Via Dominican Vocations: "The Holy Father has nominated His Excellency, Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, O.P., until now Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, to be the Vice President of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei.”"

Rorate Caeli: Di Noia to CNS: "Possible to have theological disagreements and be in communion" - "Can't read Vatican II texts from the viewpoint of liberals who were in the Council"

Diary from Vatican II by Father Robert Barron (on Yves Congar's journal)

Psalm - Byzantine Chant no 2 - St John Koukouzelis - 14th Century

Changes in the Curia

Levada is to resign from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, leaving Müller in pole position to substitute him. Meanwhile, the Vatican library is getting a new librarian and Bertone’s substitution appears imminent
ANDREA TORNIELLI

Augustinian Localism?

Augustinian Reflections on Love and Localism by A.J. DeBonis

I still need to read through City of God all the way through...

James Chastek, Morning research trail and Cajetan’s account of the Thomas / Scotus debate on the source of contingency

Restless Heart

Ignatius Press announces forthcoming release of the film, "Restless Heart"


Another dubbed foreign movie. Accurate with respect to the details and costumes?

Fr. Z: Of Beer, Norcia, Monks, Boars, Cheese, Truffles and the City of God

Birra Nursia! Coming to BevMo? Sarge might go visit Norcia if he has some time. No time for France (or Le Barroux).

The Benedictines of the Immaculate continue to update their blog.

Christopher J. Malloy, Objections to the Summa's Structure
Joseph G. Trabbic, Is the Summa Structurally Flawed?

One may read criticisms of the Summa that it is too rationalistic in its theology; I recall reading this objection from Orthodox apologists as well. The Summa presupposes the Creed; could there be a scientific exposition of the Trinity without a exposition of the unity of God?

Human Rights and Natural Law by Archbishop Rino Fisichella (via Insight Scoop)

Zenit: Holy See on Sustainable Development
"Human beings, in fact, come first. We need to be reminded of this"

Thomistica.net: The journal formerly known as The Modern Schoolman...

Adding prefaces to the EF

Rorate Caeli: FIUV Position Paper: Prefaces
Fr. Z: Should the “new” Prefaces be incorporated into the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite?

Flying out tonight to visit Sarge and the Lone Star Republic; be back next week.

Lee Faber: Scotus the Voluntarist

The Theological Origin and, Hopefully, End of Modernity by Thaddeus J. Kozinski

Voluntarism, an indifferent will as primary moral agent; nominalism, the rejection of any real reference for universal concepts; disenchantment, the default existential mode of a buffered, self-sufficient “individual”; and desacralization, the “immanent frame” surrounding and conditioning modern social and intellectual life—these were the background assumptions of the Enlightenment, but they seem now foregrounded social, cultural, and political dogmas. The “Regensburg Address” of the Pope, with his account of the three waves of dehellenization, is, I think, a key text for grasping this development. Dehellenized reason closed to intelligible being, a voluntarist God beyond good and evil, a non-participatory cosmos mechanically construed, and a univocal, flattened concept of being supplanting Aquinas’ precarious but precious metaphysics of analogy—these are the metaphysical, epistemological, and theological roots of modernity, and they are deeply planted. As the Pope suggests, these roots have nourished a misshapen cultural tree, nay, a forest; and it cannot be simply cut down and replanted—for it is our home, whether we like our home or not, for, at least for the time being, there is no other domestic domicile into which to move, it would seem.


Now, great fruits came via their heroic attempts: the progress of medicine and human rights; what Taylor calls the “affirmation of ordinary life”; the dignity of persons seen as ends and never means (Casanova); the autonomy of politics, science, and economics from ecclesial control. This represents, as in the words of Maritain, a maturation of the political order and the Gospel seed coming to fruition. This is the true message of Gaudium et spes, when interpreted correctly–that is, not as a replacement of the Syllabus of Errors, but its complement. After Vatican II, no Catholic can interpret the prior social teaching and theology as simply a rejection of modernity, but neither can they reject or dismiss the prior teaching as outdated or simply mistaken.

The question of modernity, again. Kozinski offers a couple of scenarios as to how this all plays out, but I think maybe the analysis starts off on the wrong foot. Was there a rebellion against the authority of the Church? Undoubtedly. Did that rebellion provide the intellectual roots for liberalism? Or merely the occasion for it to develop as a reaction against the wars of religion?

Maybe it is not "modernity" that is the problem, but the power of earthly rulers vying against God; they are the ones who have made of liberalism and a host of other idealogies in order to take power for themselves in the name of liberating the masses.

Will it be possible for a sinner to deny the justice of God's judgment on the Last Day? The damned know that they have sinned and why they are damned. Even if his mind is illuminated or he is convicted by his own conscience, is it possible for him to deny that God's judgment and punishment is just, to lie to himself on these two points, to affirm that their punishment is undeserved? After all, our judgment can be distorted by a bad will.

(Aquinas does not cover this question in his discussion of the will and intellect of the damned.)

It seems that the damned know they have sinned and that they have rejected God in sinning, and that their punishment, being deprived of the beatific vision or union with God, is appropriate, since they do not want this. But what of the poena sensus? "Why doesn't God just leave me alone? Why is He so petty?" And yet the poena sensus is a just punishment for the sins themselves. Is this undeniable?

(Aquinas on the punishment of the damned)

Does God preserve those who sin in the state of ignorance so that their conscience will not convict them? That seems like wishful thinking.


A related question regarding knowledge:
Titus 3:10-11
10 A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: 11 Knowing that he, that is such an one, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment.

God gives us the grace to assent to authority? Can there be obstacles to our recognition that someone holds authority within the Church, if we have been baptized and raised in the Church?

When are we justified in rejecting someone who verbally expresses rejection of God and His Church or the Church's teaching authority?

The Hermeneutic of Continuity: Nail-biting SSPX developments

Not Understanding Nothing
A review of A Universe from Nothing
Edward Feser

Oxford Handbook of Aquinas

Litaniae de Sacratissimo Corde Iesu

Rome Reports: Pope maintains generous offer of Personal Prelature for break away group of Lefebvrists


CNA

Lee Faber, Note on Some Translations of Scotus

I relied more on the English translation by Wolter for studying Scotus than on the original Latin.

MOJ: "Much Ado About Subsidiarity" (which links to this post at VN, which notably does not offer a definition of the common good, but one assumes that the one current in CST is implied). Garnett cites Russell Hittinger for an explanation of subsidiarity, and Hittinger adequately presents contemporary teaching on the concept. What is missing, to circumscribe the definition of subsidiarity and the state? A notion of the common good (life in community) that is tied to an understanding of the proper human scale.

If the common goods that exist at different "levels" do not have the same definition, then how can there be an ordered hierarchy of authorities serving them? If common good1 is not a part of common good 2, then how can authority1 be subordinate to authority2? An authority that serves to preserve the peace of many communities cannot have any sort of authority over the communities themselves - this would go beyond its competence.

I was going through old mail and found a solicitation for Spiritual Life: A Journal of Contemporary Spirituality. Apparently the magazine is still in existence. Is the mass media format of the magazine or journal amenable to teaching about the spiritual life? Or shouldn't it deserve more of an extended treatment? (Or even better, a living guide?) Not everything can be disseminated through the mass media well.

Catholic Church Conservation: Dominican Monks Dance Like Lady Gaga

Good-natured fun, or a display of immaturity and the lack of good judgment? Despite discernment to the priesthood or religious life being postponed until much later in life, has the infantilization that plagues mass industrial 'cultures' affected our seminarians and young adults as well? Fortunately there are not more videos of seminarians doing goofy things - the Star Wars video is still up, though. (Those discerning religious life may be more mature, in so far as it is more demanding than the seminary.)

(How much of this might be due to contemporary "psychology," the need to have a personality and such, versus acquiring virtues nad properly fulfilling a function in caritas and community?)

Something from an older Dominican, fr Wojciech Giertych OP:
Papal Theologian on the 'Pange Lingua'

Religious Liberty and the Human Good, The Conversation

Q&A

via NLM: Fr Aidan Nichols OP on the Future of the Church in England

Dr. Gilbert, At the end of a year of teaching and Pope Gregory the Great on the Holy Spirit’s procession

James Chastek, The order among analogues and An order among analogues, II

Rome Reports: Convents and monasteries survive on their online stores


What are they going to do as the price of oil goes up higher? They need to start adjusting now.

Mattias Caro, Is There Such a Thing as Inalienable Rights?. He refers to Rights You Can't Give Away.

Do we need to take Jefferson's rhetoric (or his theory of rights) so seriously?

CNS: Eastern Christianity's appeal


I had posted the video before but it was part of the CNS website so it may not have played properly for some of you. Now it is available on youtube.

Seven most common mistakes about 'Vatileaks'

James Chatek, A thomistic response to William Lane Craig’s denial of divine atemporality

James Chastek, Integral truth

Mr. Chastek compares theological truth with food and relates both to multiple ends. G-L is making a point though about the epistemology of those supporting the development of a new, up-to-date theology. If theology is not true, then how can it benefit or aid modern man and his vexations? Do we know God via things? Or do we know God through our ideas?

We could also ask the question of whether theology is more speculative or practical in nature.

Thomistica.net: Interview with author of new philosophical lexicon - John Carlson

Perhaps it is time to abandon the blue background and purple text. If I had the time I would try to tinker with the layout...

Zenit: Papal Address to Civil Leaders of Milan, Lombardy
"Freedom is Not a Privilege for Some, but a Right for All"

Some notes:

There is another element that we can find in St. Ambrose’s teaching. Justice is the first quality of those who rule. Justice is the public virtue par excellence, because it has to do with the good of the whole community. [This would correspond to the legal justice of Aristotle and St. Thomas. Is this how it is defined by St. Ambrose?] And yet it is not enough. Ambrose sets another quality alongside it: love of freedom, which he considers a criterion for discerning between good and bad rulers, since, as we read in another of this letters: “the good love freedom, the wicked love servitude” (Epistula 40, 2). [The classical or Roman conception of liberty?] Freedom is not a privilege for some, but a right for all, a precious right that civil authority must guarantee. Nevertheless, freedom does not mean the arbitrary choice of the individual, but implies rather responsibility of everyone. Here we find one of the principal elements of the secularity of the state: assure freedom so that everyone can propose their vision of common life, always, however, with respect for the other and in the context of laws that aim at the good of all. [This is rather bizarre - how many different visions of the common life can there be? There is only the good of community, living together. What may be disputed are the means (or the laws) by which this is to be preserved or enhanced. Or is the Holy Father thinking of the modern nation-state, which is arguably not a community? It would seem so --]


On the other hand, the extent to which the conception of a confessional state is left behind, it appears clear that, in any case, the laws must find their justification and force in natural law, which is order adequate to the dignity of the human person, overcoming a merely positivist conception from which it is not possible to derive precepts that are, in some way, of an ethical character (cf. Speech to the German Parliament, Sept. 22, 2011). The state is at the service of and protects the person and his “well-being” in its multiple aspects, beginning with the right to life, the deliberate suppression of which is never permissible. Everyone can see then how legislation and the work of state institutions must be especially in the service of the family, founded on marriage and open to life, and how there must be a recognition of the primary right of the parents to freely educate and form their children, according to the educational plan that they judge valid and pertinent. The family is not treated justly if the state does not support the freedom of education for the common good of society as a whole. [So is the modern conception of the "state" problematic? How does it expand upon the notions of government and authority? We can say government should serve the common good, the community and its members. Personalist formulations of political science are not irreconcilable with earlier formulations. One must examine what a personalist says about the good of community and whether it is higher than the private good of the individual. While the "modern" notion of the state may have been formulated by certain writers during the 16th and 17th centuries, their definition(s) may not apply to every instance of the word. It depends on the author's intention, which should be made clear in the text or in his corpus of writings at least.]

Zenit: Address by Metropolitan Gennadios to the 3rd Catholic-Orthodox Forum
"The Unity That We All Seek is a Gift From Above"

Zenit: Cardinal Ouellet at International Theology Symposium
The Ecclesiology of Communion, 50 Years after the Opening of Vatican Council II

3. Eucharistic ecclesiology


It is important to stress here that the ecclesiology of communion promoted by the Council takes its inspiration from the Eucharistic ecclesiology of the Orthodox, especially Afanassief, who is cited in the texts. The Council’s ecclesiology is thus of great ecumenical import. The intervention of John Zizioulas, the Metropolitan of Pergamon, at the 2005 Roman Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, testifies to this: “The ecclesiology of communion promoted by Vatican II and deepened further by eminent Roman Catholic theologians can make sense only if it derives from the eucharistic life of the Church. The Eucharist belongs not simply to the beneesse but to theesseof the Church. The whole life, word and structure of the Church iseucharistic in its very essence.”[9] Walter Kasper agrees wholeheartedly and holds that “eucharistic ecclesiology has become one of the most important foundations of the ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches.”

Chiesa: Vatican Diary / Double slap, for Saint Egidio and for the Jesuits

Showing respect for a tradition

Lee Faber has two pertaining to the insertion of Scotus into a genealogical narrative and using of sources (or the lack of proper sources): MacIntyre on Scotus and Alexander Broadie's Gifford Lecture

One should attempt to understand the arguments of a medieval on their own terms instead of relying on secondary sources in intellectual history or even philosophy, making use of followers of that tradition and contemporary scholars. This should not be so hard to understand. Even though I can respect MacIntyre for the philosophical and rhetorical value of some of his arguments pertaining to moral philosophy, it is unfortunate that much of his work is tied to intellectual history. (Alas this is because of his theses concerning moral epistemology and tradition.)

Better to understand one tradition well and argue accordingly -- leave the understanding of history to the Beatific Vision.

AVE MARIA (a 8) - Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 - 1611)

New from Catholic Courses

Dr. John Cuddeback of Christendom College has written a book on friendship; now he has a set of lectures on the same topic for Catholic Courses. (A preview of the book.)

An article in The Review of Metaphysics.
Human Nature and the Virtuous Life

Dominican Vocations: Upcoming Dominican Rite Missa Cantata: Our Holy Father St. Dominic

Joseph G. Trabbic, How to Read an Article in Aquinas's Summa Theologiae

Rome Reports: The "moles" of Vatileaks attack the Secretary of the Pope



Chiesa: The Hunt for Thieves in the Vatican
La Stampa: After three days of calm, it's back to poison pen letter writer hell

Debating the philosophical roots of Protestantism

Matthew Milliner, The Late Middle Ages Rightly Blamed

Edit. Lee Faber comments.

Most Reverend J. Augustine DiNoia,O.P., The Holy Priesthood and the Incarnation

Worth a repost? (via The Chant Cafe)

On Community by Laurel Good

Between us, my husband and I have taught close to a thousand students over the past five years: only a handful of them had grandparents in town. For some reason, people have as much trouble putting down roots here as maple trees do.


I suspect it’s because this isn’t our native earth, because our parents and friends and childhood memories are all settled a thousand miles away. And because no one can truly thrive without the knowledge that they matter in their community.


That’s not to say that no one can matter in Colorado. Out east on the plains you’ll find agricultural towns and small ranching communities that have made their mark on the land, and where people have made their mark on each other. And even in the Springs, there certainly are rare families who settled here several generations ago, and more that might begin to call it home. But my family isn’t one of them.


So we’re leaving now, before Sam spends his whole childhood indoors or on pavement, or before he comes to believe that his grandparents live in a little box called “Skype” on the computer. We’re going back home to the Midwest--Michigan, specifically--to be closer to our families, closer to familiar ground, closer to the grass.

Tradition and the Future

(via The Hermeneutic of Continuity)

Chartres pilgrimmage
Cardinal Burke at the London Oratory

Roger Nutt, Does Thomism Offer a Theory of Doctrinal Development?

Nutt refers the reader to Charles Journet's What is Dogma for a Thomistic explication of doctrinal development.

An excerpt: Dogma and Mystery

Here is my initial shot:
As we are unable to give a real definition of God in this life (as we do not know God as He is in Himself), so His essence has not been captured in a single concept. Hence He reveals Himself to us in a way that we can understand, through His actions and attributes (via analogy). Our understanding of what has been Divinely Revealed can be deepened as we apply our reason to it. (But it seems that our understanding can also be deepened in itself through participation in the Divine Life and the life of the Church? - through both experiential reflection and contemplation?)

Vatican Insider: Jesus died in the 33 A.D., the 3rd of April

On Scientism by Thomas Bertonneau

Ivan Illich, "The Sad Loss of Gender"

the essay (alt)

NYT review of Gender (negative because the book doesn't go the way of feminism and radical egalitarianism?)

Catholic Seminaries and Evangelization: A Commentary by Fr. Barron

MOJ: Teaching Feminist Legal Theory with a Faith Perspective -- and a free book offer!

Elizabeth Schiltz:

As a scholar interested in feminist legal theory, the most interesting thing I thing I learned from this semester was how often the religious feminists made arguments that sounded an awful lot like the arguments of the Dominance Feminists. I expected to see a lot of convergence with Relational and Care Feminists, and I did see those, but the convergence with Dominance Feminists like Catherine MacKinnon really surprised me.

Do I need to look these types of feminism up?

wiki: feminist legal theory

Edward Feser, Natural theology, natural science, and the philosophy of nature

James Chastek, Marriage and mortal sin

Brandon digs out a fantastic text from STA’s commentary on Corinthians:



…that the conjugal act is sometimes meritorious and without any mortal or venial sin, as when it is directed to the good of procreation and education of a child for the worship of God; for then it is an act of religion; or when it is performed for the sake of rendering the debt, it is an act of justice. But every virtuous act is meritorious, if it is performed with charity. But sometimes it is accompanied with venial sin, namely, when one is excited to the matrimonial act by concupiscence, which nevertheless stays within the limits of the marriage, namely, that he is content with his wife only. But sometimes it is performed with mortal sin, as when…

So guess: what is he going to say? Is sexual activity a mortal sin when “it is not open to procreation” (an answer that is at hand from what he says at the head of the quotation) or when “it is performed in an unnatural way”? Don’t we expect St. Thomas to mention some obvious perversion? Yet, in the casual way that he says all his revolutionary things, he says that sexual activity is a mortal sin when…
…the husband approaches the wife with the idea that he would just as gladly or more gladly approach another woman.

Aquinas has a "full" account of marriage, but some may criticze him for focusing only on the sexual act. One can start with the analysis of the external act and whether it is good or not, but one than moves "upward" and looks at the intention which may modify the act. In this case, one looks at the presence (or absence) of marital friendship/love or charity. The mistake of those who look solely at the intention is that they deny the sexual act is intrinsically moral. Elsewhere he touches upon the roles of husband and wife (citation?) - while the personalists are right to focus on the "context" of the sexual act in marriage and to talk about the married life, were they so bold as to claim that this aspect had been ignored by previous generations of Catholic theologians? Or were they blind to the limitations of their own historical situation? How many of them were reacting to atomism of mass society (or liberal society) and yet espousing some of the principles of such a social de[form]ity? While some personalists assumed a "traditional" understanding about the complementarity of the sexes and the differences in roles did others fall into the error of radical egalitarianism? Did others have a msitaken or exaggerated notion of marital friendship (borrowed from those who advocate "companionate marriage", one that failed to take into account sex differences (especially the role of the husband as leader)?

thenyssan said, raises a question about concupiscence. If one is motivated purely by carnal desire then the sexual act is a venial sin?

Mr. Chastek writes:

"[S]ense goods as sensed are peculiar to a subject as opposed to being common. But the very intensity of sexual desire is from the contact it has with the common good – we really do touch something of the divine (De Anima, 2:4). To enjoy this purely out of concupiscence is to cheat the good we touch and to act against its nature, since we want to enjoy common goods as mere particular goods. If this is right, then there is a certain mercy in saying it is only a venial sin! Shouldn’t we have a harsher judgment on someone who want to appropriate common goods to his own peculiar good?"

I don't know if I'd take this line of reasoning. I think I'd focus more on the psychological aspect behind concupiscence - how it diminishes the moral agency that should be present? Human beings are animals, but they should not be "too" carnal? Reason (and will) should operate in tandem with sense appetite? If appetite does not raise above the sense level, if it is not sublimated by reason...

Dominicans visiting Chevetogne several years ago: The Sacraments as Liturgy

Rorate Caeli: Saint Hildegard and Saint John of the Cross, Doctors

Chant Cafe: "To chant, to sing, engages one's whole being, really." - NPR

Choeur des Moines de Chevetogn - Pentecôte

Simonopetra Manastir!

Insight Scoop: The uniqueness of Saint Philip Neri, the "Apostle of Rome"

Byzantine, Texas: French documentary on Valaam to be subtitled in English


Related:
Valaam "Step to the Skies" part 1 of 7 (English Subtitles)



Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Grand canon pascal, choeur des moines de Valaam


Archimandrite:

Rome Reports: President of the Vatican's Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, ousted by board



Is the bank in need of reform? Is it involved in usury in any way?

FSSP ordinations vid

(via Rorate Caeli)

What is Natural Law Like? by Jeremy Waldron (via MoJ)

Abstract:
“The State of Nature,” said John Locke, “has a Law of Nature to govern it, which obliges every one.” But what is “a law of nature”? How would we tell, in a state of nature, that there was a natural law as opposed to something else — like positive law, a set of customs, natural morality, natural ethics, a set of natural inclinations, the truth of certain prudential calculations, a widespread but perhaps false belief in some transcendent law, the voice of God, or just a natural disposition on the part of some pompous people to make sonorous objective-sounding pronouncements? What form should we expect natural law to take in our apprehension of it? This paper argues three things. (a) John Finnis’s work on natural law provides no answer to these questions; his “theory of natural law” is really just a theory of the necessary basis in ethics for evaluating positive law. (b) We need an answer to the question “What is natural law like” not just to evaluate the work of state-of-nature theorists like Locke, but also to explore the possibility that natural law might once have played the role now played by positive international law in regulating relations between sovereigns. And (c), an affirmative account of what natural law is like must pay attention to (1) its deontic character; (2) its enforceability; (3) the ancillary principles that have to be associated with its main normative requirements if it is to be operate as a system of law; (4) its separability form objective from ethics and morality, even from objective ethics and morality; and (5) the shared recognition on earth of its presence in the world. Some of these points — especially 3, 4, and 5 — sound like characteristics of positive law. But the paper argues that they are necessary nevertheless if it is going to be plausible to say that natural law has ever operated (or does still operate) as law in the world.

Vatican launches competition to promote the Social Doctrine of the Church



Centesimus Annus
Catholic Social Teaching in Action

For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristeros

Fr. Michael Sherwin informs us that Fr. Bedouelle has passed away. May he rest in peace.

L'Inquisition, Dominique et les dominicains
fr. Guy Bedouelle, o.p.

Edward Feser, Oerter on universals and causality and Oerter contra the principle of causality and Review of Krauss

Rome Reports: Jesuits celebrate 500th anniversary of Diego Laínez, successor to St. Ignatius of Loyola

Gregory B. Sadler, Yves Simon on Moral Virtue (part 1 of 2)
Yves Simon on Moral Virtue (part 2 of 2)

Orthodox theologian to visit Stamford church

James Chastek, Lecture on Thomism and Molinism

The Province of St. Joseph: Preparing for Ordination

Augustine Di Noia, The Vision of Dominican Theological Education (I've posted this link to his page at the DHS Priory before, no?)

The Traditional Mass Is Not a Spectator Sport by Steve Skojec

What this does is create a sense of community – something that I have found to be lacking in many traditional parishes I’ve attended or visited. Often times, the Traditional Latin Mass is attended by people from every far corner of the geographic area, creating a loose federation of individuals that know each other by face or even by name, but have little in the way of a sense of real common bond. It’s a lovely thing to have coffee and donuts in a Church basement as a means of socializing with your fellow parishioners, but it’s a different thing entirely when a priest and his confrères make you feel as though you’re a part of something more cohesive and organic.

This communal aspect is almost familial, and is rooted first and foremost in the liturgical experience. The CRNJs believe in a participatio actuosa that is neither the frenetic, hand-holding around the altar experience of many post-Vatican II parishes, nor the austere, entirely interior participation of those more inclined to chapels of the Society of St. Pius X. It is a human, natural, anthropological form of worship, where one is engaged but not coddled, involved but never given the sense that it’s all about them.

I think the difference in impression is due more to the difference in the size of the congregation than anything objective (other than the members of the congregation living in closer proximity to one another than those attending the EF elsewhere). It is true that many traditionalists have a low Mass mentality, but one will not [usually] find it among the priests of the Institute of Christ the King or the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. I think the biggest weakness in the parish life for traditionalist Catholics is the geographical spread of the personal parishes. The faithful live so far apart that one cannot really say that they are living with one another.

My Beef with ‘Religion in General’ by Andrew Haines

CNS: The Appeal of Eastern Christianity


In Rome: MASS AT THE ALTAR OF THE TOMB OF ST PETER
"Here are some of the photos I took yesterday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica when I attended Mass presided over by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental churches, with U.S. bishop of 8 different oriental rites as they start their “ad limina” visit."

Thomistica.net: Grabmann Online

Dominicana: Beyond Endearment

"Searching for Jonah"

Some contemporary [Catholic] scripture scholars question the historical existence of Jonah - some argue simplisitically that the story of him being swallowed by a fish is too fantastic and therefore the book of Jonah is a fictional parable used to illustrate the Divine Mercy. Apparently this is not new -- this questioning has been taking place since the beginning of the 20th century. Does it coincide with the rise of modern scripture studies? The last linked essay has arguments for Jonah being historical, especially the fact that Christ Himself refers to Jonah being in the belly of the whale (and also to the repentant Ninevites). While one can refer to fiction to draw a comparison to what can happen to the real world, would this lose its effectiveness? If one is false, why not the other?

Is Jonah invoked as the patron saint of anything? Is he included among the OT prophets?

Discussion at a CA thread.
ICU
Dave Armstrong

NCR: Another Legionary priest caught in scandal (Life After RC)

How does this revelation not damage his credibility as an author and teacher of moral theology? His website is down.

Byzantine, Texas: Metropolitan Hilarion interviewed on reunification

Circe Institute: Why Study Latin, Pars Secunda: Or, How Love Of Neighbor Is Our Only Social Hope

Philosophie1 : Introduction à la philosophie réaliste

Philosophie1 : Introduction à la philosophie... by adumouch

Part 2: Philosophie2 : La philosophie de saint Thomas d'Aquin

Philosophie2 : La philosophie de saint Thomas... by adumouch

Some videos on the Jesus Prayer

Elder Ephraim. Jesus Prayer.




Sr. Tereza Vodjana - Jesus prayer.wmv (Ukrainian)


Bjork - Jesus Prayer (John Tavener)



Related:
The goal of Christianity - Fr. Seraphim Cardoza

DPST: Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP, on Catholic Answers Live
"The Perennial Impact of Thomas Aquinas"

(CA - mp3)

DPST: "Francis of Assisi: A New Biography"
Fr. Augustine Thompson, OP

Fr. Augustine will be giving a presentation on the book at DSPT on Wednesday, September 26, at 7.30 pm.

Sandro Magister, For the Cardinal Under Ban, the Quarantine Has Ended
A conference has broken the silence on Jean Daniélou, one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century. The mystery of his death. The hostility of his Jesuit confreres. The interview they couldn't forgive him for doing

James Chatsek, The analogous names of God developed by philosophies of dialogue

Ancient Faith Radio: The “Neo-Patristic Synthesis”
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware discusses whether Florovsky’s program of a "Neo-patristic synthesis" is still viable in contemporary theology (mp3)

St. Bonaventure, Benedict XVI, and the New Evangelization by William L. Patenaude
For Benedict XVI, evangelization is what takes place when revelation slips through history.

The Key to the Christian Life BY LORENZO ALBACETE

According to Cardinal Ratzinger, today’s Man is someone for whom Christianity is a past that does not concern him. It is not that the Christian faith’s contribution to history is not acknowledged (approvingly or disapprovingly). Many still see the Christian faith as an important source of values, ethical behavior, and religious or artistic inspiration.


What is seen as irrelevant or as unnecessary is the point of departure that defines and specifies the Christian reality, namely, the historical events of the Incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. These are considered “ways” of expressing Christian spirituality and ethics that have essentially been surpassed by other, more credible ways of saying the same thing. The key word here is concern. The historical events at the origin of the Christian claim are no longer of concern.


When something happens that shows how true it is that we live in such a post-Christian world (in spite of surviving and even impressive manifestations of Christian “folklorism”), we are tempted by two possibilities. Some insist on the need to promote or recapture Christian doctrinal orthodoxy, that is, the need to emphasize and teach the intellectual convictions that properly proclaim the Christian faith. For others, what matters is promoting and defending Christian morality as an ethical orientation (“liberal” or “conservative”), a system of “moral values” to guide our behavior. From this perspective, the relationship between the Christian faith and contemporary culture is seen as a culture war to be won, or a cultural contribution to be made by looking for a common point of departure for dialogue. Both “tactics” are in fact useless.


As Father Giussani has written, Christian evangelization is destroyed when we embrace the illusion that a non-Christian culture (where Christianity’s originating events are of no concern) should be confronted and overcome by a Christian culture (cf Dal temperamento un metodo, p 53). This, he says, is a deadly “fundamental error” that can tempt us, but which must be firmly rejected.

We cannot place our hopes on the creation of a “Christian culture,” and even less on going back to an idyllic past where Christianity maintained cultural hegemony. Such historical developments are not for us to design or plan. We do not know and will never know the “time plan” which the Father has for human history.


Instead, we must place our hope not on cultural proposals but on the event of Christ, on something that has already happened. Evangelization is to give witness to the fact–to the verifiable fact–that this event can and does still happen today because it has happened to us as something unforeseen, something amazing that surprises us, something that is not the result of our efforts or our particular ethical and spiritual predispositions. It is this that gives rise to concern, because an event is something that touches the heart, that changes us, that gives us a new vision of life’s possibilities.


Evangelization within a non-Christian culture is a matter of what St Augustine, writing about his own conversion, calls confession. Augustine wonders why God “made him” read the books of Plato (cf Confessions, VII, 20, 26). He concludes that the reason was so that after his conversion he could tell the difference inter praesumptionem et confessionem, between presumption and confession. To believe that one becomes a Christian through the proper philosophy, theology, spirituality, morality, or cultural project, is a presumption; it is to see our efforts as the cause of our belonging to Christ. Instead, we become Christians because the Incarnation happened in history, because the Paschal Mystery happened, because Pentecost happened, and because those events continue to happen in the world today. They happen now because they happened then and because the Church exists in the world as the life of a communion of persons created by these events, and making them present today through the sacraments. They happen because Christ has risen from the dead and can be encountered today with exactly the same results experienced by Andrew, James, John, Peter, Mary Magdalen, the Samaritan woman, the man born blind, Zaccheus, and the criminal at the cross next to His. Something happened to them. It was an event. The key to the Christian life, the point of departure, is not an intellectual or cultural proposal. It is this event. This is what creates the concern which post-Christian man has so tragically lost. Evangelization is to give witness of our amazement at this unimaginable event. Evangelization is confession.

Liturgy, Anthropology, Economics and Work by David Clayton (via Insight Scoop)

The part of the essay dealing with the liturgy is good. The anthropological (or political) part seems to be more liberal than Catholic, even though it attempts to appropriate classical political theory or Catholic political theology. The influence of the Acton Institute?

In the excellent introductory lectures the speakers described how economics is a reflection of network of social interractions. And the nature of these interractions derives from our understanding of the human person, which in turn comes from Catholic social teaching.


In our use of the terms here, a human person is distinct from an ‘individual’ (although in common language the two are often used interchangebly). A human person is always in relation with others, starting from birth. No one by choice disengages from society altogether (not even a hermit) and is happy. Indeed, we know who we are by the way we relate to others. If for example you ask people to talk about themselves they will talk about the relationships they have in order to describe who they are: where they work, the community where they grew up, the nature of their immediate family and so on.


This understanding of the human person has a profound effect on how we view what society is. A relationship of the sort we are now envisioning, when properly ordered (and of course it can be disordered) is always between two subjects ie two people freely cooperating as moral agents (freedom is as important a component here as morality). This is termed covenantal and is based upon mutual self-sacrifice (love) on behalf of the other. This freedom to respond as a person is one of the essential elements of society. Society therefore is the vector sum of the relationships within it. It is not a collective of self-contained individuals and their actions.


Covenantal relationships are founded on properly ordered love. When they occur God is present because God is Love. This Love always bears fruit and is creative: in a family for example the fruit of marriage is children. In his encyclical Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict used the term ‘superabundant’ to describe this creativity because it means something created out of nothing. Even in what we might view as less important relationships the same principles apply. In business, for example, a transacation properly ordered for the good of the other is creative too. It creates wealth. Although we don’t normally associated love with business transactions, the Pope describes how this mutual interest in the other, which is what love is, is the source of the creative component in business.


Contractual relationships, in contrast to covenantal relationships, are founded on the alignment of self-interest. this is not to say they are worthless. In this fallen world, only a fool would attempt to run a business without contracts: but in practice the actual transactions will usually involve a mixture of the contractual and the covenantal activity. Even if bolstered by signed contracts, very few have absolutely no interest in the good of the other when doing business with them, even if it is only to try to consider how to make a product more valuable to a customer by suiting his needs better. Also, there must be a basic trust and mutual respect otherwise, for all the legal protection in the world, no business would be done. What the Pope tells us is that it is the covenantal aspect that is the wealth creating superabundant part. Presumably, therefore, if one wishes to maximise the creation of wealth this is the aspect upon which we should focus. I have written about this more here.

Freedom of exercise or freedom of specification? This makes a big difference to the implications of what is written above. A slave or someone who is under someone else's authority may not have the freedom of specification but they still possess freedom of exercise. The fact that they do not have freedom of specification does not mean that they cannot act in love of him who holds authority, and vice versa. (Those who hold to an exaggerated notion of autonomy would hold that no one can be in the state of subjection without his human dignity being harmed.)

More of the liberal streak at the end of the essay:

What would an economy based upon a liturgical view of the anthropology look like? I have no idea. I am not an economist. My guess is that we don’t have to specify it. To the degree that the liturgical transformation of man occurs it will happen organically as each personal relationship becomes more ordered and shines with the glory of God. If there is a role for the government here it is not so much and active one where it tries to direct human economic activity, but rather passive – to protect personal freedom so that each unique person can relate to others in the way that is natural to them. Through God’s grace the creativity of man is boundless. The government, an institution, is less likely to be inspired in its actions, its seems to me, than some, at least, individuals; given that there are so many individuals and just one government. Therefore, the more the government takes an active role, rather than passive, the effect is likely to be that in promoting the one course of action that it favours, it will stifle the almost limitless variety of individual actions that do not correspond to it. This reduces the chance of a solution being found in any situation from high to virtually negligible.

(1) Pointing to some form of "central planning" as one sort of government action in the economic sphere.
(2) Protecting personal freedom. ("Non-interference" tied to the "no harm" principle.)

And yet, aren't these two extremes? Can there not be laws that fall in the "middle"?

Rorate Caeli: Mons. Gherardini's new book: Vatican II: at the roots of a misunsderstanding

Aquinas and the Big Bang by WILLIAM E. CARROLL

Adhering to the traditional reading of Genesis and the doctrinal proclamation of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), Aquinas believed that the universe had a temporal beginning. Aristotle, he thought, was wrong to think otherwise. But Aquinas argued that, on the basis of reason alone, one could not know whether the universe is eternal. Furthermore, if there were an eternal universe it still would be a created universe. To affirm, on the basis of faith, that the universe has a temporal beginning involves no contradiction with what the natural sciences can proclaim, since on their own they leave this question unresolved. Hawking's denial of an absolute beginning to time, while also affirming a finite past, involves complicated speculation about quantum gravity, which itself remains not fully worked out. Regardless of the intelligibility of Hawking's scientific claims, the conclusions about creation he and others draw from them are false.


The Big Bang described by modern cosmologists is a change, not a creation; the natural sciences do not themselves provide an account for the ultimate origin of all things. Apologists for the Christian doctrine of creation ought not to think that the initial "singularity" of traditional Big Bang cosmology offers scientific confirmation of their view. Nor ought those who reject the doctrine of creation think that recent variations in Big Bang cosmology support their view. Even if the universe were the result of the fluctuation of a primal vacuum, it would not be a self-creating universe. The need to explain the existence of things does not disappear. Contrary to the claim that the universe described by contemporary cosmology leaves nothing for a creator to do, were a creator not causing all that is, there would be nothing done.

Rome Reports: Benedict XVI officially declares Hildegard of Bingen a Saint

Rome Reports: A tribute to Jean Daniélou: A French Cardinal, Theologian from Vatican II

Zenit: Pope's Address at Sacred Heart Catholic University
"Love alone guarantees the humanity of research"