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Journeying from home to be on "The Journey Home"

I leave early tomorrow morning for Alabama, home of something called the Crimson Tide and of EWTN. I'll get to visit a bit with our good friends Tony and Amanda Clark, who live in Tuscaloosa, and then on Monday evening (March 3rd) I'll guest on EWTN's "The Journey Home" with Marcus Grodi. The show is live and airs at 8:00 p.m. EST/5:00 Pacific. I have been on the show before, back in June 2002 (listen to it as an .ra file). I'm not sure yet what the exact focus will be this time, but certainly some aspect of my Fundamentalist upbringing, and my journey through Evangelicalism to the Catholic Church. I hope to blog a bit while I'm on the road, but things might be a bit quiet here for a couple of days.

"Always More Than Is Seen": Benedict XVI on the Meaning of Man

"Always More Than Is Seen": Benedict XVI on the Meaning of Man | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. | March 1, 2008 | Ignatius Insight   

"May each one ... always feel impelled to love and serve life from its beginning to its natural end. In fact, welcoming human life as a gift to be respected, protected and promoted is a commitment of everyone, all the more so when it is weak and needs care and attention, both before birth and in its terminal phase." — Benedict XVI, Angelus, February 3, 2008.

"Failing to ask questions about man's being would lead inevitably to refusing to seek the objective truth about being as a whole, and hence, to no longer be able to recognize the basis on which human dignity, the dignity of every person, rests from the embryonic stage to natural death." — Benedict XVI, "The Changing Identity of the Individual", To Members of the Inter-academic Conference (Institut de France), January 29, 2008.

I.

Clear minds can state briefly and accurately the essence of an issue. Aquinas, of course, is a model here, as was Aristotle. Chesterton could always do it even with humor. A faithful reader of L'Osservatore Romano never knows just where, in the weekly selection of papal remarks and documents, he will be most struck by something Benedict says or writes. But it is almost always the case that he will unexpectedly find something quite profound in some unlikely sounding audience or talk.

In the beginning, I have cited two remarks of the pope. They were given within a couple of days of each other, one at a regular Sunday Angelus, the second a short talk in the Hall of Popes to an academic group that has something to do with the Institut de France, just what it does not say. The total length of the latter talk, about which I want to speak here, is probably about a half page of the papal newspaper. (My present essay on this talk is longer!) Its title, "The Changing Identity of the Individual," at first   sight, strikes us as improbable. No individual changes into some other individual, though he may, hopefully, change into more of himself, more what he ought to be. So we are curious about just what Benedict had in mind here.

Read the entire essay...

What passes for "analysis" at the L.A. Times

I've read this February 29th Los Angeles Times editorial written by Michael McGough, the Times' senior editorial writer, three times now and am still uncertain why, exactly, he wrote it. But, hey, at least it provides me with an opportunity for some mild sarcasm and mention of a couple of books that did have a reason for being written:

A colleague and fellow cradle Catholic once told me about a revealing conversation with her parish priest. When she had described an acquaintance as an "ex-Catholic," the priest objected. There were no ex-Catholics, he said, only bad Catholics.

I wonder what he would have made of this factoid from the Pew Forum's new "religious landscape survey" of the United States: Overall, 31.4% of U.S. adults say that they were raised Catholic, but only 23.9% of adults identify with the Catholic Church.

I think the priest would say, without any hesitation whatsoever: "There are a lot of bad Catholics out there." And, frankly, if it takes a Pew poll to help someone figure that out, they need to either stop reading the L.A. Times or stop writing for it.

Here's what I make of it as a Catholic whose life spans the pre- and post-Vatican II church: As the church in the United States became less Roman and more catholic (with a small c), it became easier for Catholics to leave the faith of their fathers and embrace the faith of their spouses, co-workers or golf buddies.

It must have also made it easier for them to leave the logical thinking and writing of their fathers and embrace the vague ramblings of their "catholic" golf buddies. But, to be fair, McGough is onto something. So let's try to put it into plain English: As Catholics became less Catholic—that is, less observant of Catholic doctrine and practice—they became more like their non-Catholic neighbors. Brilliant.

There is much talk, especially among politically conservative Catholics, about liberal "anti-Catholicism." But generations of American Catholics were inculcated with what can only be called anti-Protestantism.

Which, if you think about it, makes perfect sense: when a group of people is generally disliked, even attacked, by the predominant culture, they tend to be less than affectionate regarding that culture. This is not to defend Protestant bashing, or to make light of how nasty things sometimes were between Catholics and non-Catholics prior to Vatican II, but McGough's insinuation that "pre-Vatican II" Catholicism in America was essentially about being anti-Protestant strikes me as both simplistic and self-serving. (Here would have been a good place for McGough to ponder why it was that some Catholics were so desperate to be liked and accepted by the predominate Protestant culture. And to ask, "How has that worked out so far? Any problems to speak of?" Just a thought.)

Even worse, McGough labels as "rad trads" those "radical traditionalist Catholics who cheer Pope Benedict XVI when he says Mass facing the altar instead of the congregation and unmothballs the jeweled miters of his pre-Vatican II predecessors." Does this mean, for example, that Ignatius Press is "rad trad" because it publishes books such as Turning Towards the Lord, as well as Ratzinger's The Spirit of the Liturgy? Perhaps McGough is unaware that most radical traditionalists have little or no affection for Joseph Ratzinger, not to mention Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Yves Congar, and other Ressourcement theologians whose books are published by Ignatius Press (as well as by others). Equally cognitively-confused is his brief take on Vatican II, which concludes with the remark, "Why be a Catholic if you're no longer sure that it's the 'one true church'?" Has McGough read Lumen Gentium, chapter 8? Or has he been too busy playing golf with his buddies?

After having chastised "pre-Vatican II" Catholics for being anti-Protestant, McGough laments that many "conservative Catholics" get along so well with Evangelicals when it comes to "hot button" issues such as abortion and homosexuality. Finally, after quoting Richard McBrien/Thomas Groome—"Catholicism [is] a rich, multifaceted reality that cannot be contained by any single doctrine or institutional element"—he concludes:

And yet, according to Pew's statistics, many cradle Catholics are rejecting that reality. Whether you blame guitar-strumming liberal priests or antiabortion Catholics who cozy up to Southern Baptists, Catholicism isn't as exclusive or as aloof as it used to be. It may, however, be more Christian.

Huh? Which means...what? Granted, McGough is onto something with his discussion of Catholic culture and Catholic identity. It's unfortunate that in trying to make sense of it he keeps hitting his tee shots into the woods and his recovery shots into the sand traps. Otherwise, par for the course for the L.A. Times.

Purgatory and cats

Those are the two main topics discussed by  Joan Lewis, who hosts the "Vatican Insider" radio program and operates the blog, "Joan's Rome," in this November 17, 2007, episode (.rm file. Or, download it here.) of "Vatican Insider." Although purgatory is of great and eternal interest, I mention the radio program because of the interview with Jeanne Perego, author of Joseph and Chico: A Cat Tells the Life of Pope Benedict XVI (now available from Ignatius Press for your reading pleasure). The interview with Perego begins at the 11:30 mark of the program.

Tonight: Cardinal Schönborn on EWTN's "The World Over"

Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, author of Chance or Purpose? and numerous other books, will be interviewed tonight on EWTN's "The World Over" by host Raymond Arroyo. The show airs at 8:00 EST/5:00 Pacific, and can heard/viewed online. The show will also be re-aired on Saturday, Sunday and Monday; check the show's page for details.

Baptism in the "name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier"...

... isn't really baptism, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has made explicitly clear in a response to the question: "Is a Baptism valid if conferred with the words 'I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier', or 'I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer'"? From the Vatican News Service:

  "Baptism conferred in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit", the note continues, "obeys Jesus' command as it appears at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew. ... The baptismal formula must be an adequate expression of Trinitarian faith, approximate formulae are unacceptable.

  "Variations to the baptismal formula - using non-biblical designations of the Divine Persons - as considered in this reply, arise from so-called feminist theology", being an attempt "to avoid using the words Father and Son which are held to be chauvinistic, substituting them with other names. Such variants, however, undermine faith in the Trinity".

  "The response of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith constitutes an authentic doctrinal declaration, which has wide-ranging canonical and pastoral effects. Indeed, the reply implicitly affirms that people who have been baptised, or who will in the future be baptised, with the formulae in question have, in reality, not been baptised. Hence, they must them be treated for all canonical and pastoral purposes with the same juridical criteria as people whom the Code of Canon Law places in the general category of 'non- baptised'".

Dr. Ed Peters has blogged about this issue before (in 2004), and has a post on it today. Read it here.

The American Papist provides further background and commentary.

And here is an excellent resource for teaching/learning about the sacrament of baptism:

Living Water | Understanding the Gift of New Life through Baptism

Not many of us consider our baptismal "birthday" as the most significant day in our lives. Yet what could be more important than receiving the sacrament that Jesus said was necessary for our salvation?

Many of us have been baptized without ever coming to understand its reality and meaning, and we, in turn, baptize our children with our eyes still veiled to the eternal significance of this important sacrament.

The Living Water Leader's Guide/Participant's Workbook cover and teach:

• the origin, purpose, and significance of the sacrament of Baptism
• how this holy sacrament was instituted by Jesus as the means through which we are incorporated into his family, the Church
• about the permanent effect that Baptism has upon our souls, and how it heals us of sin and empowers us to live a Christian life, and
• review the Rite of Baptism itself, and consider the deeper meaning of the words, symbols, and gestures.

• Living Water Leader's Guide
• Living Water Participant's Workbook

Learn more about the Catholic Faith Explorers series, which is published by Ignatius Press in cooperation with Ave Maria University.

The Attraction of Orthodoxy | Joseph Pearce

The Attraction of Orthodoxy | Joseph Pearce | From Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration In An Age of Unbelief | IgnatiusInsight.com            

In 1908 Chesterton produced one of his most influential books. Orthodoxy, published on 25 September, was written in response to a reviewer of his earlier book, Heretics, who had complained that Chesterton had condemned the theology and philosophy of others without clearly stating his own. 'With all the solemnity of youth,' Chesterton wrote, 'I accepted this as a challenge; and wrote an outline of my own reasons for believing that the Christian theory, as summarised in the Apostles' Creed, would be found to be a better criticism of life than any of those that I had criticised. [1]

Orthodoxy was Chesterton's first explicitly Christian title and his biographer Maisie Ward considered it so important that 'more must be said of it than his other published works'. [2] Her father, Wilfrid Ward, whose talk at Oxford had done so much to stimulate Christopher Dawson's interest in Newman, proclaimed it as a major milestone in the development of Christian thought.

Continue reading...

The soul of Senator Barack Obama

Get a glimpse of it by reading the transcript of his July 17, 2007, speech before Planned Barrenhood Action Fund (ht: LifeSiteNews.com).

UPDATE (Feb. 29th): Christopher Blosser provides some helpful commentary, on the "Catholics In the Public Square" blog, about Sen. Obama's speech.

The full text of Benedict XVI's recent address to the Society of Jesus...

... is now available on the Vatican website.

Smack! Sister Mary Ann firmly raps some knuckles

The knuckles of one Joe Feuerherd, to be exact. Responding to his February 24th rant in The Washington Post (see my previous post), Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the USCCB, firmly lets loose on Feueherd's "screed." Read her response on The Washington Post site (ht: Catholics in the Public Square).