January 2007 Archives

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to a group of judges, officials, lawyers and collaborators of the Roman Rota, the Church's central appellate court at the Vatican. During the address, Pope Benedict pointed to the fact that relativism is eroding the concept of marriage even in the minds of Catholics. He expressed concern about the use of annulments as a means of regulating the breaking up of marriages that, in truth, were authentic. He cautioned that marriage risks losing its "existential relevance in a cultural context marked by relativism and juridical positivism, which consider marriage as a mere social formalization of emotional bonds." He went on to say that "not only does it become contingent, as human sentiments can be, but is presented as a legal superstructure that human will might manipulate according to its pleasure, even depriving it of its heterosexual character".

Clearly the Pope's concerns are being made manifest in our society today. Let us pray that more will listen to God's call to faithful and loving marriages. And may those marriages be open to life and to the raising of children grounded in the Faith.

In Christ,
Joe

This week’s Catholic Carnival notes the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, marks the start of the next presidential race, and offers enough introspection to keep you thinking for weeks. Enjoy:

We start off with St. Margaret of Hungary from We Belong to the Lord. It explores the Saint’s life and how it applies to us today.

Next, we’re back to Rome with Italian Musing #4: Ecumenical Shop on Borgo Pio, and Christian Unity at Monastic Musings explores the meaning of ecumenism and unity in a gift shop.

Sarah had to do it after breaking her arm. We all do it at some point and she discusses it in Swallowing My Pride at just another day of Catholic pondering. Out of humility comes . . . joy? This is a post you’ll enjoy (because you can relate!)

Intentional Disciples offers us Parable of the Sower, which examines the parable and what it means for intentional discipleship. The blog is sponsored by the Catherine of Siena Institute.

Kicking Over My Traces explores Post-Secular America and Stephen King as they were discussed in First Things. Have we jettisoned reason?

Keeping us focused on the Liturgical year, HMS Blog offers us The Good News of the Law and Spirit based on the Mass readings for Sunday (21st). It reflects on why God’s Law and Spirit are good news; and it touches on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.

Back to ecumenism with Resources for the 2007 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at PhatCatholic Apologetics. This post explains the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and offers resources as well as a defense of the value of ecumenism.

50 Days After takes us international with Golden Statue in Madya Pradesh. Nebuchadnezzar is back in India and a Catholic Archbishop needs your support. Take a moment to look at this one.

The wisdom of a mother is obvious in The Legacy of Church Shoes at Catholic Matriarch in My Domestic Church. It’s a reflection on the little things we do that teach our children the importance of Mass.

Controversy? In the south it doesn’t get any more so than Indulgences. So Many Devotions . . . So Little Time explains indulgences and offers resources for going more indepth on your understanding.

Back to current events, Angry in the Great White North explores the possibility for A Catholic Monarch for England. How much would revoking the Act of Settlement of 1701 change things in England? Take a look.

Catholic Fire remains true to it’s name in Barak Obama and The Priest Who Sold His Soul to the Devil. Strong words? Take a look for yourself.

We continue with a little controversy in Let them be one . . . from A Catholic Life. Is ecumenism worthwhile? What should Catholics do about The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity?

Moving to the interior life, A Penitent Blogger gives us The ultimate strong man. It is a reflection especially for those of us who see ourselves as strong Christians.

The Kitchen Madonna keeps us on course with An Apron Manifesto or How to Get All Tied up with Apron Strings of Love. What does a woman in an apron really symbolize? Take a look and become part of the Apron Manifesto.

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Go here for more on the Catholic Carnival.

God bless,
Jay

Just wanted to mention this week's Catholic Carnival is up. It's growing every week it seems and you're guaranteed to enjoy one or two of the articles. Go see it here.

God bless,
Jay

Over the years I’ve read a lot of apologetics books – including Dave Armstrong’s first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism - but I haven’t seen an approach quite like The Catholic Verses until now. The subtitle of the book is 95 Bible Passages that Confound Protestants; Mr. Armstrong is setting these 95 verses as a counterpoint to Martin Luther’s 95 theses and he does a great job.

To oversimplify, this book takes the 95 verses and splits them into appropriate topics. However, it gets unique when Dave Armstrong introduces the protestant positions on these various verses – from Martin Luther or John Calvin or other well-known protestant pastors. This provides a lot of insight into how protestants respond to Catholic challenges and why they don’t see the verses as we do. It is an excellent way to perform exegesis and to explain a clear position on the verse. As I’ve said before, I haven’t seen another book approach apologetics in quite this way (Mr. Armstrong also cite blog arguments from Cor ad cor loquitor, which as a blogger I personally appreciate).

Another thing I like about the book is that he includes topics such as Divorce and Contraception, which some apologists put on a secondary level (and focus on the big issues of salvation, etc). But he includes chapters on these types of topics as well as breaking down the bigger issues into different sections like God’s Fellow Workers? exploring our role in a chapter on Justification and Salvation.

It’s hard to quote from the book and give you a taste without choosing huge passage, so I’ll just give you a great little section that gives you a feel for Dave Armstrong:

From a chapter on Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead: The “line” between heaven and earth, of the afterlife (including purgatory) and earth, is not so rigid and absolute as many seem to assume. This was shown in my previous mention of dead saints who came back to earth (Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration, Samuel, the two “witnesses” of Revelation, and the many people who came out of their tombs and walked around Jerusalem after Jesus’ death). It is true that those events were a result of God’s decree and not men’s prayers, but nevertheless, they prove that the “line” is not absolute. Whatever God can and does do is proper for men to pray for.

As you can see, Dave Armstrong has a wonderful positive outlook that pours through his work. And he constructs arguments in a very logical manner that I appreciate. He is honest about the counter arguments from others and explains the issues with each of them. Overall, I think this is an excellent book for Catholics who have protestants around them as well as for protestants interested in understanding how Catholics interpret scripture.

One other thing he does in The Catholic Verses which was very amusing: he rewrites some of the passages to make them agree with protestant thought. This sounds silly, but it does a great job of getting his point across that the verse is clearly Catholic. I won’t quote those, since they are a highlight of the book and alone make it worth purchasing!

Take a look at The Catholic Verses and let me know what you think. I enjoyed it and I suspect everyone will at least be challenged by the author’s approach to this tough subject.

God bless,
Jay

Social justice is an important area of the life of the Church. It strives to protect the dignity of the human person, which is made in the image and likeness of God. When one says the phrase, what words come to mind? Most would probably say issues like poverty, immigration, just war, labor issues, etc. Indeed, the US Conference of Catholic Bishop’s website (rightly, I think) includes those issues under the topic of social justice. But I propose that the faithful need to start thinking of “life” and “family” issues as the primary subcategories of social justice. To keep this article short, I will only focus on the “life” subcategory. A second article will follow on the “family” subcategory.

The abortion issue needs to be front and center on the Church’s fight for social justice, and it must be seen as social justice. It is clear that the right to life is the fundamental right upon which all other rights can exist. And because the law currently does not allow some to have this right, this issue is of primary importance to fight. Ironically, many who fight for social justice do not assent to this truth, and this includes many Catholics who fight for social justice. I work for a Catholic non-profit organization that helps “the poor” and, sadly, I witness this often. I am frustrated at the extent of this problem, and how little it is addressed. Unfortunately, the divorce of “pro-life” issues from social justice perpetuates this problem, and makes wonderful organizations like Priests for Life look more like narrow-minded, single-issue focused extremists rather than the social justice champions they truly are.

Another reason why the abortion issue is of primary importance is that it is a black and white issue, while most social justice issues are in a gray area. They have to either balance the rights of two different entities, or have several moral options for their solutions. Let’s take the immigration issue and poverty for each example. People have a right to look for work and to provide for their families while being paid a just wage for their labor. On the other hand, nations have the right to protect their borders and enforce their laws. Social justice should lead us toward policies that balance the rights of both of these entities and bring about the most good.
There are several moral options for the question “what is the best way to help lift people out of poverty?” Should we raise the minimum wage? If so, how much? If we do, what negative economic consequences will that bring? Will the new economic equilibrium put in place by raising the minimum wage truly help the poor? There are no black and white moral answers to these questions, and policies that try to bring about the most good should be shaped by fair and sound economic research.

These are examples of gray areas where Catholics can disagree in good faith, and should debate the policy that would bring about the most good. Abortion does not fall into either of these gray areas; there are no opposing rights and the killing of an innocent is never a moral option. Fighting the holocaust of abortion is a black and white, non-negotiable, primary social justice issue; this we cannot debate. Unfortunately, many Catholics involved in social justice see it as a gray issue and the others as black and white. We must work and pray to clear this confusion.

In Christ,
Daniel

Just wanted to point out a couple of things. First, the 100th Catholic Carnival is up here. The Carnival is always a great roundup of Catholic thought from throughout the blogosphere and this week is no exception. Take a few minutes to check it out - you're sure to find something of interest.

Also, my friend Owen has started VERT, which is an interesting Catholic blog for converts. He's adding conversion stories - something I enjoy since people are called home to the Catholic Church in so many ways. Check it out when you get a second.

God bless,
Jay

Lo, sons are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them! - - Psalm 127:3-5

Nightline last night ran a special on a quickly growing Evangelical movement called the "QuiverFull movement." What makes this movement unique is that it rejects all forms of contraception and family planning and leaves the planning up to God.

Now Nightline was unfortunately woefully ignorant of the Catholic stance, which also rejects birth control as sinful. But they also missed out on the history here. Until the 1930's, every Christian church rejected contraception as a sin. At that point, the Anglican church first allowed contraception in extreme cases, but within 50 years virtually all Christian churches had begun allowing contraception as a right of marriage. Nightline did interview a protestant pastor who claimed that God was not asking us to make the sacrifice that this family was making. He misses the fact that sacrifice is a reality of Christian life and if we can trust God with our finances, with our souls, then why not with our family planning. Does God not know better than us? By the way, the Bible calls us to reject contraception.

You can learn more at QuiverFull.com. There's also a book available, which I would recommend to protestants who think this sounds crazy. Remember, no one wishes they had less children when they die . . .

God bless,
Jay

Just wanted to mention that if you're a Catholic blogger, consider posting to this week's Catholic Carnival. You can see more details here. We're trying to get to 100 posts, since it is the 100th Catholic Carnival.

God bless,
Jay

Just wanted to point out that our sponsor site, Holy Family Catholic Catalog is having a sale on several apologetics books:

• Dave Armstrong's A Biblical Defense of Catholicism is 20% off. It's a great exploration of Scripture to explain Catholic doctrine.
  
• Also Suprised by Truth is 15% off. It's full of stories about why people converted to Catholicism.
  
• And for the teen/young adult crowd, Did Jesus have a Last Name? is also 15% off. It explains a lot of the practical realities of Catholicism.
  

So if you didn't get your Catholic stuff, go over and check out Holy Family's Online sale.

God bless,
Jay

I also wanted to throw out the New Year's Resolution that everyone should commit to this year: I will follow God wherever He leads me. This seems so simple, but I can remember a time God was leading me into the Catholic Church and I balked a bit. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, I did follow God into His Church, but it took a bit to overcome my protestant pride, so to speak.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year.

God bless,
Jay