Diligite iustitiam

Dominican videos

2012-01-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Dominican Vocation: different aspects of our life

DHS Priory: The Dominican Order

2012-01-28T15:33:00.001-08:00

Rorate Caeli: "They should accept it"
The SSPXers had better accept the agreement with Rome (to save Rome)
by Alessandro Gnocchi & Mario Palmaro

Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

2012-01-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

From last year:

Fr. Barron has a video, but I'm not going to embed it. I'll just link to it, since his fans may be reading this.

2012-01-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

A notice by Robert George from earlier this month: In Memoriam: Two Catholic Philosophers

Alfonso Gomez-Lobo wrote a short introduction to the NNLT.

In Memoriam: Alfonso Gomez-Lobo

Michael Dummett
Remembering Michael Dummett
A faculty page.
Gifford Lecture Series bio
The Revision of the Roman Liturgy: A Review
A Conversion Story
Michael Dummett On the Morality of Contraception

2012-01-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

James Chastek, How cosmological arguments say science gives an insufficient account of nature
Edward Feser, Maudlin on the philosophy of cosmology

2012-01-27T21:09:00.000-08:00

Marriage and Procreation: The Intrinsic Connection
by Patrick Lee, Robert P. George and Gerard V. Bradley

2012-01-27T20:29:00.001-08:00

Rorate Caeli: A relevant address: The Pope on Tradition, Ecumenism, and Vatican II

2012-01-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

Zenit: The Liturgy Source of Life, Prayer and Catechesis (CCC 1071-1075)
Column of Liturgical Theology by Don Mauro Gagliardi

2012-01-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

Zenit: Romanian Orthodox Bishop: Dialogue Gaining Ground
On How 'Domestic Faith' Is Building Relationships

2012-01-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

Sandro Magister: Brazil. The Pentecost of Father Marcelo

The face of Catholicism is changing in the most populous country of Latin America. The Charismatics are flourishing by the millions. And they have a star in a priest who fills stadiums by preaching the love of God

2012-01-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

Sandro Magister: Vatican Diary / The Neocatechumenals get their diploma. But not the one they were expecting
The Holy See has approved the rites that mark the stages of their catechism. But the particularities with which they celebrate their Masses still remain under observation. Some of them are permitted. Others not.

2012-01-26T21:36:00.001-08:00

2012 Aquinas Lecture: “Romans 1:20 & Our Natural Knowledge of God,” with Dr. Matthew Levering, University of Dayton

Sarge was there tonight.

2012-01-26T18:54:00.001-08:00

Accept mystery of Christ to achieve inner peace, movement's leader says

Fr. McCloskey on CST

2012-01-25T21:13:00.000-08:00

The Magisterium and Catholic Social Teaching by Rev. C. J. McCloskey III

He writes: "Catholic social teachings are nothing less than the Beatitudes of the gospel refined for action in the world."

The Beatitudes may be the summation of Christian ethics or moral teaching, with the primacy of charity. But is the elaboration of charity sufficient for the development of a political theology, so that everything can be unpacked from our understanding of charity alone? Justice does have a ratio distinct from charity; can we uncover the definition of justice by reasoning what charity requires from us with regards to others? Perhaps that is possible for those who are wise; the rest of us must rely on the connections made by our teachers. At any rate, if CST takes as its focus and its material the modern nation-state, is it not therefore contingent rather than absolute (in the sense of "ideal" or "regarding the best possible polity"?) If a Catholic program to reforming the nation-state is impracticable because the [centralized] nation-state itself is itself impracticable, then might we not need to reconsider what our course of action should be? {Relocalization and rebuilding community, beginning with the family and extended kin group and the parish.]

2012-01-25T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Smithy: Divine Simplicity III: Univocity

2012-01-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

Education as Transformation by Mo Fung Woltering (via Insight Scoop)

The next idea that I would like you to consider is ballroom dancing. Aside from the current popularity of Dancing with the Stars, ballroom dancing has immense intrinsic value for what it can cultivate. In order to do it well, men and women must know their roles. Although different, they are co-essential. They are complementary. This is the whole theology of man and woman in a nutshell. I think this is something that could be really effective with youth groups, as well as pre-Cana classes. Both our senior high school and junior high school students love ballroom dancing. When you see them dancing, you can immediately tell that it’s natural, not contrived. It’s a stark contrast to more popular forms of dancing, where the young people seem self-conscious, and their interactions artificial.

In ballroom dancing, the man leads. Was this deliberately left out or ignored? Or was it force of habit in addressing contemporary audiences?

As for his main thesis - can a sense of mystery be cultivated through education? Undoubtedly. But wouldn't it be better if life as a whole were directed towards contemplation of God? Recollection as the first step to prayaer - cultivating silence, like First we must cultivate silence, as the Holy Father recently reminded us with respect to the use of social media. How about a stronger liturgical spirituality, too, not just appreciation of the Mass? These practices can be modelled in the school, but they must first be developed at home and within the parish
community. The rather limited role of "Christian" education must be respected, especially when there is a temptation to market a school on the basis of its Catholic identity.

See the author's "The Personalist History of Warren Carroll."

Dr. Phillip Crotty on Newman as Educator

2012-01-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

Evensong to Celebrate the Founding of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

2012-01-24T21:24:00.001-08:00

Another Maritain book being republished

2012-01-24T18:33:00.001-08:00

Scholasticism and Politics

2012-01-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

Benedict XVI approves celebrations of Christian initiation of the Neocatechumenal Way

2012-01-22T18:32:00.000-08:00

Sandro Magister: Benedict XVI, the Reformer

2012-01-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

NLM: Vatican Approval for Neo-Catechumenal Way Only Applies to Non-Liturgical Catechesis

Fr. Z: The Holy See did NOT approve NeoCat liturgical variants for Mass

Homo sapiens est Homo erectus

2012-01-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

We are familiar with the use of "straight" to describe one's character with reference to his actions, e.g. moral rectitude. What about the use of "straight" to describe his character in itself, using the image or metaphor of standing erect? There is an expression in Cantonese, "kei dak jik, haang dak jik" - able to stand straight, able to walk straight - to describe someone who is of good character. Something similar can be found in English, when one is said to be morally "upright." Is this expression to be found in other languages as well?

Standing straight is opposed to slouching or being hunched over like a non-human animal or ape; this is what is proper to human beings. (Keep in mind natural or primal posture - not the modern American or Western notion of good or correct posture.) The use of reason in the pursuit of the good is proper to man as well - we do need to be trained and acquire virtue, but moral training is not opposed to what is "natural" to us, as we are inclined to the good and possess the seeds of virtue.

Hence, the use of etymology and definition can be helpful in the moral education of chicldren, as the reason why we used certain words or expressions is explained to them? American public education prefers to be agnostic about matters such as character and ethics, setting moral evaluations aside in discussions of characters' motivation and "personality." (Though they may take into consideration "bad" consequences, or the harmful impact of their actions on others in a story.)

I am reminded that I should get a copy of Dr. Esolen's book.

Tomás Luis de Victoria, God's Composer

2012-01-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

alt
BBC4 The Sixteen

2012-01-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

Zenit: Pope Clarifies True Nature of Justice and Peace
Remembers Christians Paying for Fidelity With Their Lives

Justice," the Holy Father explained, "is not a mere human convention. When, in the name of supposed justice, the criteria of utility, profit and material possession come to dominate, the value and dignity of human beings can be trampled underfoot. Justice is a virtue which guides the human will, prompting us to give others what is due to them by reason of their existence and their actions. Likewise, peace is not the mere absence of war, or the result of man's actions to avoid conflict; it is, above all, a gift of God which must be implored with faith, and which has the way to its fulfillment in Jesus. True peace must be constructed day after day with compassion, solidarity, fraternity and collaboration on everyone's part.

A novel understanding of the virtue of justice? One that is harmony with contemporary theories of justice rooted in human dignity and rights. A more classical or Thomistic definition would not emphasize or include this, only the latter (action or the lack of action) as giving the ratio explaining why we make a return.

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Rorate Caeli: Who is a Traditionalist?

But we can still do very much to live the Faith in our families and our communities. In doing so, we must resist the temptation to make traditionalism into an ideology, a reaction, or a negation of what other people do. Traditionalism is what we are, what we know, and what we do. Here, then, I will catalogue some of the things traditionalists affirm, or ought to affirm:

We affirm the Catholic Credo in all its integrity.

We affirm that the Catholic Church is the one bride of Christ, and that its Faith and its religion are the only divinely revealed ways to believe in and serve the living God. Consequently, the Catholic Church is the only path to salvation.

We affirm that divine truth is assailed by enemies of God’s Church, and that the faithful must “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).

We affirm the supernatural constitution of the Church, the natural hierarchy of the family, and the rule of Christ the King in society. To what degree we can, we will work to preserve or restore these things in our own families and communities; for the the world, the flesh, and the devil are undermining this order established by God.

We affirm that the Church’s public worship of God, her liturgy, has been handed down to us with great care by our fathers in the Faith. This has been done in a beautiful variety of rites. It is wrong to cast off these treasures of centuries of careful development under the protection of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, we will practice them, honor them, love them, and teach them to our children.

The authentic response to evil is a life of Christian virtue and holiness, which is none other than the faithful response to one’s primary vocation (the baptismal call to sanctity), lived according to the mode of his “secondary vocation” (i.e., priesthood, religious life, marriage, the single state in the world).

2012-01-20T22:28:00.000-08:00

Rorate Caeli: A second response from the SSPX?
WDTPRS: SSPX sends the CDF a more precise response to the Doctrinal Preamble
Pertinacious Papist: For the record: preamble update

Innovation in the name of plurality?

2012-01-20T16:42:00.000-08:00

Rorate Caeli: Neocatechumenal Rite approved?
Let us call it the New Liturgical Way

"How can we prevent the work of the Holy Spirit?"

2012-01-19T23:40:00.000-08:00

Zenit: Benedict XVI's Address to US Bishops on 'Ad Limina' Visit
"The Legitimate Separation of Church and State Cannot Be Taken to Mean That the Church Must Be Silent"

"At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation’s founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature’s God."

A certain view of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. But not the only conservative understanding of those documents.

"The Church’s witness, then, is of its nature public: she seeks to convince by proposing rational arguments in the public square. The legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation."

What is the basis for the legitimate separation of Church and State? Is the Holy Father speaking from a Catholic point of view or is he adopting an American point of view? I take the Catholic view to be this: the supernatural common good that resides in being a part of the Church is not the same as the temporal common good, and the authority of the Church is not the same as the authority of the secular government.

"Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society. The preparation of committed lay leaders and the presentation of a convincing articulation of the Christian vision of man and society remain a primary task of the Church in your country; as essential components of the new evangelization, these concerns must shape the vision and goals of catechetical programs at every level."

I think this is a failed strategy and will continue to be a failed strategy if it is understood to be directed primarily at the national level.

2012-01-19T23:33:00.000-08:00

Zenit: On the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
"The Unity for Which We Pray Requires Interior Conversion, Both Communal and Personal"

2012-01-18T16:39:00.001-08:00

The Imaginative Conservative: The High Achievement of Christopher Dqawson

2012-01-18T10:24:00.000-08:00

Insight Scoop, New: "Christianity and Democracy" (2nd edition) by Jacques Maritain

Will IP be reprinting anything else by Maritain? They have been reprinting some of Gilson's works; I suppose there isn't a young Thomist who writes for a popular audience IP could publish as well, Edward Feser, Perhaps? Mike Augros or another TAC alum? Martain's political writings may be of interest for the Catholic politicla theorist, but I doubt they are of any practical value today, at least here in the U.S.

2012-01-17T20:10:00.000-08:00

Robert P. Kraynak, Justice Without Foundations (via ML)

What is so strange about our age is that demands for respecting human rights and human dignity are increasing even as the foundations for those demands are disappearing. In particular, beliefs in man as a creature made in the image of God, or an animal with a rational soul, are being replaced by a scientific materialism that undermines what is noble and special about man, and by doctrines of relativism that deny the objective morality required to undergird human dignity. How do we account for the widening gap between metaphysics and morals today? How do we explain “justice without foundations” — a virtue that seems to exist like a table without legs, suspended in mid-air? What is holding up the central moral beliefs of our times?

2012-01-16T17:11:00.000-08:00

t seems difficult for laymen to have a deep friendship with priests, even those with whom you have a shared history. Who can relate to their daily problems, except other priests? Those priests who cultivate an intellectual life or other [masculine] pursuits can have non-priest friends to share those activities, but for an intimate friendship that understands the daily experiences and trials of being a priest, it seems only priests are qualified.

Drew Berry: Animations of unseeable biology

2012-01-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

2012-01-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today I was thinking about certain teachers of moral theology at a certain NE college. Should we surprised that when rationalism has affected theology, that dissenters within and without academia now judge the moral precepts given in Sacred Tradition in accordance with their own moral "reasonings," rejecting those that don't comply? Hello, the Syllabus of Errors? The Rule of Faith? What? What "prudential reasons" can our bishops give for failing to deal with the problem in the College colleges and universities within their jurisdictions?

The Language of Politics

2012-01-15T00:09:00.000-08:00

Alasdair MacIntyre uses an allegory to explain the state of contemporary moral discourse, claiming that our language of morality has been retained from the past, but it has lost its meaning because we no longer subscribe to the theoretical basis (i.e. teleology) that informed it. Although he does not make a similar assertion with respect to political language (community, friendship, and the common good) I am thinking that this may be the case, at least with respect to the United States and modern nation-states. The use of such language reinforces the illusion that we live in a real community, rather than living in an area inhabited by other individuals and with whom we have very little shared social life, and disinclining us from questioning our judgments of our fundamental political reality.

As I've mentioned before, Fr. Cessario made the apt observation that we talk about community so much because we don't have it, while the medievals didn't discuss it in such detail in their treatises because they did. While only some American philosophers realize that it is missing or present only weakly, it seems to be that the majority of us continue to debate or "deliberate" in public as if we do live in a community. (Even communitarians may start off with the wrong beginnings when it comes to the discussion of practical matters.) If we realized that we don't, would we be willing to question our assumptions about economics and the "free market" in looking for what prevents the development of communal life?

We may say we believe in the common good but how many of us weigh the outcome of possible legislation based on how it affects us personally and vote accordingly? How can we make appeals to solidarity when such fellowship exists only in our imaginations?

2012-01-14T23:16:00.001-08:00

James Chastek, Nature and sensation

2012-01-14T12:37:00.001-08:00

Switzerland’s newest bishop ready to evangelize by David Kerr

Religion versus relationship

2012-01-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

All-Merciful Saviour Orthodox Monastery posts the following on FB:

Orthodoxy is NOT a religion, but a way of life that is centered in Jesus Christ. Orthodoxy, as a way of life, has the cure to what ails us and can return us to that state of wholeness that was God's original intent for human kind. Because Orthodoxy is not about religion, it can offer the transformation of the heart that comes with entering into a relationship with our creator. This transformation begins with repentance, that moment when we decide to return to that pure state of communion with God, for which we were created. When we renounce ourselves, we become a difference person through the action of God's grace. Where we were corrupt because of the fall, through repentance we are returned to that state for which we were created.

It's the second time I've seen such a distinction being made in recent days on the Internet.

A Thomist could agree with this in so far as religion (being concerned with practices or rituals and other actions in the service of God) does not have God as its object, as it is not a theological virtue, but has God for its end (and is thus concerned with the means). One needs charity (or perhaps the natural love of God) for religion to be enlivened. Religion by itself does not give the motivating force, nor can it substitute for a living union with God. But this does not mean that for the Christian the virtue of religion is not necessary either.

If, however, religion is defined as faith or belief system then we would have to distinguish between the infused theological virtue and some acquired virtue that is not dependent upon God for the revealing authority, along with an explanation of how faith and charity differ.

Edit. Remembered that this video has been making the rounds on FB, and Catholics and other Christians have been putting up responses. I don't think I'll be responding to that.

Edward Feser & Jonathan Sanford - Science and Faith Conference

2012-01-13T18:31:00.000-08:00

2012-01-12T13:37:00.001-08:00

Dominican friars appointed to the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas

2012-01-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

New books from Liturgical Press:
On the Historical Development of the Liturgy
Anton Baumstark; Translated by Fritz West

At the Heart of Christian Worship: Liturgical Essays of Yves Congar

True and False Reform in the Church
Yves Congar, OP; Translated with an Introduction by Paul Philibert

Spirituality of the Premonstratensian: The Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
François Petit, O. Praem.
Translated by Victor Szczurek, O. Praem. and edited with an Introduction by Carol Neel

Issues in Eucharistic Praying in East and West
Essays in Liturgical and Theological Analysis
Edited by Maxwell E. Johnson

Early Christian Worship
A Basic Introduction to Ideas and Practice
Paul F. Bradshaw

Essays on Early Eastern Eucharistic Prayers
Paul F. Bradshaw, Editor

The Eucharistic Liturgies: Their Evolution and Interpretation
Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johnson

The Origins of Feasts, Fasts, and Seasons in Early Christianity
Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johnson

Reconstructing Early Christian Worship
Paul F. Bradshaw

Rule of Prayer, Rule of Faith
Essays in Honor of Aidan Kavanagh, O.S.B.
Nathan Mitchell, OSB, and John F. Baldovin, SJ, Editors

Related:
1998 - Colloque - Comparative liturgy - Baumstarck
West, Fritz. The Comparative Liturgy of Anton Baumstark

2012-01-11T20:15:00.001-08:00

Ensemble Ad Libitvm, Oruro - Bolivia. Versa est In Luctum

2012-01-11T18:02:00.001-08:00

The Smithy: Marilyn Adams on History of Philosophy and A Definition of Scholasticism

Homiletics

2012-01-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

An apparent weakness of IVE formation of priests is homiletics. Their homilies tend to verbosity, comparable with papers for a popular conference with all of the references. (The opposite extreme is the short homily that gives very little instruction or catechesis, when these would be necessary for the uninformed faithful in the parish.)

But what of the great homilies or sermons of the past, the Cure of Ars or St. John Chrysostom? Or priests like Fr. Rutler? Am I suffering from ADD or some acquired deficiency in my attention span? What about the delivery of the homilies?

Is it the case that priests should be learning rhetoric and this is what is missing from university education? While we cannot count on the art of persuasion alone to produce Christian living, can it not work in concert with the Holy Spirit? Can the emotions be influenced in a way to make people more open to the gospel? After all, are the emotions of Christians not grounded upon the life of grace and faith?

A homily or speech is not a spoken essay. Seminarians (and students of the liberal arts in general) should be learning how to compose and give oral presentations effectively. If not from a rhetorician then from whom?

Insight Scoop: The new HPR site is up, running, and accessible to all

2012-01-10T23:59:00.000-08:00

MoJ: McConnell: "Is There Still a 'Catholic Question' in America?"

"The important question facing the nation was not whether forty million Americans baptized into a certain religion are excluded from the presidency, but whether many more millions of Americans are excluded from full political participation because they ground their understanding of justice and morality in the teachings of their faith."

What does he mean by this? I don't think I'll trudge through the whole speech to find out; it seems like he is tackling the political problem from the wrong premises.

2012-01-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

Skimming through Matthew Levering's The Betrayal of Charity, I find that he follows Aquinas's treatment of the sins against charity. However, as far as I can tell, he does not deal with the problem of the loss of the ordo caritatis, so prominent in the United States, but perhaps present to a lesser degree in Europe. If there is to be a return to communal life, there must first be a recovery of the ordo caritatis. The bishops American are wasting their time with making political statements since they are apparently unaware that the biggest problem lays at the foundation of political life.

Is there a similar lacunae in the moral theology of Joseph Ratzinger?

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Responsorio Graduale Gregoriano, Epifania, Giovanni Vianini, SCHOLA GREGORIANA MEDIOLANENSIS

Because we're too busy to celebrate Epiphany on Friday and go to Mass then...

2012-01-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

Michael Sullivan, Ockham and Scotus and Natural Theology

2012-01-07T01:10:00.000-08:00

James Chastek, The intentional as other than being, or Nothing and Puzzling over definitions

2012-01-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

Séquences choisies - Messe de Noël à Fribourg
Première messe de Noël célébrée par Mgr. Charles Morerod en tant qu'évêque en la cathédrale de Fribourg dimanche

2012-01-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

January 26, 2012 Special Lecture by Dr. Russell Hittinger: Can You be the Imago Dei on Your Own? Modern Thomism on the Social Character of Human Existence

2011-12-27T22:58:00.000-08:00

I was listening to an Extraenvironmentalist interview with John Michael Greer, and it struck me that his epistemology is subjective, not quite Kantian but related. Still, that doesn't necessarily vitiate what he has to say about economics and our failure to consider the primary economy.

2011-12-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

From the Spring 2011, volume 10, number 1 issue of Tidings:

Second Liturgical institute Student Successfully Defends Doctoral Dissertation

On May 4th, 2011, Institute Student Fr. Anthony Putti successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, becoming the second graduate of the Liturgical Institute to complete the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology. The culmination of five years of research and writing, his doctoral dissertation, entitled "Theosis Through Liturgy in the Theologies of Alexander Schmemann and Dumitru Staniloae," was written under the direction of faculty member Fr. Emery De Gaal.

Fr. Putti explained that the Eastern notion of theosis, often called divinization in the West, has strong biblical and patristic support, as in St. Athanasius' famous statement that God became man so that man might become God. In particular, the dissertation focused on comparing the understanding of theosis in two of the twentieth century's great Orthodox theologians.

Schmemann, who served for over 40 years at St. Vladimir's Seminary in New York, is known for his writings on the sacred liturgy, many of which have been available in English for decades. Fr. Putti argued that Schmemann's model saw the Church as the enablign agent of theosis through the sacred liturgy, making theosis the goal of the Christian life in God by the Holy Spirit.

The doctoral defense board spoke highly of Fr. Putti's introduction of the important work of Staniloae to the English-speaking world. A Romanian priest, Staniloae (1903-1993) proposed a mystical-dogmatic approach to theosis centered on the vision of God as three divine persons, envisioning the mystery of the Incarnation as the basis for the transfiguration of the entire cosmos.

The Liturgical Institute congratulates Fr. Putti for his careful academic work and intellectual rigor, and look forward to his scholarly contribution to the Church's liturgical life.

Related:
Father Dumitru Staniloae:Orthodox Spirituality

Dumitru Staniloae: An Ecumenical Ecclesiology by Radu Bordeianu

His obituary in The Independent.

2011-12-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

Was about to finish some comments on a piece at The Public Discourse, but the website is down (or the account has been suspended)...

2011-12-25T21:38:00.001-08:00

Sandro Magister, Inside the Crisis. With the Society of Jesus
The analysis of the European financial disaster written by "La Civiltà Cattolica" with the approval of the Vatican secretariat of state. Special focus: Italy and Germany

2011-12-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

Zenit: Traditional Proclamation of Christ's Birth
"Today Is the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ"

2011-12-24T18:30:00.001-08:00

James Chastek, Accounting for what a substance is

2011-12-24T18:29:00.000-08:00

Byzantine, Texas: Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, an abbreviated review

What does doctrine matter, as long as you're a theist. Or you believe in God? (Or worse, as long as you believe something and are a good person?) But some forms of ignorance can be excused; the rejection of charity cannot. Non-Christians (apart from the Jews) know nothing about loving God more than one's self.

But back to dogma - what if God has revealed Himself to us? Shouldn't we then be concerned with what He has actually revealed, instead of relying upon our own possibly mistaken ideas?

(Isn't everyone's faith the same? Isn't all just tradition? But what is the ultimate source of the tradition? And what do we know through the tradition? How is Christianity set apart from Judaism and Islam on this point? I do not think Islam would claim that the object of faith for a Muslim is God Himself.)

2011-12-24T17:25:00.000-08:00

Nativity Compline--"God is With Us"

St. Elias Church

2011-12-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Annie Murphy Paul: What we learn before we're born (mp3)

Related:
What Do Babies Think?

2011-12-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

St. Nicholas, Santa Claus, and the Nativity: An Interview with Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev)

2011-12-22T21:06:00.001-08:00

Dominicana: 795 Years of Preaching: There Still is Work to be Done

2011-12-21T23:32:00.001-08:00

MoJ: Kramer on the "Purgative" Justification for Capital Punishment

2011-12-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

Thaddeus Kozinski has some posts over at ISI reviewing Sertillanges and his recommendations for cultivating the intellectual life.

2011-12-20T21:57:00.001-08:00

Thomistica.net: The Catholic Theological Society of America--and St. Thomas Aquinas

2011-12-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

No Intentional Killing of the Innocent: A Response to Miscamble and O’Brien by Christopher O. Tollefsen

2011-12-19T15:09:00.001-08:00

Montesinos 500th Anniversary

2011-12-18T15:14:00.001-08:00

John Zmirak, Gifts of the Spirit: What’s the Return Policy?

2011-12-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

Immigration and American Exceptionalism (via MOJ)

Immigration and American Exceptionalism from Center for Vision and Values on Vimeo.

2011-12-17T12:15:00.001-08:00

Rorate Caeli: New Secretary General of International Theological Commission
Saint Thomas and the historical method

2011-12-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

The Smithy: New Doctor and A Ramble on Ockham, Scholarship, and Other Matters

2011-12-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

Chief tells Pope: we must revive soul of Europe

And how, exactly, is this going to be accomplished? Another empty ecumenical gesture? Are Jews going to pray for Christians to be better Christians?

He called on Christians and Jews to open a "new chapter" in their relationship: "If Europe loses the Judeo-Christian heritage that gave it its historic identity and its greatest achievements in literature, art, music, education, politics, and economics, it will lose its identity and its greatness.

One might have thought that the claim of a "Judeo-Christian" identity or culture was limited to Americans. Christianity is rooted in Judaism but that is not the same as the Judaism that came into being through the rejection of Christ.

Affirmative Action in the Church?

2011-12-16T22:01:00.000-08:00

Given how feminized the Church and hierarchy are already, is this such a wise move?

Rome Reports: Pope to canonize and name Hildegard of Bingen as Doctor of the Church

How influential has she been on theology?

Rorate Caeli

2011-12-15T23:19:00.001-08:00

James Chastek: Philosophies of Nature, Old and Modern

2011-12-14T20:30:00.000-08:00

Thomistica.net: Christ and Spirituality in St. Thomas Aquinas: A New Book by Fr. Torrell

2011-12-14T20:29:00.001-08:00

Switzerland’s newest bishop ready to evangelize

2011-12-14T14:56:00.001-08:00

Zenit: Prelate's Address on the Holy See as Member of the International Organization for Migration

"The Ethical Implications of the Current Situation Seem to Require a Renewed Discussion"

2011-12-13T21:28:00.001-08:00

Rorate Caeli: Msgr. Gherardini: Vatican II is not a super-dogma
The importance and the limits of the authentic Magisterium

2011-12-13T21:11:00.001-08:00

The Smithy: Scotus' Razor

2011-12-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

MoJ: Review of Taylor & Maclure, "Secularism and Freedom of Conscience"

2011-12-11T17:28:00.000-08:00

Journal en continu - Séquences choisies - Ordination de Charles Morerod

Related:
Sandro Magister, Theologians, Apologists. What the New Bishops Have To Be

2011-12-11T16:59:00.000-08:00

Edward Feser on Frank Pastore (link via his blog) - mp3

2011-12-11T13:51:00.001-08:00

The Smithy: Robert Prentice and Illuminationism

2011-12-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

MoJ: Koritansky ed., "The Philosophy of Punishment and the History of Political Thought"

(Koritansky's book on Aquinas)

2011-12-09T08:11:00.001-08:00

Christopher Kaczor - Pro-Life Aristotle

Tota pulchra es Maria by Durufle performed by Vox Reflexa

2011-12-08T20:43:00.001-08:00

2011-12-08T18:56:00.001-08:00

Rorate Caeli: The words of Monsignor Ocáriz and Conciliar innovations

2011-12-07T21:00:00.001-08:00

Zenit: Papal Address to International Theological Commission
"A Truly Catholic Theology ... Is Necessary Today More Than Ever"

2011-12-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

James Chastek, On what can be meant by “there is no morality without God”

The clearest way to show this is to give the various arguments that have actually been used to prove the claim there can be no morality or moral action without God.

1.) Morality is rational, but the existence of God is a necessary practical postulate for rational morality. (Kant)

2.) Human nature is wounded, by which we mean incapable of acting morally without some exterior supernatural aid. (St. Paul, interpretation 1)

3.) Human nature is called to live with a being whose existence exceeds what it can discovered by its own rational power, therefore human nature cannot achieve what it is called to unless this being reveals itself to him. But moral action consists in achieving that which one is called to do, in the sense of perfecting ones nature. (St. Paul, interpretation 2)

4.) Morality requires keeping the weak-minded in line. But one cannot keep the weak minded in line without scaring them with the idea of divine things. (A common opinion of the Roman consuls who killed the Christians)

5.) Justice, the form of the virtues, is nothing but gazing upon the good itself, that is, the philosophical gazing on the divine absolute. (Plato)

6.) The action of anything is its way of trying to become as much like God as possible, and morality is human action (Aristotle)

7.) Of itself, nature is meaningless. But morality of itself is not meaningless. Therefore morality is from a supernatural source, and whatever is from a supernatural source is from God (William Lane Craig)

8.) Of itself, nature is meaningful. But the meaningfulness of artifacts must be reduced to some intelligent being, therefore the meaningfulness of nature must be reduced to an intelligent being. But morality is meaningful action.

9.) Morality is partaking in justice itself, good itself, etc. But God is subsistent justice itself, goodness itself, etc. (Neo-Platonism, sympathetic with Thomism)

10.) Here are the most celebrated atheist regimes. Almost all of them are moral monsters.

11.) Moral action is doing what the herd does. But the herd of Western civilization is founded on belief in God and has not yet given itself a new foundation (suggested by Nietzsche, but not him exactly)

12.) Moral action must satisfy natural desires. But man has a natural desire for God.

13.) Moral action requires knowing what you were made for and what your purpose is. But only your maker and creator knows what your purpose is, and you were specially made and created by God.

So that’s a baker’s dozen, in no particular order. All of them have enjoyed widespread popularity for one reason or another, either by being preacher’s enthymemes or by being the thoughts of a major school or popular thinker. Yet only one of them is a divine command theory (7) and it is not even the paradigm case of the divine command theory (which we find, as Brandon has been saying for years and deserves to be listened to, in William Warburton) There is, in fact, a “default setting” in the Western mind to tie morality to the divine, but divine command theory is only one attempt to articulate this default setting. And so the desire of the Western man’s psyche (and, as Wilkins suggests, this might be a more universal desire) to tie his morality to the divine seems less like a theory and more like a universal sense that articulates itself imperfectly in many different theories.

and

Morality consists in doing ones conscience, conscience is the voice of God (Newman and Frankl)

2011-12-05T20:33:00.001-08:00

NASA Telescope Confirms Alien Planet in Habitable Zone

2011-12-05T18:33:00.000-08:00

Peter Gilbert, Notes on Liberal Education and Eastern Christianity

Francisco Guerrero - In Exitu Israel

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Westminster Cathedral Choir

2011-12-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

"The Orthodox Rejection of Doctrinal Development"by Daniel Lattier

2011-12-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

Wish I could get my hands on a cheap copy of Criticising the Critics by Fr. Nichols. There was one at Amazon UK but I forgot to complete the order so someone else bought it.

New Blackfriars

2011-12-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

Solitude and Political Friendship by Anthony Esolen

"True solitude is the contemplation of the true, the good, and the beautiful, and such solitude is essential to maintaining communities of friendship oriented towards non-quantifiable goods."

SALVE REGINA - Hernando Franco (1532 - 1585)

2011-12-03T21:44:00.001-08:00

Westminster Cathedral Choir

2011-12-03T11:25:00.000-08:00

I saw at Hearts of Love that St. Benedict Press has published a translation of Fr. Phillipe's The Mysteries of Mary. I hate to say it, but the allegation of scandal has decreased my enthusiasm for his books.

2011-12-02T20:34:00.001-08:00

Can the Church Ban Capital Punishment? by Christopher A. Ferrara

Let’s End the Death Penalty, Now
Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput