Aquinas vs. Intelligent Design

The eminent Francis Beckwith points us to a very good essay by Professor Michael W. Tkacz, published last year by This Rock magazine, entitled Aquinas vs. Intelligent Design. Tkacz makes a number of good points with respect to a Thomistic point of view, some points which I have been attempting to articulate (lacking background, skill, credibility, experience, etc) for some time:

Both Darwinism, with its secular challenge to the unity of faith and reason, as well as the attempt of ID theorists to disprove evolutionary theory vindicate Pope Leo’s selection of Aquinas as the model for Catholic intellectuals. Thomism has something useful and corrective to say on both sides of the debate. At the same time, Thomism does not replace the natural sciences, or perhaps to put it better, a Thomistic intellectual synthesis includes precisely the sort of research found in the modern natural sciences that have produced so much understanding of nature. In the Thomistic view, the teachings of the faith are fully compatible with what we learn of nature through scientific research, provided we both understand those divine teachings correctly and we do our scientific research consistently and rigorously. The truth or falsity of the claim that the diversity of living species is due to some sort of evolutionary process is a matter to be settled through biological research. Whatever the outcome of this research, it can never replace the need to explain the existence of the natural world in terms of a creation ex nihilo according to God’s divine design.

What does this mean for Intelligent Design? He continues (emphasis mine):

Clearly, the secular claims associated with modern Darwinism require the sort of corrective provided by Thomism. Does this mean, then, that Catholics should make common cause with ID advocates? Insofar as ID theory represents a "god of the gaps" view, then it is inconsistent with the Catholic intellectual tradition. Thanks to the insights of Aquinas and his many followers throughout the ages, Catholics have available to them a clearer and more consistent understanding of Creation. If Catholics avail themselves of this Thomistic tradition, they will have no need to resort to "god of the gaps" arguments to defend the teachings of the faith. They will also have a more complete and harmonious understanding of the relationship of the Catholic faith to scientific reason.

I, too, think this approach is best when we are dealing with the abiding secularism and, indeed, atheism that is rampant in the modern, scientific world.

Gregorian Chant Workshop in Sugar Land

The New Liturgical Movement blog mentions my parish in Sugar Land and the Gregorian Chant workshop held there this weekend. On Friday evening, my parish schola sang William Byrd's Mass for Four Voices, one of my favorites. My wife is a member of the schola, and I know it took quite a lot of preparation to sing, but they did a very good job. I couldn't attend the actual workshop, but my wife tells me it was intense. I did get the opportunity to have dinner with a few of the folks after Friday's concert, including Scott Turkington of the Church Music Association of America who led the workshop. Lots of smart people!

The Great Entrance

From the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. The prayer of the priest at the Great Entrance, prayed in low voice while the people sing the Cherubic Hymn:

No one bound by worldly desires and pleasures is worthy to approach, draw near or minister to You, the King of glory. To serve You is great and awesome even for the heavenly powers. But because of Your ineffable and immeasurable love for us, You became man without alteration or change. You have served as our High Priest, and as Lord of all, and have entrusted to us the celebration of this liturgical sacrifice without the shedding of blood. For You alone, Lord our God, rule over all things in heaven and on earth. You are seated on the throne of the Cherubim, the Lord of the Seraphim and the King of Israel. You alone are holy and dwell among Your saints. You alone are good and ready to hear. Therefore, I implore You, look upon me, Your sinful and unworthy servant, and cleanse my soul and heart from evil consciousness. Enable me by the power of Your Holy Spirit so that, vested with the grace of priesthood, I may stand before Your holy Table and celebrate the mystery of Your holy and pure Body and Your precious Blood. To You I come with bowed head and pray: do not turn Your face away from me or reject me from among Your children, but make me, Your sinful and unworthy servant, worthy to offer to You these gifts. For You, Christ our God, are the Offerer and the Offered, the One who receives and is distributed, and to You we give glory, together with Your eternal Father and Your holy, good and life giving Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Retraite dans la Ville

Ad spot for the Dominican Province of France's online Lenten Retreat: Retraite dans la Ville:


Take the time...

(Courtesy of the Dominican House of Studies, Washington D.C.)

Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare

The Dominican motto Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare (to praise, to bless, to preach) actually derives from the Preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Dominican Missal, as shown for the Feast of the Assumption below:

Vere dignum et justum est, aequum salutare: Nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere, Domine, sancte, Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus. Et te in Assumptione beatae Maria semper Virginis exultantibus animis *** laudare, benedicere, et praedicare ***. Quae et unigenitum tuum Sancti Spiritus obumbratione concepit, et virginitatis gloria permanente, mundo lumen aeternum effudit, Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem maiestatem tuam laudant angeli, adorant dominationes, tremunt potestates: caeli caelorumque virtutes ac beata seraphim socia exultatione concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti iubeas, deprecamur, supplici confessione dicentes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, etc...

Fr. Augustine Thompson O.P., a Dominican Rite scholar, notes on Lauren's blog that the Dominican preface is a medieval, northern French variation on the Roman, which uses collaudare.

The same phrase can also be found in the Preface for the Prophet Elias in the Carmelite Missal:

Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte Pater omnipotens aeterne Deus: Et te in Solemnitate (Veneratione) beati Eliae, Prophetae tui et Patris nostri, exsultantibus animis *** laudare, benedicere et praedicare ***...

Most likely from a similar variant of the Roman missal. Anyone know the history behind the Carmelite preface?

Conference on Biological Evolution

This is a couple of days old, but from VIS:

In the Holy See Press Office this morning, the presentation took place of an international conference entitled: "Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A critical appraisal 150 years after 'The Origin of Species'". The event is due to take place in Rome from 3 to 7 March.

A more detailed description of the event:

Archbishop Ravasi pointed out that the forthcoming congress responds to the need "to re-establish dialogue between science and faith, because neither of them can fully resolve the mystery of human beings and the universe".

For his part Fr. Leclerc explained that the congress will be divided into nine sessions, focusing on "the essential facts upon which the theory of evolution rests, facts associated with palaeontology and molecular biology; ... the scientific study of the mechanisms of evolution, ... and what science has to say about the origin of human beings". Attention will also be given to "the great anthropological questions concerning evolution, ... and the rational implications of the theory for the epistemological and metaphysical fields and for the philosophy of nature". Finally, he said, "there will be two theological sessions to study evolution from the point of view of Christian faith, on the basis of a correct exegesis of the biblical texts that mention the creation, and of the reception of the theory of evolution by the Church".

Saverio Forastiero observed that "the relative fluidity of contemporary evolutionary theory is largely due to a series of discoveries made in the last quarter of a century, discoveries which require the synthetic theory to be reconfigured and could lead to a theory of evolution of the third generation".

"It is my view", he went on, "that this congress represents an opportunity, neither propagandistic nor apologetic, for scientists, philosophers and theologians to meet and discuss the fundamental questions raised by biological evolution - which is assumed and discussed as a fact beyond all reasonable doubt - in order to examine its manifestations and causal mechanisms, and to analyse the impact and quality of the explanatory theories thus far proposed".

How awesome!! The contemporary debate illustrates quite well the tension as well as the synergy of faith and reason in the public sphere. Atheism, which would deny faith, would have us misapply important, scientific theories in a way that would attempt to exclude God (an unscientific claim). Meanwhile, a dangerous fundamentalism, which would deny the applicability of reason, would seek to jerk it in the other direction in a way that would attempt to reject the plausibility of simple, scientific observations and theories about what they indicate. Both positions are extremely dangerous. The Catholic christian would instead look at the evidence and what it tells us (and, what it doesn't tell us) and still ask: What is this based on? How can what we know and don't know about biological evolution be subject to what we understand about God, the Creator of the universe? For the Christian, the foundation is still the same.

Greek Orthodox in Santa Barbara

Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, Santa Barbara, California
Saint Barbara's is one of my all-time favorite churches in Santa Barbara. For some reason, I was reflecting on the place tonight. The photo above was taken at (Orthodox) Easter, 2003. I visited this church for the first time back in November 1997 with Bill for an Environmental Symposium the church hosted for the visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. I was a greenhorn Catholic back then, and at the time, I'm not sure that I was able to fully appreciate the significance of the event, but I was glad I went. One unique feature of the church is that they have available for veneration a holy relic of St. Barbara given to them as a gift from Pope John Paul II back in 1987.

The value of a Catholic Education...

... is not a matter of being taught math and history by priests and nuns, as some mistakenly think it is. It's really about forming the mind simultaneously with the soul, at least in principle.

I've been meaning to post about this for a few months. The following is from the principal's column in my high school's October newsletter concerning Catholic schools:

Catholic schools have traditionally provided excellent college preparatory training, and routinely produce some of the top students in the country each year...

Catholic schools, because they are usually smaller and can better individualize the educational experience for their students, are sometimes viewed (especially in urban areas) as safer environments in which to receive an education. If you have chosen St. Joseph High School for any of these reasons, I am sorry to say you have chosen it for the wrong reason.

Get that? And now it gets interesting:

The mission of Catholic education is unique, and the call to ministry in Catholic schools sets teachers and staff members apart from those who work in other places. Catholic Bishops regard Catholic schools as “an essential ministry of the Catholic Church”, so when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles decided to start a Catholic high school in the Santa Maria Valley, it did so to enhance the spiritual enlightenment of our students through the teaching of Catholic doctrine and not for any other reasons. Fr. Ed often reminds our students that “it doesn’t matter if you get in to Harvard if you don’t get in to heaven.” Similarly, it doesn’t matter if you get a full ride football scholarship to USC, if you don’t know right from wrong. If you are content in languishing in the safety and security of a school like St. Joseph, but you haven’t opened your heart enough to concern yourself with the health and well-being of the rest of humankind, then your education has failed you.

When it comes to helping students to develop their spirituality and to building closer faith relationships with God, certainly not all of our students “get it” right away. But we as Catholic educators are about the business of planting spiritual seeds, seeds that may take a long time to germinate, but seeds that will grow and flower sometimes long after we are gone. It is that potential to develop young people who will become better human beings sooner or maybe later, that is the reason that Catholic schools exist. This is what Archbishop Oscar Romero was saying when he wrote,

“We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work... We plant seeds that will one day grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise… We may never see the end results… We are prophets of a future not our own.”

I am hoping this is the reason that you chose St. Joseph High School for your child. We know that St. Joseph provides its students with a great education in a fun-filled and safe environment, but we also know that is not the reason we exist, and it is our collective job to remind others what is the real reason.

I was very happy to see this. My experience at St. Joseph was instrumental in my embrace of the Catholic Faith. It had its share of problems, but I constantly thank God for my time there. The extent of what I received there is still being realized even today.

After I graduated, the school went downhill fast with severe administration problems and, I'm sorry to say, really bad hiring decisions. However, over the last few years, they have made a decent comeback and have really attempted to assert their Christian identity in the community. The current principal's attitude is further proof of that renewed attitude.

The Mass Stipend

Hugo, who blogs over at Seventh-day Adventist to Roman Catholic, responds to the question: The Mass "Stipend": Is it Wrong? Check it out.

Is there still room for God?

In my days at the university, and also in my current profession, I have often encountered ridicule of Christian assertions or beliefs about the role of Faith and its pertinence to Science. Typically, this was done by the false assertion that the role of faith was only useful to explain what could not presently be explained by science. The "God of the gaps" argument. Wikipedia has a nice summary:

The God of the gaps refers to a view of God deriving from a theistic position in which anything that can be explained by human knowledge is not in the domain of God, so the role of God is therefore confined to the 'gaps' in scientific explanations of nature. The concept involves an interaction of religious explanations of nature with those derived from science. Within the traditional theistic view of God as existing in a realm "beyond nature," as science progresses to explain more and more, the perceived scope of the role of God tends to shrink as a result.

I have known a lot of Christians who felt painted into a corner over this. Yet, science, per se, is not an enemy to faith.

I argue that an authentically Catholic approach must reject such a "God of the gaps" argument. Why? Because it isn't Catholic. God is not a God beyond nature. God is a God of nature, of Creation. After all, it was the very Catholic articulation of the balance between faith and reason that inspired some of the greatest scientific contributions in western civilization, many made by Catholic priests. Mendel and genetics, Clavius and the calendar, Grimaldi and optics, LeMaître and the Big Bang, Copernicus and heliocentrism, and yes, even Galileo. We love science - honest science - and the scientific method.

Contrary to the notion of a stop-gap God, for whom there remains little or no room, the Catholic holds up the exact opposite: the Creator who upholds the universe. For the believer, our comprehension of science only further demonstrates His existence because creation is imbued with intelligibility. The universe is rational. It is reasonable, spoken into existence by the very Word of our Creator. And reason, balanced with faith, is a gift that has been given to us.

Pope Benedict XVI recently said of Galileo:

The great Galileo said that God wrote the book of nature in the form of the language of mathematics. He was convinced that God has given us two books: the book of Sacred Scripture and the book of nature. And the language of nature – this was his conviction – is mathematics, so it is a language of God, a language of the Creator.

In his book, Chance or Purpose: Creation, Evolution, and a Rational Faith, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, O.P. summarizes it thusly in the chapter titled, He upholds the universe by his word of power (Heb. 1:3):

A great deal that was previously incomprehensible in natural processes, because we did not know how to explain it, can be explained today through scientific research and has thereby become comprehensible... The more that is explained, the less there remains that is inexplicable. Is the "room" for God becoming steadily "smaller"? It is no wonder that Der Spiegel closes the article ["God versus Darwin: a religious war over evolution"] with the words, "It's becoming cramped for the creator."

Yet belief in the Creator does not begin at the point where we do not yet know something, but precisely where we do know very well. The proper approach is to look at what we already know today. That, thank God, is a great deal. We are not looking where there is still something unexplained to see if there is still room for God, but looking at what we know and asking, "What is this based on?"

Indeed, that is the question we should be asking. And this is why it is false to assert that only science and reason alone are enough or sufficient for man or for civilization. After all, science can also be used to justify extraordinary horrors and offenses against the dignity of the human person.

I held not a broom...

Today, we observed the World Day of Consecrated Life. I found myself this morning back at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in downtown Houston for Sunday mass celebrated by Cardinal DiNardo. The mass also served to honor those who have given themselves to God in consecrated life. I was there primarily under an invitation given to our group of Dominican Laity to support our religious promoter, who had been invited to preach the homily. Later in the afternoon, I met with my Lay Dominican group for an extraordinary and very necessary meeting.

The homily started and ended around the humble example of St. Martin de Porres, as particularly exhibited by a statue in the courtyard of Holy Rosary parish in Houston. In the statue, Martin clutches, with one hand, the crucifix of Our Lord close to his heart, and in his other hand, he holds a broom -- the broom of his service as keeper of the priory. For Martin, all work was sacred, however menial. Martin's embrace of poverty and his embrace of the dignity of work (both seemingly counter cultural today) were essential to his vocation and his witness, not only as a religious cooperator brother for those in consecrated life, but to all who witness in the world today. It is in this dignity of holy work, offered to God in humility and transformed by Him, that we witness the extraordinary grace at work within ordinary life. Martin held a broom in one hand and preached Christ and Him Crucified from his heart. Martin's work, and indeed his very life, preached Christ.

Some of us are called to professions that may not include a broom, but let us still strive to cling to that Cross, holding it always to our hearts, as we go about our work and our daily activities -- living out that grace in the good works God has prepared for us to live. If we do that, our work, our very lives, will indeed preach, just as Martin's did.

Anniversary of Deceased Parents

According to the Dominican Calendar, today is the Anniversarium Patrum et Matrum Defunctorum: the Anniversary of Deceased Parents. As such, then, Dominicans observe a day of prayer for our deceased parents. From the Dominican Ordo:

In this celebration we remember our parents who have preceded us with the sign of faith and rest in peace. The Dominican Family joins together to honor our deceased parents with the same affection we showed them in life, for in Christ they gave us birth and from the crib they showed us what it means to be followers of Christ.

I would probably include grandparents in the group. I would suggest we take some pause to reflect on our parents today, living and deceased, and thank God for them. While the Calendar marks this with a special day of remembrance, certainly we are not to be discouraged from remembering them each and every day.

In the Office of Readings today (Dominican supplement), St. Catherine of Siena cries out in a letter to her mother:

Mater mea carissima in Christo dulci Iesu!

My dearest mother in Christ, sweet Jesus! She continues:

Your unworthy and abject daughter Catherine consoles you in the precious blood of the Son of God. I have greatly desired to consider you the true mother, not only of my body but also of my soul. For you know that, if you have loved my soul more than my body, all untoward love in you will die and my bodily absence will be no great burden for you. Rather it will be a joy and you will wish to bear all difficulties for the honor of God, with the intention that God may be honored. The honor of God is the increase of grace and virtue in my soul. Thus you, my sweetest mother, who love my soul more than my body, may be filled with joy and not be left desolate.

Catherine then brings to her mother the example of Mary:

I wish that you may learn from sweet mother Mary, who for the honor of God and the salvation of us all, gave us her Son who died on the wood of the most holy cross. Only Mary remained behind with the holy disciples after Christ’s ascension into heaven. Don’t you think that to have lived together would have brought great consolation to Mary and the disciples, while their departure brought grief? Nevertheless, for the praise and glory of her Son and for the salvation of all, she permits and wills that they should leave her. She chooses rather the burden of their departure than the consolation of their presence, so moved is she by the love of God’s honor and of the salvation of our souls.

Catherine ends her letter with an exhortation:

Abide in the holy and sweet love of God. Sweet Jesus, Jesus love!

Let us learn from that example.

JPII's Theology of Communication

The OP Eastern Province Vocations blog reports that Georges Cardinal Cottier, O.P., theologian emeritus of the Pontifical Household under Pope John Paul II, spoke at a recent symposium about what he calls Pope John Paul II’s "theology of communication." This is the subject of a new book: John Paul II: Development of a Theology of Communication.

Zenit reports:

A retired theologian of the Pontifical Household says Pope John Paul II can be credited with innovating yet another type of theology: a theology of communication.

Cardinal Georges Cottier spoke Wednesday on this topic at the launch of the book, “John Paul II: Development of a Theology of Communications,” published by the Vatican publishing house...

Cardinal Cottier stated that the Pope emphasized the role of Jesus Christ in communication, as he is the creator of words and the Word himself.

The authors of the book, Sister Marie Gannon and Christine Mugridge, appeared at the symposium along with journalist Joanna Bogle.

A press release stated that the participants of the symposium “agreed that while the seeds of such a theology have always existed throughout Church history, its development only began to bear fruit during Pope John Paul II’s pontificate.”

Bogle affirmed, “There is indeed a theology of communication, and I am not sure we have really grasped its fullness yet.”

Gannon noted that the work of John Paul II drew on secular communications as well as the Church’s teaching. She explained, “This was possible, because parallel criteria for principles and methodology in both the ecclesial and the secular field were used for the analysis of material from both fields that are apropos for speaking of a theology of communication.”

The press release stated that Catholic Word, an American consortium of publishers, will distribute the new book in English.

Catholic Word president Carolyn Klika affirmed, “The theology of communication can assist every bishop and parish priest in more effectively reaching his faithful, every teacher in connecting with students, every media outlet in conveying their message, and even impact every human relationship.”

Interesting. You can find more information about John Paul II: Development of a Theology of Communication at Sacred Arts Communications.

Trying something new...

So I'm trying out a new template. If you use wordpress, you may recognize it. I have made a few of my own tweaks and will probably keep playing with it for a while...

My last format was the same basic one I've used since 2003. I thought it was time for something different.

Glossary of Maronite Terms

Josephus Flavius of Byzantine, Texas, points us to an online Glossary of Maronite Terms, which is actually the appendix of the book Captivated by Your Teaching: A Resource Book for Adult Maronite Catholics. A cool resource!

The Miracle of the Sun

I thought this was fairly well put together:



It does, however, feature a photo alleged to be of the sun during the event, but I believe the authenticity of the photo is disputed. You get the idea, anyhow.

Wikipedia summarizes the event fairly well along with witness statements.

The Miracle of the Sun is an alleged miraculous event witnessed by as many as 100,000 people on 13 October 1917 in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima, Portugal. Those in attendance had assembled to observe what the Portuguese secular newspapers had been ridiculing for months as the absurd claim of three shepherd children that a miracle was going to occur at high-noon in the Cova da Iria on October 13, 1917.

According to many witness statements, after a downfall of rain, the dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disk in the sky. It was said to be significantly less bright than normal, and cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern, frightening some of those present who thought it meant the end of the world. Some witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became "suddenly and completely dry."

Estimates of the number of witnesses range from 30,000-40,000 by Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século, to 100,000, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra, both of whom were present that day.

The miracle was attributed by believers to Our Lady of Fátima, an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three young shepherd children in 1917, as having been predicted by the three children on 13 July, 19 August, and 13 September 1917. The children reported that the Lady had promised them that she would on 13 October reveal her identity to them and provide a miracle "so that all may believe."

According to these reports, the miracle of the sun lasted approximately ten minutes...

Bonniwell's History of the Dominican Liturgy

Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P of the Dominican Liturgy blog has announced that he has posted a downloadable PDF of Fr. William Bonniwell, O.P.'s History of the Dominican Liturgy, 1215-1945, 2d. rev. ed. (New York: Wagner, 1945).

The book is a gem that I have been trying to find for some time. As Fr. Thompson notes:

This book is the only history ever completed in English for the liturgical tradition of the Dominican Order. Father Bonniwell covers both the Mass and the Office.

RIP Michael Dubruiel

Please pray for Amy Welborn and her family as well as for the repose of the soul of her husband, Michael Dubruiel. From Amy's blog:

Michael collapsed this morning at the gym and was not able to be revived despite the efforts of EMTs and hospital personnel.

We are devastated and beg your prayers.

Bad News

The folks at the Santa Maria Times in my home town of Santa Maria, California don't always get things right when it comes to abortion and Roe v. Wade. Today I saw this photo caption from the paper:

La Purisima Catholic Church, in Lompoc, has marked the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case with the church’s annual protest display of white crosses. This year’s 375 crosses, tied with pink and blue ribbons on the church lawn, represent the estimated 135,000 abortions since the court decision in 1973 that made abortion legal nationwide. A bulletin board at the front of the church shows more information.

Only 135,000 abortions since 1973? Really? Funny how everything else seems to point to more like 50,000,000 abortions since 1973. I wonder if they meant to indicate that 135,000 abortions have been done in Lompoc.

Later in the day, a commentator named Dottie posted this:

Thanks for acknowledging the too many unwanted children saved from agony of not being loved and wanted. Better to have children who are truly wanted and truly loved. The foster care system is already loaded with these unwanted children whom they can barely accommodate.

Get that? Unwanted children are better off dead (err, I mean saved). Where does one start?

Third Order of St. Dominic

Last Sunday, I was admitted into candidacy (aka "novitiate") for the Third Order of St. Dominic (Dominican Laity) while on retreat in southern Louisiana (near Ponchatoula, north of New Orleans). So this makes me an official member of the Order of Preachers, though I have not yet made profession. It was an extraordinary experience, and I met a lot of folks from the New Orleans region as well as from the lay provincial council for the Dominican Laity of the Southern Province.

The Lay Dominicans I have met are quite a diverse group: male and female, young and (yes) old, doctors, restaurant owners, nurses, teachers, moms and dads. It's natural to expect different perspectives on various things, and in engaging them myself, it was quite nice to see the Dominican approach to study and revealed truth play itself out. Participating in Holy Mass together, praying the Liturgy of the Hours in community, as well as the Dominican rosary -- very valuable.

49,551,703 Total Abortions since 1973

Today is the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision which, along with Doe v. Bolton, legalized abortion on demand across the United States. My wife reflects on the meaning of the day:

Every week, a collection of young people move through my classroom. Every year is different. Every class is different. Every period is different.

I play a sort of game with myself every year. It's more of a challenge, really. I challenge myself to learn one unique (and positive) thing about each student. It does not matter what, exactly. Some of these positive traits are easy to see. Some are bizarre. Doing this helps me to appreciate my students a little better, and reminds me to treat them with care and respect to the best of my ability. I also find that in those moments when they drive me nuts it helps me to be a little more fair.

What is interesting is what happens when someone is absent. The empty desk changes the room somehow. There is a piece missing. There is a gap where a vibrant (or at least quietly scintillating) personality usually sits. Even when one of my quieter pupils is missing, the difference is noticeable. The classroom feels incomplete somehow.

There are nearly 50 million empty desks out there right now in our schools, in our workplaces. How many gaps are there in our world that someone should have filled? How many of those singles on e-harmony are looking for a soul-mate who never given a chance at life? How many of our friends, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews have been lost to abortion?

"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

The Word of God

... in the Mission and Life of the Church.

A new website resource produced by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, named after (and in response to) the recent Synod in Rome on the Word of God.

There are some recordings of Cardinal DiNardo's talks regarding the church fathers as well as St. Augustine of Hippo in the "Church Fathers" section, but I have no idea right now if there will be more.

Pope Sends Telegram to 44TH US President

Courtesy of Vatican Radio:

On the occasion of your inauguration as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America I offer cordial good wishes, together with the assurance of my prayers that almighty God will grant you unfailing wisdom and strength in the exercise of your high responsibilities. Under your leadership may the American people continue to find in their religious and political heritage the spiritual values and ethical principles needed to cooperate in the building of a truly just and free society, marked by respect for the dignity, equality and rights of each of its members, especially the poor, the outcast and those who have no voice. At a time when so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world yearn for liberation from the scourge of poverty, hunger and violence I pray that you will be confirmed in your resolve to promote understanding , cooperation and peace among the nations, so that all may share in the banquet of life which God wills to set for the whole human family (cf. Isaiah 25:6-7). Upon you and your family, and upon all the American people, I willingly invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Now that's a preacher...

From Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor (Ch. 1):

He was going to be a preacher like his grandfather... His grandfather had traveled three counties in a Ford automobile. Every fourth Saturday he had driven into Eastrod as if he were just in time to save them all from Hell, and he was shouting before he had the car door open. People gathered around his Ford because he seemed to dare them to. He would climb up on the nose of it and preach from there and sometimes he would climb onto the top of it and shout down at them. They were like stones! he would shout. But Jesus had died to redeem them! Jesus was so soul-hungry that He had died, one death for all, but He would have died every soul's death for one! Did they understand that?

Sorry... I just found that to be a hilarious visualization. I'm reading some of Flannery O'Connor's better known works in order to lead a discussion evening for the Catholic reading group I am involved with.

A Morning in Walsingham

We worshiped this morning at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church (Anglican Use) in Houston after I picked up Christina from the Shakespeare colloquium she was attending this weekend. Boy, I miss that place (but I sure do love our parish in Sugar Land!). We also met their new pastor, Fr. James Ramsey.

When Ratzinger Puts on Galileo's Robes

By Sandro Magister, reporting on the science of Creation and the language of mathematics, as articulated by Pope Benedict XVI, who writes:

The great Galileo said that God wrote the book of nature in the form of the language of mathematics. He was convinced that God has given us two books: the book of Sacred Scripture and the book of nature. And the language of nature – this was his conviction – is mathematics, so it is a language of God, a language of the Creator.

I am exceedingly grateful for Pope Benedict XVI.

On the Order and Rationality of Creation

St. Athanasius, Contra Gentes, §40

Who then is this, save the Father of Christ, most holy and above all created existence, Who like an excellent pilot, by His own Wisdom and His own Word, our Lord and Saviour Christ, steers and preserves and orders all things, and does as seems to Him best? But that is best which has been done, and which we see taking place, since that is what He wills; and this a man can hardly refuse to believe. For if the movement of creation were irrational, and the universe were borne along without plan, a man might fairly disbelieve what we say. But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill, and is perfectly ordered throughout, it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God. But by Word I mean, not that which is involved and inherent in all things created, which some are wont to call the seminal principle, which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought, but only works by external art, according to the skill of him that applies it, - nor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables, and hasjavascript:void(0) the air as its vehicle of expression, - but I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God, the God of the Universe, the very Word which is God.

Scientists often take for granted the fact that our world and our universe, while vast, are intelligible. Creation is ordered, and guided, and rational. It bears testimony to the One who created it, and by whatever means He did it.

I'm an idiot...

Totally something I would try :)

Disputatio: Never, Rarely, Always

Fr. Philip lays out the basics of the Dominican disputation. A very good, orderly post on the subject. In my own lay group, we've given our hand to this. Thanks, Fr. Philip.

Never deny, rarely affirm, always distinguish.

Fr. Barron on Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto"

Fr. Barron's comments resonate with my own initial takeaway from watching this film.

Conversion, the Easy Bake Oven instructions

I ran across this interesting summary of the Stages of Conversion, courtesy of Byzantine, Texas, who got it from another person. It's a silly portrayal. Some parts I resonate with, others not so much:

Phase 1: The Cage Phase
So you've found your new tradition, and you've finally discovered all the answers to life's problems encompassed within it. You've also read a few books that explain how every other Christian tradition (especially the one you just left) has absolutely ruined the piss out of the Christian faith as a whole. As God's apostle to the unconverted, it now falls upon you to save the world (especially your friends and family in the old tradition) by enlightening them as to just how perfect everything is about your new tradition and how stupid and wrong everything about their current tradition is. It is very important for you to have a blog during this time so that you can enlighten as many people as possible.

Phase 2: Addiction
After having ruined all your relationships from your past life, you are now disillusioned with the willful ignorance and impiety of all those outside your new church. Let the heretics stew in their heresy. It is now time to busy yourself with drinking as much religious Kool-Aide as you possibly can, preferably until your skin becomes the same color as Purplesaurus Rex and your body's pH levels are completely thrown off. You need to read every theological or devotional book you can, buy lots of the assorted trinkets associated with your tradition, and make lots of pilgrimages to either theology conferences or monasteries, depending on how your church rolls.

Phase 3: Apostle of Renewal
You've recently noticed that most of the other people in your church are not nearly as obsessed with it as you are. They aren't reading those books, and they aren't buying all that crap you've strewn your house with. They're more concerned with paying the bills than why those awful sectarians are wrong. They even have friends outside the church! Many of them are not aware just how right and perfect their church is, or how great their lives would be if they would just fling themselves with total abandon into the kind of obsession you yourself have. This is clearly a problem that must be fixed, for it threatens to destroy the purity of the faith. As God's chosen agent of change, you busy yourself with trying to whip up everyone in the congregation into the same frothing devotion you yourself exhibit.

Phase 4: Beaten by Reality
You've finally faced the harsh truth: The people in your new tradition are, at their core, a whole lot like all those people from your old tradition that you despised so much, with all the same foibles and failings. You give up on saving the world, on restoring your tradition to its purity, and have lost your confidence that God himself has appointed you to fix everything. You've discovered that your new church in fact has a lot of ugliness in its history, has a lot of jerks in its power structure, can't solve all of life's problems, and isn't always all that consistent or believable in what it teaches or what it does.

I am grateful to have known a lot of converts over the last 12 years who never harbored anger or resentment toward their former religious affiliations or the people in them. In my mind, it is the mark of a balanced and mature faith... a pilgrim's eye toward God. There is always a little frustration, but it is formative rather than destructive.

While I was still utterly convinced of the truths of the Gospel and the fullness of revealed truth in the Catholic faith, I was always profoundly grateful for my experience as a (non-baptized) Baptist -- particularly after I had rediscovered my faith early in high school. My youth pastor was a passionate woman of God who took the time to work with me privately, to help me get my footing in the Scriptures, to pray and intercede for me. Even after I had begun attending inquiry sessions in RCIA at my local Catholic parish, she insisted on continuing to meet with me, and I continued to do so, quite willingly, for about a full year and a half before I entered the Catechumenate and began preparing for baptism and initiation in the Catholic Church (which, of course, she didn't like, but that's another story...)

Yet, in my time before my full initiation, and for some time after, looking back, I would have to identify myself as a cocky convert. I think a lot of that had to do with my being a brand new, know-it-all college student, primarily. I simply had a lot of growing up to do. I am also profoundly grateful for all of the balanced teachers in the faith who showed me how the Catholic faith could be lived out faithfully without falling into the traps laid by the culture warriors and those issues that divided everybody so severely and often destroyed faith. Coming to grips with how human our Church was -- that was the most purgative experience for me, and it doesn't end. I suspect I am a better Catholic today because of those experiences, yet one with a long way to go toward holiness in Christ.

Voter Registration and Ballot irregularities at UCSB

Apparently some interesting voter irregularities have turned up at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which is where I spent my undergrad and grad school years. Or so reports Ryan McNicholas in the UCSB Daily Nexus. I hesitate to link to the Nexus because it has become, quite frankly, increasingly pornographic over the last few years. The article states:

UCSB was one of the best campuses in the country in regard to registering students to vote. Also, we had the highest turnout on any college campus in the country. How do I know this? Because our school had a 100.2 percent turnout...

Of the nine UCSB precincts and a total of 5,442 registered voters, we had 5,456 votes that day! We had 14 people who voted who were not allowed to. In one precinct, 30-3018, we had only 342 registered voters, yet a 445-vote turnout. That’s a 130 percent performance... Even worse than all of this, the Board of Elections of Santa Barbara County certified the election. Yes, even though on paper, page 12 of the 1891 page document with the elections results shows the 130 percent turnout, the election was still certified.

It makes me wary of the voter drives on campus that aimed to get as many students as possible to vote. A friend of mine even filled out his name and signed a voter registration card, but did not know his address. The solicitor at his dorm room let him know that it was not an issue. They would fill out the rest of the information for him - even though his signature at the bottom certified that all information at the time of the signature on this page was correct, accurate and completely filled out.

Apparently Steve Pappas, candidate for Santa Barbara County’s Third District Supervisor, is contesting his election loss with the California Superior Court over illegal voter ballots. However, the Daily Nexus, who ironically endorsed Pappas, won't have it.

I can vouch for some of these overly aggressive voter registration drives on campus. I have no dispute with getting out the vote. But, let's get out of this mode of thinking that asserts that every living person absolutely has to vote. In this less-than-ideal world, quite frankly, there exist people who probably shouldn't vote. Those who are apathetic. Those who don't care enough to inform themselves on issues and candidates. Nobody should cast a vote out of coercion or pressure from individuals, groups, or voter drives. I'd certainly like to see many more educated voters, rather than just warm bodies, turn up at the polls. Just my opinion.

Society of St. John Chrysostom to meet in California

St. Margaret's in Oceanside, CA, is in the news again. Josephus Flavius of the Byzantine, Texas blog points us to an article informing us that St. Margaret's is hosting a regional chapter meeting of the Society of St. John Chrysostom, which will include a presentation focusing on what remaining obstacles to reunification of Catholic and Orthodox churches. The presentation will be led by the Rev. Ramon Merlos, from Our Lady of Kazan Patriarchal Orthodox Church in San Diego, and the Rev. John Monastero, a Catholic priest from Anaheim. That's so cool ;)

The Society of St. John Chrysostom is a group dedicated to Catholic-Orthodox ecumenism and ongoing interaction. It is made up of Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Any Catholic or Orthodox Christian who is a member in good standing with a church in communion with either Rome or an Orthodox community is eligible for membership.

The Nativity



Merry Christmas!

I hope that all of you have been enjoying the holidays with your family and friends. Remember the importance of Christmas. God, the Creator of the Universe, born as a babe in a manger. Amazing.

As for me, I've been fighting off another cold this year that I came down with sometime after Christmas day. And in spite of all the pain and suffering in the world (pounding table), I'm still brimming with Christmas joy! Pax vobiscum.

Ad Orientem in Oceanside, CA

Fr. Cávana Wallace, pastor of St. Margaret's in Oceanside, CA (just north of San Diego), has apparently begun offering mass ad orientem (Ordinary Form) during Advent. Occasionally when my wife and I would visit family in Vista, CA, we would attend mass at St. Margaret's, so we are familiar with the parish and with the pastor. Fr. Cávana had also begun offering a weekly TLM about a year ago. I am happy to hear the news. Here is what Fr. Cávana said during his homily for the First Sunday of Advent:

This watching and waiting, anticipating the Lord’s return, has historically been articulated throughout the Christian centuries in the language of sacred architecture. Since the fourth century which initiated Christian building projects all across the Roman Empire, churches were built so that, when Christians assembled in prayer, both priest and people prayed together facing the common direction of east. The priest and people did not look towards each other (except during a sermon or homily), but when they prayed, they did so with the priest, like a shepherd, leading his flock in the direction of the rising sun, turning around to assure his flock that they were on the right path and the Lord was with them.

The connection between the light of the rising sun and the glory of the returning Lord are themes which run through the whole season of Advent as well as instinctively during our early morning prayers throughout the whole year.

And even though our local geography does not allow us literarily to face east together in prayer, we use the Cross as our compass, restoring this ancient practice of the priest, like a shepherd, leading his people in the direction of the glory of heaven – which is, of course our common goal, our prayers directed to God.
Of course, this must be translated into our lives every day in order that we might be compatible with Christ so that we can see him, when he returns, face to face. When will that day come? We do not know. Will it come? Yes – for Christ has said he will return. “We watch in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ”.

When we entered through the doors of this church, the narthex pointed us through the darkness, in the direction of where we first encountered Christ, in baptism. Before this Altar we will turn to face the Lord together, and through Holy Communion we will literally “put on Christ”. At the end of Mass, with the dismissal, we will journey onward from here and pass under the “gallery”, depicting above us on the way out, the Lord’s Second Coming and the Final Judgment. And this we should not be afraid of. Our Advent journey does not take us into the night, but towards the morning. As St. Paul has reminded us in the Epistle, “The night is far gone; the day is drawing near. Let us cast aside deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light”. Ven Senor Jesus!

Good stuff.