In the November 23 edition of the National Catholic Reporter, Crispian Hollis, Roman Catholic bishop of Portsmouth, England is reported as stating that he supports the legalization of prostitution but insists that he is not condoning prostitution itself. I can’t help wondering if the bishop could also support embryonic stem cell research while insisting that he does not condone using the results of that research itself, or support the legalization of marijuana while not condoning the use of marijuana itself, or support the ordination of women while not condoning women priests themselves. Maybe a politician could get away with with such irrational calisthenics, but a bishop? I wonder.
Politicians Maybe, but a Bishop?! Friday, Nov 23 2007
Bishops and General and Politicians and Stem cell research and Women priests Bishops, Stem cell research, Women priests 4:59 pm
It’s About Time … and Eternity Wednesday, Nov 21 2007
General and Speculation and Time and Eternity Speculation, Time and Eternity 8:10 pm
The scientists in the room may want to sit this one out and watch a layman who can hardly spell ‘scientist’ make a fool of himself.
What is Time? There seems to be some consensus that there are at least two ‘kinds’ of time, kronos and kairos, and since nobody really knows what time is, the door is open for some interesting speculation on the subject.
Kronos is time measured. It’s the most familiar kind, marked by clocks, sunrise and sunset, and orbiting planets. Personal experience indicates that the duration of unpleasant experiences is measured by kronos time, experiences like wondering when that toothache will end then counting the hours before a visit to the dentist, or waiting for your delayed flight to arrive at the gate, or watching the clock counting the minutes between contractions. Kronos time cannot be ignored, it imposes itself on everything we consciously do.
Kairos is time experienced. This is a bit more subtle. Who hasn’t put down a good book, returned from a walk through a cool green forest or enjoyed an absorbing discussion with a good friend, and later wondered, “Where did the time go?” Note that kairos time is almost always the UNmeasured experience of pleasant events. Kairos time is out of sight, out of mind. The instant we become conscious of it, it vanishes and chronos time closes in.
Time is neither good nor bad, but the kronos-kairos comparison reveals a stunning spiritual dimension. If chronos time is the world’s measure of misery and kairos time underlies all pleasant experience, then kairos time might be the unmeasured time of eternity where chronos time doesn’t exist because, there is nothing to measure. And maybe the experience of the Beatific Vision for those who die in God’s graces, is such that kairos time simply never crosses the mind so they never reach the point of asking, “Where did the time go?”
Kronos time, on the other hand, is merely that which it takes for matter to move from point a to point b. No matter, no movement, no time.
Body and Soul But Truly One Tuesday, Nov 20 2007
Body Soul and Catechism and General and Speculation body and soul, Catechism, speculaton 4:38 pm
“The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.” Catechism of the Catholic Church [365]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches unequivocally [362 - 368] that the human person is not a body animated by a separate soul or a soul inhabiting a separate body, but a bodysoul unity. Yet the empirical evidence is that the body dies. But the human person is not dead, because the body alone, though dead, is not a human person. On the other hand, the human person cannot be alive because the soul alone, though living, is not a human person.
Speculation (And we do this cautiously with the intent of avoiding conflict with any matters of faith or dogma). With our body in the grave and our spirit elsewhere we cannot exist as a human person, so could it be that though we die at different points in time, we all arrive at the general judgment simultaneously? What might be the subjective experience of the interval between the moment of our death and the resurrection? Perhaps the soul passes the interval in a state of non-consciousness, (sleep?) and the human person, bodysoul reunited as one at the resurrection, would experience that resurrection immediately upon death. This speculation seems to accommodate the notion of a personal and a general judgment being not two separate events, but two aspects of a single event.
“By virtue of our apostolic authority, we define the following: According to the general disposition of God, the souls of all the saints . . . who died . . . already before they take up their bodies again and before the general judgment . . . have been, are and will be in heaven, in the heavenly Kingdom and celestial paradise with Christ, joined to the company of the holy angels. Since the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, these souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature.” Benedict XII Benedictus Deus (1336) from CCC [1023]
Some questions begged by this teaching
If the souls described above are not human persons, (and without a body they can’t be human persons) what, I wonder, are they?
Could it be that our understanding of what is meant by ‘the body’, at least in the context of the Resurrection, needs adjusting?
Freewill, Choice and Responsibility Monday, Nov 19 2007
Free Will and Freedom of Choice and General and Responsibility Free Will, Freedom of Choice, Responsibility 11:09 pm
Free Will is certainly one of the most awesome gifts of God. It is the most powerful and the most dangerous of human faculties. Of all the characteristics that define us as humans, with Free Will, God has bestowed upon each of us the power to thwart his very will, at least in the short term. It’s by the exercise of Free Will that we make the choices that move us towards salvation as well as the choices that can lead to the loss of our very soul. The gift of Free Will demonstrates how eternally important to each of us God considers our love for him to be.
Those who march under the banner of Freedom of Choice may not be too far off the mark in one sense. We do indeed have freedom of choice. We can freely choose to drive a hundred miles per hour through a school zone. We can freely choose to ignore the pain and poverty of an aging parent. And we can freely choose to have an abortion. But choices of that ilk carry inherent consequences that can destroy us.
The fact that we have Freedom of Choice is no guarantee that all our choices are right. The greater the gift, the greater the responsibility to make good and moral use of that gift , and surely there are few gifts greater than Free Will. In his infinite generosity, God has provided us with all the resources necessary to help us across the minefield of life and to avoid the choices that can destroy our spirit. These resources have familiar names and are available to all. Here are a few: The Word of God the Father expressed in scripture, Jesus Christ the Son embodied in the church and it’s teaching, and conscience formed in the Holy Spirit.
Evolution, Intelligent Design, and Creationism Monday, Nov 19 2007
Creationism and Evolution and General and Intelligent Design Creationism, Evolution, Intelligent Design 7:53 pm
Evolution
How awfully prideful it is to presume to know how God should or should not go about his supernatural business! How can we be so arrogant as to declare that God could not possibly have chosen to create his universe through a process we call evolution.
Intelligent Design
A perfectly good phrase completely mis-applied. Once we manage to get past the non-problem of evolution, could creation be anything but the result of intelligent design? Or do we simply declare that God is not intelligent?
Creationism
Well, there are still those who believe the world is flat five hundred years after Magellan circumnavigated it, so I guess we can expect to have Creationism with us for quite a long time.
Our greatest scientists haven’t been able to create a microbe to say nothing of true intelligence, artificial or otherwise, or to postulate a plausible first cause of the big bang or anything else. Most scientists acknowledge the parallel existence of science and the supernatural and many have come to understand that, ultimately, scientific truth and spiritual truth will prove to be a perfect unity.
Perhaps we should think very carefully before limiting God in the name of religion.
Celibate and/or Unmarried Monday, Nov 19 2007
Catechism and Celibacy and General Catechism, Celibacy, priests 6:05 pm
Which of the following most accurately applies to a Catholic priest (select one): “celibate”, “unmarried”, “celibate and unmarried”, “celibate or unmarried”, “________________”?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church devotes around eighty words to the subject of priestly celibacy in the Western Rites [1579]. Paragraph [1580] acknowledges a different discipline in the Eastern Churches where priestly celibacy is held in high esteem though not required . But “In the East as in the West,” it states, “a man who has already received the sacrament of Holy Orders can no longer marry.” This subtle segue from the positive sense of the term “celibacy” to the negative sense of the word “marry” begs some interesting questions.
Isn’t every unmarried male (or female) morally bound to a life of celibacy? Isn’t any unmarried priest likewise bound to celibacy? Isn’t any additional ordination-related celibacy rule redundant when a ban on marriage achieves the same ends?
If celibacy, and not marriage, is the real issue, then we must conclude that the Church is teaching that a celibate marriage is not valid. This is, of course, incorrect as affirmed by the marriage of Mary and Joseph. The Church could, it seems, simply require priests to be unmarried and let the issue of celibacy take care of itself . This could make the entire debate more interesting.
