The Church is the shizz?: How the Catholic Church Became Cool Overnight

Bad Catholic's Marc Barnes has a great read over at his Pathos site:

That’s right folks. I woke up this morning and the Church was the shizz. This is first and foremost because we have been rudely placed in the position of rebellion, and of the avocation of civil disobedience. To those who understand the teachings of the Church, this rebellion is nothing new, it has just been suddenly and fantastically stuck in the public eye. (Thank you, Department of Health and Human Services.) The Church already rebels against the twin monsters Socialism and Capitalism in her teachings, and strives instead after the principles of subsidiarity, in which the human person is neither an economic tool nor a cog in the machine. The Church already calls us to rebel against the culture of death, against abortion — of course — but with equal fervor against euthanasia, unjust war, the unjust use of the death penalty, suicide, terrorism, and any attacks on life. But now everyone gets to know that these guys:

Read the entire article here >>> 

Archbishop Dolan speaks out on religious liberty. Urges Obama to back down on HHS mandate.

Great interview with Archbishop Dolan on CBS this morning.

Todd Sylvester: Introduction

While at the March for Life this year I was blessed to see an old friend, Sister Agnus Dei, from the Sisters of Life in New York. We briefly see each other during this sad, but necessary gathering of the faithful each January. We quickly caught up and I shared the latest family photo. She then turned to another sister and introduced me.  “Sister, this is Todd Sylvester, HE’S FOR REAL.”

I kind of chuckled at the introduction. As the father of a large family, that is often the way I am introduced, or that I am a Youth Minister, or from Alabama, or that I love pizza- there were thousands of things that could have been said in that introduction- and I was so honored and humbled by those simple words.
   
How do people introduce you? How do they succinctly sum up who you are? Then most importantly, how does God introduce you?
   
Let us live up to the reality that we are God’s children and that’s FOR REAL.

About Todd Sylvester Todd Sylvester has worked in Church Ministry for almost 20 years. His love for Christ in the Eucharist is evident as he strives to lead his wife and ten children to the heavenly banquet. Todd is a writer, singer/songwriter, radio show host, teacher, and above all else, Lover of God. His child-like perspective is not only poignant, but helps reveal the reality of God in our everyday living.

Pat Arensberg: the canon of Scripture

“It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of sacred books.”  -Dei Verbum #8

What was the measuring stick that the Church used to determine which books were inspired, and therefore deserving of being included in the canon of Scripture, and which books were merely human?  There were several:

1. Does the message of the book in question conform to the message alive within the Tradition of the Church?
2. Can the book be attributed to someone who knew Jesus?  (The Gnostic Gospels were rejected for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is because they were all written in the late third or early fourth century)
3. Is the book used in only one or a few locations, or is it universally used?  The thinking was that if the Holy Spirit inspired the book then it would have a broad acceptance and not just a local following.

There were many local Councils (or meetings of Bishops) that discussed this and there was basically universal agreement after them (Council of Hippo in 393 a.d. and the Council of Carthage in 397 a.d.).  However, the Church often does not define things until someone is rejecting the truth.  The Church does not feel compelled to teach/clarify or define things that everyone accepts.  So, the Universal Church did not define which books were definitively in Scripture until the Council of Trent in 1545 a.d.  But, please remember that this is because of the Church from about the 4th century forward accepted the books of the Bible as defined by Hippo and Carthage).

Finally, I would like to remind the gentle reader that none of the books of the Bible were written in English.  Anytime you crack open a Bible it is a very good thing, but remember that you are reading an interpretation.  Because any time you translate a document you must make decisions about how to translate certain words and concepts.  So, be careful about trying to arrive at doctrinal conclusions using just an English Bible!

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.

John Martignoni: Salvation is a process

Question:
As a cradle Catholic, I certainly agree with the good points you’ve raised in your articles regarding salvation.  Nevertheless, I have a Protestant (Presbyterian) friend who brought up Galatians 2:16 and most of the verses in Galatians 3 where Paul states that we are not justified through works of the law, but rather through faith.  How does this correlate to your statements that both faith and works are necessary for salvation?

Answer:
The key phrase in Galatians, that Paul uses over and over again, is “works of the law.”   In chapter 3 of Galatians, Paul tells us that the law “came four hundred and thirty years” after Abraham.  He is quite obviously speaking of the Mosaic law.  So, if “the law” spoken of here refers to the Mosaic Law, then the “works of the law” are referring to all of the rites and rituals that were part of the Mosaic Law.  Circumcision, which pre-dates the Mosaic Law, was included as part of the “works of the law” because it was only after one was circumcised that they were bound to keep the “works of the law.”  

What was happening in Galatia was that some Jewish Christians were telling the new Gentile Christians, that in addition to the gospel message that they had been taught by Paul, they also needed to accept circumcision and the tenets of the Mosaic law in order to be justified (or saved).  The overall message of Paul to the Galatians, however, is that the Old Covenant law does not save anyone.  If it did, then there would have been no need for Christ to become man and to be crucified.  

Paul goes on to tell the Galatians (chapter 5) that if they accept circumcision - which would mean they are, in effect, accepting the Mosaic Law in place of the new law in Christ - then Christ would be “of no advantage” to them.  He tells them they would be foolish to accept the old law.  

In other words, when Paul is telling the Galatians that they are justified by faith and not by works of the law, what he is saying is that the Mosaic Law has been perfectly fulfilled in the person of Christ and that the Old Covenant has been superceded by the New Covenant.  The Mosaic Law no longer needs to be followed.  He is not telling them that they are saved by “faith alone” and that good works have nothing to do with salvation as many Protestants would like to interpret these verses.

And, just to re-visit the previous articles on faith and works, it is important to emphasize that, as Catholics, we do not believe we receive our justification because of our works or even because of our faith, but we receive our justification through our faith (or the faith of our parents), by the grace of God, in the Sacrament of Baptism.  However, once we have been baptized into Christ, once we have been justified, we must pick up our cross daily to follow Christ (Lk 9:23) and we must bear good fruit (John 15:1-6) or we can lose our justification.    

Salvation is a process.  Our initial justification is by God’s grace alone, but once we have received the grace of our initial justification, then it is through our faith and works - all by the grace of God - that we remain justified.  Or, as the Scripture says in Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision are of any avail, but faith working through love.”

About John Martignoni John Martignoni is the Director of Evangelization for the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama and also the President of the Bible Christian Society. John's column, Apologetics 101, appears regularly in the diocesan newspaper, the One Voice.  If you have a question about the Catholic Faith, please send an email to: jmartignoni@bhmdiocese.org.  And check out John's free audio and written apologetics materials at: www.biblechristiansociety.com.

Pat Arensberg: How did the Gospels come to be?

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.”  -Matthew 28:19-20

Jesus commanded his disciples to preach and baptize.  We cannot find any commissioning to write Gospels or letters.  The first disciples taught by preaching the Word, much like Jesus did.  Most expected that Jesus would return (his second coming) within the lifetime of those first followers.  There was not time to write; they had to prepare for that second coming.  And there was no need of writing because there would be nobody left to read it.  As the decades passed it became clear that Jesus’ second coming might not occur within the lifetime of that first generation of followers (since many of them were in fact dying!).  They realized that the eyewitness accounts needed to be written while the eyewitnesses were still around.  

Paul’s letters were certainly the first books written, even before the Gospels.  In fact, when St. Paul refers to Scripture he is speaking of the Old Testament since most of the New Testament had yet to be written, not to mention defined as being inspired.  Not all books written about Jesus or as letters to Churches were ultimately included in the “canon” of Scripture (canon means a measure or rule used to judge).  I think it would be helpful to look at how the Church determined which books were in the Bible and which were not, but the most important point to remember is that it was in fact the Church which determined which books were inspired and which were not.  The Church exercised authority of what was in the Bible to begin with.

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.

Pat Arensberg: God is the true author of Scripture

“The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”  -Dei Verbum 11

We say that God is the true author of Sacred Scripture, but what does this mean?  Does it mean that God put pen to paper (or papyrus)?  Certainly not!  He used human authors.  But, how does that teamwork function?  In the middle-ages they thought of it as dictation.  In fact, there are several famous works of art depicting an angel dictating the Gospel to a human author.  This is not the accepted view.  The Church teaches that the human authors of Scripture, “made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted.”  Dei Verbum #11  In other words they received the inspiration from God and then wrote as true authors, using their own way of speaking, their own judgment as to how to tell the story.

So it is very useful to study the history and language of the time.  It is vital to understand any idioms that the human authors might use.  However, it is also important to remember that the Holy Spirit guided the entire process.  The human authors did not inject anything the Holy Spirit did not want included.  They included everything the Holy Spirit wanted included and nothing more.  
In a few days we will cover ways to interpret or understand Scripture, but for now let us at least say that not all the Bible is written as a historical book, or as a scientific book.  We must understand the genre of the particular book in order to understand the truth that the Holy Spirit is wishing to communicate.

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.