Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 60
January 26, 2015
Brew Evangelization: The Ongoing Renaissance of Monastic Beer
Brew Evangelization: The Ongoing Renaissance of Monastic Beer | Robert Jared Staudt | CWR
As craft beer continues to rise in popularity in the United States, those responsible for creating western brewing practices are reclaiming their own
What is it about monks and beer? The two just go together. And as craft beer continues to rise in popularity in the United States, the ones responsible for creating western brewing practices are reclaiming their own.
This renewal is important for monastic life in providing another opportunity for monks to produce their own goods and to sustain their monasteries (in an age when many of their traditional farming practices are in decline; see an odd example in Mepkin Abbey’s controversy with PETA). St. Benedict affirms the necessity of the monk’s work: “When they live by the labor of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks” (Rule, ch. 48). Benedict also states that “the monastery should, if possible, be so constructed that within it all necessities, such as water, mill and garden are contained, and the various crafts are practiced” (ch. 66).
Although this self-sufficiency is meant, in part, to insulate the monks from the world, the crafts Benedict mentions are important to provide an opportunity for the monks to witness to society. St. Benedict foresees the contribution of the monk on society: “Whenever products of these artisans are sold, those responsible for the sale must not dare to practice any fraud. . . . The evil of avarice must have not part in establishing prices, which should, therefore, always be a little lower than people outside the monastery are able to set, so that in all things God may be glorified (ch. 57, quoting 1 Pt 4:11). Though speaking of prices in particular (although aren’t Trappist beers the most expensive?), Benedict wants the monks to glorify God when they enter into contact with the outside world through their products.
This combination of bolstering monastic life and creating a more dynamic engagement with our culture has the potential for what has been called a Brew Evangelization. The New Evangelization is a renewed proclamation of the treasury of the Christian faith to meet the needs and challenges of modern culture, especially for those Christians who have fallen away from the faith. The revival of brewing is also a small recovery of monastic tradition. Monastic brewing can be considered a part of a general need for Catholics to reassert our presence and influence in modern culture.
One brewery, which is certainly making a splash, is Birra Nursia, brewed by the Monastery of St. Benedict, an international community with many American monks, in Norcia Italy, St. Benedict’s hometown.
January 24, 2015
Jonah and the Call to Constant Conversion
Depiction of Jonah in a champlevé enamel (1181) by Nicholas of Verdun in the Verduner altar at Klosterneuburg abbey, Austria. [en.wikipedia.org]
A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for January 25, 2015 | Third Sunday in Ordinary Time | Carl E. Olson
Readings:
• Jon 3:1-5, 10
• Psa 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
• 1 Cor 7:29-31
• Mk 1:14-20
“Let us show ourselves people of Nineveh, not of Sodom”, wrote St. Gregory of Nazianzus, commenting on the story of the prophet Jonah. “Let us amend our wickedness, lest we be consumed with it. Let us listen to the preaching of Jonah, lest we be overwhelmed by fire and brimstone.”
Such language isn’t common or popular. After all, how can we say God is love and full of mercy if we talk in such a way? As one angry atheist wrote to me years ago, “Why should I believe in a God who delights in throwing people into the flames of hell?”
Well, you shouldn’t. And, in fact, today’s readings reveal that God not only loves mankind, he makes provision for our salvation. The readings, notes Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar in Light of the Word (Ignatius Press, 1993), “all emphasize the urgency of conversion, for there is no time for anything else.”
That phrase—“there is no time for anything else”—can be understood in two complimentary ways. First, time is short; it is transitory by nature, and our natural bodies will eventually expire and then we’ll face life after time. This is emphasized in the message taken by Jonah to the Assyrians: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” Saint Paul, in his letter to the Christians at Corinth, is equally insistent: “I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out.” And our Lord, preaching in Galilee, declared, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.”
Secondly, since time is short and the time is at hand, our time should be dedicated to what is lasting, eternal, and indestructible. “Time is short”, quipped Cardinal John Henry Newman, “eternity is long.” The perennial temptation is to flee the relentless march of time by immersing ourselves in time-bound pleasures, activities, and distractions. These can be sinful, such as the wickedness practiced by the Ninevites, or be good things turned into the ultimate good, such as work, recreation, and relationships.
This is the point made by Paul, who didn’t intend to dismiss the worth of marriage or work, but was exhorting Christians to see and understand them in the light of the eschaton—the end of time and the full revelation of God’s glory and promises. “In and of itself”, noted von Balthasar, “time is so pressing that one cannot settle into it with unconcerned comfort.”
Jonah, of course, did not wish to embark on an uncomfortable mission. Consequently, he experienced even greater discomfort. But the bigger issue for Jonah, as it is for all of us, is not so much material comfort as it is spiritual sloth. The Catechism explains that “acedia or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness” (par 2094).
Jonah was actually repelled and angered by God’s gift of mercy and salvation to the hated Assyrians. When the Assyrians turned away from their evil way and God did not carry out the destruction of Nineveh, Jonah did not rejoice or praise God: “But this greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry” (Jon 4:1). Why was he angry? St. Augustine noted that the prophet “was frustrated over the redemption and salvation of the Gentiles!” Jonah had to learn that God does not desire the destruction of his creatures, but their holiness and perfection (see Jon 4:9-11).
One lesson to be learned is that it’s not just those people “out there”, in the world, who need conversion and cleansing, but also those of us who have been baptized into Christ and are members of his mystical Body. When Simon and Andrew abandoned their nets to follow Christ, they embarked on the path of conversion. But we know it was a long and often difficult path, filled with misunderstandings, failings, and, in the case of Peter, denial of the Lord.
We also need constant conversion, for there is no time for anything else.
(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the January 22, 2012, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)
"His primary identity was as a priest”
Left: A statue of Blessed Junipero Serra is seen in 2012 outside Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. (CNS photo/Bob Mullen); right: The bell tower of the basilica at Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo in Carmel, Calif.; the remains of Blessed Serra are entombed in the mission's basilica. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
"His primary identity was as a priest” | Jim Graves | CWR
Historian and author Dr. Robert Senkewicz on the life, work, and holiness of Bl. Junípero Serra, who will be canonized this year by Pope Francis
Pope Francis recently announced his intention to canonize Spanish padre, Blessed Junípero Serra Ferrer, O.F.M. (1713-84) when he visits the United States this fall. Serra was from the Spanish island possession of Majorca, off the east coast of Spain, and traveled to the New World with his fellow Franciscans to evangelize the native peoples of Mexico and California. Beginning in 1769, he established the first nine of 21 California missions.
Serra has been criticized by some for his treatment of the Indians, but is admired by others, including Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, who said, “Blessed Junipero is one of my spiritual heroes and a giant figure in the evangelization of the New World.”
Dr. Robert M. Senkewicz was born in New York City. After attending graduate school at Stanford University, he became a history professor at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution near San Jose, California, in 1976, a position he still holds today. He has collaborated with his wife, Rose Marie Beebe, on several books about the history of California including Lands of Promise and Despair: Chronicles of Early California, 1535–1846; Testimonios: Early California through the Eyes of Women, 1815–1848; and “To Toil in That Vineyard of the Lord”: Contemporary Scholarship on Junípero Serra. Their new book, Junipero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary (University of Oklahoma Press), will be published in February. Professor Senkewicz is a Catholic, and volunteers to lead tours of Mission Santa Clara de Asis on the University grounds. He recently spoke with CWR about Blessed Junipero.
CWR: There are many books about Junipero Serra, the Indians and the missions. What new perspective does your book add to those already out there?
Senkewicz: We offer one that has a double focus. First off, Fr. Serra was a Catholic Franciscan missionary priest. All four of these things are important. Many of the books on Serra I’ve read focus on some personal aspects of his life, such as his leg infection which caused him so much pain or the disputes he had with the governors of California. Insufficient attention, however, is paid to him as a priest and to his own spirituality and theology. This is an important part of who he is. In fact, he had a doctorate in theology.
Second, we concentrate on the native peoples he encountered in Mexico and California. Newer materials focusing on his relationship with the native peoples are contentious, saying that the missions and Spanish colonialism were bad for native peoples. We wanted to explore Serra’s thoughts in regards to them.
It turned out to be a perfect collaboration between my wife and I. I teach history and she teaches Spanish. All the original documents relating to the missions are in Spanish, so she was able to do our translations.
CWR: Tell us about Serra the priest.
January 22, 2015
Breaking Free of Our Metaphysical Winter
Breaking Free of Our Metaphysical Winter | Brian Jones | Homiletic & Pastoral Review
On Why Christians Must Study Philosophy
In diagnosing the philosophical mentality of modernity, the Catholic novelist-physician-philosopher, Walker Percy, once wrote the following:
The distinction which must be kept in mind is that between science and what can only be called “scientism.” . . . {Scientism} can be considered only as an ideology, a kind of quasi-religion––not as a valid method of investigating and theorizing which comprises science proper––a cast of mind all the more pervasive for not being recognized as such and, accordingly, one of the most potent forces which inform, almost automatically and unconsciously, the minds of most denizens of modern industrial societies like the United States.1
The modern mind has cultivated, both knowingly and unknowingly, what Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI referred to in his Regensburg Address “the self-limitation of reason,” a pathology that reduces the capacity of human intelligence to actually arrive at truth. This reductionist account of human knowing has stirred within modern man a philosophical relativism, a worldview that denies our ability to know anything outside of our own minds. As a result, all that we have access to is what our minds create, thereby rejecting the whole structure of reality as a given, as something already there to be known and discovered through further inquiry and investigation. For Percy, and Benedict as well, this self-limitation of reason has been coupled with “scientism,” the ideological view that reduces claims regarding truth to what can be experimentally verified in the humanistic and physical sciences. Questions regarding religion, ethics, politics, happiness, and man’s ultimate destiny become restricted as solely belonging to the domain of science, elevating both science and technology to the level of metaphysics or theology. Man is no longer a truth seeker, oriented in his being to pursue that which he was made for, but did not himself make. “Sundered from that truth,” writes Blessed Pope John Paul II:
Individuals are at the mercy of caprice, and their state as person ends up being judged by pragmatic criteria based essentially upon experimental data, in the mistaken belief that technology must dominate all. It has happened, therefore, that reason, rather than voicing the human orientation towards truth, has wilted under the weight of so much knowledge and, little by little, has lost the capacity to lift its gaze to the heights, not daring to rise to the truth of being. Abandoning the investigation of being, modern philosophical research has concentrated instead upon human knowing. Rather than make use of the human capacity to know the truth, modern philosophy has preferred to accentuate the ways in which this capacity is limited and conditioned.2
What the Pope is highlighting here is the fact that being is mind-independent, and the entirety of reality, all that is, has an integral relationship to the human intellect. At the pinnacle of this investigation of being is Being himself, the Being who is the fullness of what is, and who is without imperfection or limitation. Although it is true that the human mind is finite, and tainted by the stains of original and actual sin, it can, nevertheless, transcend the empirical, for this capacity is a given along with our created human nature. For the Pope, and Catholicism as well, human intelligence has a positive capacity to know the order and structure of reality, and can also acquire a genuine, albeit limited, knowledge of God. If emphasis is placed upon the ways in which our knowledge is limited or even deceptive, as is the case with modern philosophy, then our access to reality, to the authentic moral good, and ultimately to God, will be diminished and negated.
Contra this relativistic malaise of modernity, the Pope offers a solution pertaining to the science of philosophy, specifically outlining the sapiential character of philosophical inquiry. The Holy Father states that we must recover a philosophy that has a:
Is Catholic teaching on marriage an ideal or a norm?
(Photo: us.fotolia.com | © marcolavagnini)
Is Catholic teaching on marriage an ideal or a norm? | Russell Shaw | CWR blog
The key to understanding the struggle that surfaced at last October’s Synod of Bishops
Is the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage, including indissolubility, an ideal or a norm? Although the question may sound abstract, even esoteric, it has urgent, immediate practical implications. To say one admires the Church’s teaching as an ideal is, intentionally or not, to undermine that teaching in the act of admiring it.
Here is the key to understanding a struggle that surfaced at last October’s Synod of Bishops on marriage and is likely to continue at the synod next fall.
Most obviously, it’s an argument about the correct approach to take to people in “irregular unions”—cohabiting couples, same-sex couples, and divorced and remarried Catholics whose first marriages haven’t been annulled. In particular: should some of those latter be given communion or should they not?
This is where the question of norms and ideals becomes crucial. To see why, some definitions are necessary.
Start with the Church’s teaching on marriage.
Will a Future Pope Be Forced to Flee Rome?
A demonstrator holds up a sign reading "I'm Muslim don't panic" during a protest against Islamophobia in front of the Brussels' Justice Palace in Belgium Oct. 26, 2014. (CNS photo/Francois Lenoir, Reuters)
Will a Future Pope Be Forced to Flee Rome? | William Kilpatrick | CWR
The current arc of history seems to be drawing us back into a very dark past—a time when Islam ruled half the civilized world and threatened the rest of it.
Where will the Pope live when Rome falls to Islam?
It’s not an idle question. For one thing, there is historical precedent. Popes have been forced from Rome in the past. For another thing, numerous Islamic authorities have explicitly targeted Rome for conquest.
Rome may be the Eternal City, but it has seen rough times. In 846, for instance, Pope Leo IV had to briefly flee Rome when it was attacked by an Arab fleet. The following year, he ordered the construction of a great wall around the Vatican to protect it from marauding Muslims. Even as recently as the 1940s, Rome was occupied by a foreign army. Although the Nazis left the pope alone, there is no guarantee that that situation would have continued had the Germans been able to keep the Allied forces at bay.
If Rome ever falls to Islam, the pope—whoever he may be at that time—may choose to remain in Rome and suffer the almost certain martyrdom that would follow. That is up to him and the Holy Spirit. However, in light of the escalating Islamization of Europe, it would seem prudent for Vatican officials to draw up some contingency plans. If the pope chooses exile, it would probably have to be in North or South American since it’s unlikely there will be any safe havens in Europe. In fact, Italy is currently a safer place than many other European nations. Although many Muslim immigrants pass through Italy, it is not their first choice of residence. Other European countries offer much more generous welfare incentives than does Italy. Countries such as England, Belgium, France, Sweden, and Germany are likely to fall first.
By “fall,” I don’t mean that these countries will fall to Muslim armies. That probably won’t be necessary. What we will see—what we are already witnessing—is a slow, steady process of submission. Well, slow and steady up to a point—and then, a rapid acceleration.
Some places in Europe seem already to be in the rapid acceleration phase. Birmingham, England now has more Muslim than Christian children. “That means,” as Mark Steyn observes, “that absent any countervailing dynamic, its future is Muslim.” What will that future look like? Steyn comments:
If you’re a Muslim girl, the authorities will systematically turn a blind eye to forced marriages and honor violence and, if you’re a lower-class infidel girl, to “grooming.” If you’re boorish enough to draw attention to such unpleasantness, you’ll be committing a hate crime…
It’s not necessary to consult a crystal ball to see the future of Birmingham (England’s second largest city).
January 21, 2015
New: "Following Jesus Every Day: How Believing Transforms Living" by Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn
Now available from Ignatius Press:
Following Jesus Every Day: How Believing Transforms Living
by Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn
How can Christians really live what we believe as followers of Christ? How can our faith in Jesus transform our daily lives? In simple but profound words and vibrant images from the renowned Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, the doctrine and the practice of the faith are fruitfully brought together to help us truly to follow Jesus every day.
Cardinal Schönborn addresses the basic questions of Christian morality, and how we live what we believe as followers of Christ. He shows how we are not left alone in the difficult task of coping with life’s challenges: God’s grace is a strong help for us. Thanks to this divine help, good moral conduct is possible— as we see in the shining examples of the saints.
The Cardinal leads from the basic question—What is ethical conduct, and how is it possible?—to the question of holiness: How are we to become saints? Each of his reflections on morality begins with human experience, and then leads into a discussion of the specific character of Christian morality. He explores many important questions about Christian moral living, referring to the teachings of Jesus Christ, as well as insights from the Church Fathers and the saints on such topics as sin, grace, freedom, virtue, conscience, holiness, and more.
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, is a renowned spiritual teacher and writer. He has authored numerous books including Jesus, the Divine Physician, Chance or Purpose?, Behold, God's Son, and Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Praise for Following Jesus Every Day:
"Many Christians today know what to believe but are less certain about how to live a life faithful to the Gospel. How do we truly follow Jesus every day? In this fantastic book, Cardinal Schönborn walks the reader step-by-step through the basics of Christian moral teaching by drawing on Scripture, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The result is an amazingly clear introduction to moral theology that should be read by everyone."
— Brant Pitre, Professor of Sacred Scripture, Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans
"Here we have a beautiful exposition on Christian anthropology. Such a book is so important today as many of us have forgotten or never learned the true dignity of the human person in Christ. Cardinal Schönborn has written such a readable introduction to the true meaning of our lives, lives destined for holiness. Perfect for R.C.I.A., adult faith formation, and personal spiritual reading."
— Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., Institute for Priestly Formation, Creighton University
"All of us need help to live Christ's teachings amid the challenges of life. In this very timely book, Cardinal Schönborn offers the insightful and practical help we need to build our lives on the firm foundation of Christ's teaching."
— Jimmy Akin, Apologist and Author of The Fathers Know Best
"Cardinal Schönborn shows his genius for explaining the truths of the faith in a vivid and attractive way, for convinced believers as well as the skeptical. These reflections beautifully demonstrate that Christian morality is reasonable and living a holy life is possible."
— Mary Healy, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Scripture, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit
C.S. Lewis on Mere Liberty and the Evils of Statism
The following address was given by David J. Theroux, founder and president of The Independent Institute and the C.S. Lewis Society of California, at the first annual conference of Christians for Liberty, that was held at St. Edwards University in San Antonio, TX, August 2, 2014. Theroux covers a lot of ground and shows how Christianity was essential to the Western understanding of individual rights and political freedom; he also shows how C.S. Lewis drew upon the writings and thought of St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Acton and others in defending authentic liberty and natural law (or "the Tao", as Lewis called it in The Abolition of Man).
January 20, 2015
Should We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"?
(Photo: www.balthasarbooks.com)
Should We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"? | Mark Brumley | Catholic World Report
Theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar's soteriology has often been misunderstood or misrepresented. Here is a short primer on what he actually wrote.
Let me cut to the theological chase: the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar wasn’t a universalist. Not if a universalist is one who claims for certain all men will be saved. Or, to put it differently, that no one—including ourselves—will be lost. This side of eternity, according to Balthasar, we simply can’t know, either way, whether all people will be saved or whether “two eternal outcomes”—one of salvation and one of damnation—will be realized. Whatever Balthasar’s position is, and whether or not it is correct, it isn’t universalism.
“All of us who practice the Christian faith and, to the extent that its nature as a mystery permits, would also like to understand it are under judgment,” Balthasar wrote at the beginning of his book Dare We “That Hope All Men Be Saved”? (2nd edition, 2014). Note the words “under judgment.” These are not the words of confident universalism. He continued:
By no means are we above [judgment], so that we might know its outcome in advance and could proceed from that knowledge to further speculation. The apostle, who is conscious of having no guilt, does not therefore regard himself as already acquitted: “It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor 4:4).
Balthasar went on to speak of Paul’s exhortations to confidence and hope in Christ, the judge who “has borne the sins of everyone,” yet he insisted that we can’t for that reason be “quite untroubled in the certainty of our salvation.” Later Balthasar declared that “we stand completely and utterly under judgment, and have no right, nor is it possible for us, to peer in advance at the Judge’s cards. How can anyone equate hoping with knowing? I hope that my friend will recover from his serious illness—do I therefore know this?” (p. 131).
Writing of theologians contemplating that people for whom Christ died “may fail to reach their final destination in God, and may instead suffer eternal damnation with its everlasting pain,” Balthasar maintained:
If we take our faith seriously and respect the words of Scripture, we must resign ourselves to admitting such an ultimate possibility, our feelings of revulsion notwithstanding. We may not simply ignore such a threat; we may not easily dismiss it, neither for ourselves nor for any of our brothers and sisters in Christ” (Dare We Hope, p. 191).
Right now, we stand under judgment; the outcome isn’t determined and there is the real possibility of damnation, not just for others but for ourselves as well. We have hope, not certainty, of salvation for all, Balthasar maintained. Nor did he see such hope as inconsistent with missionary work—just the opposite. The Christian must care about the salvation of others as well as his own salvation; he must be an agent, by grace, of salvation for others and in this way for himself as well.
Not everyone shares Balthasar’s uncertainty, of course.
January 19, 2015
Catholic institute at USC to host conference on “The Future of the Catholic Literary Imagination”
by Carl E. Olson | CWR blog
An interview with Dana Gioia, acclaimed poet/critic and current Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at USC
Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet, and the former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts who is now the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California. He has published several full-length collections of poetry (and several shorter collections), and the collection Interrogations at Noon won the 2002 American Book Award. His poetry has also appeared in numerous anthologies. His 1991 book, Can Poetry Matter?, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award. His poems, translations, essays, and reviews have appeared in many magazines, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and The Hudson Review. He is also a member of the College of Fellows at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (Berkeley).
In October 2013, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dana and his brother, Ted, about their respective careers as authors, artists, and businessmen. Dana recently corresponded with me about the upcoming three-day conference, “The Future of the Catholic Literary Imagination”, hosted by the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, which is headed by Fr. James Heft, that will take place February 19-21 on the USC campus. The conference features presentations by Gioia, Julia Alvarez, Ron Hansen, Alice McDermott, Kevin Starr, and Tobias Wolff, with panelists including many more leading writers, critics, scholars, editors, and journalists.
CWR: How did the USC conference on Catholic literature come about?
Gioia: As a writer and a Catholic, I’ve been deeply concerned by the retreat of Catholic writers and artists from the cultural mainstream. I’ve also been disappointed by the Church’s lack of concern about the role of the arts, especially in Catholic worship and education. I felt it was the right time to gather our best writers and teacher—both new and established—to discuss the issues.
USC’s Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies was the perfect sponsor for the conference. Father James Heft was immediately enthusiastic about the idea. We decided to create a national conference involving our leading writers.
CWR: What topics will be addressed and what formats?
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