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Forum Friday: Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Law, Part II

2009-11-06T11:43:11Z

"Ask, and ye shall receive." That's certainly an appropriate verse to describe your response to last week's Forum Friday post. (If you haven't read the post, please take a moment to do so.)

The discussion was very fruitful, at times heated, yet, for the most part, civil, and I'd like to thank "Fallbride1" for starting it. It will all be quite useful as I prepare my blog post on the Catholic stance toward moral and social questions in the realm of politics.

Rather than move on to a new discussion this week, however, I'd like to extend this one just a bit. Last week, I asked you to address two questions:

While we agree [with the Church's teaching], why should Catholics try to make everyone else agree too?

Is there a Church teaching that implies or demands that we take political action to get the general society to agree with our teachings?

Now I'd like to add a third and a fourth:

How does/should the fact that our society increasingly rejects the moral teachings of the Church affect our political action?

Is there a point at which individual Catholics (if not the Church Herself) should abandon the political realm and simply focus on converting a population increasingly in need of conversion?

Again, please try to confine the discussion as closely as possible to these two questions. I look forward to reading your responses in the forum.

Forum Friday: Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Law, Part II originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 11:43:11.

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Reader Question: The Sign of Peace and Hygiene

2009-11-05T07:54:27Z

On our Questions About Catholicism form, reader Noreen Glennon asks:

Why does the priest wash his hands before the consecration, and then go and shake everybody's hands before giving out Communion? Is this not unhygienic?

This is a question I have been asked many times, and it is likely to be asked even more frequently as concerns about swine flu grow. The question is based on two common but false assumptions: first, that the priest is washing his hands for sanitary reasons; and second, that the priest is supposed to be exchanging the Sign of Peace with the congregation. Read more...

Reader Question: The Sign of Peace and Hygiene originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 07:54:27.

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Why Richard Dawkins Cannot Stomach the Eucharist

2009-11-04T12:15:17Z

During P.Z. Myers' extended publicity stunt last summer, many Catholics (and even quite a few non-Catholics) asked why he was so intent on desecrating a Host. If it is, as he claims, just a "frackin' cracker," then what's the big deal? How is he hurt by the Catholic belief that is something more? Don't atheists like Myers always say that one of their major problems with Christians is that they refuse to live and let live? If they don't like Christian arguments against atheism, why intentionally provoke Christians?

Many of Myers' defenders claimed that he took his action in defense of a student at the University of Central Florida, who was under fire for taking a consecrated Host from a Mass on campus. But on his blog, Myers himself stated that the student's action simply provided a convenient excuse:

I’ve been intending to do something like this for a few months now. This was actually a good opportunity for something that is already written.

And on a fellow atheist's blog, he declared:

The point of desecrating the host isn’t to make people angry—it’s to demystify and desanctify nonsense. It’s how we wake people up—by showing that their beliefs are powerless.

In other words, the Eucharist is not simply a "frackin' cracker." At the very least, Myers' own actions and stated justifications for those actions show that it is a symbol. Myers thinks that it should not be, and by his actions he hoped to destroy its symbolism, but in attempting to do so, he proved quite the opposite: It remains a powerful symbol for millions of people.

Now, in the guise of commenting on Pope Benedict's recent overtures to disaffected Anglicans, Britain's most prominent atheist, Richard Dawkins, has launched his own attack on the Eucharist. Read more...

Why Richard Dawkins Cannot Stomach the Eucharist originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 12:15:17.

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The Intellectual Deficiencies of Richard Dawkins

2009-11-03T11:34:51Z

I have remarked in the past on the seeming inability of otherwise intelligent atheists "to make basic intellectual distinctions that would help them understand what Christians believe, even if they cannot give consent to such belief." Sometimes, however, I think that I give too much credit to such atheists by assuming that they wish to understand. There are different kinds of inabilities, after all; not all can be chalked up to intellectual deficiencies.

Sometimes the inability to make intellectual distinctions consists of a lack of imagination—a particularly common problem among those who subscribe to a very limited, very modern view of reason that would have been alien not only to medieval Christians but to the greatest philosophical minds among the Greeks and Romans. And sometimes such inability is a defect of the will—a lack of desire to understand anything that might upset the apple cart of one's own beliefs (much less anything that might prevent one from scoring a rhetorical point against one's enemies).

These other inabilities seem to afflict Richard Dawkins, a man whose work in the role that genes have played in evolution proves that he is no intellectual slouch. Read more...

The Intellectual Deficiencies of Richard Dawkins originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 11:34:51.

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Pope Benedict's Prayer Intentions for November 2009

2009-11-03T09:41:40Z

Each month, Pope Benedict XVI announces his special prayer intentions—particular things that he wishes all Catholics to pray for that month. (When, for instance, we pray the rosary and say the prayers at the end for the intentions of the Holy Father, these are the intentions for which we're praying.)

Pope Benedict offers two intentions every month, one general, and one for a particular Catholic missionary activity. Read more...

Pope Benedict's Prayer Intentions for November 2009 originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 09:41:40.

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Novena of the Week: To St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

2009-11-03T07:35:10Z

November 13 is the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American saint, who is much beloved on three continents (Europe, North America, and South America) for her dedication to the health and education of the poor (particularly Italian immigrants). Founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and friend of Pope Leo XIII, Mother Cabrini (as she was known) overcame her own physical weakness through the strength of her faith.

And so, as we prepare for the celebration of her feast, I have chosen a Novena to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini as our novena of the week. If you would like to complete the novena on November 12 (the eve of her feast), you should begin praying it on November 4. (You can, of course, pray the novena at any time, but it is traditional to pray a novena in preparation for a feast so that it ends on the day before the feast.)

If you have no specific intention for the novena, please consider praying it for sake of healthcare reform in the United States that will respect the life of all, from the moment of conception to natural death.

Novena of the Week: To St. Frances Xavier Cabrini originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 07:35:10.

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Forum Friday: Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Law

2009-10-30T06:31:24Z

In the Catholicism Forum, new member "Fallbride1" asks some questions with interesting ramifications. She accepts the Church's teaching on marriage, both natural and sacramental, but she feels uncomfortable with the Church intervening to try to ensure that her state retain a definition of natural marriage that corresponds to that of the Church.

In the course of her post, she asks several questions, but the two most interesting are these:

While we agree [with the Church's teaching], why should Catholics try to make everyone else agree too?

Is there a church teaching that implies or demands that we take political action to get the general society to agree with our teachings?

I'm planning to write a blog post about these questions, which apply not only to debates regarding same-sex "marriage" but to all moral and social questions in the realm of politics. First, though, I'd like to get your reactions. Please join in the discussion in the forum, concentrating specifically on the two questions I've highlighted.

Forum Friday: Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Law originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 06:31:24.

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Reader Question: All Saints Day and Our Sunday Obligation

2009-10-29T06:58:48Z

Reader William Kenny, writing in to our submission form, asks:

In 2009, will going to Mass on Saturday evening to satisfy our Sunday obligation also satisfy our All Saints Day obligation?

The simple answer is yes, but do you know why? Read more...

Reader Question: All Saints Day and Our Sunday Obligation originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 06:58:48.

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Wordless Wednesday: Saint Simon the Zealot, Apostle

2009-10-28T07:00:00Z

Last week's Wordless Wednesday contest was a little tough, in part because the symbols in the stained-glass window were a bit abstract. About.com's Guide to Sikhism, Sukhmandir Kaur, made a good attempt and got one of the symbols (the scroll with the Epistle of Jude) correct. Top honors, however, go to reader Robert, who offered a detailed explanation of each of the symbols in the window. You can find his answer in the comments on last week's post.

This week's contest will be the same: Identify as many traditional symbols of Saint Simon the Zealot as you can in this stained-glass window, and then briefly explain the reason why each is identified with Saint Simon. In next week's Wordless Wednesday post, I'll acknowledge the commenter who identifies and explains the most symbols.

Gallery of Previous Wordless Wednesday Images

Wordless Wednesday on About.com

More Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Saint Simon the Zealot, Apostle originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 07:00:00.

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The "Liturgical Pluralism" of Pope Benedict XVI

2009-10-27T10:15:00Z

If David Gibson's attempt to portray Pope Benedict XVI as a liberal was one of the silliest reactions to the Holy Father's recent overtures to traditional Anglicans, Francis X. Rocca's "The Pope Lets a Thousand Liturgies Bloom" (Wall Street Journal, October 23) is one of the best. As the "Anglican-use" liturgy that Pope John Paul II approved in 1982 becomes more widespread, many Latin rite Catholics who have never experienced other rites and liturgies may stumble across it. And that could have profound effects on how Catholics view the liturgical life of the Church.

Rocca points out that the extension of the celebration of the "Anglican-use" liturgy has parallels in Pope Benedict's revival of the Traditional Latin Mass, but rather than representing a splintering in the Church, "All these variations represent efforts by the world's largest church to maintain unity among its 1.1 billion members, while extending their ranks."

Yet, Rocca notes, "Benedict is hardly permissive when it comes to liturgy." Read more...

The "Liturgical Pluralism" of Pope Benedict XVI originally appeared on About.com Catholicism on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 10:15:00.

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