Part of my review of the basics will be examining Fides et Ratio. As the Pope Emeritus noted, reason incompatible with faith is not reason, and faith opposed to rationality is not faith. I shall also look at Caritas in Veritate.
We have been given for years all we need to combat the evils which now are so obvious in the Church. But, too many lay people and priests have allowed themselves to be distracted from what they should be studying and contemplating. Apparition and false seer chasers have set aside reason, and therefore, their faith suffers to the point where they not only rely on the comforts of the emotions, but move themselves out of the Church.
A quotation from Benedict, via TAC website, and another repost to get going.
“In his encyclical Fides et Ratio, my venerated predecessor, Pope John Paul II recalled that ‘the Church has been justified in consistently proposing St. Thomas a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology’ (No. 43).
“It is not surprising that, after St. Augustine, among the writers mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas is quoted more than any other — some 61 times! He was also called the Doctor Angelicus, perhaps because of his virtues, in particular the loftiness of his thought and purity of life.
“In short, Thomas Aquinas showed there is a natural harmony between Christian faith and reason. And this was the great work of Thomas, who in that moment of encounter between two cultures — that moment in which it seemed that faith should surrender before reason — showed that they go together, that what seemed to be reason incompatible with faith was not reason, and what seemed to be faith was not faith, in so far as it was opposed to true rationality; thus he created a new synthesis, which shaped the culture of the following centuries.”
and from another blog
and from another blog
Sunday, 25 August 2013
Rethinking The New Evangelization
Now, obviously, we need the ethical discussion,
Augustine wrote his City of God in direct response to pagans, agnostics, and even atheists who were
blaming Catholics for the fall of Rome. Hey, folks, this will happen again and I do not see the
bright spark, a new Augustine, who can address the entire question of the nature of man,
the City of God and the secular city in terms of basic principles. Phenomenology is too
personalistic for this discussion. We need to revisit the Greeks,the Romans, all part of our heritage.
We need to go back to the basics, or we shall continue to lose yet another generation and the Church
in the places where we live.
Apologetics has been so slanted towards ethics, towards morality, that it has set aside the first
principles. As humans and as Catholics, we must be able to discuss metaphysics at this level.
Aristotle, Aquinas, the neo-Thomists, even educators, such as Montessori, all of whom are part
of my mindset, my history, used the scientific method of rational discourse.
This is no longer accepted by many, and we cannot meet physicists, politicians, academics of any
kind with language they no longer accept.
We must go back further. And, I do not mean Duns Scotus, who was more popular than Aquinas
for a very long time. Nominalism is limited as well. We must go back and ask the basic questions of
believing, of the supernatural, of God Himself. We must evangelize at this level, and not merely
the moral or ethical one. But the moral comes out of rational discourse.Those Millennials who
ask the basic questions have no framework for morality because they have no philosophical
framework.
Benedict, the Pope Emeritus, was the man of the time, reminding us that Augustine
I hope God raises up some great metaphysical minds in this era. I hope and pray that both clergy and
laity can learn to evangelize from basic principles.
The call to new evangelization cannot be a static one. As
Catholics, we have a duty to know our audience, our target
groupings. And, I am convinced we are not addressing the
youth of today in the mode which they need.
Too often, evangelization either is too banal, that is,
Too often, evangelization either is too banal, that is,
watered down to the lowest common denominator; or it is
an attempt to bring people out of serious sin by attacking
the sins; or it is the speaking of Jesus as Saviour again
outside of context of the larger perspective of what is
means to be human and what it means to know a particular
God.
I have been thinking about St. Augustine and his
I have been thinking about St. Augustine and his
importance to our Catholic world today. He wrote in a
similar time-the great destruction of a civilization which had
endured for hundreds of years. He also bought a
philosophical approach to all that chaos.
The Hebrews experienced much the same situation over
The Hebrews experienced much the same situation over
and over and over. Either they were destroying old
civilizations, or their own was being destroyed by
whatever conqueror was the most powerful.
The reason for my ruminations is that we need, desperately, Catholic minds which can stop
addressing the moral questions, stop addressing the ethical questions, and go back further to the
basic questions of the existence of God and the nature of what it is to be human.
The reason for my ruminations is that we need, desperately, Catholic minds which can stop
addressing the moral questions, stop addressing the ethical questions, and go back further to the
basic questions of the existence of God and the nature of what it is to be human.
so prominent among good Thomists, as Aquinas,
like Aristotle, who dealt with vice, virtue, law and so on,
but the world we are dealing with now is one of agnosticism
and atheism. Those people deserve better discussions than what we have been able to give.
Starting with morals is not the way to converse with
like Aristotle, who dealt with vice, virtue, law and so on,
but the world we are dealing with now is one of agnosticism
and atheism. Those people deserve better discussions than what we have been able to give.
Starting with morals is not the way to converse with
atheists or agnostics, who lack a moral structure and may not even believe in one, except relativism.
There are few great Catholic minds which can address the basic questions youth ask today.
Here are a few of those questions.
There are few great Catholic minds which can address the basic questions youth ask today.
Here are a few of those questions.
Is there a God?
What would be the meaning of being human?
What is the relationship between men and God?
Why are we here?
Do you ever doubt?
Why do you want to be a Catholic?
Augustine wrote his City of God in direct response to pagans, agnostics, and even atheists who were
blaming Catholics for the fall of Rome. Hey, folks, this will happen again and I do not see the
bright spark, a new Augustine, who can address the entire question of the nature of man,
the City of God and the secular city in terms of basic principles. Phenomenology is too
personalistic for this discussion. We need to revisit the Greeks,the Romans, all part of our heritage.
We need to go back to the basics, or we shall continue to lose yet another generation and the Church
in the places where we live.
Apologetics has been so slanted towards ethics, towards morality, that it has set aside the first
principles. As humans and as Catholics, we must be able to discuss metaphysics at this level.
Aristotle, Aquinas, the neo-Thomists, even educators, such as Montessori, all of whom are part
of my mindset, my history, used the scientific method of rational discourse.
This is no longer accepted by many, and we cannot meet physicists, politicians, academics of any
kind with language they no longer accept.
We must go back further. And, I do not mean Duns Scotus, who was more popular than Aquinas
for a very long time. Nominalism is limited as well. We must go back and ask the basic questions of
believing, of the supernatural, of God Himself. We must evangelize at this level, and not merely
the moral or ethical one. But the moral comes out of rational discourse.Those Millennials who
ask the basic questions have no framework for morality because they have no philosophical
framework.
Benedict, the Pope Emeritus, was the man of the time, reminding us that Augustine
was not only a theologian, but a philosopher. We need to look at
him again in that light, and at those Doctors of the Church who
helped the Church develop doctrine from the basic principles.
The reason we must think in different terms is that we are
The reason we must think in different terms is that we are
witnessing the chaos of the death of Western Civilization and to
speak in any terms purely from moral or ethical viewpoints will
not speak to the hearts of those completely at a loss, at sea in
chaos.
That is what the Moslems do - speak only in ideological, so-called
That is what the Moslems do - speak only in ideological, so-called
moral terms. This type of approach does not speak to the very
essence of who a person is and who God is. Imposing law without
the reasons for such begs the question of religion.
I read and hear too many high-ranking priests, bishops,
I read and hear too many high-ranking priests, bishops,
theologians, especially moral theologians, who do not have the
proper perspective of the problem of basic principles, because
their own training was so limited. Try and find excellent
philosophers in seminaries who are orthodox and can engage
at this level of thinking.
When one answers the questions of who man is and Who God is, then the moral and ethical
questions fall into place.
When one answers the questions of who man is and Who God is, then the moral and ethical
questions fall into place.
I hope God raises up some great metaphysical minds in this era. I hope and pray that both clergy and
laity can learn to evangelize from basic principles.