St. Ambrose of Milan

Just a quotation of St. Ambrose of Milan:

The Church of the Lord is built upon the rock of the apostles among so many dangers in the world; it therefore remains unmoved. The Church’s foundation is unshakable and firm against assaults of the raging sea. Waves lash at the Church but do not shatter it. Although the elements of this world constantly beat upon the Church with crashing sounds, the Church possesses the safest harbor of salvation for all in distress.

 I'm not sure from where this quotation comes, but I got it on this website

About the "Old Mass" and its Discontents

Many a good Catholic I know,  i.e., many relatively orthodox, sincere, practicing Catholics think that the "Old Mass" is somehow inferior to the "New Mass".   On the other hand, as I'd argue, the "Old Mass" is superior to the "New Mass".   Of course one can compare two good things. 

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Anscombe on Christianity and Chastity

From her article "Contraception and Chastity"

‎The Christian Church has taught such an ideal of chastity: in a narrower sense, and in a broader sense in which chastity is simply the virtue whose topic is sex, just as courage is the virtue whose topic is danger and difficulty. In the narrower sense chastity means continence, abstention. I have to say something about this - though I'm reduced to stammering because I am a mediocre worldly person leading an ordinary sort of worldly life; nevertheless I'll try to say it even with stammering.

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Absolutely! --Live Blog of Radio Interview with Rolando and Nick about St. John Bosco High School

 Key words and concepts that struck me: Absolutely. Heart. God's Glory.  Culture. Classical. Catholic.

Below are notes from the interview.  Here is a link to the archived broadcast. I don't use quote marks but try to capture what Nick and Rolando say.  I also don't distinguish what was said by Rolando and what by Nick.   I try to represent the questions as the host asked them. 

Host: What is classical education?

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Classical Education: Part 1

Contrary to many discussions about education, focused as they are upon the latest method or the newest technique, the proper place to begin is not with the means but with a renewed understanding of the end of education.  So then, let us ask, what is the end of education?

To discover the answer to this most important question we are driven to deeper questions, more inconvenient ones like: why are we here? What is the purpose of life?  How do I become good?  Within the Western Tradition many thinkers have addressed these questions.  

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Two Peas in a Pod: Contraception and Over-Population

Contraception was and still is encouraged and thought of as justified, at least in part, as a means for avoiding or slowing over-population.  Over-population is largely a myth, popularized in part by Paul Ehrlich's 1968 The Population Bomb --a topic for another day.  Nevertheless, the situation seemed dire and drastic measures were taken --massive contraception, sterilization plans, and other population control devices.  There's nothing like a dire situation to make drastic measures routine.  But what if the routine continues and the dire situation evaporates, like a forgotten tale told by strange people in foreign places, what justifies the routine then?  Nothing.  It's a routine.  Its own history justifies its continuance. 

I will end this short thought with a slightly abridged version of Anscombe's essay "Why Have Children?", which was delivered as a Plenary Session in 1989 at a meeting of the Catholic Philosophical Association.   Like a good philosopher she questions the question, its assumptions, the context it gets sincerely asked, the circumstances of its importance, etc. 

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Birth Control and a Lame Objection to NFP-ers

This post is concerned with the larger discussion of the morality of contraception.  Most people these days would think my mention of the morality of it is rather out of place.  You know, philosophers in other peoples bedrooms, etc.?  The privacy line in that sort of evasion is surely poppycock but the devil doesn't mind poppycock when it functions to deaden the conscience from the pricks that start life-changing inquiries.   This post, however, isn't about the ethics of contraception per se.   I only bring up parts of the discussion in hopes to get the gears turning and perhaps defuse at least one annoying objection that defenders of contraception throw back at the contra-contraception Catholic crew.

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A Paradox of Unity in the Church

Intro

Seems to me there are two sorts of "unity" often confused and thought of as one. We want Christians to be united with each other and for the divisions among Christians to end. This is, I take it, what the Pope in some recent remarks meant by "full visible union...". But he also asked the rhetorical question: "Is Christ divided?" Christ is one and His Church is one because it is His body. But the oneness or unity of the Church is not the same as the oneness or unity of Christians whose divisions, let us suppose, have ended.

This difference is, then, very important to understanding the following paradox: Christ's Church cannot be divided but members within it and some of those professing to be members are, amongst each other, divided.

So how do we solve this paradox?

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Three Myths Concerning Homosexuality

I recently heard on NPR some people endorse three myths:

1. Those children who don't conform to the gender patterns of culture are probably gay.
   
2. Those with homoerotic desire must have been born with it just as those with desire for food were born desiring to suckle (it was said on the show like this: "we are hard-wired").
   
3. The religious right teaches that if you're a homosexual then you intentionally destroy the family and marriage (or at least causally contribute to their destruction).

The first two have no scientific support and the first I've seen denied by a gay sociologist. The last myth is just a case of sloppy and confused thinking.

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Technology as God

Neil Postman’s Technopoly is about God. Postman’s pen provocatively engages me on every page. He insightfully thinks through the relationship of technology and culture. To be more accurate and poignant, he shows that technology has become our master, and is now destroying our culture and building a new one – bigger, faster, more efficient - and totally meaningless. Technology, now bowed down to and anointed with oil, is treated as both mysterious and awesome. The illuminating portrait Postman paints about technology is eerily fascinating and I am filled with terror and excitement at thinking thoughts after him. The conclusion he reveals is that technology, the way we think about it – nay, even with it, the way we use it, hope in it, and mindlessly adopt anything new, faster, and cheaper is nothing less than the deification of technology to our own destruction.

You really should read this book, regardless of age, job, or interest – it is that important. Are you an educator? Go out and buy it today. Are you a parent? You and your spouse need to read this and ponder how your family culture uses…or could be being USED by technology. Are you a businessman, policeman, pastor, painter, or college student? In other words, if you’re a thoughtful person who cares about restoring virtue to your family and community, get this book and eat it up. I’ve only gobbled a few morsels and it is filling and satisfying.

I entertain here two brief stories to illustrate our culture’s surrender to technology, hence a motivation to read this book, as well as to offer my way out of the maze.

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