Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 241

Jacques Maritain on "Four Characteristics of a Society of Free Men"

The following excerpt is from the section, "Four Characteristics of a Society of Free Men", from Jacques Maritain's Christianity and Democracy: The Rights of Man and The Natural Law (Ignatius Press, 1986, 2011):

We see that the conception of society which I have just outlined may be characterized by the following features: it is personalist because it considers society to be a whole composed of persons whose dignity is anterior to society and who, however indigent they may be, contain within their very being a root of independence and aspire to ever greater degrees of independence until they achieve that perfect spiritual liberty which no human society has within its gift.

This conception is, in the second place, communal because it recognizes the fact that the person tends naturally toward society and communion, in particular toward the political community, and because, in the specifically political sphere and to the extent that man is a part of political society, it considers the common good superior to that of individuals.

In the third place this conception is pluralist because it assumes that the development of the human person normally requires a plurality of autonomous communities which have their own rights, liberties and authority; among these communities there are some of a rank inferior to the political state, which arise either from the fundamental exigencies of nature (as in the case of the family community) or else from the will of persons freely coming together to form diverse groups. Other communities are of a rank superior to the State, as is, above all, the Church in the mind of Christians, and as would also be, in the temporal realm, that organized international community toward which we aspire today.

Finally the conception of society we are describing is theist or Christian, not in the sense that it would require every member of society to believe in God and to be Christian, but in the sense that it recognizes that in the reality of things, God, principle and end of the human person and prime source of natural law, is by the same token the prime source of political society and authority among men; and in the sense that it recognizes that the currents of liberty and fraternity released by the Gospel, the virtues of justice and friendship sanctioned by it, the practical respect for the human person proclaimed by it, the feeling of responsibility before God required by it, as much from him who exercises the authority as from him who is subject to it, are the internal energy which civilization needs to achieve its fulfillment.

As for those who do not believe in God or who do not profess Christianity, if they do, however, believe in the dignity of the human person, in justice, in liberty, in neighborly love, they also can cooperate in the realization of such a conception of society and cooperate in the common good, even though they cannot trace their practical convictions to basic principles, or even though they seek to base these convictions on defective principles. In this conception civil society is organically linked to religion and turns consciously toward the source of its being by invoking divine assistance and the divine name as its members know it. Independent in its own temporal sphere, it has above it the kingdom of things that are not Caesar's, and it must cooperate with religion, not by any kind of theocracy or clericalism, nor by exercising any sort of pressure in religious matters, but by respecting and facilitating, on the basis of the rights and liberties of each of us, the spiritual activity of the Church and of the diverse religious families which are grouped within the temporal community.

The book is also available as as electronic book download.

No Generic God

From a new essay by Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., posted on the Catholic World Report site:

Just before Christmas every year, the Holy Father has a meeting with local university students in Rome. This year's talk was centered about a passage in James (5:7) about patience. Essentially, patience is on the side of letting things happen in their own due time. We often wonder why God does not do things in a more tidy and speedy fashion. We set up our standard and wonder why God does not conform to it.

"There are many people in our time, especially among those you meet in university lecture halls, who voice the question of whether we should await something or someone, whether we should await another messiah, another god…" The implication is that the Messiah we have been given has not come through for us. We must look about, perhaps make our own redeemer. It is quite interesting to read that these impatient folks populate university lecture halls. We might speculate: why?

Everyone knows that university professors (and sometimes politicians) are constantly tempted to invent their own world in order to explain their private theory about how things should be. This Christian idea of receiving a revelation and waiting for the plan of God to unravel is much too inefficient. There has to be a speedier way. The trouble with such theories is that, once they are in effect, we end up gazing into the face of the professor and not into the Face of God.

We are created ultimately to behold God "face to face." But salvation comes to us in God's way and time, not ours. The meaning "in the depth of life and history" is that seeing the face of the Lord requires "patience, fidelity and constancy in seeking God and openness to him that he reveals his Face." It is a subtle temptation, to compare what God does to what we think, if we were He, He ought to do.

Read the entire essay.

"So we had these books in the home: a lot of Ignatius Press books..."

From a recent National Catholic Register interview by Justin Bell with Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action:

You said you converted to Catholicism not that long ago. Can you walk me through that process a little bit?

I was received into the Church two and a half years ago. Best day of my life, although every day after that has been pretty good, too. I was raised as a Protestant, and my parents were very faithful people; and they taught us to read the Bible and love and respect life. I learned about Jesus Christ as a Protestant.

But in my upbringing, my dad was on his own spiritual journey, reading the Church Fathers and doctors. So we had these books in the home: a lot of Ignatius Press books, for example. And so, I was reading these as a young teen. I read Joan of Arc by Mark Twain when I was 12. I was reading Mother Teresa's writings at 12, 13 … like Total Surrender, Loving Jesus. Then I was reading St. Thomas Aquinas, and I was actually translating him in and out of Latin. That was part of the education experience that I was given by my parents because we're home-schooled. They really pursued classical education for us. That was really neat, too; that's another side of the story, but …

I was becoming formed by some of the best thinkers and saints of our Church, doctors of our Church, as a teen. I was very much drawn to the Church. I was drawn to Our Lady. I admired her so much, although the Protestant community doesn't really talk about her very much. … My family talked about our faith, and, of course, about theology and different aspects of the Catholic tradition and everything. But we were still Protestant.

So then, when I got to UCLA, I fell in with — literally, one day I was looking for a church to go to — I had been experimenting with different Protestant churches, and I couldn't find one that I clicked with, as they say, because the Eucharist wasn't there and the theology was not sound. And I knew it, but I hadn't really gotten to the place in my head that: Oh, I need to be Catholic; that just makes sense. I had been intellectually convinced over a period of years, but I really didn't have Catholic friends, you know, strong Catholic friendships or anything like that, so it didn't really occur to me that I could convert.

Read the entire interview on the National Catholic Register site.

"Confronting the Claim of Eastern Orthodoxy to be..."

"...  the True Church" is the title of a recent Homiletic & Pastoral Review article by James Likoudis. Here is part of the opening:

There is need for Catholics, especially priests, to engage in a convincing Apologetics when confronted by Catholics tempted to become Eastern Orthodox, or by members of the Eastern Orthodox Churches claiming to represent the orthodoxy of the Church before the tragic Schism between East and West, developing after 1054 A.D. Certainly, well-informed Catholics are able to present formidable arguments drawn from the Scriptures, Fathers, and Councils in favor of the Roman Pontiff's universal authority in the Church, the legitimacy of the doctrine of the Filioque, purgatory, and the Immaculate Conception, not to mention other doctrines questioned or denied by Eastern Orthodox, who assume they constitute the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church," signified in the Nicene-Constantinople Creed of 381 A.D., indulglng themselves with the repeated assertion made to Catholics.

The question arises: Is there an easy resolution to the conflicting claims of Catholics and Orthodox? The ordinary layman can become bewildered by the study of the complex argument and counter-argument drawn from the appeal to history, and diverse interpretations of Scripture, Fathers, and Councils presented by Catholic and Orthodox writers. As one Orthodox, seeking to end his intellectual agony, stated, "I just keep bouncing back and forth from Catholic to Orthodox and Orthodox to Catholic, feeling myself unable to resolve the dogmatic issues. I do not know Latin or Greek, or much history, who is right and who is wrong." There must be a simpler and easier way for the ordinary person, who is not a scholar of Church history and patristic theology, and who is confronted by similar Catholic and Orthodox claims—to resolve the question of which is the true Church.

It should be noted that in this matter between Catholics and Orthodox, there is, fortunately, much common ground by which to resolve the issue. In this matter, those seeking the one true Church would obviously hold that there are only two plausible contenders to be the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." Both hold that the property of visibility is essential to the true Church. Both Catholics and Orthodox agree that Christian doctrine is something taught by the one, visible Church, not something the individual determines for himself in Protestant fashion, and teaches the Church.  Both agree on an objective, visible criterion that served in the first millennium to identify the true Church, i.e., the Church's necessary rule by Bishops, who are the legitimate successors of the Apostles, and guided by the Holy Spirit, to correctly interpret the Holy Scriptures and apostolic tradition. The great St. Cyprian had already noted in the third century that the Church is essentially built on the bishops: "Does he fancy himself to be with Christ who acts against the Bishops of Christ?" (On the Unity of the Catholic Church §17)

The key question then comes down to this : Which communion of Bishops (Catholic or Eastern Orthodox) constitutes that hierarchy of the Church, founded by Christ to "make disciples of all nations" Matt. 28:19)?

Read the entire essay at HPRweb.com.

"Can you imagine Jesus standing before your bed and you continue sleeping?"

A Scripture Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, February 5, 2012, the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time | Carl E. Olson

Readings:

• Jb 7:1-4, 6-7
• Ps 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
• 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23
• Mk 1:29-39

Fast-paced. Abrupt transitions. Constant action. Confrontations. Good vs. Evil. Death. Demons. Sickness. A decisive hero of few words. Supernatural acts.

Such words might be used to describe a movie, a comic book, or a work of fantastical fiction. But they actually describe very well the Gospel of Mark, which is punchy and fast moving, the shortest of the four Gospels. Of course, it has the significant feature of being a true account of historical events and people.

As Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch write in their commentary, "Mark paints a portrait of Jesus that is vivid and dynamic, focusing most of his attention on Jesus' mighty works." Aside from two discourses (Mk 4:1-32; 13;1-37), the second Gospel "depicts Jesus as an active healer and exorcist continually on the move ..." (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible). The urgency of St. Mark's style is evidenced by his repeated use of the word "immediately," which appears over forty times in the span of just sixteen chapters.

All of these qualities are found in abundance in the readings from the first chapter of Mark, heard last week, this week, and next week. In last week's reading (Mk 1:21-28), Jesus confronted a demon after speaking in the synagogue. In today's reading he is described healing a variety of physical illnesses and casting out more demons. And next week's reading depicts Jesus' dramatic interaction with a desperate leper.

These actions demonstrated—in startling, powerful fashion—the reality of what Jesus declared in Mark 1:15: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." The kingdom is not about words only, but about the saving, healing actions of the only Word, the Son of God. By casting out demons, Jesus showed his power over the dominion of darkness and spiritual death. By healing the sick, he revealed his love and care for those who suffer, who are blind, lame, and deaf. Those physical healings, the Catechism points out, "announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through his Passover. On the cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the 'sin of the world,' of which illness is only a consequence" (par 1505).

Jesus himself made explicit this connection between physical maladies and spiritual sickness. "Those who are well do not need a physician," he said to the scribes questioning his motives and methods, "but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners" (Mk 2:17). It is a sad and desperate fact of the Fall that once we are born, we begin to die. We need to be reborn through radical, supernatural surgery: a new heart, a transformed mind, a sanctified spirit.

"The wounded surgeon plies the steel," wrote T.S. Eliot, in Four Quartets, of the Physician of souls. "Beneath the bleeding hands we feel/The sharp compassion of the healer's art/Resolving the enigma of the fever chart." The fever afflicting Simon's mother-in-law was likely deadly; the scene is set forth with curt urgency. Upon being "raised up"—the same language used, it is worth noting, of the risen Lord after his death (Mark 16:6)—she waits upon Jesus and his disciples.

Why? St. Jerome thought the question was silly. "Can you imagine Jesus standing before your bed and you continue sleeping?" he wrote, "It is absurd that you would remain in bed in his presence." He focused on the spiritual meaning of the physical actions involved. "See how costly is the compassion of the Savior," he stated, "Our sins give off a terrible odor; they are rottenness."

But the fever of sin and the stench of death flee at the touch of the Savior. The sharp compassion of the holy healer cuts us to the quick. The grace-filled paradox, as Eastern Christians sing during Easter, is that "by death He conquered death." It is not, praise God, just a movie, or a comic book, or a work of fantastical fiction.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the February 8, 2009, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

"The Waste Land" and T. S. Eliot's conversion

The January/February 2012 issue of Saint Austin Review has, as usual, many fine articles, one of which is available on the magazine's website (in PDF format): "The Prefiguration of T. S. Eliot's Conversion in 'The Waste Land'" by Paula L. Gallagher. She writes:

The beginning of Eliot's conversion, as prefigured in the poem, begins with his recognition of the emptiness of modernity. The fact that Eliot is writing this poem about the barrenness of modernity and imaging it as a Waste Land shows that Eliot sees through modernity to the reality of its sterility. The image of the Waste Land represents the aridity of modernity, its lack of culture and tradition, and indeed its inability to allow culture and tradition to grow and flourish. Hence, the Waste Land is repeatedly described as a desert with "dry stone and no sound of water". The Waste Land, where "there is not water but only rock", lacks the life-giving and life-sustaining water which will enable tradition and culture to thrive. The poet is seeking the rain which will reanimate the Waste Land of modernity; the rain which will touch and enliven the dead roots of tradition and culture. This water, ultimately, is Christianity.

The Waste Land also encompasses the "Unreal City" of London, a particular instantiation of modernity, which Eliot uses to convey specific ideas about the state of modernity. London is "Unreal"; it is not connected to objective reality but is immersed in the empty pursuits of modernity. In the fifth section of the poem, other major historical and cultural cities in addition to London are depicted as crumbling "falling towers" and as "Unreal": Jerusalem, Athens, Alexandria, Vienna. Significantly, Rome, the city from where the Pope traditionally leads Christianity, is not included in the list, and as such it is symbolically excluded from the Waste Land. Rome is not included in modernity because, in addition to symbolizing the grace of Christ, it is also a perennial fortress and advancer of culture and tradition. Eliot's recognition of the unreality of modernity and the role of Rome in history is another step on his path to conversion.

The essay is a helpful introduction to a poem renowned for being difficult to interpret. An annotated version of "The Waste Land" can be accessed here. My favorite poem by Eliot, "Ash Wednesday", has sometimes been called his "conversion poem", as it was his first major poem published (in 1930) after becoming Anglican in 1927.

In case you missed them...

... here are some of my recent posts over on the Catholic World Report blog:

• Hell hath no fury like an abortion mill spurned
• Everything you need to know about the New York Times...
• Sen. Rubio: "The issue of life is not a political issue...it is a definitional issue."
• Georgetown turns the ball over. Notre Dame scores.
• Starbucks goes Brokeback

My thanks to readers who send me (carl@ignatius.com) links and blogging ideas and carrot cake recipe ideas. I always appreciate them, even if I'm not able to always use them or make the appropriate deep/caustic/insightful/brilliant/silly/confusing remark about each story, post, event, person, or Super Bowl prediction.

The transition to being editor of Catholic World Report has been both very hectic and surprisingly smooth. The hectic part is easily explained by my poor work habits, overly long naps, and inability to handle pressure or deadlines (that's a joke: my naps are not long, just frequent).  I say "surprisingly" because early in January the one person who knew what she was doing, managing editor Cate Harmon, decided to go on maternity leave. My attempts to have her put it off a few months were of no avail, which was probably a relief to her family (she will be returning soon). It has helped immensely that there are many great authors contributing to CWR—so much so that I have several fine pieces in the queue. The modest goal was to post two, perhaps three, new features each week, but it will be closer to four, sometimes even five, a week in the weeks to come, and hopefully into the months to come.

If you've not visited the CWR site recently, come on over and read some of the recent articles. In the meantime, go Cowboys! Er, go Ducks! Um, go team trailing by six with forty seconds left!

The Calm Before the Storm in Philadelphia

The Calm Before the Storm in Philadelphia | Dave Pierre | Catholic World Report

2012 looks to shape up as another big year for stories about the Catholic Church abuse narrative.

As things appear now, jury selection for the high-profile trial of priests in Philadelphia will begin on February 21, 2012, and the trial will begin in March. Some observers believe the trial may run as long as four months.

To recap: Five current and former Church employees, arrested last year, face charges for the abuse of children.

The upcoming drama essentially entails three different cases:

Case #1: A man (named "Billy" in last year's grand jury report) has accused three different men – current priest Rev. Charles Engelhardt, former priest Edward Avery, and former teacher Bernard Shero – of raping and molesting him over a decade ago when he was an altar boy at St. Jerome Parish in Philadelphia.

Case #2: A second man (Mark Bukowski) has accused Rev. James Brennan of raping him over 15 years ago. At the time, Fr. Brennan was parochial vicar at St. Andrew Church in Newtown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia.

Case #3: Prosecutors are charging Msgr. William Lynn, who was the Secretary for Clergy under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, with endangering children and conspiracy, in that he deliberately allowed these priests to molest children. Last summer, one of Lynn's lawyers argued that the conspiracy charge "doesn't stand on any legal footing at all" because the monsignor did not directly supervise children. Attorneys have sought to quash the charge, but they have been unsuccessful.

It is essential to note that all of the defendants vehemently deny the charges against them and assert their innocence. In fact, the defendants swiftly rejected plea deals offered to them last summer.

Continue reading this article at www.CatholicWorldReport.com...

Dale Ahlquist discusses three Chesterton classics...

... on a recent edition of EWTN's "Bookmark" program: Lepanto, The Catholic Church and Conversion, and The Well and the Shallows. Dale, who is President of the American Chesterton Society and an expert on all things Chesterton, wrote the Introductions to all three of these Ignatius Press-published editions.

The challenge of being black and Catholic in the U.S.

A few years ago I interviewed my friend, Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, about being "black and Catholic in America". It is worth revisiting during Black History Month, as Deacon Harold addresses a number of important topics. Here is one of them:

IgnatiusInsight.com: What specific challenges and issues do black Catholics face in the United States today? How are they being addressed?

Deacon Burke-Sivers: I believe that in the black Catholic community, the challenges are two-fold: material (substance abuse, violent crime, absent fathers and the disintegration of family life, as mentioned above) and spiritual (moral relativism, sexual promiscuity, subjective truth, and the influence of liberal theology). Both the material and spiritual influences represent serious affronts to our Catholic convictions and gravely hinder evangelization efforts.

In the face of these challenges, combating the tangled web of systemic racism cannot be the sole response since racism cannot answer the deeper, more serious questions that black Catholics need to ask: Where are our husbands and fathers? Are we so preoccupied with getting drunk or high, or so obsessed with material wealth that we cannot notice what is happening to our children, to our future? Why have street gangs replaced families? Are we so busy watching pornography or sleeping around that we have become completely oblivious to the fact we are treating each other as "things" and objects, and not as equal persons made in the image and likeness of God? Do we even care? To answer these questions we must not simply look outward at the culture in order to accuse and blame. We must also take a serious look inward: we must examine ourselves, rediscover the beauty and truth of our Catholic heritage, and renew our commitment to live the teachings of our Catholic faith with courage, fidelity and enthusiasm!

The most critical issue that black Catholics face today is also the principal threat to our existence: abortion. "Historically, children were always welcomed in African American families, no matter the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy. Tragically, that tradition is changing before our very eyes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that Black women are about twelve percent of the female population, but account for thirty-five percent of all abortions" (Michelle Williams, "Abortion and the Black Community"). According to census data for the year 2000, abortion has eliminated between fourteen and fifteen million of black Americans since 1973, a total equal to the combined population of eight mid-western states. "Abortion is shrinking our churches, schools, communities and congressional districts, as well as our future" (Gloria Purvis, "What Will It Take to Respect Life in the Black Community?").

As a people, African Americans do a great job raising awareness around issues such as poverty, affirmative action, racism and civil rights, but if we continue to kill ourselves through this egregious abuse of our freedom, there will not be enough of us around for anyone to notice. When we allow abortion, we actually assist in and encourage the elimination of our race, something that hate groups could not accomplish for decades in this country (cf. Purvis). For the black Catholics, and indeed for the entire African American community, abortion is not about opinion or choice: it's a matter of life and death.

In order to combat the challenges of contemporary society and culture, we must rediscover and build upon the solid foundation of our faith; a faith that forms the heart and soul of our spiritual identity as Black Catholics. "Inasmuch as all people are called to a life of holiness, we as black people faithful to the Holy Spirit and our Church's teachings, must seek to pray and work in the spirit of our ancestors in the Faith" (NBCC Congress IX, Spirituality Principle). We must respond with courage, conviction, and unwavering faith to our baptismal call to holiness, to answer Christ's challenge to "be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 6:48): to "shoulder the responsibility laid upon us by our Baptism into the Body of Christ. This responsibility is to proclaim our faith and to take an active part in building up the Church" (What We Have Seen and Heard, 18). In short, we must nurture and cultivate a deep and abiding love for our Lord Jesus Christ in his one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

Read the entire interview on Ignatius Insight.