Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 153

Pope Francis, Romans 8, and the theme of theosis

by Carl E. Olson | Catholic World Report blog

Pope Francis made some waves today when he spoke to the plenary assembly of the International Union of
Superiors General (UISG) about "men and women of the Church who are careerists and
social climbers, who 'use' people, the Church, their brothers and
sisters—whom they should be serving—as a springboard for their
own personal interests and ambitions." It was another example of how the Holy Father—pick a cliché—pulls no punches and wastes no words.

We'll have more about that particular address and related matters soon, but I want to reflect a moment on Francis's general audience today, which focused on the work of the Holy Spirit, the gift of divine life, and the mystery of divine sonship. These are topics and themes that he has touched on several times already in the first weeks of his pontificate. A month ago, in his April 10th general audience, Francis asked, "What does the Resurrection mean for our life?" His answer, in part, is that the Resurrection (as the Apostle Paul explained) is not just freedom from, but freedom for: "we are set free from the slavery of sin and become children of God; that is, we are born to new life." This freedom is received in and through the sacrament of Baptism. Having received the sacrament,

the baptized person emerged from the basin and put on a new robe, the white one; in other words, by immersing himself in the death and Resurrection of Christ he was born to new life. He had become a son of God. In his Letter to the Romans St Paul wrote: “you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry ‘Abba! Father! it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:15-16).

It is the Spirit himself whom we received in Baptism who teaches us, who spurs us to say to God: “Father” or, rather, “Abba!”, which means “papa” or [“dad”]. Our God is like this: he is a dad to us. The Holy Spirit creates within us this new condition as children of God. And this is the greatest gift we have received from the Paschal Mystery of Jesus. Moreover God treats us as children, he understands us, he forgives us, he embraces us, he loves us even when we err. In the Old Testament, the Prophet Isaiah was already affirming that even if a mother could forget her child, God never forgets us at any moment (cf. 49:15). And this is beautiful!

This gift of supernatural filiation goes by many names, including divinization, deification, and theosis, as it is widely known in the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches. It is a teaching that has long interested me. It was a key reason for becoming Catholic many years ago, and it is the focus of a book I am co-editing with Fr. David Meconi, SJ, editor of Homiletic & Pastoral Review and assistant professor of theological studies at Saint Louis University, whose doctoral dissertation was on St. Augustine’s use of deification. The book has fifteen chapters by fourteen contributors (as well as a Foreword by Dr. Scott Hahn) and it covers two thousand years of Catholic teaching on the topic of theosis, beginning with Scripture and concluding with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and recent papal documents. This week, I am finishing up the final section of the opening chapter, co-authored with Fr. Meconi, on theosis in Sacred Scripture.

And so today's audience by Francis caught my attention, as he returns to the same themes as he highlighted a month ago. For example:

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

The Glorious Chant of "Angels and Saints at Ephesus"

The Glorious Chant of "Angels and Saints at
Ephesus" | Christopher S. Morrissey | Catholic World Report

A beautiful new album from the Benedictines of Mary,
Queen of Apostles, helps us make room in our lives for truth.

Everybody likes singing Sisters. I remember as a child
hearing the music that my mother liked to play. They were vinyl records and
sometimes my memory can still recreate the voices of those women religious.

Today the delivery method has changed. Direct
digital downloads are now possible. Recently, some liturgical chants have
been finding their way out from the Priory of Our Lady of Ephesus and into the
world by way of the digital path.

The Sisters there live a life of union with God in prayer according
to the Rule of St. Benedict. They have a love for the traditional liturgy and
devote themselves in a special way to prayerfully interceding for the sacred
priesthood and to making vestments and altar linens. Founded in 1995, this
young, monastic order of Sisters sings together eight times a day, chanting the
Divine Office in Latin.

Their previous album with De Montfort Music and Decca
Records, Advent at Ephesus, was a big
hit last year. This week, their new album, Angels
and Saints at Ephesus, is released. It contains a nice selection of
hymns and chants from various liturgical occasions.

Nine-time International Grammy-winning producer Christopher
Alder (from Germany) and two-time Grammy-winning engineer Mark Donahue worked
together to capture the sound of the Sisters in their contemplative
environment. Because the music comes forth from the genuine liturgical life
lived by the Sisters, it has an authenticity and purity that gives it a special
charm.

I think that if we make a deliberate effort to integrate
this sort of music into our own daily practices, we can, when we listen to it,
create a space in our lives that helps us replace ugliness with beauty. We can
thereby dwell in a place where we become better able to contemplate truth and
to grow in our understanding of truth.

The reason I emphasize this link between beauty and truth is
because Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, when he was still a cardinal, made a very
important speech on this theme. It was called, “Wounded By the Arrow of Beauty,”
and it is still available in a book from Ignatius
Press.

“The encounter with beauty can become the wound of the arrow
that strikes the soul and thus makes it see clearly, so that henceforth it has
criteria, based on what it has experienced, and can now weigh the arguments
correctly,” said then-Cardinal Ratzinger.

Beauty thus serves a great purpose. It educates our
perceptions in order that we may proceed to grasp truth better. As Ratzinger
explained it, beauty “brings us into contact with the power of truth.” The danger, however, is that an album such as Angels
and Saints at Ephesus becomes just another commodity in the
marketplace. And if we are honest, we will observe that such has often been the
case with previous instances of hit records of sacred music. (Anyone remember
the Gregorian chant craze from a while back?)

The problem is that people sample an exotic new thing only
for a while. They enter into its spirit only in a superficial way. They soon
move on to something else that becomes a newer source of distraction or
excitement in their lives.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Mother Dolores Hart on discerning her vocation, leaving Hollywood, learning Latin, loving chant

The Ear of the Heart: An Actress' Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows is now available from Ignatius Press:

Dolores Hart stunned Hollywood in 1963, when after ten highly successful
feature films, she chose to enter a contemplative monastery. Now, fifty
years later, Mother Dolores gives this fascinating account of her life,
with co-author and life-long friend, Richard DeNeut.

Dolores was a bright and beautiful college student when she made her film debut with Elvis Presley in Paramount's 1957 Loving You.
She acted in nine more movies with other big stars such as Montgomery
Clift, Anthony Quinn and Myrna Loy. She also gave a Tony-nominated
performance in the Broadway play The Pleasure of His Company and appeared in television shows, including The Virginian and Playhouse 90. An important chapter in her life occurred while playing Saint Clare in the movie Francis of Assisi, which was filmed on location in Italy.

Born Dolores Hicks to a complicated and colorful Chicago family, Mother
Dolores has travelled a charmed yet challenging road in her journey
toward God, serenity and, yes, love. She entered the Abbey of Regina
Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, at the peak of her career, not in
order to leave the glamorous world of acting she had dreamed of since
childhood, but in order to answer a mysterious call she heard with the
"ear of the heart". While contracted for another film and engaged to be
married, she abandoned everything to become a bride of Christ.

THE AUTHORS

Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B., is prioress of the Abbey
of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. A former actress, she
remains a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts &
Sciences.

Richard DeNeut was the West Coast bureau chief for the
photo agency and syndicate Globe Photos, which covered Hollywood for
national and international publications. He has written for television
and co-authored actress Patricia Neal's autobiography, As I Am. He compiled and edited Inside Hollywood: 60 Years of Globe Photos.

Learn more about The Ear of the Heart at: www.earoftheheart.com  

Mother Dolores Hart has been giving interviews about her autobiography. Here are some links to and excerpts from those interviews:

• "Hollywood actress-turned-nun details vocation in new book" (Catholic News Agency, May 7, 2013):

“I have used the analogy of falling from a 20 story building because
that’s what I felt like the first night after I entered,” Mother Hart
told CNA May 6.



When she was approached by her life-long friend Richard DeNeut some 10
years ago about the possibility of writing a memoir, she feared that she
would have neither the time nor the memory to write all “the wonderful
things that happened” into a book.



However, DeNeut insisted saying that her memoir would be “very good” and “very important” for others to read.



The friends began speaking for about an hour each day over the phone and
Skype to get her story on paper and eventually they had enough material
for a book.



However, they ran into difficulty when many publishers wanted to start
the book with her role in “Loving You,” the 1957 film where she gave
Elvis Presley his first on-screen kiss – which would have left out
details of her turbulent upbringing and childhood conversion to
Catholicism.



Eventually the pair turned to Ignatius Press, the California-based
Catholic publisher because they “promised they would stay honest” to her
story, Mother Hart said.



“We didn’t do it because they were a Catholic publisher,” she said, “mainly because they made that promise.”

Continue reading on the CNA site.

• "Mother Dolores Hart: From Movie Star to Heavenly Star" (National Catholic Register, May 6, 2013):

What did you find as your biggest challenge in the abbey?

The biggest challenge for me was learning Latin. I still don’t know it,
and I still have to go back and read it and say, "This is what it
means." I can’t pick up a Psalm and read through it like some of the
novices can. I just never, never could get over the hump. I failed Latin
in school, too! [She chuckles.] ...

What’s important for our readers to know that you’re rarely asked about?

The one thing is the Gregorian chant, and what a gift it is to be able
to sing and to pray at the same time. I think that I would hate to see
people lose that part of the Tradition of the Church, because the chant
goes back over a thousand years.

People come to the chapel, to this church, sometimes to just hear the
chant sung [the nuns chant the Mass and full Divine Office eight times
every day in Latin, as prescribed by St. Benedict].

I think that’s a very beautiful and wonderful gift for someone: to be
able to sing their prayer. It changes something inside of you in a way I
can’t describe. But I think it’s deeply prayerful. … And you have to
believe in what you sing.

Continue reading on the Register's site.

• "From Elvis to Jesus: Mother Dolores Hart talks about her extraordinary journey from a blossoming career in Hollywood to something quite different" (BeliefNet.com):

JWK: You didn’t grow up Catholic, did you?

MOTHER DOLORES: Well, actually, I had been sent to
Catholic school by my grandparents because they didn’t want me to cross
the streetcar tracks. So, they sent me to the local Catholic school…We
had the custom in those days where you had to fast from midnight and I
was so jealous of the kids that got the sweet rolls and chocolate milk. I
had to eat at home a breakfast beforehand. So, one day I said to the
teacher “I really would love to take the bread with the children.” And
she said “Really?!”, thinking what I meant was that I wanted the
Eucharist. So, she told the priest “I think the little girl would like
to be a Catholic.”  (Then) she said “Well, if you want the bread with
the children, you have to take the course and until you understand the
faith.” So, I went home and said to Granny “If I take the Catholic
course I can have the sweet rolls!” ... 

JWK: What do you say to people who view Hollywood as anti-religion? Do you subscribe to that view?

MOTHER DOLORES: I
think it’s the government or whoever (that wants) God not be mentioned
in schools. I think Hollywood reflects what’s going on in the people and
I think this is a very dark period in our country and in faith. And I’m
not saying faith to be a Catholic but faith in God…When you teach
children in school not to refer to God, the next thing you know an evil
spirit’s going to come in those schools and say “I can take over better
than God now.” And that’s what’s happened. ...

JWK: What would you like people to take from your story?

MOTHER DOLORES: I
would hope people would in reading this one story of one life, and a
life that went through all the different possibilities in life, that
they would see that out of loving one another you can find faith in God
because the Lord said this is the way that you know him — is to love one
another. So, you’re not gonna have a vision of God coming down. I don’t
believe that’s the way it works. I think the way it works is that when
you see someone else, you get to know them and you love them and serve
their life, that to me is what brings you to the reality of Jesus
Christ.

Read the entire interview on the BeliefNet.com site.

• Sister Hart was recently on the “The Drew Mariani Show” on Relevant Radio; her interview begins at about the 30 minute mark of the archived program (mp3 file). 

• The video trailer for the book:

A Schall Report on Things Current and Otherwise

A Schall Report on Things Current and Otherwise | Fr. James V. Schall, SJ | Catholic World Report


Thoughts on moving across the country, teaching, universities, and popes.

Basically, I
packed up my worldly goods at the Jesuit Community in Georgetown, gave many
things away, and shipped other books here to Los Gatos. I flew via San Jose
here on the first day of spring. It is a beautiful place. About seventy retired
or infirm Jesuits live here, many old friends and classmates whom I have but
rarely seen over the years.

What have I been
doing? Once I was set up with the normal household things, the staff and my
nephews set me up with a computer. I can still use my Georgetown e-mail. So the
world is suddenly as close or as far away as it was in Washington.

So
far, I checked the galleys of two books which are hopefully to be out in the
fall. One is entitled, Rational Pleasures,
to be published by Ignatius Press. I wrote this book while recovering from my
jaw cancer operation during the Spring Semester 2010 when I was not teaching.
The second is called, Political Philosophy and Revelation: A Catholic
Reading, to be published in the fall by the
Catholic University of America Press. In many ways, this book is the summation
of my thinking about the nature, extent, and purpose of political philosophy,
where it fits into the “order of things”.

Also, I put
together for Jameson Books a manuscript entitled Schall at Georgetown: On
Being Liberally Educated. This collection
contains essays that I wrote in The Hoya, Utraque Unum, and other Georgetown journals over the years. It
includes the “Last
Lecture,” that was delivered last December 7 in Gaston Hall. The book is a
reflective summation of what I was doing, or at least thought I was doing,
during my many years at Georgetown. It reflects the memorable influence that
students, colleagues, and friends have had on my thinking about what makes
sense in the world.

Someone asked if I
would return for Georgetown graduation in May. My answer was: “Alas, I shan’t
be able to return for graduation. Missing it will break my heart, but not half
as much as being there.”

Having left a
place for a time, what does one miss?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

The Innocence of Common Sense and the Deconstruction of Marriage

The Innocence of Common Sense and the Deconstruction of Marriage | John S. Hamlon | Catholic World Report

The world needs to hear the deep, life-giving, theological resonance of God’s plan for marriage and family


Recently,
Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. bishops'
Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, gave an address at the
March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. He focused on the common sense argument
that all children deserve mothers and fathers. First, though, he effused peace and well-being: “We love you
(the opposition)… and want you to be happy… we don’t hate you… we want to be your
friends… try to understand our position, as we will try to do the same for
you.” Those disarming, unfeigned words
reminded me of Herman Melville’s classic tale of innocence, Billy Budd.
Melville describes British-frigate sailor Budd as “Adam presumably might
have been ere the urbane Serpent wriggled himself in his company.” In other
words, Adam before the fall.


Billy
Budd sees everything through a perfectly smooth lens, neither convex nor
concave. For him, reality has no
laminated layers, therefore, no distortions. He wishes everyone well. He cannot recognize evil, even at nose-length. To his shipmates, he is, at once,
astonishing and endearing. Such uprightness
and transparency, as we know, attracts subterfuge and darkness. Therein lies the story.


Archbishop Cordileone has a depth and charism that the character Budd does not
have. And the archbishop understands,
far better than most, the Catholic vision of marriage and family. In his talk, I craned to hear something
of that depth, something beyond the natural premises (as important as they are)
that connect marriage to children, and children to marriage. I wanted to hear a couple of
lines designed for those who believe in God, lines that had a memorable ring
and some theological content. For
instance: “Man becomes an image
of God not so much in the moment of solitude as in the moment of communion
[marriage]” (TOB, 9.3). But the talk was woven, beginning to
end, with a natural warp and woof.


Marriage
has an inner truth with two
parts: first, in terms of self-gift, marriage reflects the internal life of the
Trinity; second, married love is procreative precisely because it images creative love.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

New HPR articles on "same-sex marriage", gossip, and virtues

The following three articles were recently posted on the Homiletic & Pastoral Review website:


• "Same-Sex Marriage and the Natural Law" by Rev. Robert A. O' Donnell, C.S.P.


(Editor’s note: Rev. Robert A. O’Donnell, C.S.P., died in
December 2012. This may have been one of  his last writing efforts. HPR
wishes to honor his memory in publishing this article, thanking him for
his many years of service to the Church. Please remember him in your
prayers. May he rest in peace.)

Unless you can profess with the author of this article the following
creed, which was composed by the Fathers of the Council of Nicea in 325
A.D., and which is professed by Catholics around the globe every Sunday
at Mass, please do not read further into this article; it will make no
sense to you at all... Continue reading...

• "Getting a Grip on Gossip" by Dr. Joseph R. Hollcraft

Maybe we can all remember our first encounter with gossip, maybe not,
but we can all certainly recall a time when we have been directly
affected by the words of others. Moreover, just as we can recall a time
that we have been hurt by the harsh words of others, so should we be
able to identify a time that our own uncharitable remarks have been the
cause of great pain. Either way, everyone has been on both sides of the
gossip mill.

Furthermore, the gossip mill of sin has its way of penetrating every
setting. Whether it is our home and immediate relationships with spouse,
sibling, etc.; our work setting and piers at work; or, even our local
Church (the last place you expect to see it is where at times it becomes
most aggressive); one thing is for sure, as long as we are vested with
the flesh and belong to the human race with a fallen nature, we have to
be on guard against the snares of the adversary and his plotting to
break down the beauty of relationships. There is no one walk of life, or
demographic, that is immune from the injustices of speech. Continue reading...

• "Four Rocks in a Garden" by Thomas W. Jodziewicz


Outside of the window is a small garden. There is no need to feel guilty about not being able to name each of the flowers. My own Little Flower can do that as well as almost all of the labor the cultivation requires. I can simply enjoy the small spectacle and acknowledge that Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins’ testimony to “the grandeur of God” does not require a grand canvas.



In the garden are four small rocks, each inscribed with a capitalized word: BELIEVE, HOPE, TRUST, WAIT. The alphabetical order is easy enough to arrange. If the small garden—with its beauty, but also its predatory insects and ever-present weeds (despite all good intentions)—can imaginatively serve to suggest the divine “grandeur”; how might one order the realities represented by the four rocks? Continue reading...

Benedict and Francis: A Lesson in Apostolic Continuity

Benedict and
Francis: A Lesson in Apostolic Continuity | William L.
Patenaude | Catholic World Report

The differences between the two men give witness to the different gifts of the same Holy Spirit

When Pope Francis visited his predecessor at Castle
Gandolfo in March, he said to Benedict XVI that “we are brothers.” This image
nicely frames the differences between them. It underscores that the
election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was not a rupture in the Church (as some
suggest) but an unexpected lesson in apostolic continuity.

Specifically,
both men have illuminated from different perspectives the relation between the
primacy of God’s offering of grace in the liturgy of the altar and subsequent
encounters of man and neighbor in the liturgies of love in everyday life. While
Pope Benedict most often stressed the encounter of God with man—which then
calls for and makes possible authentic encounters with neighbor—Pope Francis has
stressed man’s interactions with each other, which allows us to bring Christ to
a world despairing in atheistic politics and individual spiritualities.

These and other
forms of despair are well known to both men. Joseph Ratzinger witnessed it in
the rise and fall of Nazi Germany and the brutality of Communist and other
explicitly secular regimes. Jorge Bergoglio witnessed it in the poverty and
politics of Argentina. He has also echoed Benedict XVI’s concern over a
“dictatorship of relativism.”

Providentially,
both men share particular theological remedies for all this. In his
autobiography Milestones, Ratzinger calls attention to the writings of
theologians like Henri de Lubac—the twentieth century Jesuit that is also appreciated
by Pope Francis. Ratzinger recalls his delight in de Lubac’s expression of Catholicism
as a “social faith, conceived and lived as a we—a faith that, precisely as such and according to its
nature, was also hope, affecting history as a whole, and not only the promise
of a private blissfulness to individuals.”

Today, Pope Francis is
demonstrating the power of these words. He has offered stunning visuals that
have captivated international audiences. And he exhorts the faithful to love likewise.
In his March 27th General Audience, he said that “[f]ollowing and
accompanying Christ, staying with him, demands ‘coming out of ourselves’,
requires us to be outgoing; to come out of ourselves, out of a dreary way of
living faith that has become a habit, out of the temptation to withdraw into
our own plans which end by shutting out God’s creative action.”

Some who cheer
these words groaned eight years ago when the College of Cardinals elected
Joseph Ratzinger to succeed Pope John Paul II.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

The Holy Spirit: Gift, Counselor, Advocate, Helper

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for May 5, 2013, the Sixth Sunday of Easter | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Acts 15:2-2, 22-29
• Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
• Rev 21:10-14, 22-23
• Jn 14:23:-29

“A gift is freely given,” wrote St. Thomas Aquinas, “and
expects no return. Its reason is love. What is first given is love; that is the
first gift. The Holy Spirit comes forth as the substance of love, and Gift is his proper name.”

The Holy Spirit is the gift given by the Father, Jesus told
the disciples in the Upper Room. This gift given in Jesus’ name is called Parákletos, which is translated in various ways: Counselor,
Advocate, Helper. It means, literally, “one called alongside of” to aid,
exhort, and encourage. He is, remarked the Jesuit priest and poet, Gerard
Manley Hopkins, one “who stirs up, urges forward, who calls on … what a trumpet
is to a soldier, that a Paraclete is to the soul…”

The name appears five times in the New Testament: once in 1
John, where it refers to Jesus as the advocate before the Father on the behalf
of sinners (1 Jn. 2:1), and four times in the Gospel of John, referring to the
Holy Spirit. Those four references are in the Last Supper discourse (Jn.
13-16), during which Jesus prepared his closest companions—the future leaders
of his Church—for his death, his Resurrection, and the sending of the Gift.
That sending, of course, took place on Pentecost, and today’s readings help
prepare us for Pentecost by having us contemplate the work of the third Person
of the Trinity.

The Greek word was used in legal settings to refer to an
attorney making a defense in court on behalf of someone accused. The Holy
Spirit strengthens those who belong to Christ, standing beside them in support
as they battle temptation, endure the trials of this world, and rebut the
accusations of the devil, “the accuser” (Rev. 12:10). But the Holy Spirit is not
just beside us, but resides within those who have been baptized; he is, as the
Creed states, the “giver of life.” The life he gives is the divine life of God,
who is perfect love—an eternal exchange of divine love: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. “Whoever loves me,” Jesus told his disciples, “will keep my word, and
my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with
him.” Filled with the Trinitarian life, we are made temples of the Holy Spirit.
“Do you not know,” St. Paul asked the Corinthians, “that you are God's temple
and that God's Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16; cf. CCC 782, 1197)

The Holy Spirit would be sent, Jesus explained, to teach and
to remind. This was a specific promise to the apostles, who were granted
definite authority from Jesus, including the authority to teach, to govern, and
to forgive sins in his name and by his power (cf. Jn. 20:22-23). Today’s
reading from the Acts of the Apostles is a significant example of this
authority, a description of the Council at Jerusalem, which convened in A.D.
49, some fifteen years or so after the Resurrection. The Council consisted of
“the apostles and the elders” who had gathered together to look into the
dispute over the necessity of circumcision for Gentile converts, and come to a
solution regarding the growing tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers.

The key phrase written by the apostles—in reflecting here on
the power and work of the Paraclete—is this: “It is the decision of the Holy
Spirit and us…” There was no conflict between the apostles and the Holy Spirit,
for they had been given the Paraclete in order to teach, to lead, to guide,
and, when necessary, decide.

In making a decision involving the relationship between the
old covenant and the new covenant, the Apostles were participating in Christ’s
work of love and peace. Granted authority by the head of the Church, they
protected the Church from division—not due to their natural abilities, but
because of the One who counsels, consoles, and advocates. He is Gift, who comes
to guide “into all the truth” (Jn. 16:13).

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the May 9, 2010, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Watch Dr. James Hitchcock talk about "History of the Catholic Church"

Dr. James Hitchcock was a guest recently on EWTN's "Bookmark" to talk with host Doug Keck about his book, History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium (Ignatius Press, 2013). Here is the video of that interview, in which Dr. Hitchcock discusses several different eras of history, some ancient and modern heresies, and common misunderstandings about the Church and her history:

More about the book:

History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium

by James Hitchcock

• Also available in Electronic Book Format

The Catholic Church is the longest-enduring institution in the world.
Beginning with the first Christians and continuing in our present day,
the Church has been planted in every nation on earth.

The Catholic Church claims Jesus Christ himself as her founder, and in
spite of heresy from within and hostility from without, she remains in
the twenty-first century the steadfast guardian of belief in his life,
death, and resurrection. The teachings and redemptive works of Jesus as
told in the Gospels are expressed by the Church in a coherent and
consistent body of doctrine, the likes of which cannot be found in any
other Christian body.

The history of the Catholic Church is long, complicated, and
fascinating, and in this book it is expertly and ably told by historian
James Hitchcock. As in the parable of Christ about the weeds that were
sown in a field of wheat, evil and good have grown together in the
Church from the start, as Hitchcock honestly records. He brings before
us the many characters-some noble, some notorious-who have left an
indelible mark on the Church, while never losing sight of the saints,
who have given living testimony to the salvific power of Christ in every
age.

This ambitious work is comprehensive in its scope and in incisive in its
understanding, a valuable addition to any school or home library.

James Hitchcock, Ph.D., is a longtime professor of
history at St. Louis University, which he attended as an undergraduate.
He received his masters and doctorate degrees from Princeton University
and has authored several books, including The Supreme Court and Religion in American Life; The Recovery of the Sacred; What Is Secular Humanism; and Catholicism and Modernity: Confrontation or Capitulation?  

"A remarkable achievement that synthesizes a lifetime of learning, James Hitchcock's History of the Catholic Church
is also a signal service to twenty-first century Catholicism, a
religious community in which controversy and contention are often the
by-products of severe amnesia. The Church of the New Evangelization has
to know its own story, and that story is told here in full."

- George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C.

"For years, James Hitchcock has been our premier historian - a dissident
from conventional wisdom, well-armed and solid. Here he pioneers a new
method for presenting a long sweep of history: an orderly and altogether
fascinating series of vignettes - of arguments, movements, distinctive
persons, and concrete events. There is just enough narrative in these
sequences to carry the reader along, but without involving her in
excessive interpretation. This book provides both a great resource for
easy reference, and a stimulating definition of a Christian humanism
that holds in tension the transcendent and the down to earth, the holy
and the sinful. This is a tension which Hitchcock maintains throughout."


- Michael Novak

"James Hitchcock has a well-earned reputation as an outstanding scholar,
insightful commentator and lucid, accessible writer. All of these
skills come together and shine in his History of the Catholic Church.
It's a masterwork: exhilarating in scope and a joy to read. If you
want an unforgettable account of the fullness and drama of the Christian
story, read this book."

+Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia



"The gap in knowledge of history and current events sadly extends to us Catholics in our grasp of the Faith and

the rich history of the Church. In his ambitious new work, History of the Catholic Church from the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium,
James Hitchcock has given us an accessible tool to better our
understanding...and love for the history of the Church. To love the
Church, we must understand her history. As Blessed Pope John XXIII
remarked, ‘History is our best teacher.' Thank you, Dr. Hitchcock, for
this timeless gift to the Church for the Year of Faith."

- Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

"James Hitchcock is one of the few historians alive today with the
background and ability to present the two-millenium history of the
Catholic Church. In this remarkable volume Hitchcock brings a lifetime
of insights and research to this important subject. It is a work of
erudition in which the reader will discover not only the importance of
the Catholic Church in past centuries, but in our own time."

- Thomas F. Madden, Ph.D.


Director
of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Saint Louis
University



"This book, by one of the premier American Catholic historians, is
clearly addressed to a broad audience. It is apologetic in the best
sense, written from the point of view of a practicing Catholic, and
addresses the various questions that would occur to a lay reader
inevitably influenced by views found in the larger culture. The book is
well written. It is not burdened down with details or many footnotes,
but is attached to a strong narrative line centering on meaning. It
would therefore be appropriate to study groups."

- Glenn W. Olsen, emeritus Professor of History, University of Utah

The Ambiguity of Islam

The two recent pieces by William Kilpatrick, "Christianity and Islam: Cooperation or Conflict?" (Apr. 21) and "Of Bishops and Bombers" (Apr. 29), have generated a lot of discussion on the CWR site. Some of the comments and premises behind them jump out at me, especially those that talk about "true Islam" being this or that, believing this or that, and being capable (or incapable) of doing this or that. Such remarks bring to mind an important book published by Ignatius Press a few years ago, 111 Questions on Islam (2008), which is a lengthy interview with Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, SJ, the Egyptian scholar of Islam who teaches in Beirut and at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

In a section headed, "Can Islam Change?", Fr. Samir discusses the problem of authority in Islam, especially the authority to make final, binding interpretations of various suras, especially those that advocate violence toward and subjection of Christians and Jews. Fr. Samir writes:

I speak about the violence expressed in the Qur'an and practiced in Muhammad's life in order to address the idea, widespread in the West, that the violence we see today is a deformation of Islam. We must honestly admit that there are two readings of the Qur'an and the sunna (Islamic traditions connected to Muhammad): one that opts for the verses that encourage tolerance toward other believers, and one that prefers the verses that encourage conflict. Both readings are legitimate. (pp. 69-70; emphasis added)

A bit later, Fr. Samir states,

Today the problem is that, whatever their position, Muslims will not admit that some verses of the Qur'an no longer have relevance for present situations. Therefore, the 'ulima' (qur'anic doctors of the law) are obliged to say that they do not agree with those who choose to adopt the Verse of the Sword as normative, even if they cannot condemn them. Consequently, in the Qur'an there are two different choices, the aggressive and the peaceful, and both of them are acceptable. There is a need for an authority, unanimously acknowledged by Muslims, that could say: From now on, only this verse is valid. But this does not—and probably will never—happen.

What are the consquences of this serious problem?

This means that when some fanatics kill children, women, and men in the name of pure
and authentic Islam, or in the name of the Qur’an or of the Muslim
tradition, nobody can tell them: ‘You are not true and authentic
Muslims.’ All they can say is: ‘Your reading of Islam is not ours.’ And
this is the ambiguity of Islam, from its beginning to our present day:
violence is a part of it, although it is also possible to choose
tolerance; tolerance is a part of it, but it is also possible to choose
violence. (p. 72).

This helps make sense of the fact that very few Muslims or Muslim groups renounce acts of violence committed by those who identify themself as Muslim and as carrying out jihad. Regarding jihad, Fr. Samir points out that "All the Islamist groups who adopt the word jihad into their organization do not intend it to be understood in its mystical meaning but rather with its violence connotation. ... The term jihad indicates the Muslim war in the name of God to defend Islam" (p. 62). He also notes that historically, three different ways, or tendencies, have developed within Islam as it seeks worldwide conversion of all people. The most extreme is that which uses military action and violence. The second is the "mystical-spiritual" approach, which "has as its goal the Muslim return to the lost authentiicty of Islam and the propogation of the message of Qur'an among non-Muslim populations." The third approach is "socio-political" in nature, and it involves migration and political strategies with a long-term approach to domination, which "is considered an inevitable movement of history" (pp. 139-40).

In 2010, in an interview with National Catholic Register, Fr. Samir again referred to the "ambiguity" inherent to Islam today:

Some would argue that the 9/11 bombers were not real Muslims, but fundamentalist ideologues and terrorists?

Yes but this is the wrong position because radical Muslims are true
Muslims. I’m not saying that the true Islam is bin Laden, this is not my
opinion. But I would contend that bin Laden is a true Muslim – a true
Muslim. Pastor Terry Jones [the evangelical pastor who has threatened
to burn the Koran] cannot say he’s truly representing Christianity
because you cannot find anything in the Gospel that says that. But all
the positions of radical Muslims you’ll find in the Koran and in the
tradition. You’ll find other positions, but this is one, and one that is
very strongly presented in the Koran and in the Sunnah. Nine-eleven was
a Muslim action even if for apologetic reasons, it’s said that this was
a terrorist action and terrorism has nothing to do with Islam, that
Islam means peace and so on.

Fr. James Schall, SJ, in his lengthy review of Fr. Samir's book in Homiletic & Pastoral Review (November 2009), wrote:

One of the most useful things that Samir does in this book is to
explain how the Muslim will understand us. He will see signs of weakness
in what we call simple good will or cooperation. We see the suicide
bomber as a kind of blind madness or fanaticism. Samir explains how
Muslim theologians have worked around suicide bombing so as to justify
it. The suicide bomber even becomes a “martyr.” In this case, suicide
bombing becomes a kind of personal sacrifice, even though many others
are killed and suicide was generally condemned in Muslim tradition.

Samir is aware that many Muslims just want to live in peace. But
others have a much more aggressive concept of what Islam is about. They
think that everyone should be Muslim. A Muslim who converts to another
religion or philosophy can be subject to death. Muslim countries will
vary in how this penalty is carried out, but it is a factor that is not
simply imaginary.

The people of the world, to worship Allah properly, should all be
subject to the one Law, which should be enforced by what we call the
state. Samir recounts that in Islam there is no real distinction between
state, religion, and custom. There is absoluteness in this worship that
allows no one to be outside. Jews and Christians, as a sort of
compromise, are given a certain second-class status in Muslim countries,
provided they pay a tax and do not seek to convert Muslims. Those who
are not Jews or Christians technically can be killed. It is difficult to
believe that such rules or traditions exist, but they do. And they are
not seen as in any way wrong. They are part of a pious effort to subject
all things to Allah. ...

This incisive book deserves widespread reading. It is clear, sensible
and well-informed. It represents what the service of intelligence to the
faith really means. It follows Aquinas’ dictum that we must understand a
position urged against the truth. Only in understanding this can we
estimate what we are up against and begin to think of how to confront
it. Father Samir’s 111  Questions will do more than start us thinking about these issues. It will lay out the whole scope of what the “ambiguity of Islam” means.

Read the entire interview on the HPR site.