Some Monday humor.

I've meant to post this for a while,  and after an unusually bad commute,  I need a laugh. 

Catholics and the New Media

Msgr. Pope from the Archdiocese of Washington, DC (always a worthy read) wrote this article the other day, commenting on the use of new media in Catholic living.  Let me just say that I was at least a little shocked at the evidence and conclusions.  But read for yourself!

-Quaestor

Morality in America, a Brief Comment

In any further proof of our emotivist society was required, look no further: the New York Times has taken note.  They have a small opinion article (by regular columnist David Brooks) discussing the findings of a sociologist from Notre Dame.  The sociologist in question, Christopher Smith, noted that sixty-six percent of respondents to a study asking about moral dilemmas couldn't even identify a moral dilemma.  The responents were young adults between eighteen and twenty-three, leaving one to wonder what has happened to the formation of children and young adults.  Even with morality explained, the consensus amongst the replies was that the right choice in a difficult situation would be what felt right.  With fallen human nature being what it is, it is scarcely surprising that we seek to use reason to justify our choices, but society today doesn't even use reason, and anything in the world can be justified by the words: "It felt right." I am sure that the reality of the situation is less bleak, but this study does provide a rather bleak insight into the methods of self-perpetuation in a culture of death.

-Quaestor

St. Paul and Salvation: With or Without Works

   For many years, I could not figure out the meaning of St. Paul's understanding of salvation coming through faith, not the works of the law. I knew that there was a still a relation between the two, but not how it made sense. Discussion of this in more advanced classes had been either obscurely presented or hazily recieved due to my lack of sleep. Then, last Sunday, I had a breakthrough. I realized I had been looking at St. Paul's assertion as somehow opposing Faith and works, much as either Protestant doctrine or Catholic apologetics tended to. As I scanned the readings prior to the Extraordinary Form Mass I was about to attend (13th Sunday after Pentecost) I noticed that St. Paul did not oppose Faith and the Law, but rather described a relationship. I needed to look at both together. The reading is as follows:

St. Paul  -Marco Zoppo

Brethren: To Abraham were the promises made and to his seed. He says not: And to his seeds as of many. But as of one: And to your seed, which is Christ. Now this I say: that the testament which was confirmed by God, the law which was made after four hundred and thirty years does not disannul, to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. Why then was the law? It was set because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom he made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.  Now a mediator is not of one: but God is one. Was the law then against the promises of God: God forbid! For if there had been a law given which could give life, verily justice should have been by the law. But the scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise, by the faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe. But before the faith came, we were kept under the law shut up, unto that faith which was to be revealed. Wherefore the law was our pedagogue in Christ: that we might be justified by faith. But after the faith has come, we are no longer under a pedagogue.

St. Paul means that the Old Testament or Covenant had two parts; one part was the “promise,” one the “pedagogue” leading the Jews toward the promise. St. Paul says that the “promise” was the same as the the “faith of Jesus Christ,” the New Covenant. I then saw that there were two ways to see the relationship of the Law and Faith. If Faith is the life according to the fullness of God’s promise, then perhaps, inasmuch as we failed to grasp or live this faith, we still remained subject to parts of the law, such as the Ten Commandments. The other way to see this, which is in some ways more interesting, is like an onion that gets bigger on the inside. As C.S. Lewis has Eustace, Jill, Tirian, and their friends discover at the end of The Last Battle, the further in you go, the bigger it gets. (“Further up and further in!”) Perhaps, then, the promise, the New Covenant was contained in the Old Covenant, but hidden, like a blossom hidden as a bud. Thus, parts of the law, of the “pedagogue,” are built into the New Covenant, the “faith of Jesus Christ.” It could be that there is a central essence to the Old Covenant that unfolds as the New, at the time designated by God, and the old shell of the law is gone, but not every aspect. Thus, St. Paul could say that we are justified by faith, since that is the whole of the New Covenant, involving certain works or vestiges (or the essence) of the law. Clearly, the law cannot bring us to the promise, but the promise still has a law.

   Although this may not interest everyone, I was excited to find this. Of course, had I paid attention in class, I may not have had to suffer in ignorance for so long.

-Quaestor

Russia: Is there hope?

As you may know, I have an ongoing interest in the fate of the great nation, Russia.  I think my interest derived from my interest in Cold War stories, and then developed through my increased interest in the Russian Orthodox Church.  Certainly, with the words of Our lady at Fatima, I think Catholics should be concerned about Russia's future.  The folks over at PRI have a new, insightful video, which details some information about the current state of affairs in Russia, focusing on demographic concerns.  Watch and consider.

-Quaestor

More to come...

I said brief, not infinitesimal....

For the world that follows, I will be posting again soon...

-Amator

Medjugorie Considerations

Catholic Light has an excellent post on the theological and disciplinary matters involved in the questions about the reported visions at Medjugorie.  The article is a translation of a question and answer session with German theologian, Manfred Hauke.  I recommend the perusal of the interview, for it casts much light on the controversies, without belittling the concerns on both sides. 

-Amator

Another installment of Population 101

From the guys at PRI.  Excellent work!

-Amator

Biased Science Still Illuminates Truth

I just stumbled across an article in the e! Science News which discusses the origins of religion.  It is full of the standard materialist assumptions upon which their entire position is built.  The news program finds articles on scientific subjects, and runs them through a complex computer matrix that ranks the articles based on several variables built into the algorithms used.  The particular article summarizes and quotes the work of two scientists, Ilkka Pyyysiäinen^1, and Marc Hause².  (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies and Departments of Psychology and Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, respectively).  One quote from the aforementioned article runs thus:  There is no doubt that spiritual experiences and religion, which are ubiquitous across cultures and time  and associated exclusively with humans, are ultimately based in the brain.  That this is the principle upon which the subsequent conclusions are predicated is scarcely surprising.  What the conclusions are, however, is a bit more complex.  According to the article two prominent theories about the origins of religion are current in the scientific world.  One theory declares that religion evolved as a social mechanism to enable interaction between non-related groups. The second theory holds that religion derives from "pre-existing cognitive capacities."  While sounding somewhat like Kant's moral theory, the second theory has some interest to a Catholic thinker, though it says little about the why of the actual derivation.  The first theory reduces religion, like any other aspect of society, to a means of survival, and makes no further effort to explain the phenomena.  To the evolutionist, religion is just another set of complex behaviors that has no real meaning.  

   According to the summary, the study then discusses the relationship of religion and morality.  Hause and Pyyysiäinen studied the reactions to moral dilemmas of people from multiple religions.  The results were somewhat surprising to the scientists, as the various people all responded to the moral dilemmas in strikingly similar fashion.  The scientists then concluded that moral choices were independent of religious affiliation.  They concluded that this was evidence for the second theory about the formation of religion, namely that it arose through pre-existing capacities in the mind.  I, however see this as evidence for a different hypothesis.

   From the language of the summary, it is clear that the assumption in prevalent moral/religious studies had been that religion and morality were closely tied together, and that this assumption had also included the notion that religion was somehow part of or an extension of morality.  A further assumption, obvious from the language used, was that religion and morality somehow revolved around interaction of the human species.  The study now concludes that the two (religion and morality) are separate.  Thus, morality serves the purpose of evolution, but religion is more complex, and arises from some formation of the brain.

   The assumption that religion and morality are intertwined should not be abandoned, but qualified.  It is clear, from the experiment, that there is a common moral experience in humans.  Let us call this "the natural law."  Since religion (as the study admits) is such a universal phenomena, it also seems common to humans, across the board.  Let us then say, that religion of some sort (natural religion) is part of the moral or natural law, but speaks to something outside of it, and is not primarily responsible for the moral law per se.  Here you have something very close to Catholic moral theory, that each human has the natural law imprinted on his heart, including an impulse or need to seek a relationship with God (natural religion).  Differences occur when humans ignore the natural law, or when the virtue of religion in the natural law becomes particularized in a specific set of beliefs, which may influence the content or understanding both of the morality and the religiosity of that individual.  To me, the evidence and conclusions indicated in the study undertaken by Hause and Pyyysiäinen uncover the truth about human nature, one which their scientific community ignores or covers over.  However, "the truth will out," and what we as humans cannot be hidden by materialistic theories and explanations of various phenomena.  We know the truth about human nature, and half-blind studies of it still point to what we know.

-Amator

The Glories of Polyphony

Jeffrey Tucker has a great piece over at New Liturgical Movement, where he discusses what separates polyphony from all other liturgical music. I know that for me, when I first heard well done polyphony, I felt as if I was in heaven.  It certainly was an amazing experience.  At mass, I had heard various harmonized music, and some chant, which I thought beautiful, but nothing could prepare me for hearing polyphony as a part of the liturgy.  The piece was William Byrd's "Ave verum corpus" and I heard it after communion at mass early in my freshman year in college.  From then on, it was merely a matter of time until I succumbed and joined the choir.  The rest is history, as I regularly perform sacred polyphony for Sunday liturgy, as well as for the occasional wedding.  It truly has changed the way I worship at mass, and deepened my involvement in the liturgical life of the Church.

-Amator

Roman Fireworks

Roman Fireworks are quite impressive, it would seem.  These are from the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, and were held to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Health Ministry. (From Rome Reports)

-Amator

Speaking with Conviction

A typography for the Taylor Mali poem "Speaking with Conviction."

HT:  WDTPRS from  CMR, from points west.

-Amator




Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.