the kid has never been a good napper, even when he's given some help.

We also had to wait for a good while to see the infectious disease doctor. He showed us the CT scan from July 14 and from today. the change in Michael's left lung was incredible. It looks almost totally normal now. He did tell us, interestingly enough, that the state health labs had a difficult time getting the particular strain of bacteria that caused his disease to grow. So they've now sent it off to the CDC in Atlanta for further testing.

Later on we had to wait almost two hours for his surgical procedure to remove his central line. It was delayed because the surgeon had to respond to an emergency. All of the doctors with whom we spoke beforehand--a surgical resident and an anesthiologist--all spoke to us assuming that he had a tunnelled central line, something which requires a surgical procedure to remove. We also had assumed that this was what he had. After all, that was what we had signed a consent form for.

But when the surgical attending physician finally showed up, he said that it was not tunnelled but was only a temporary central line. Michael wouldn't even need to go to surgery. He'd just have to snip a couple of sutures and pull it out. When he opened the dressing, he noticed that all of the sutures had already come out on their own. A little flick of the wrist and it was out. Just like that.

Cindy could have removed it. I could have removed it...and Michael could have removed it. I'm glad that everything came to a conclusion so quickly. But it also reminded me of the problems that we could have easily had with it at home. And it explained why the surgical fellow was very hesitant to let Michael go home from the hospital at the end of his hospitalization.

The only question left is, why was a temporary central line inserted instead of a tunnelled one? Oh well, it doesn't really matter now. I'm just glad that it is all over.

Thanks to all of you readers for your prayers for Michael. And thanks to God for pouring his healing grace upon my little son.

2003-08-11T14:02:00.000-05:00

Think globally, act locally...in my parish's RCIA

It seems that a national story is going to have a small ripple effect on the upcoming RCIA in the parish where I serve as DRE. The pastor told me today that he had had a conversation with a woman who identified herself as an 'Anglican' (mind you, not an Episcopalian) and who wanted to consider coming into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Apparently she wasn't keen about the choice to ordain women, but it was the election of Bishop Robinson who pushed her over the edge.

This should be an interesting class. So far we'll have the Anglican, a couple of former Mormons (one of whom had also been active for a short while with the Jehovah's Witnesses), a young woman who was baptized in the Catholic Church but who received all of her religious formation in a Baptist church, an older man who had been in the Disciples of Christ, and a young man who is 'unchurched.'

2003-08-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

Catholic Reasons for Hope

Q: Why does the number ‘666’ represent the Antichrist?

A: I think it is important first to say that it is not at all clear that the number 666 does in fact represent the Antichrist. The only book in the Bible in which that number appears is in Revelation. However, the title ‘Antichrist’ does not appear in that book. Now it has been argued that this person is referred to in Revelation. But the fact that he is not specifically named in the book makes the case for identifying him with the number 666 a more difficult one than if he had been directly identified in it.

Where, then, is the Antichrist specifically mentioned in the Bible? This name appears in the first two letters of St. John (1 Jn 2:18, 22, 4:3, 2 Jn 1:7), the same man who is the author of Revelation. Interestingly enough, however, St. John seems in these passages to be naming several ‘antichrists’ as much as using that term to identify a specific person, thus making identifying 666 with one individual that much more difficult than it was already.

At any rate, the number 666 appears in Rev 13:18 in the midst of that chapter where ‘the beast’ is described as rising up against God, speaking blasphemy, causing men to worship him, and waging war against ‘the holy ones’ (Rev 13:7), the Christian faithful: “...one who understands can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a person. His number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

Perhaps because of the difficulties surrounding the identification of the Antichrist described above, the Catholic Church has not definitively identified him as a specific person nor has offered a definitive interpretation of Rev 13:18.

Nevertheless, a common interpretation of this passage from Revelation works like this. In the age of the early church there had not yet been developed the system of Arabic numerals that we use today. Instead, various letters were assigned numeric value. Thus in Latin I was one, V was five, X was ten, and so on.

In both the Hebrew and Aramaic languages (common tongues of the earliest Christians) the numeric value of the name of Nero Caesar was 666. And from the history that we know of his reign over the Roman Empire, his actions fit those attributed to ‘the beast’ in Rev 13.

That chapter describes how people worshipped him. And, indeed, Nero was considered divine by many in the Empire even while he was still alive. In addition, he ‘waged war against the holy ones’, very likely being responsible for the crucifixion of St. Peter and the beheading of St. Paul.

While this interpretation might be correct, it is important to note again that it has not been declared to be so in any kind of definitive way by the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. One of the more important reasons that the Church has not made such a definitive interpretation of this passage from Revelation as well as from those passages in John’s letters that speak of the Antichrist is that, like all of Sacred Scripture, they have a variety of levels of meaning.

Yes, the Antichrist and the number 666 may refer to a specific individual (although the person identified as each may be different people). But St. John himself, the interpretation of whose writings still causes swirls of controversy now some 2000 years after he wrote them, seems to show that divine revelation given in Sacred Scripture has different levels of meaning.

In one verse alone he shows that the meaning of the title ‘Antichrist’ can have different levels of meaning, referring at one level to one person, at another level to many: “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared” (1 Jn 2:18).

Were the Church to identify the Antichrist with one person alone, it would ignore the other levels of meaning, all of which are very important.

So, in the end, is the beast in Rev 13 the Antichrist named in the first two of St. John’s letters? Perhaps he is, perhaps not. We do yet not know completely, even if we may have some knowledge of the meaning of these passages.

_____________________________

Catholic Reasons for Hope is a column that appears weekly in the bulletin of the parish where I serve as DRE. If any reader of Nota Bene would like to submit questions for the column, he or she is free to do so by e-mail.

2003-08-11T10:33:00.000-05:00

JACK is back

JACK, the author the Catholic blog Integrity, is back writing it after having left the blogosphere for a while. Take a look at his writing. If you're like me, you'll bookmark his blog.

2003-08-10T17:47:00.000-05:00

Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

1 Kgs 19:4-8
Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Eph 4:30—5:2
Jn 6:41-51

How many of you would prefer to be somewhere other than here at this moment? I would love to hear everyone say that they would prefer to be nowhere else but before the Lord right now. Yet would you not agree that is not always easy to muster up enough motivation to come to Mass? There are days when it seems as though both the Sunday obligation and the fear of slipping into a state of mortal sin serve as our prime motivators. Perhaps there are other days when we simply say to ourselves: “It’s time for Mass. It just is. I’ve been going to this Mass for years. This is when I go.”

I neither seek to chastise this parish nor isolate any specific disciple. The reason that I present these questions and examples is because we have a wonderful opportunity through the Gospel reading to transcend any spiritual or motivational rut that we may be in these days. Any believer – no matter his rank within either society or in the Church – can fall into a procedural rut. Jesus gives us strength today so that we may pull ourselves out of the rut.

We do not need to learn any complex motivational strategies because what can help all of us is a rather simple message. We have come here to Mass because God the Father has summoned us here. Of course, we come to Mass because that is what we learned to do through our parents’ and teachers’ instructions, but above that, God has drawn us here. God wants us to be here. God wants to share Himself with us – literally. God wants us to eat of Him by listening to the Living Word, His Son Jesus Christ, and by receiving Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Eucharist. God has given Himself to us as He has so that we may be united with Him and that we may seek to be united with Him forever.

We are here because no being other than God has called us to hear Him, to see Him, and to taste Him. This is the root and source of all of our motivation. Our lives should be motivated foremost by this. Our Church should be motivated foremost by this. God wants us to be with Him. It is that simple. God is immeasurable, but His plan for us is that simple.

Everyone can recall the joy that they felt when they received the Lord in the Eucharist for the first time. Even if we cannot remember the definitions that we learned in our catechism classes, we can recall the joy and anticipation that we felt. God wants us to have that same joy and anticipation each time that we come to receive Him. God wants us to give thanks and to help others as well to give thanks so that all people may be united with Him until the end of time.