Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 341

New E-books (of older print books) from Ignatius Press

Nearly all new Ignatius Press books are available in electronic book format (in .prc format for Kindle and in .epub format for Nook and iPad). In addition, many older Ignatius Press books are being made available in e-book format as well. Here are some of the older titles that have been added in the past few months:

• Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church by Pope Benedict XVI
• Many Religions, One Covenant: Israel, the Church and the World by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• Behold the Pierced One by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• The God of Jesus Christ by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• The Nature and Mission of Theology by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• Mary: The Church at the Source by Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Urs von Balthasar
• The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton
• What's Wrong With The World by G. K. Chesterton
• Summa of the Summa by Peter Kreeft
• A Shorter Summa by Peter Kreeft
• Sacred Blood, Sacred Image by Janice Bennett
• Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
• Catholic Christianity by Peter Kreeft
• Crossing the Tiber by Steve Ray
• To the Other Towns: The Life of Blessed Peter Favre, First Companion of St. Ignatius by William Bangert
• The Christian Meaning of Human Sexuality by Fr. Paul Quay, S.J.
• Humanae Vitae by Pope Paul VI (a revised, improved translation of the encyclical)
• Covenant of Love: Pope John Paul II on Sexuality, Marriage, and Family in the Modern World by Fr. Richard M. Hogan and Fr. John M. LeVoir
• Transformation in Christ by Dietrich von Hildebrand
• God's Invisible Hand: The Life and Work of Francis Cardinal Arinze by Cardinal Arinze and Gerard O'Connell
• God Is No Delusion: A Refutation of Richard Dawkins by Thomas Crean, O.P.
• Fire Within: Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and the Gospel on Prayer by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M.
• Father Elijah: An Apocalype by Michael O'Brien
• The Saints Show Us Christ: Daily Readings on the Spiritual Life by Fr. Rawley Myers
• Principles of Christian Morality by Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratinzger, Heinz Schurmann
• Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Vol. 1: The Creed by Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn
• Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Vol. 3: Life in Christ by Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn
• A Holy Life: The Writings of St. Bernadette by Patricia A. McEachern, PhD.
• Citadel of God: A Novel of Saint Benedict by Louis de Wohl
• Lay Siege to Heaven: A Novel of St. Catherine of Siena by Louis de Wohl
• Set All Afire: A Novel of St. Francis Xavier by Louis de Wohl
• Second Friends: C.S. Lewis and Ronald Knox in Conversation by Fr Milton Walsh

Here is a full listing of all Ignatius Press e-books.

What is divine revelation?

That question is addressed by Fr. Robert Barron in a new edition of "Faith Seeks Understanding" from Word on Fire:

For more on divine revelation, see chapter two, "God Comes to Meet Man" of Part One of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

This video promoting Eucharistic adoration...

... was produced by The Cardinal Newman Society as part of the CNS Adoration Campaign, which "promotes the tradition of Eucharistic Adoration to students and campus ministers." Visit AdorationU.com for more information.

Ignatius Press Lenten Book Sale: 30% - 80% off Regular Price!

Offer ends Tuesday, March 22th, 2010 at 12:00 midnight EST.
These prices are available online only through Ignatius.com

Lenten Book Sale: 30% - 80% off Regular Price!

Ignatius Press is having a Lenten Sale, and we want you to be the first to know! We have a great selection of books that will cost you as little as $3.95! And with titles from great authors such as Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Piers Paul Read, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Pope Benedict XVI, we've got a lot of fantastic books at unbeatable prices! But hurry, the sale ends April 24, 2011! To see a full listing of sale items, click here.

"In These Last Days": Chapter 1 of "The World of Saint Paul"

In These Last Days | Joseph M. Callewaert | Chapter One of The World of Saint Paul | Ignatius Insight

Before entering upon the life of Saint Paul, let us consider how in his era the world had become a field well-suited to receiving and propagating the good news, the euangelion, of Jesus Christ. "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the ages" (Heb 1:1-2; italics added). And this Son, the Christ, commanded his disciples: "[Go] .... And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

The world of the first century of our era had been prepared providentially to receive this gospel as a result of several favorable circumstances, which we will review quickly.

The Diaspora of the Jews

By 721 B.C. Sargon II of Assyria had taken more than twenty-seven thousand inhabitants of Samaria away in captivity to Asshur. At the same time a large number of Israelites from the same region took refuge in Egypt (see Hos 9:6).

Nearly one and a half centuries later, in June to July 587, Jerusalem was captured, the Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and a new deportation ensued. This caused a new influx of refugees in the land of the Nile, bringing with it the prophet Jeremiah, against his will. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek became the lingua franca of almost the entire ancient East. The books of the Old Testament were translated into Greek, the Septuagint (LXX), for the benefit of the Hellenized Jews of Alexandria in Egypt. In 233 B.C., Antiochus IV Epiphanes colonized the entire coast of Asia Minor with émigrés, most of them Jewish, who were originally from Babylon and Palestine.

In 63 B.C. Pompey, the famous Roman general, brought some Jews as captives to Rome. Later these Romanized Jews provided Julius Caesar with funds to help him in his rise to power. In return, in 47 B.C. Caesar promulgated a decree worded as follows: "Hyrcanus and his sons will preserve all their rights to the title of high priest, whether it be granted to them by law or by a free gift. If, subsequently, a question arises concerning Jewish polity, I desire that it be settled by referring it to him." The decree continues: "All other measures notwithstanding, I allow these persons [the Jews] to gather and to organize their community following the customs of their fathers and according to their own laws." This favorable decree of Julius Caesar was approved after his death by the Senate of the Republic and later by Caesar Augustus also.

The historian and geographer Strabo reports that Jews inhabited all the cities of the ancient world and that it was not easy to find a place in the world where their influence was not felt. In his Oratio pro FIacco, Cicero speaks about thousands of Jews residing, around one century before Jesus Christ, in the province of Asia. This comprised the western part of present-day Turkey: Mysia, Lydia, Caria, and Phrygia. Herod Agrippa I wrote to the emperor Caligula, "Jerusalem is the capital not only of Judaea but also of many other countries." The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria, perhaps exaggerating somewhat, declared that more than a million Jews lived in Egypt. At the time of Paul, Jews in Rome numbered several thousands, served by numerous synagogues.

Some of these Israelites were well-to-do and even very rich. There were more than seventy gilded seats in the leading synagogue of Alexandria. Many synagogues were among the most beautiful buildings in Antioch and Alexandria. Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontus (112-62 B.C.), seized the Jewish treasury on the island of Cos, the value of which had been estimated at more than eight hundred talents, a considerable sum at the time. Flaccus, in the province of Asia, appropriated large sums destined for the Temple of Jerusalem. The commerce in grain produced in Egypt and shipped to Rome was largely in the hands of the Jews.

The Roman poet Juvenal notes that some Roman men had themselves circumcised and practiced the Jewish religion, following the Law handed down by Moses. Dio Cassius mentions, as an item of great interest, the expansion of Israel's religion throughout the empire. A high-ranking Roman noblewoman, Fulvia, sent some very precious gifts of purple and gold to the Temple in Jerusalem. For her part Poppaea Sabina, the mistress and later the wife of Nero, converted to Judaism.

These examples did not prevent the cultivated classes in Rome from hating the Jews. Cicero described their religion as "barbarous superstition". Juvenal ridiculed their refusal to eat pork. Tacitus treated "that abominable race" as sluggards, because they did not work on the Sabbath day or during the sabbatical year. But the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus retorted: "For a long time now, there has been great zeal among the masses for our religion; there is scarcely a Greek or barbarian city or nation in which the custom of resting on the seventh day is not observed." This is confirmed by Seneca, who writes, "This custom of that despised race is so widespread that it has been adopted in practice in all countries: the conquered have imposed their law on the conquerors."

The ground, therefore, had been prepared well. The Law was the didaskalos (teacher) who led the people to the Messiah, the Christ announced by the prophets. It would be the task of the apostles and especially of Paul to proclaim him to the ends of the earth.

Read the entire chapter on Ignatius Insight...

Sticks and stone may break my bones...

... but superficial labels will only confuse me:

The American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who has given a significant speech to Australian Catholic students, under the title "The Fall of the Christian West" is an emerging leader of the most conservative form of Catholicism. ...

If Catholics can be superficially divided into progressive, traditional and reactionary, Burke falls firmly into the third camp. Supporters find in him a strong voice for traditional teaching, for standing fast in the faith and not "blowing in the winds" of modern relativism. Critics see him as harsh and inflexible, retreating behind the battlements of the church rather than engaging with the world.

So, Burke is "firmly" in the "reactionary" camp, but he is apparently a strong voice for the "traditional" camp as he expresses "traditional teaching"? No? Yes? What, exactly, does "reactionary" mean here? I take that it is meant as a negative descriptive, as Burke is said to hold "narrow views on the Mass", which must refer to his adamant belief that the Novus Ordo is from the pit of hell and is a false liturgy. Oh, wait a second—Cardinal Burke doesn't hold that position, although it is one held by many folks who describe themselves as Catholics—indeed, as the "true Catholics". Could it be, then, that he is not really a leader of the "most conservative form of Catholicism"?

But, back to "reactionary"; here is the apparent reason for the descriptive:

Burke, 62, is also a strong opponent of euthanasia, same-sex marriage and stem cell research – particularly hot issues in the United States.

In the 2004 US election campaign, Burke said that Catholic voters who supported pro-choice candidates because they were pro-choice committed a grave sin, and they too should not receive communion without having their sin absolved. He acknowledged it would not be a mortal sin if a voter believed there was a more important moral issue than abortion at stake but could not imagine what such an issue might be.

In other words, those who hold to official, magisterial teaching are "reactionary", since the Correct Default Position of All Enlightened People is the progressive, liberal one. But what if this were stated instead?

Burke, 62, is also a strong opponent of sexual abuse, pornography, murdering old ladies, beating little kids, torture, rape, genocide, and drug abuse.

Is that "reactionary"? If not, why not? In other words, the author accurately conveys at least one bit of opinon: his divisions are indeed superficial and ultimately of little value, especially since he doesn't define them well or use them consistently. Quite in contrast to the Cardinal's fine speech.

New Irish Government Raises Concerns for Catholics

New Irish Government Raises Concerns for Catholics | Michael Kelly | Catholic World Report

Exclusive Coalition governance could mean setbacks on social issues.

Ireland's new coalition looks set for a collision course with the Catholic Church after agreeing upon a program for government that will see a raft of liberal social reforms, including proposals on same-sex marriage and reducing the Church's influence in education. The document, Towards Recovery: Program for a National Government 2011-2016, also contains an oblique but ominous plan to "regulate" stem cell research, which some activists are reading as a "green light" for experimentation with embryos.

The center-right Fine Gael (Irish for Gaelic Nation) and the leftist Labor Party agreed upon the document after no party won an overall majority in the February 25 general election. The plan will see the two parties take power for the first time in 14 years. The last time the parties were in government together, a constitutional referendum narrowly overturned the country's ban on divorce. However, a later Supreme Court ruling found that the government had misused public funds to influence the vote in favor of a change.

The new program for government proposes holding a special constitutional convention to redraft the Irish Constitution, including plans to introduce same-sex marriage and remove the crime of blasphemy. Some activists fear that all references to God will also be removed from the document.

Ireland is in the grip of the worst economic crisis since it won independence from Britain in 1922. The outgoing Fianna Fáil (Irish for Soldiers of Destiny) party, which many people blame for lax financial regulation, suffered heavy losses, seeing its parliamentary representation shrink from 78 members to just 20. The main victor was Fine Gael, winning a total of 76 seats. However, Fine Gael fell just seven seats short of a governing majority, forcing it to coalesce with a resurgent Labor Party, which was buoyed up by a swing to the left that brought its representation from 20 to 37 members of parliament. While the Fine Gael party is traditionally socially conservative, economic policy has trumped social issues in the program for government negotiations. Labor has been forced to accept unpalatable fiscally-conservative policies, and in return, Fine Gael has acquiesced on most of Labor's liberal-leaning demands on social issues.

The election campaign was dominated by the economy, with little debate on family and life issues. With unemployment stubbornly resting at 13.4 percent, many voters concentrated solely on the parties' economic proposals. Even the country's Catholic bishops chose only to mention the defense of traditional marriage on page 19 of a 24-page pre-election pastoral letter, while abortion and the right to life were relegated to page 21 of the document.

But Labor didn't get everything its own way, at least for now. The issue of abortion, which Labor promised to legislate for during the campaign, has been placed on the back-burner for the time being. An "expert group" will be established to bring forward proposals on how the issue should be addressed.

Currently, abortion remains illegal in Ireland. However, disagreements over a controversial 1992 Supreme Court decision establishing a right to abortion when the life of the mother is at risk has never been resolved. In December 2010, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Irish government must clarify the matter.

Read the entire article on www.CatholicWorldReport.com...