Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 313

Does the Holy Spirit know the Feast of "Pentacost" is a celebration of LGBT rights?

Somehow I ended up on the mailing list for Catholics for Equality (which is about as Catholic in its approach to Church doctrine as is Jack Chick, but far less entertaining), and today received an e-mail titled, "Celebrate Pentacost [sic] with Catholics for Equality". It begins:

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. The Acts of the Apostles is an amazing account of how the early Christians viewed themselves as a hugely diverse community uniting people from every nation and tongue. In our modern parlance this is a wide diverse community with every identity, orientation, nationality, culture. God speaking to each person's heart and mind. Each person empowered to speak in one's tongue of the mighty acts of God in one's life!

Catholics for Equality was founded in September of 2010. Our mission is to "empower pro-equality Catholics to put our faith into ethical and effective political action on behalf of the LGBT community and their families." We are a political organization that addresses the challenges facing the American Catholic community as we see our bishops becoming increasingly political and using financial resources in their fight to limit or eliminate basic freedoms and rights for the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered members of the community.

Every poll of the past few years shows American Catholics are the most supportive Christian denomination of LGBT rights. We believe that this support must be politically mobilized to realize the freedom to marry and form families, the end of workplace, housing, and credit discrimination, the end of bullying and violence, and the ability to flourish in society so that each person can speak of the mighty acts of God in one's life!

In other words, Catholics for Equality is a group of people using the name "Catholic" to actively promote dissent against Church leadership, reject clear Church regarding sexual morality, and thus deny that Catholics who do adhere to the Church's teaching on faith and morals are oppressive, bigoted, and even hateful. Such folks were aptly described in 2 Peter as "those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority" (2 Pet. 2:10).

Speaking of the Acts of the Apostles, it is instructive to read the story of Anani'as and Sapphi'ra, who were both struck dead by God because they lied to Peter and the apostles about a matter of finances (Acts 5:1-11). If God is displeased by lying about money, will he be pleased by those who distort the truth about the Church's teachings and the work of the successors of the apostles? And will he look kindly upon a delibrated and distorted misreading of the Feast of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, which was founded some 1,980 years or so before Catholics for Equality was established?

Popes Benedict XVI and XV on St. Ephrem, Doctor of the Church and "lyre of the Holy Spirit"

Today is the feast day of an Eastern Father and Doctor, Saint Ephrem the Syrian (†373). Here is a bit of what Pope Benedict XVI had to say about Ephrem in his November 28, 2007, general audience:

St Ephrem has left us an important theological inheritance. His substantial opus can be divided into four categories: works written in ordinary prose (his polemic works or biblical commentaries); works written in poetic prose; homilies in verse; and lastly, hymns, undoubtedly Ephrem's most abundant production. He is a rich and interesting author in many ways, but especially from the theological point of view. It is the fact that theology and poetry converge in his work which makes it so special. If we desire to approach his doctrine, we must insist on this from the outset: namely, on the fact that he produces theology in poetical form. Poetry enabled him to deepen his theological reflection through paradoxes and images. At the same time, his theology became liturgy, became music; indeed, he was a great composer, a musician. Theology, reflection on the faith, poetry, song and praise of God go together; and it is precisely in this liturgical character that the divine truth emerges clearly in Ephrem's theology. In his search for God, in his theological activity, he employed the way of paradoxes and symbols. He made ample use of contrasting images because they served to emphasize the mystery of God. ...

The figure of Ephrem is still absolutely timely for the life of the various Christian Churches. We discover him in the first place as a theologian who reflects poetically, on the basis of Holy Scripture, on the mystery of man's redemption brought about by Christ, the Word of God incarnate. His is a theological reflection expressed in images and symbols taken from nature, daily life and the Bible. Ephrem gives his poetry and liturgical hymns a didactic and catechetical character: they are theological hymns yet at the same time suitable for recitation or liturgical song. On the occasion of liturgical feasts, Ephrem made use of these hymns to spread Church doctrine. Time has proven them to be an extremely effective catechetical instrument for the Christian community.

Ephrem's reflection on the theme of God the Creator is important: nothing in creation is isolated and the world, next to Sacred Scripture, is a Bible of God. By using his freedom wrongly, man upsets the cosmic order. The role of women was important to Ephrem. The way he spoke of them was always inspired with sensitivity and respect: the dwelling place of Jesus in Mary's womb greatly increased women's dignity. Ephrem held that just as there is no Redemption without Jesus, there is no Incarnation without Mary. The divine and human dimensions of the mystery of our redemption can already be found in Ephrem's texts; poetically and with fundamentally scriptural images, he anticipated the theological background and in some way the very language of the great Christological definitions of the fifth-century Councils.

And here an excerpt from "Principi Apostolorum Petro" (On St. Ephrem the Syrian), the 1920 encyclical from Pope Benedict XV:

It is indeed fitting to honor the blessed deacon of Edessa for his desire that the preaching of the divine word and the training of his disciples rest on the purity of Sacred Scripture. He also acquired honor as a Christian musician and poet. He was so accomplished in both arts that he was called the "lyre of the Holy Spirit." From this, Venerable Brothers, you can learn what arts promote the knowledge of sacred things. Ephrem lived among people whose nature was attracted by the sweetness of poetry and music. The heretics of the second century after Christ used these same allurements to skillfully disseminate their errors. Therefore Ephrem, like youthful David killing the giant Goliath with his own sword, opposed art with art and clothed Catholic doctrine in melody and rhythm. These he diligently taught to boys and girls, so that eventually all the people learned them. In this fashion he not only renewed the education of the faithful in Christian doctrine and supported their piety with the spirit of the sacred liturgy, but also happily kept creeping heresy at bay.

The artistry introduced by Blessed Ephrem added dignity to sacred matters as Theodoretus stresses. The metric rhythm, which our saint popularized, was widely propagated both among the Greeks and the Latins. Indeed does it seem probable that the liturgical antiphonary with its songs and processions, introduced at Constantinople in the works of Chrysostom and at Milan by Ambrose (whence it spread throughout all of Italy), was the work of some other author? For the "custom of Eastern rhythm" deeply moved the catechumen Augustine in northern Italy; Gregory the Great improved it and we use it in a more advanced form. Critics acknowledge that that "same Eastern rhythm" had it origins in Ephrem's Syrian antiphonary.

 It is no wonder then that many of the Fathers of the Church stress the authority of St. Ephrem. Nyssenus says of his writings, "Studying the Old and New Scriptures most thoroughly, he interpreted them accurately, word for word; and what was hidden and concealed, from the very creation of the world to the last book of grace, he illumined with commentaries, using the light of the Spirit." And Chrysostom: "The great Ephrem is scourge of the slothful, consoler of the afflicted, educator, instructor and exhorter of youth, mirror of monks, leader of penitents, goad and sting of heretics, reservoir of virtues, and the home and lodging of the Holy Spirit." Certainly nothing greater can be said in praise of a man who, however, seemed so small in his own eyes that he claimed to be the least of all and a most vile sinner." (pars 12-14)

Several of St. Ephrem's writings can be accessed here.

With faith like this, who needs doubt?

Perhaps the post title is too harsh. After all, what Catholic doesn't struggle at times with doubts about what he believes or what the Church teaches? Despite my icy, detached demeanor and unblinking, searing stare (not to mention my granite jaw and cat-like reflexes), I'm actually sympathetic to that fact. But I think it also behooves us, as Catholics, to give the benefit of the doubt to the Church and let her have a say before going down paths that seem reasonable but don't really stand up to closer inspection.

For example, I was recently sent an essay written by a Catholic—I'll call him "RM" for the moment—trying to grapple with defending the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. RM's essay was penned as a response of sorts to the scoffings of Bill Maher, the former Catholic turned mocking atheist. RM wrote this of his defense of the Catholic belief in "the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come":

I referred to that belief as a central tenet of Christian faith, and so it is. But it is also something that we Christians take on faith. It is not based on scientific evidence.

In other words, we could be wrong about this belief, as we could be wrong about the Resurrection of Christ, which is the basis of our belief in the resurrection of the dead.

Religious people do not like to be told that they cannot claim certitude for their beliefs. While faith does accord a certain kind of religious certitude, it is not human certitude in the sense that we conventionally understand the concept.

Thus, when a person dies, we often say, to comfort the bereaved, that the individual is now reunited with a spouse, for example, who preceded her or him in death.

But do we have any basis, apart from our faith, to say such a thing? Faith may be sufficient for people who are religious, but we need to realize -- and admit to ourselves, if not to others -- that we do not really know whether our words correspond to reality.

The problem is that while RM is obviously trying to stand up for Catholic doctrine as best he can, he manages to undermine that very doctrine in the process—to the point that a reader might reasonably say, "Why bother being a Catholic if what I have to believe has no rational basis and what the Catholic Church says about Doctrine A or Doctrine B cannot even be really trusted?" Thankfully, RM's approach can be rectified through a better understanding of what the Church actually teaches about the Resurrection, faith, and the relationship between human words and truth. Let's compare three of RM's statements with what the Church says about the same topics:

1. "But it is also something that we Christians take on faith. It is not based on scientific evidence." This is partially correct, but barely so. Yes, belief in the Resurrection absolutely involves faith, but RM's statement provides a stark and misleading contrast between "faith" and "scientific evidence", as if, first, the two have little to do with one another and, secondly, as if "scientific evidence" is the only type of evidence allowed or of value in such matters. As Michael R. Licona notes in his impressive book, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (IVP, 2010), "When writing on the resurrection of Jesus, biblical scholars are engaged in historical research" (pp. 18-19; emphasis added). This research is not, strictly speaking, the same as historical research, although (speaking less strictly) there might be some similarities and overlap.

Put in another way, belief in the Resurrection is not something contrary to reason or evidence, even as it goes beyond our comprehension. It is based on the witness and testimony of the first Christians, rooted in historical events, as the Catechism notes:

The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross...

Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of the apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of the new era begun on Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the foundation stones of his Church. The faith of the first community of believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary "witnesses to his Resurrection", but they are not the only ones - Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared on a single occasion and also of James and of all the apostles.

Given all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the disciples' faith was drastically put to the test by their master's Passion and death on the cross, which he had foretold. The shock provoked by the Passion was so great that at least some of the disciples did not at once believe in the news of the Resurrection. Far from showing us a community seized by a mystical exaltation, the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized ("looking sad") and frightened. For they had not believed the holy women returning from the tomb and had regarded their words as an "idle tale".  When Jesus reveals himself to the Eleven on Easter evening, "he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen."

Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering." Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee "some doubted."  Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus. (pars. 638, 642-44; emphasis added)

There is a vast amount of literature written by Catholics and other Christians about the historical evidence and related matters. Licona's book is scholarly and exhaustive (700+ pages); a shorter and more accessible place to begin is "The Ressurection" (pp. 186-210) in Handbook of Catholic Apologetics (Ignatius Press, 2009) by Peter J. Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli. The key point here is that the Christian need not—and should not!—simply say, "Hey, it's really just a matter of faith; I can't say anymore than that." Bigk big mistake, but quite common, unfortunately.

2. "While faith does accord a certain kind of religious certitude, it is not human certitude in the sense that we conventionally understand the concept." The problem here is that RM tosses out the terms "religious certitude" and "human certitude" as if their respective identities are well-known and clearly established, and as if "religious certitude" is itself not a type of certitude acknowledged and embraced by humans. In other words, "Huh?" Again, he seems to have far more trust in a scientific or materialist approach than in the reasonable nature of faith. After all, "Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason" (CCC, par. 154). Or, in the words of the fathers of the First Vatican Council: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth" (Dei Filius 4; CCC, par. 159).

Besides, there are plenty of things that everyone accepts as true or reasonable without recourse to "scientific" evidence. "The objective world," noted Fr. Thomas Dubay in Faith and Certitude (Ignatius Press, 1985), "begets certitude in the normal knower. ... Our contention here is that certitude fundamentally arises from a person's basic yes to reality and to mind." It is true that faith goes above, or beyond, what can be scientifically proven. And to the degree that this is what RM is referring to, he is correct. But his entire approach seems predicated on the notion that faith is irrational. Actually, it is worse than that, as we see in this last point:

3. "But do we have any basis, apart from our faith, to say such a thing? Faith may be sufficient for people who are religious, but we need to realize -- and admit to ourselves, if not to others -- that we do not really know whether our words correspond to reality." This is an astounding statement for a Catholic—especially for a Catholic seeking, in some way or another, to defend Catholic doctrine. After all, if we can't really know that our words correspond to reality, we cannot even begin to approach and consider reality, nor can we have a real conversation about what is, nevermind why it is and how it is. This statement betrays a serious lack of foundational philosophical study, not to mention a basic failure of common sense.

The Catholic position, as articulated in the Catechism, is that we can know reality and we can express true statements about reality. For example, while "human words always fall short of the mystery of God", they can in fact be accurate and true:

Admittedly, in speaking about God like this, our language is using human modes of expression; nevertheless it really does attain to God himself, though unable to express him in his infinite simplicity. Likewise, we must recall that "between Creator and creature no similitude can be expressed without implying an even greater dissimilitude"; and that "concerning God, we cannot grasp what he is, but only what he is not, and how other beings stand in relation to him."(CCC, pars 42-43)

Pope John Paul II directly addressed this issue in Fides et ratio (1998), writing:

A philosophy denying the possibility of an ultimate and overarching meaning would be not only ill-adapted to its task, but false.

Yet this sapiential function could not be performed by a philosophy which was not itself a true and authentic knowledge, addressed, that is, not only to particular and subordinate aspects of reality—functional, formal or utilitarian—but to its total and definitive truth, to the very being of the object which is known. This prompts a second requirement: that philosophy verify the human capacity to know the truth, to come to a knowledge which can reach objective truth by means of that adaequatio rei et intellectus to which the Scholastic Doctors referred. (pars 82-3)

He then quoted from Gaudium et spes, which states:

Still he [man] has always searched for more penetrating truths, and finds them. For his intelligence is not confined to observable data alone, but can with genuine certitude attain to reality itself as knowable, though in consequence of sin that certitude is partly obscured and weakened. (par. 15)

Finally, it's curious that RM goes on to say, "Critics like Bill Maher do not believe that this affirmation of faith is based in reality, which is why he is now an atheist. He does not disparage people of faith, as other atheists do, only those who are too sure of themselves and look down their noses at those who do not share their beliefs." I say "curous" because the words "Maher" and "disparage" have been carrying on a torrid love affair for years and because RM, after stating that "we do not really know whether our words correspond to reality" is here quite certain that Bill Maher's words correspond to reality and accurately convey it. Weird.

It's almost as though RM has more respect for (and knowledge of) the complaints of a raging atheist than he does for the teachings of the Catholic Church.

But, hey, what did you expect from Father Richard McBrien, the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and theological expert at National "Catholic" Reporter?

YOUCAT will reach 40,000 North American Catholic teens this summer

A press release just off the cyber presses:

YOUCAT will reach 40,000 North American Catholic teens this summer!
Partnership with Franciscan University includes YOUCAT at 18 Steubenville Conferences

SAN FRANCISCO, June 7, 2011 –YOUCAT, the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, will impact more than 40,000 Catholic teens in the United States and Canada this summer – even before the book is widely distributed during 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid.
 
Ignatius Press, publishers of the English-language edition of the book, and Franciscan University of Steubenville have formed a partnership that will bring YOUCAT to 17 Steubenville Conferences in the U.S. and one in Canada – and includes the development of a "Jeopardy-style game show" featuring content from the book.
 
"We are pleased to announce this partnership because of the impact it will have by introducing tens of thousands of young North American Catholics to YOUCAT," said Ignatius Press President Mark Brumley. "In his foreword to the book, Pope Benedict XVI clearly states his desire that these young people become 'more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of your parents….' Given the theme of the 2011 Steubenville Conferences – 'Rooted' – it's exciting for Ignatius to work with Franciscan University in providing access to YOUCAT during the conferences."
 
"YOUCAT is a beautiful gift to Catholics," said John Beaulieu, Franciscan's Director of Youth and Young Adult Outreach. "We are looking forward to helping spread that gift through the conferences, and we are very grateful to Ignatius Press for working with us to make it happen. The hardest thing for young Catholics today is to commit with their whole heart that the Church has the answers because of all the relativism and secularism they are bombarded with," Beaulieu added. "YOUCAT is such a beautiful gift because it is written to engage young people to understand that truth … that relationship."
 
YOUCAT will be a primary resource for all Steubenville conferences for the next two years. All conference leaders will use the book at the events they staff. They also are receiving T-shirts and certificates following their pre-conference training sessions with the youth Catechism. Random attendees at every Steubenville Conference will be invited onstage to play the YOUCAT Challenge, which will be based on the popular TV game show Jeopardy with questions taken exclusively from YOUCAT. "Ignatius brought that idea to us, and we think it's outstanding," Beaulieu said. "It'll be a great, fun way to help explain to everyone attending what YOUCAT is all about and how truly special it is.
 
"We have tried not to promote books or CDs … or other resources … at our conferences," he added. "But when the Pope says it is his desire that Catholics study this Catechism, we believe we need to use it and talk about it. We have posted comments from his Foreword to our Facebook page – it's all about letting young people know the Pope is calling them to embrace the Church, to become the man or woman God intends them to be."
 
For more information or to request review copies of YOUCAT,, please contact Alexis Walkenstein with The Maximus Group (561-445-5409 or AWalkenstein@MaximusMG.com) or Kevin Wandra with The Maximus Group (678-990-9032 or KWandra@MaximusMG.com). For more information on the conferences, contact John Beaulieu at 740-284-5873 or JKBeaulieu@mac.com.

For more information about the Youth Catechism, visit YOUCAT.us.

The top two Catholic best-sellers on Amazon.com...

... at this moment are two Ignatius Press books: YOUCAT and Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection.

No surprise, those two are also the top-selling books for Ignatius Press this year:

1. Jesus of Nazareth, Vol 2
2. YOUCAT
3. Unplanned
4. Be a Man!
5. Jesus of Nazareth
6. Light of the World
7. Catholic Study Bible: New Testament (Paperback)
8. Padre Pio Under Investigation
9. Jesus of Nazareth, Vol 2 Study Guide
10. Fatima for Today

Visit www.ignatius.com for more best-seller lists.

"It's like correcting 500 years of history."

From a June 6th piece, "Episcopal church in Bladensburg to convert to Roman Catholicism", in The Washington Post:

An Episcopal church in Maryland — including its pastor — has decided to convert to Catholicism, the first in the United States to make the move under new Vatican rules meant to appeal to disaffected Protestants.

St. Luke's, a small, tight-knit congregation in Bladensburg with a majority of members from Africa and the Caribbean, will be allowed to hold onto its Anglican traditions even as it comes under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. That will include being led by its married pastor, the Rev. Mark Lewis, and retaining much of its liturgy.
 
Leaders of the church said Monday that they were not leaving the Episcopal Church because of the ordination of gays and women — issues that have bitterly divided the American wing of the Anglican Church and coincided with stepped-up efforts by the Vatican to reach out to Anglicans. Instead, church members said, they were satisfying their longing for a clear religious authority by welcoming the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI.

"In the Episcopal Church, bishops in one place say one thing and in another say another," explained Patrick Delaney, a lay leader from Mitchellville. "That's the crux of it. Each bishop has its own kingdom."

He and others at St. Luke's said they were thrilled to help bridge a spiritual schism that dates back to the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.

"It feels fantastic," Delaney said. "It's like correcting 500 years of history."

And, on a related note, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, a former Anglican cleric, has written a piece, "A New Bridge Across the Tiber", for CrisisMagazine.com in which he reflects on the future of the Angelican ordinariate:

The ordinariate could develop in a very different and exciting direction. The way to understand this more dynamic possibility is to see the ordinariate as a new bridge across the Tiber for a whole range of Protestant Christians. Already, conservative, liturgically minded Lutherans are asking why there isn't a Lutheran ordinariate, while some of them point to the formal intercommunion that already exists between Lutherans and Anglicans and argue that the Anglican ordinariate should naturally be open to Lutherans as well.

And if Lutherans may come across the ordinariate bridge, why not Methodists? After all, Methodism was founded as a schism from Anglicanism. Could not conservative, liturgically minded Methodists also find their way "home to Rome" through the Anglican ordinariate?

For this to happen, the Anglican ordinariate will have to be flexible, and the members will have to see their mission not simply as one of conservation of a venerable patrimony but one of evangelization and outreach. The signs that this is the spirit of the ordinariate are already very positive. First of all, those who have joined the ordinariate have truly left everything to become Catholics. The Anglican bishops, priests, and people have turned their back on their parsonages, palaces, parish churches, and pension plans. They have set out with a true missionary spirit, and the sort of men and women who are willing to take such a step of faith will bring that same enthusiasm to the task of helping the ordinariate be the structure for ecumenical evangelization that it should be.

The way things might develop is best explained with a few examples of how Anglican Use Catholicism has already grown. The Church of the Atonement in San Antonio, Texas, was founded in the early 1980s by a group of disenchanted Episcopalians who felt called to the Catholic Faith. They discovered Rev. Christopher Phillips, a bright young Episcopal priest who was a convert from Methodism who also felt called to the Catholic Faith. They invited him to be their pastor, so he and his young family moved to Texas and they got started: Just a few families with a pastor, meeting in a borrowed room at the local Catholic parish on a Sunday afternoon. As part of the pastoral provision, which allowed former married Anglican priests to be ordained, personal Anglican Use parishes were established within existing Latin rite dioceses. Now, some 30 years later, the Church of the Atonement is a thriving parish with a beautiful church, school, and thousands in attendance.

Read the entire essay. For more on the topic, see the recently published collection, Anglicans and the Roman Catholic Church: Reflections on Recent Developments, edited by Stephen Cavanaugh; you can read the Introduction on Ignatius Insight:

New Crosses in the 21st Century: A Report on the Church in China

New Crosses in the 21st Century: A Report on the Church in China | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D. | Catholic World Report | June 2011

China has an old adage: "The closer you are to the emperor, the closer you get to the dragon's claws." This is as true today in Communist China as it was in imperial China. In a 1724 imperial edict, Emperor Yongzheng stated, "The Catholic religion from the West is not to be regarded as orthodox…and our laws cannot tolerate it." And 216 years later, Chairman Mao Zedong declared, "In the field of political action Communists may form an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal united front with some idealists and even religious people, but we can never approve their idealism or religious doctrines." Whenever Mao became displeased with China's Catholic bishops, he labeled them "counter-revolutionaries," which was convenient, for in 1951 he exclaimed, "Please make certain that you strike surely, accurately, and relentlessly in suppressing the counter-revolutionaries."

China's rulers, throughout the Church's long history in the Middle Kingdom,  have often struck out at the Catholic faithful who have grown steadily since Matteo Ricci first founded his Chinese mission 400 years ago. The Church of the 21st century, now only a decade old, has encountered new crosses under China's leadership, and recent months have ushered in renewed restrictions on the fragile Catholic community. Two bishops in particular have become the authoritative voices to speak to, and about, the Church in China today—Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian and Cardinal Joseph Zen.

I spoke with Bishop Aloysius Jin in Shanghai, and asked the Catholic prelate who is perhaps the most intimately involved with China's authorities how someone in such close proximity to an officially anti-religious government manages to navigate. Bishop Jin smiled and quoted Matthew 10:16, wherein Jesus exhorts his disciples: "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."

"The government thinks I'm too close to the Vatican," he said, "and the Vatican thinks I'm too close to the government." Jin, who is now more than 95 years old, was consecrated a bishop in 1985 without the Pope's mandate; he has been called "the government's bishop," though since then the Vatican has recognized his return into full communion with Rome.

Read the entire article on www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

More articles about Catholicism and China by Dr. Clark on Ignatius Insight:

• No Easy Answers: An Interview with Shanghai's Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, S.J. | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• A Visit to China's Largest Catholic Village | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D
• "Weaving a Profound Dialogue between West and East": On Matteo Ricci, S.J. | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• China, Catholicism, and Buddhism | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D. and Carl E. Olson
• The Church in China: Complexity and Community | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• China's Catholics of Guizhou: Three Days with Three Bishops | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• China's Struggling Catholics: A Second Report on the Church in Beijing | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• China's Thriving Catholics: A Report From Beijing's South Cathedral | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• Two Chinese Churches? Or One? | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• Two Weeks in the Eternal City: From the Vatican Secret Archives to the Basilica of St. Charles Borromeo | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• Catholicism and Buddhism | Anthony E. Clark and Carl E. Olson

Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., discusses YOUCAT...

... on "The Good Catholic Life" show, on 1060AM in Boston; you can listen to the interview online or download as an mp3 file :



Speaking of the Youth Catechism, the May 2011 issue of Catholic World Report had a feature piece, "A Gateway to the Faith", by Michael J. Miller:

The 300-page Youth Catechism, designed to fit in a backpack, is a scale model of the CCC, replicating its traditional four-part structure and proportions. Part Three on the Commandments (33 percent of the text) has been expanded slightly at the expense of the first two parts on the Creed (35 percent) and the sacraments (21 percent). Part Four on Prayer clocks in, as with the CCC, at 11 percent of the overall work. Like its prototype, the Youth Catechism is thoroughly cross-referenced and cites Scripture, the prayers of the liturgy, the Church Fathers, and the saints extensively.  It

includes two dozen references to four of the Vatican II documents. In a novel feature that makes this forum more like the Areopagus in Acts 17, YOUCAT also cites secular writers from many centuries, such as Pascal, Kierkegaard and C.S. Lewis. 

Generally speaking, catechesis in recent decades has neglected the doctrine of creation, perhaps out of a reluctance to confront scientific theories. The CCC begins its discussion of the Creed with a clear teaching of the metaphysics of creation; YOUCAT affirms the same truths in less technical terms.  

Church teaching on abortion, contraception, and euthanasia is stated briefly and clearly in YOUCAT. The presentation of the "peace and justice" themes in Catholic social doctrine is less focused and a tad trendy, with two Q&As and four sidebars on globalization but only one each on subsidiarity. The overall perspective is cosmopolitan in its sensitivity to Protestant Christianity and other world religions, especially Judaism and Islam. 

The formulations of doctrine in YOUCAT are meant to be easily understood, not definitive. Despite the somewhat anemic treatment of the priesthood and hierarchy, there are repeated references to the "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass." The more tendentious statements in the original German-language draft and a few flashes of sophisticated Viennese wit did not survive the vetting process. 

Like the CCC, YOUCAT attempts to identify and clarify the important elements of the faith and to present them as part of an integral whole. YOUCAT was not intended as a reference work, however; no Editio Typica in Latin is planned. Rather, as its editor-in-chief remarked, "It will serve as a gateway to the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the youth." 

Read the entire piece. For more information about the Youth Catechism, visit the YOUCAT site.

The Cuomo-Communion Controversy: Are canon law and pastoral practice really opposed?

The Cuomo-Communion Controversy | Are canon law and pastoral practice really opposed? | Edward N. Peters | Catholic World Report

Hardly a generation ago, a canon lawyer's remarks that a divorced man openly cohabiting with a divorced woman was ineligible to receive Holy Communion would have been greeted with a polite yawn, as if to say, "Of course he can't be given Communion. Tell us something we don't already know." But then, a generation ago, most Catholics were generally aware of the fundamentals of sacramental discipline, or, at the least, of those aspects of sacramental discipline that went back to the Apostolic Age.

Earlier this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a divorced Catholic man who lives with television celebrity Sandra Lee (also divorced, but not Catholic), was given Holy Communion at a well-publicized Mass celebrated by Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany. But my comments against Cuomo's taking Communion, instead of occasioning yawns, provoked dozens of broadcast news segments, hundreds of newspaper articles, and thousands of web posts. My assertion that some things besides personal opinion can impact a Catholic's eligibility to receive the Eucharist garnered nervous comments by bishops, open ridicule by left-leaning politicos, and several minutes of appallingly vacuous criticism by the odd quartet who make up The View.

The Cuomo-Communion controversy cannot be written off as hype generated by the secular media's selective zeal for the separation of Church and state (a separation routinely invoked against Catholics critical of, say, legalized abortion, but conveniently ignored when Catholics support, say, social spending programs). Cuomo's consistent support for legalized abortion and "gay marriage" has canonical implications, to be sure, and those must eventually be faced, but most of the media storm focused on my analysis of the governor's being given Holy Communion despite his living arrangements, not his politics. It was, in other words, largely an issue internal to the Church. So, the widespread opposition-bordering-on-outrage leveled against my assertions must spring from deeper wells than partisan politics.

Indeed it does.

The Cuomo-Communion controversy revealed several "fault lines" in Catholics' understanding of the relationship between canon law and pastoral practice, fault lines that can be traced, I think, to the antinomian earthquakes that shook Church and state in the 1960s and which fractures in thinking are still active today. Deeply distrustful, even resentful, attitudes toward canon law arose in Catholic circles immediately after Vatican II. While perhaps somewhat muted today, significant antinomian attitudes still linger, leaving many in the Church deprived of a proper understanding of the vital role that Church law should play in the life of faith.

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Scripture Breathes the Holy Spirit

Scripture Breathes the Holy Spirit | Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J. | Editorial for the 2011 June/July Homiletic & Pastoral Review

Recently I read a little book on the mystery of God's word by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap. (Jesus Began to Preach, Liturgical Press, 2010). The author is the well-known theologian and preacher to the papal household.  He has held that position since 1980.

The last chapter is about the spiritual reading of the Bible. There he makes an important point that I would like to pass on to the readers of HPR. The main idea in the book is that the word becomes or gives life because it contains and breathes the Holy Spirit. In the application to the Bible, Cantalamessa says that just as God not only created all things and also dwells in them by his power keeping them in existence, so also as the author of Scripture—the Holy Spirit—dwells in the word and gives it life.

St. Paul says, "All Scripture is inspired by God" (2 Tm 3:16). The Greek word he uses is theopneustos, which is composed of two words: God (Theos) and Spirit (Pneuma). This is usually translated as "inspired by God." That is correct, but the word also has an active meaning in the sense that Scripture "breathes the Holy Spirit." We can call this "active inspiration." God is present in his holy word and he is Spirit and Life; so the power of God working in and through his word in the Bible can change a person's life by breathing new spirit and life into it. The Bible, therefore, is not only inspired by God, but it also "inspires God" and "breathes forth God." In this sense it not only illuminates the mind, but it also moves the will to love and adoration of God.

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