Why Read Catholic?



Dear Theophilus,

A long, hectic and somewhat adventurous school year now over, I can now turn my attention back to one of my joys in life – the written word. Through the school year, I often find the physical, intellectual and emotional demands of teaching so overwhelming that I rarely have either the time or energy to read, let alone put a few coherent thoughts together for this blog; this past year even more so due to the demands of a new position and a new curriculum to teach.

 

All of this said, at the beginning of every summer I look forward to diving into the pile of books that have been sitting on my bedside table (sometimes for months) as a part of my summer morning routine. This got me to thinking about the content of this year’s particular stack of books, and how they made their way onto my reading list. I essentially asked myself why I read what I read, which lead me to ponder the deeper question: Why read Catholic?

 

Why read Catholic, indeed? With the vast number of titles available at Chapters/Indigo, Amazon or Barnes and Noble, why should one go out of their way to read Catholic titles on Catholic subjects? I think the answer is quite simple: the best way to get to know one’s faith is to defend it, and the best way to defend one’s faith is to get to know it – I find the best way to do this, and to have the reference on hand when needed to defend the faith, is to read Catholic.

Much like the daunting task of trying to choose a title when you walk into a mega-bookstore, knowing where to start your Catholic reading journey can seem overwhelming at first as well. The best piece of advice here would be to ask around, talk to someone you know (friend, pastor, catechist, spiritual director) for some authors and titles they think you might enjoy. Think about what you would like to learn from your reading: Church teaching or prayer life. Some of my favourite authors on these subjects include: Scott Hahn, Fr. Robert Barron, Karl Keating and Fr. Mitch Pacwa.

With the vast selection of s authors, styles and subjects, keeping your reading list on track will also require some effort. In a conversation I had with friend PatrickSullivan recently I went down the list of titles I had read over the past few months or that I intend to read this summer; the list ranged from St. John Paul’s Theology of the Body to The Bad Catholic’s Guide to Good Living (which is more theologically sound than the title lets on). Patrick used terms such as eclectic and diverse to describe my reading list, I personally prefer the word scattered.

Patrick likened the process of reading Catholic to building a house, you need to build a sturdy foundation first, and then move upwards. What I`ve been doing is placing a brick here, and another there in a very disjointed fashion, with nothing to link one to the other. To get the most out of reading Catholic, you need to have a plan, a blueprint for your house. Once I get through the eclectic list on my bedside table (which should be around Christmas) I`ll sit down with Patrick and draw up my blueprint.

Finally, finding the Catholic titles you want can also prove to be a bit challenging. When standing bug-eyed in the religion section of the mega-bookstore it`s next to impossible to know which authors/titles are Catholic, and in a smaller bookstore they may not even be there at all. For this reason, I find knowing a good on-line Catholic book seller is essential; my favourite being Catholic Chapter House.

Sunday evenings at our house are known as wine and theology time, where I sit down with whichever book I’m currently reading and a glass (or two) of red wine. Now that the summer months are here, I encourage you, dear Theophilus, to also slow down, pour yourself a glass of your favourite libation, and read Catholic.

Strengthening Our Faith to Strengthen Our Children's



 

Dear Theophilus,

Kids say and ask the darndest things. That’s why we need to be ready for them when they have deep, penetrating questions about the faith. Because, if we’re not ready to answer them with the Truth, then they’ll go looking for answers in all the wrong places: the internet, television or the school yard.

I realized how important this is earlier this week when my 9 year-old son popped a big one from the backseat: “How do we know God exists?” Forgetting that he’s only 9 and not my high school religion class, I started into a discourse on St. Thomas Aquinas’ Five Proofs. When we pulled into the driveway all he could muster was a feeble, “My head hurts.” Even though I was ready for his question, I had forgotten how to answer it so he could understand. 

Although it’s important as a parent to be ready to answer our children’s questions about the faith, it’s even more important for Catholic Educators. 

A couple of weeks ago I was in the midst of preparing a workshop for Catholic high school teachers when I came across the following quote: 

However else the responsibilities of Catholic Educators are defined, the legitimate expectation of professional colleagues, of parents, of the church community and of the school board is that they say something about God. Msgr. Dennis Murphy (The Catholic Register, Aug 21-28, 2005).  

At the end of the day, this is the crux of Catholic education. This is the reason why parents send their kids to Catholic schools. This is our vocation as Catholic educators. I remember thinking this the first time I read this quote so many years ago, and was reminded that it remains pertinent even today. 

But are we ready to say something about God?

It has been my experience that many Catholic educators, especially those outside of the Religion Department, will shy away from the subject of God and His teachings through the Catholic Church. This is usually due to a feeling of insecurity in their ability to answer the big questions our students ask. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

The first step is getting Catholic educators the tools they need to comfortably teach Catholic doctrine. This could be done simply by getting a copy of the Youcat into the hands of every Catholic educator. They don’t need to read it from front to back. It can even collect dust on their classroom bookshelf. However, it will be there for them to blow the dust off when a student asks a tough question on what the Catholic Church really teaches about homosexuality, going to Mass on Sunday, or is Jesus really present in the Eucharist. I know that, for myself, the Youcat is my go-to resource when students ask questions I’m not comfortable answering on my own. 

 

Like with most things, the more we have, the more we want. I find that it’s the same with our knowledge of the faith. The question then is, where do we go next to deepen our knowledge of Catholicism?

Of course there’s a wealth of resources on the internet; way more than I could possibly list here without missing a quality Catholic resource. Some of my favourites include this online searchable catechism, Catholic Answers, Word on Fire, and the source of Catholic sources: The Vatican. If you’re more inclined to surf over to Youtube, two channels that I go to on a regular basis are Fr. Robert Barron and PatrickSullivan. 

Our Catholicism is also a communal faith. A faith where we are called together to witness to our faith to each other. Nothing strengthens our Catholic faith quite like being in a large group of Catholics all witnessing their faith together. Fortunately, there are a number of Catholic conferences where our faith can be fed. My favourite semi-annual conference in Toronto is put on by Catholic Chapter House, where I’ve heard such renowned Catholic speakers as Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. Peter Kreeft and EWTN’s Marcus Grodi. Another conference I want to get to one day is the Defendingthe Faith conference in Steubenville, Ohio, which features these names amongst a who’s who of Catholic speakers. 

Of course there is a smattering of conferences for Catholic educators out there, but they seem to be few and far between. Although conferences geared toward the laity as a whole help us sustain our Catholic faith, it would be nice to have some more targeted to the needs of Catholic educators. There’s an internet survey for Catholic educators here to find out what they would like to see in Catholic Professional Development – please share it with the Catholic educators you know. Also, if you know of any conferences for Catholic educators (or for the laity in general), please share the details in the comment box below. 

Working together we can help one another strengthen our faith and enrich our knowledge of the Truth and beauty that is Catholicism. With the right resources, we can grow our confidence in our ability to answer our kids’ questions. We will be ready to say something about God.

The Quintessential Question of our Faith



Dear Theophilus,

In this past week’s Gospel reading (Lk 9:18-24), Christ asks the quintessential question of our faith:

“Who do you say that I am?” (Lk 9:20)

Our entire faith hinges on how we answer this very pointed question.

If, like Peter, we answer: “The Christ of God.” (Lk 0:20), then everything else should fall neatly into place. There can be no further questioning of our faith. There certainly should be no further questioning of what we believe in or how we act morally and theologically.

Christ is asking us to either accept him for all that he is, or to reject him.

It’s on this question that the arguments of our Christian brethren that feel they can pick and choose Christ’s teachings that are relevant to them begin to fall apart. For, if they cannot accept all that Christ teaches, then how can they consider him to be The Christ of God?

How can we not consider the Eucharist to be the source and summit of our faith when Christ told us “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (Jn 6:51) if he is not The Christ of God?

If Jesus is truly The Christ of God, then how can we not consider the teaching of the Catholic Church to be divinely inspired when, appearing to the disciples after the Resurrection, Jesus said to them “’Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them, (Jn 20:21-22) a commissioning that continues to this day in the conferring of the sacrament of priesthood. A priesthood in the Catholic Church commissioned when Christ said: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Mt. 16:18)

The teachings simply fall into place once we truly understand what it means to answer Christ’s question like Peter did at his institution as the fist Pope: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Mt. 16:16)

The list of what becomes indisputable when we answer this question, Who do you say that I am? is too lengthy to discuss in a blog post, there are 2865 paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It’s all there, and if Jesus is The Christ of God, then each of those paragraphs makes perfect sense.

As Fr. Robert Barron puts it so well (as he always does) in his Catholicism Series, if we do not answer like Peter, then there is very little to differentiate Christianity from the other world religions. If Jesus is not The Christ of God, then he is little more than a prophet, like Elijah or Mohammed, who have had (or claimed to have had) a revelation from God. If Jesus is not The Messiah, the Son of the living God, then he is little more than a new Buddha who has fond another path towards enlightenment. If Jesus is not The Christ of God, then could he be the next incarnation of Vishnu, come to teach us how to attain Moksha?

This is the quintessential question of our faith. How you answer it forms the core of what you believe and compels you how to act on those beliefs. So,…

Who do you say that He is?

The Burn of God's Love



Dear Theophilus,

The other day, I was asked for my opinion on what heaven and hell are like. As is par for the course in my classes, my answer seemed to leave my interlocutor more confused than when we started our conversation.

Good or bad, I explained, we are all called to spend our eternal lives with God.

With a puzzled look, I was then asked to clarify if evil people go to heaven. I don’t think my answer: “Yes and no,” really helped much, so I tried to clarify my perspective of heaven and hell, gleaned from Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism.

I find it always raises an eyebrow when I state that hell (along with purgatory) burns with the fire of God’s love.

The reason is this: those who are in a state of sin or who have turned away from God are not prepared for the light of His loving embrace in eternal life.

I’ll generally use two parallels to demonstrate my vision of purgatory and hell:

Purgatory is like a smelter. To transform a metal, such as gold, from the ore that’s mined from the earth to its pure form that we wear around our necks or on our fingers, the impurities need to be burned away. Our souls are like gold to God, and before He can adorn Himself with the brightness of our love for Him, the impurities of our sins must be burnt away – purged. Although I do my best as a human, I’m still a sinner, and I look forward to the burning fire of God’s love in purgatory so that I can rejoin the Lord that much quicker.

As for the souls in hell, they too burn at the touch of God’s love. I see the darkness of evil as much like the darkness of a movie theatre. Over the course of a film our eyes adjust to the darkness of our surroundings so that we can see not only the screen, but the others sitting around us. When we leave the movie theatre on a bright summer afternoon, we shield our eyes from the sun’s blinding rays – the same way that the light of God’s love in heaven is blinding to those who chose to live in the darkness of evil.

Put in these concrete, earthly terms, I find that most people begin to understand my original thought of how everyone is called to be in the presence of God, it’s just a question of how prepared we are for the light of His love.

Needless to say, I was struck dumb when, the day after this conversation, I read the Gospel reading of the day:

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

“And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.

“But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” (Jn 3:16-21)

Behold the God that Loves You



Dear Theophilus,

My wife, son and I spent the weekend in London (Ontario) recently with my wife’s family to celebrate her niece’s first birthday. With the 3-hour drive through rush-hour traffic on Friday evening, the 3-hour return on Sunday afternoon and all the festivities and preparations in between, it was a very tiring weekend – but it was a happy tire.

One of the many highlights from the full weekend was Sunday morning Mass at Mary Immaculate parish. I always look forward to going to Mass at Mary Immaculate because it is the parish where we got married. Joyful warmth always comes over me when I remember looking up at the large crucifix behind the altar and I think of how Christ was, and still is, looking down in benediction on our marriage.

Fr. John Comiskey added to the joyful spirit stoking in my heart that particular Sunday with his homily. I was pleasantly surprised that Fr. Comiskey wanted to talk a little bit of the theology of the Eucharist in his homily, more specifically the words said by the priest just before the distribution of the Eucharist to the congregation:

Behold the Lamb of God. Behold he who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.

Father began his homily by sharing the scriptural sources of The Supper of the Lamb in the Book of Revelations:

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. See, the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out to all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the lamb, (Rev 5:5-8)

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and the testimony they had given; (Rev 6:9)

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev 19:9)

Fr. Comiskey then went on to explain that the Book of Revelations isn’t exactly what the modern media would have us to take it as – an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world. An interpretation I myself once fell into in a feeble attempt to write pop-fiction murder-mystery novel. In hindsight, perhaps it’s a good thing I was never able to find a publisher. Instead, much like Dr. Scott Hahn in his book titled The Lamb’s Supper, Fr. Comiskey reminded us that the Book of Revelations was written at a time when the nascent Christian Church was under extreme persecution by the Roman Empire, and that the imagery in the Book of Revelation was used to give hope to Christians suffering from this state sponsored persecution. Taken in this context we can see the supper of the Lamb as the Eucharist, Christ’s Passover meal, marrying himself to his church and conquering the evil of the world’s sin through Christ’s broken body on the cross.

 

Throughout the homily I was cheering inwardly. This is the kind of knowledge that Catholic’s need as they are mocked in the world for their devotion to their faith. This is the kind of knowledge that sets my heart on fire each time I approach the Eucharist that brings tears to my eyes, sets a fire in my heart and physically draws me towards the Tabernacle.

“There is so much more!” I wanted to add to Fr. Comiskey’s homily. I wanted to share what I’ve learned from reading Dr. Hahn, Fr. Barron and especially Dr. Brant Pitre’s Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist that has helped me heighten my love for the Eucharist. Although all of this is too deep and complex to unpack in a single blog post, there are still a couple of things I wanted to add.

Firstly, in citing St. Jerome’s Dialogue with a Jew, Dr. Pitre recounts how, in the time of Christ, the sacrificial lamb that was too be eaten at the Jewish Passover meal, the Passover meal which Jesus ate himself, was roasted on a cruciform spit. So when Christ referred to himself as the Paschal Lamb while instituting the Eucharist, he was referring to the way he was going to die.

Both Dr. Pitre and Dr. Hahn explain and show how the Gospels of the New Testament are the fulfillment of the Old Testament. In linking the Eucharist to the Old Testament both make reference to the Bread of the Presence or the Bread of the Face. The Bread of the Presence of the Bread of the Face (both referring to God’s presence or God’s face) was the Old Testament sacrifice of the priest Melchizedek. The Bread of the Presence, in the form of Manna, was central to Old Testament Jewish worship, being kept in the Ark of the Covenant alongside the tablets of the 10 Commandments and the Rod of Aaron – it was that important to the Ancient Jews.

 

Although I’m amazed by this Old Testament link to Christ’s Passover, the supper of the Lamb, it’s what would happen with the Bread of the Presence at the time of Christ that completely floors me. In his Dialogue with a Jew St. Jerome recounts how, during the celebration of the Passover in Jerusalem, the temple priests would bring the Bread of the Presence out of the Holy of Holies to present it to the Jewish faithful. Holding the Bread of the Presence aloft for the crowds to see, the priest would proclaim: “Behold the God who loves you.”

Now, every Sunday, when the priest holds aloft the Eucharist and proclaims:

Behold the Lamb of God. Behold he who comes to take away the sins of the world.

I also hear:

Behold the God who loves you.

and, although I am not worthy that he should enter under my roof; blessed am I to have been called to the supper of the Lamb.

Growing my Passion for the Eucharist by Growing in Understanding



Dear Theophilus,

 

Lately I’ve noticed that a lot of my reading has been on the theme of the Eucharist. Coming to this realization this weekend is quite appropriate, seeing that it is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and Eucharist means just that: Thanksgiving.

What I’ve also noticed is that with my growing understanding of the Eucharist, my love for Christ’s great Pascal sacrifice has also grown exponentially. As Cardinal George of Chicago points out so poignantly in his forward to Fr. Mitch Pacwa’s The Year of Faith: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics: “ But without a relationship to Christ, doctrine is just ideas and morality is only rules.” And we find this relationship with Christ through the Eucharist at the Mass each and every Sunday.

I recently had a conversation with the chaplain at the high school where I teach about my growing understanding of the Eucharist and how it has created a burning love in my heart to meet Christ in the Eucharist. I fessed up that, although I always believed the Eucharist to be the body, blood and divinity of our Lord, in hindsight it seemed almost like paying lip service to this most essential of Catholic beliefs. It was by really getting to know the Eucharist through my reading and attending workshops on the Eucharist that I came to actually know the Eucharist to be the body, blood and divinity of the Lord.

How did I get here? It wasn’t overnight. And I wanted to share some of my favourite titles that have led me to a passion for the Eucharist that I have read over the past couple of years. You’ll probably recognize some of the authors, as I’ve mentioned most of them here before:

Life of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen

Eucharist by Fr. Robert Barron
Supper of the Lamb by Dr. Scott Hahn
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Dr. Brant Pitre
The Didache by the Twelve Apostles

If you truly want to experience the Eucharist in a bold way that will set your heart on fire, I urge you to deepen your understanding of Christ’s gift to us. The more you know about the Eucharist, the more you will yearn for the life it gives.

The Flesh of the Son of Man



Dear Theophilus,

Last Sunday’s Gospel and homily by Fr. Charles got me to thinking about the words of Fulton Sheen in his book Life of Christ. With his usual great insight, Fulton Sheen teaches us that if we are to truly listen to what Christ has to say in the Gospels, then we can really only draw one of three conclusions:

1. Christ was telling the truth;
2. Christ was a liar; or
3. Christ was a madman.

I’ve used this teaching in my World Religions while juxtaposing the religions of the world to Catholicism. I told my students that it was possible for anybody to start a religion. In fact, I told them that that morning I had decided to start a new religion called LeBlancism and that I was god. I then told them that they had to take this as truth because I am not a liar and that I am definitely not a madman (to which a voice from the back of the class chimed in to everyone’s amusement: “That’s a matter of perspective, sir.”)

To understand how Fulton Sheen’s three conclusions relate to Christ, we need to revisit the Gospel reading for the 20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

Jesus said to the people: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The people then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in them.

“Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” (Jn 6:51-58)

Jesus did not back down from this statement. He did not soften it by saying he was talking metaphorically or symbolically. He steadfastly repeated that salvation is to be had by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. In his Catholicism series, Fr. Robert Barron points out something that makes this statement even harder to swallow (pardon the pun); that if we return to the original Greek of John’s Gospel Jesus does not use the verb phagein (to eat) but instead he uses the verb trogein (to gnaw or devour), indicating the way we should approach the Eucharist. Since the Eucharist is the life giving bread of Christ’s flesh, we must devour it, relishing the sustenance it brings to our souls.

Keeping this in mind, it’s not surprising that many fell away from Jesus, refusing to follow him because they saw him as either a liar or a madman. The emphasis Christ put on this Eucharistic teaching, however, tells us that this cannot be a question of perspective – that there is only one conclusion that we can draw from Christ’s words:

He was telling the Truth!

Embracing The Church and New Media



Dear Theophilus,

It was with some trepidation back in July that I reactivated my Facebook account and created a Twitter identity. I had been thinking about doing this for some time as a way to increase my blog readership – a sort of casting wide my Apostolic net. I had been holding back out of a fear that my obsessive-compulsive nature would turn me into a social media addict. In the end, I’m glad I made the decision to re-join the social media world as blog traffic has jumped from 86 page views in June to 752 and counting in August. All the while I’ve been able to respect my personal boundaries of not becoming physically attached to my computer with the need to see every tweet as it comes in.

The catalyst to my entry into the brave new world of social media was Brandon Vogt’s book The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishop’s Who Tweet. I had come across Brandon’s book via his own website, which I had stumbled upon from another blog, to which I had arrived from…. you probably understand the wayfaring workings of the web.

Vogt’s book isn’t a How To guide to spreading the truth about Catholicism on the web, but rather a compilation of short articles by Catholics on the web sharing their inspiration, methodology and experiences (both good and bad). The contributors to The Church and the New Media reads almost as a who’s who of the Catholic internet presence: Fr. Robert Barron, Jennifer Fulwiler, Marcel LeJeune, Mark Shea, Taylor Marshall, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Scot Landry, Matt Warner, Lisa Hendey, Thomas Peters Shawn Carney, Timothy Cardinal Dolan and Seàn Cardinal O’Malley. Their stories of blogging, tweeting and podcasts are interspersed with sidebars that tell the stories of other individuals who have been touched by Catholic Evangelization in the digital world or lists of other sources for others called to the Catholic mission on the new frontiers of social media. Scot Landry, Matt Warner and Lisa Hendey also directly address how Dioceses and Parishes can use new technologies and media to recapture the lost sheep who have gone astray, bringing today’s connected generation back into contact with the Apostolic Truth of the Catholic Church.

The Church and the New Media  has something to speak to all Catholics in the digital age. Whether you are a serious blogger or just trying to find your voice in the digital wilderness or a Pastor looking for new ways to engage your congregation, there are stories of how others have done it to inspire your evangelization. All that is needed is the same courage the Apostles drew on to tell the Gospel story in a land that doesn’t always want to hear it.

To this end I invite you to join the conversation as we go forward together to discover the mysteries and truths of our Catholic faith by following The Fisherman’s Shoes on Twitter (@fishermansshoes) and liking us on Facebook.

Grasping the Meaning of "Catholic"



Dear Theophilus,

When most people think of defining the word Catholic, they probably think of it as the building on the corner where some of them go each Sunday, or at least at Easter and Christmas. Others will immediately think of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy, starting with its visible head, the Pope, and working their way down through the clergy of cardinals, bishops and priests. My experience has been that these same people usually equate Catholicism with a set of rules and regulations that hamper their individualism. It’s this thinking as individuals that keeps them from understanding the true meaning of Catholic.

Those who have taken the time to study the question a little further will tell you that the definition of catholic is “universal”. This comes from its etymological root in Greek of katholikos, coming from the phrase kath’holou (on the whole or in general) from the two words kata (about) and holos (the whole). In other words, catholic means to embrace the whole or something that is universal.

When I first began to grasp this concept of Catholicism as being universal, my human arrogance saw it as meaning that the Catholic Church (and more completely, Christianity) is for every person on the earth – universal. I say this was human arrogance because I perceived the Catholicism as being something human as opposed to divine. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Catholicism is universal in that it encompasses all of Creation. When we look at sacred scripture, the Bible begins with the story of Creation:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1)

and then the Bible ends with a prophecy of Creation’s fulfillment in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:9 – 22:5) telling us that Creation will be perfected since

Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lam will be in it, and his servants will worship him. (Rev 22:3)

Since God’s plan is about all of Creation, it is universal or Catholic. We only need to look at the world around us to be overwhelmed by its immensity.

It is very scary and humbling, then, to realize that we are but a tiny speck in the immenseness of this Catholic Creation. This brings me back to my comment of human arrogance in thinking that we are central to God’s Creation. According to Genesis, mankind wasn’t created until the sixth day – the last of all of God’s Creation. Although God did give us dominion over His Creation, we need to remember that it is His and that we are only a small part of His universe. Understanding this we need to ask ourselves two very important questions: Where do I fit into God’s universal or catholic plan? and How can I understand God’s will for myself in such a large project as all Creation?

According to Fr. Robert Barron, we can’t – our minds simply cannot comprehend the vastness of God’s plan for Creation. In his Word on Fire lecture series, Fr. Barron used a few different parallels to try to explain our role in creation and our inability to understand the bigger or catholic picture.



Fr. Barron spoke of Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. When you look at it up close, you can only perceive a few dots and a smudge of colour. Stepping back you might begin to see how these dots and smudges can for shapes. It’s only when you look at the entire work from across the room that the artist’s complete vision can be understood. Since we are but a dot or a smudge on the canvas of God’s Creation, it is impossible for us to understand His entire vision for His universal creation.

Fr. Barron also spoke of the soldiers involved in the D-Day landings in Normandy. General Eisenhower, the man in charge of the operation, could see the broad scope of the battle plan – the purpose of each small skirmish to the whole that had to be fought to ensure victory. A sergeant leading his platoon only needed to be concerned about achieving his objective – taking the crest of a small hill or securing a bridge. If he had tried to comprehend the entire battle plan, it would have only muddled his understanding of his immediate situation, lessening his chance for success and thus endangering the larger victory.

It is our job as good Catholics to marvel at the immensity of God’s Creation, accept in awe that Catholicism encompasses the universal creation and to obediently understand our role in God’s plan, leaving the design to our Lord and Master.

On Heretics and Heresy...



Dear Theophilus,

As I mentioned in my last post, I am taking my Religious Education part 2 course to add to my qualifications as a catholic teacher. As promised by my friend, colleague and course director, many of the twenty some-odd students in the class are at varying points along the way of their spiritual journey.

Many of my classmates are posing some very good and thought provoking questions on Catholic Church teachings. I think much of what they’re asking about comes from the perception of Church teachings presented in the media; the two most frequent questions turning around homosexuality and the ordination of women.

It’s good to ask questions. That’s how we learn. The course instructor even went so far as to state that over the millennia Church doctrine has evolved and formed through the discussion of heresy. In fact, in the Early Church, it was the discussion of heresies that drove the first councils of bishops and led to the clear expression of doctrines such as the Nicene Creed (Council of Nicaea 325) and Mary as the Mother of God (Theotokos – Council of Ephesus 431). It’s too bad, however, that the instructor left it at that, and did not delve into answering the questions at hand.

The idea that did resurface, time and again, through our discussion, was a questioning of why the Church excludes and judges those that go against its teachings. Both Fr. Robert Barron and Michael Coren offer fantastic insights as to how the Catholic Church deals with heresies and heretics.

Both start from the accepted definition of heresy: “An opinion or a doctrine at variance with established religious beliefs, especially dissension from or denial of Roman Catholic dogma by a professed believer or baptized church member.” From here, what both Fr. Barron and Coren proclaim is that the Catholic Church has no problem accepting heretics into the fold; it is rather their heretical ideas that cause the problem. Michael Coren goes further in writing that it is not the Catholic Church that excommunicates heretics, but that they excommunicate themselves (Heresy: Ten Lies They Spread about Christianity) and that the Catholic Church plainly states its ideals and teachings, and if you don’t like them, you are painfully free to go (Why Catholics are Right). Both of Coren’s books are excellent resources to help Catholics and Christians to answer the questions others will have as they search out their faith.

Recently, Fr. Barron posted his thoughts on heresy on his website, www.wordonfire.org. Fr. Barron reiterates that we need to love the heretic while being wary of their heretical ideas. In his talk, Fr. Barron explains how trying to tell the Catholic Church to change its teachings is tantamount to telling another person of free will what they can and cannot believe. Fr. Barron goes on to use a great parallel – that telling the Catholic Church to accept uncatholic teachings would be like asking the United States Golf Association to start building baseball diamonds. Not that there is anything wrong with baseball, it’s just not the stated purpose of the USGA.

What we need to do is to educate ourselves. Ask the hard questions of faith and Catholic teachings, and then find out why they exist. Once we’ve educated ourselves, we can lovingly teach our neighbour, helping them along their own faith journey.

A Substantial Matter

Dear Theophilus,

Just the other day I had a discussion with a friend over the term consubstantial. He had difficulty with its inclusion in the new English translation of the Nicene Creed. His bone of contention was the Church’s inclusion of a word that many laypeople would have a hard time understanding. We both agreed that a better education of the laity was needed (both from the ecclesial hierarchy and from the laity taking responsibility for themselves), and I passed along a booklet on the New Translation of the Roman Missal.

What piqued my interest further about the term consubstantial was that I came across two similar terms in the following days in Fr. Robert Barron’s book simply entitled Eucharist: transsubtantial and supersubstantial.

To understand all three terms properly, we need to understand their root word: substance. When defining these three terms, Church fathers used the Aristotelian definition of substance – the invisible part of a being that defines what that being is; its essence. In other words, a being’s substance (what it is) can be quite different from a being’s accidents (what it looks like). To use Fr. Barron’s example, we know that a horse is a horse because of the essence which has formed the animal; however, we recognize it as an individual horse by its accidents of height, colour and temperament.

Giving the term substance the synonym of essence, we can now tackle the three substantial words of consubstantial, transsubtantial and supersubstantial by looking at their individual prefixes.

The prefix con means with. Thus, in the Nicene Creed when we say that the Lord Jesus Christ is “consubstantial with the Father,” we are reiterating our belief in the Holy Trinity. With the word consubstantial we recognize that there is only one God in divine essence, but that his accidents are changed depending on how He interacts with His creation. This is God the Father Creator. There is God the Son who came to save us from our sins. There is also God the Holy Spirit who guides us in our faith development.

The prefix trans means to change, and when used in the context of transsubtantial, it refers to the changing of the essence of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. In the case of the Eucharist, when the priest recites the words of consecration, the essence of the sacrificial gifts on the altar change, even if the accidental properties of bread and wine remain. What we need to remember is that the priest offers the sacrifice of the Mass in persona Christi – in the person of Christ – so it is no longer the human priest who is saying the words of consecration, but rather Christ himself, descended upon the priest through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The final prefix super means above or greater than. Thus, for something to be considered supersubstantial is to mean that its essence is above or greater than the physical realm of creation. We’re not in the habit of using the term supersubstantial in Christianity, but it is a term we invoke each time we say the Lord’s Prayer. The verse Give us this day our daily bread is written ton arton ton epiousion in the original Gospel Greek. A more precise translation can thus be seen as a request of the Lord to give us what we need for our daily sustenance. Since Jesus is the bread of life, of which if we eat we will not hunger, then the Eucharist can thus be referred to as supersubstantial, a substance that exists on a higher plane than our physical realm. A substance whose essence if far greater than anything we can understand.

Cheating Death

Dear Theophilus,

As the saying goes: There are only two things certain in life: death and taxes.

Reading Fr. Robert Barron’s Eucharist, I found the following quite interesting:

In a very real sense, death (and the fear of death) stand behind all sin, and hence Jesus had to journey into the realm of death and, through sacrifice, twist it back into life. (p. 83)

Recognizing death’s inevitability, how is it that sin is embedded in cheating death? What we need to understand is that Fr. Barron is not necessarily referring to the death of the physical body, but rather our fear of our existence being forgotten over the course of time. A person’s life is often said to be a sigh in comparison to eternity, reminding us of how small we are in God’s creation. What we seek is to turn that sigh into a cry that will resonate across generations.

What Fr. Barron writes really makes sense when coupled with his commentary on the woman at the well:

The well is emblematic of errant desire, her tendency to fill up her longing for God with the transient goods of creation: money, pleasure, power, honour. (p. 82)

The sin is not in having any one or combination of these transient goods of creation, the temptation to sin lies, rather, in how we obtain these goods and use them for the benefit of humanity. Do we obtain wealth, honour and power at the expense with others? Do we lie and cheat our way to the top? Once we get to the top of this earthly existence, do we use our influence for the betterment of the world or for our own pleasure?

We need to remember that many who have succumbed to these temptations and have achieved earthly greatness in their time have disappeared like a sigh in the wind, forgotten by eternity. When we look to the saints, however, they have cheated death and attained eternal life by renouncing sin and turning to a life of righteousness.

What Christ teaches us at the well, and through Fr. Barron’s reflection, is that by embracing a death to the transient goods of creation, we can find everlasting life in the Father.

The New Translation of the Roman Missal

Dear Theophilus,

This coming Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent, will mark a momentous change in the Mass for the English-speaking world. The English translation of the Roman Missal is changing, and along with it, many of the responses and prayers that most English-speaking Catholics have grown up with.

Change is difficult to deal with at the best of times, even if we are well prepared, and it will probably take a while for the new wording of the Roman Missal to sink in. Some of my fellow Catholics are so disconcerted, I’ve heard them referring to the change as Vatican III or as a reactionary move from a conservative Pope Benedict XVI. I’ve found the following short video from Life Teen to be really good in helping explain the why’s and wherefore’s of the new translation.

If you are looking for a more in-depth commentary on the new translation of the Roman Missal, Fr. Robert Barron offers some excellent insight.

A notion that I find best suits the reason for the new translation is that of its linguistic register – the language we use to dialogue with Christ the King through the Mass. A great example of linguistic register that I’ve come across is that of Shakespeare. If you take Shakespeare out of the original Elizabethan English and put it into contemporary language, although the meaning remains the same, the whole feel or spirit of his work is lost. Imagine Juliet’s pining of “Romeo, O Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” being read as “Hey Romeo! Where are ya?” Both ask the same question, but the language of one evokes so much more emotion that the other.

I know that I’ll be one of many stumbling over my words this Sunday, but I also look forward to the heightened prayerfulness that the new translation of the Roman Missal promises.

The Catholicism Project

Dear Theophilus,

I was recently a part of a team that was entrusted with the task of preparing the faith formation day for the staff of a catholic high school. Knowing that many of my colleagues lack an understanding of what our Catholic faith really is all about, I pushed hard to have Fr. Robert Barron’s new DVD series, The Catholicism Project, included as part of the day.

Here is the trailer:

I was both excited and frightened when I pressed play on the first section of this monumental 10 part series called Amazed and Afraid. In this 50 minute presentation, Fr. Barron delves into the foundation of the Catholic faith: the Word become incarnate in the form of Jesus Christ. I was afraid of the reaction such a strong presentation would create amongst some very liberal minded catholic educators. To my pleasant surprise, there was applause at the end of the movie.

In fact, many people came forward wanting to know more about the series, if the school had a copy, and where they could purchase their own (you can buy it here). A number of people even commented that this was the kind of catechism that they were looking for; not only teaching them the basis of our faith, but in doing it in such a wonderfully dynamic way.

If you haven’t already seen The Catholicism Project, make plans to do so. If your parish isn’t planning on showing it, the series is currently airing on EWTN and Salt + Light.

Heeding the Call - Updated

Dear Theophilus,

I had mentioned that I had hesitated a long time before starting this blog. Although I gained the courage to start through prayer and meditation, the catalyst to start came with my coming across three different quotes that urged me in the same direction.

To put them in chronological order:

“When the Church does not speak, others will speak instead.” Blessed Cardinal Newman – Loss and Gain (1848).

“Today, the Catholic story is being told in the media, but it’s being told by the wrong people in the wrong way.” Fr. Robert Barron – Catholicism (2011).

“Identify new ways of evangelization with missionary audacity” Benedict XVI’s address to the Council of European Bishops Conferences (Oct. 2011)

Reading the first two quotes, I was ready to let those more in the know, closer to the Church, closer to Rome, tell the story. Surely whatever I have to add to the telling of the Catholicism story would be negligible in comparison to these great thinkers. Then I heard of Benedict’s call for “new ways of evangelization with missionary audacity.” What intrigued me the most was the Bishops Conference’s interpretation of these new ways of evangelization to include new technology such as the internet. I began to believe that I could add to the discussion, that I have something to tell in this wondrous story.

Are we all called to evangelize – to tell the story of Christ through the Catholic Church? The answer is an emphatic “Yes!” Are we all called to do it in the same way? “No,” to each their own special way of spreading the Good News. But we need to remember that if we do not speak for the Church, who will? And will they get the story right?


**Post Scriptum**

Dear Theophilus,

A friend asked me to clarify for you exactly who are the wrong people telling our Catholic story, as well as who are the right people to tell it. I hope that this helps you to better understand.

The wrong people Fr. Barron writes about and that are implied by Cardinal Newman's question are non-Catholics - most notably in the American media. It is the responsability, and duty, of Catholics (lay and clerical alike, who make up 'The Church') to learn, practice and preach their faith, thus modelling and telling the Catholic story.

There is no mistake to infer that the narrative is to be told by a chosen people. The mistake is mine in not stating more clearly that Fr. Barron and Cardinal Newman refer to the Church in its entirety, and that we should all be standing up to explain what exactly it means to be Catholic.

The Similarities of Fr. Barron and Cardinal Newman

Dear Theophilus,

As this blog develops, you will probably notice that much of what I have to write about are the books that I’m currently reading to deepen my knowledge and faith of our Lord. By putting my thoughts down in writing, I hope to meditate more on scripture and the wise thoughts of others.

Two books that I have read recently are Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism (based on the script from his recently released 10 part dvd series with the same name), and a selection of Sayings from the works of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman. Although Cardinal Newman began his Catholic ministry 164 years ago, and his Catholic writing dates between 1845 and 1885, I was surprised to find a number of similarities between Blessed Newman and Fr. Barron’s book which was published this fall.

I imagine that I will return a number of times to both writers, but I wanted to write about their thoughts on Hell, as this past Sunday’s Gospel reading (Mt. 25:1-13) echoes what both men have to say.

In his Parochial and Plain Sermons, Blessed Cardinal Newman states “Heaven would be hell to an irreligious man.” In Catholicism Fr. Barron writes that “Hell burns with the fire of God’s Love.” It’s not what both men say that jumped out at me right away, but rather the similarities in how both men explained their versions of hell. Both Cardinal Newman and Fr. Barron describe hell as an inability on unpreparedness on a human’s part to be exposed to and accepting of God’s love. Fr. Barron likens the searing pain on an unreceptive soul to being like the pain one feels leaving a darkened movie theatre into a bright summer afternoon, eyes unaccustomed to the bright light. Cardinal Newman describes the plight of an irreligious man in Heaven as being much like that of somebody who is at a party where they have absolutely nothing in common with the other guests, wishing they had prepared themselves to be able to relate to their companions.

Reading this, one couldn’t be blamed for falling into the heresy of Universalism – the notion that everybody makes it to Heaven whether they have led good or evil lives, and that some are better suited to accept God’s love than others. We need to remember, however, that Jesus tells us about the chasm that separates Heaven from hell in the parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). When we go back to Cardinal Newman’s writing we see that he said that “Heaven would be like hell to an irreligious man” and not that it is. Also, Fr. Barron tells us that “Hell burns with the fire of God’s love” but does not incorporate hell into Heaven.

How does this relate to this week’s Gospel, the parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (or the 10 Virgins) (Mt. 25:1-13)? It is the sense of preparedness that is needed to be ready for the coming of God’s kingdom. The Gospel fittingly ends with the line: “for you know neither the day nor the hour,” a reminder to us that we must be continually preparing our hearts to accept God’s love. And what is hell, if not the absence of God’s love from our eternal lives. If we do not prepare ourselves accordingly, we will be like the bridesmaids without oil, left in the dark, shut out from the warmth of God’s love. When we do find our way into God’s presence, will we be burned by the radiance of His love or destined to the awkwardness of having noting in common with those we meet in eternal life?