The Gospel

"The word “Gospel,” which comes from Greek euangélion, means “Good News.” The first purpose of the Gospel, from which the good deeds also flow, is to announce the Good News that Jesus Christ defeated death and opened the doors of heaven..."
via @Solena_Tadhttps://t.co/PpfBSriL2P

— National Catholic Register (@NCRegister) September 1, 2020

Blue Duiker Calf

We're celebrating the birth of a 2nd blue duiker calf! This male calf was born on Aug. 15 to mom Daisy & dad Viazi. He is 0.88 lbs of pure cuteness. 💚

With only 35 individuals living in US zoos accredited by @zoos_aquariums, each birth is a major win for the species! pic.twitter.com/gRJ1Frsujd

— Dallas Zoo (@DallasZoo) August 21, 2020

Agnosticism

Why Agnosticism Is the Worst Idea Ever by Thaddeus Kozinski

Howard Kainz on the Distinctiveness of Christianity

The Catholic Thing: The Distinctiveness of Christianity by Howard Kainz

TOT SV This Week

Just one week until our next event!

Posted by Theology on Tap Silicon Valley on Wednesday, September 30, 2015

His website.

A Needed Outreach Effort

Church Militant: Helping Priests Become More Effective in Evangelizing Catholic Men (via Tea at Trianon)

The article itself hints at the problems within Latin traditionalism: "Unfortunately, the survey suggests that the majority of priests are failing to catechize men; priests are not specifically helping men to draw closer to Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph." And not to God the Father and the Holy Trinity? (Fr. Bouyer had a comment about the new trinity that has replaced the Most Holy Trinity within popular Catholic spirituality.)

The search results for feminism.


I'm curious if Mr. Voris and his panel go beyond the socons in their critique of feminism.

New Emangelization Project — Helping Priests Become More Effective In Evangelizing Men — August 2015
Interviews

I Like His Successor

Cal Catholic Daily: Karl Keating retires
Catholic Answers reins handed to ex-Marine, Christopher Check

Mr. Check is favorable to the EF of the Roman rite, iirc. Will this lay apostolate cease being Latin? I don't think so - though maybe they can find some experts who are more familiar with the Church Fathers and other ecclesial traditions of the Church.

Aristotelian vs. Augustinian Definition of Time

And Genesis/Creation/the age of the Earth... see the exchange between Laura Wood and Thomas F. Bertonneau: Is the Earth Billions of Years Old?

Another Proof for the Existence of God

In addition to the avocado, there is aloe vera.

God is Good and Merciful

He gave us the avocado. What other proof would a paleo/primal enthusiast need?

Never-Browns Guacamole

Updated. Eating fresh avocados may chase away hunger pains

More Photos from the Fort Ross Celebration Last Weekend

The 200th-Anniversary Celebrations at Fort Ross (Photo-Report)

These photos have already appeared at the Mospat site: Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk Celebrates Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”

Милость мира / Mercy of the World / 救主慈悲


Seeing the mitres of the bishops I was reminded of what was written in The Myth of the Domus Ecclesiae by Steven J. Schloeder:

The ascendency of the residential model as the authentic liturgical form raised another question of architectural history: what to do with the intervening 1700 years of church building? For the mid-century and later architectural writers, the simple answer was that the domestic model was the ideal, and all later grand and hierarchical buildings are the deviations. Therefore, all the intervening eras, liturgical and artistic expressions, and architectural forms and styles came in for censure.

The changes in the age of Constantine were implicated for the advent of clericalism, turning the congregation into passive viewers at a formalistic ritual, the loss of liturgical and spiritual intimacy, and the subjugation of the Church’s evangelical mission to the politics of the emperor. The Christian basilica was thereby rejected as an expression of power-mongering and imperialistic tendencies.7

The Byzantine churches were rejected for their courtly imperial formality, where the ministers are hidden behind the iconostasis, only to venture out in courtly processions.

The Byzantine-rite mitre is more obviously derived from the Imperial crown, is it not? (Though the same is true of the Western mitre and papal tiara.) It is supposed to be a symbol of their office and a reminder that they are representatives of Christ. Still, given its secular origin (shared by other vestments?) might repel some, but there is a hierarchy associated with the sacrament of order, and as animals we need sensible reminders of this reality. Still, could a unique Christian headdress have been created?

Jeremiah Bannister on why he is no longer Christian

One man's story - Paleocrat on Rejecting Christianity


At the beginning there is the problem of subjectivism (and hence interpretation or hemeneutics). At the end, there is the problem of evil. No more contributions to Distributist Review?

RD Extra: Interview with Jeremiah Banister


Paleocrat Radio; YT

In Defense of the Natural Law

The Recovery of Reason by George Neumayr
(via Insight Scoop)

The Church is the pre-eminent expositor of the natural law and defender of man's ability to know it, and it will always be opposed to legal positivism. But did the Holy Father change any hearts and minds at the German Parliament?

Zenit: Pope's Words to Germany's Lower House of Parliament
"The Listening Heart: Reflections on the Foundations of Law"

The Spearhead: Book Review: Criticizing the Critics by Aidan Nichols (Family Publications)

Criticising the Critics
Catholic Apologias for Today
by Aidan Nichols O.P.

The website for Family Publications appears to be defunct. The book itself is not available as something in-print on Amazon, but there is one used copy available. (There's also ABE Books.) Check out also The Realm: An Unfashionable Essay on the Conversion of England. A review of The Realm. There is a phone number listed here if you wish to call and see if the company can be contacted that way.

Reviews of the book from last year by Fr. Z and Godzdogz.

Asian meditation

(source)

I won't be considering meditation as a method of prayer, but just as a method for coping with emotions. (Even as such, it can be connected with a belief system or religion -- meditation was briefly shown in one of this weekend's episodes of Three Brothers. The mother was exasperated by her sons and she was doing her best to calm down through meditation. It wasn't working. iirc, the father made a comment about meditation in connection with Buddhism.) There seems to be a confusion of a physical exercise with a moral exercise. Some physical exercises can help the body relax (and cope with stress) and may even induce some sort of euphoria. But they cannot achieve true apatheia. (And if by apatheia we mean the suppression of all emotion, this is not even a state we should want to achieve.) Changing our body does not necessitate a change in our desires -- the moderation of our desires and the consequent emotions can only occur through our choices and the practice of detachment -- understanding the proper order between goods and observing that order in our actions.

For example, if we are impatient with others, taking deep breaths can help us deal with our emotions temporarily, but this is only a temporary solution. The vice that is the foundation of impatience must be addressed (through prayer, and the practice of charity and humility).

Catholics should be wary of adopting the latest scientific discoveries, or even much of modern scientific dogma, in defense of the Faith. (I am thinking specifically of certain teachings concerning cosmology, general physics, and of course, biology [evolution].) If such dogma is ever successfully shown to be false to the masses, it will discredit Christianity in the minds of skeptics, who might react, "Those Christians knew that their myths and fairy tales had no rational basis, and so they had to use science to justify their religion." (I was reminded of this again when Tim Staples recently said on Catholic Answers Live that the Big Bang theory confirmed Catholic teaching on Creation, when it doesn't.)

Another recent guest was talking about the importance of logic for the Christian apologist -- it might have been Patrick Madrid. Unless they have a strong background in science, apologists should limit themselves to being critical of current scientific dogma, instead of adducing positive arguments for the Faith from the above areas of science. Even the task of harmonizing these scientific "truths" with the Faith may be too much, as it gives claims by scientists more credibility than is usually warranted.

Fr. Z: REVIEW: New book by Aidan Nichols: Criticising the Critics

Erin Manning links to and discusses this piece by Paul T. McCain: Temple Prostitution: A Modest Proposal.

God and overshoot

To the claim that we have surpassed the carrying capacity of the earth, there are some possible responses:

1. There is no such thing as a carrying capacity. How many would really deny the existence of such a limit?

2. There is such a thing as a carrying capacity, but we have been able to increase it through advances and technology, and these increases can be

a. maintained indefinitely.
b. increased indefinitely.

These are the believers in infinite human progress; they think that human beings will come up with a solution to any problem that presents itself in the future.

3. There is such a thing as a carrying capacity, and we've been able to increase it but this can only last for so long before it falls. When that happens, we've reached population overshoot.

4. A few believe that even now we've exceeded the earth's carrying capacity.

If 3 is the case, then if the worse happens and famine and stravation occur, the accusations against God will once again be prominent. "How could a good God let this happen?" "Why would God allow the creation of new human beings only for them to starve to death?" And so on...

At the very least it can be said that the evil that is death from starvation does not outweigh the good that is existence or the supernatural good of eternal life that is offered to each one of us. God could allow for overshoot as a punishment of human hubris, while at the same time giving to us the opportunity to receive a good higher than this mortal life. But how many of those who are carnally-minded can understand this?

Population, the elephant in the room
Peak Oil, Carrying Capacity and Overshoot

Thoughts about The Road...

even though I haven't seen it yet.

I am losing the desire to watch The Road in the theater. Sarge and I were going to watch it, but it wasn't showing in NC when I was visiting him. I read the wiki article for the novel when it was first announced that it was being turned into the movie, and yesterday I read the movie spoiler.
The story is supposed to be about a father's love for his son -- still, I remember reading something about the movie, and it mentioned that McCarthy had seen the movie and wished that God had been mentioned at least once.

It may be that the movie accurately depicts the horror of what men can be reduced to when they fail to acquire virtue. However, can there be a God in that sort of world?
As far as I know, the novel and the movie is not intended to be a work of Theodicy. But wouldn't someone at least ask the question of whether God exists when confronted by so much death and suffering? How many people would give into despair and actively seek death in such a situation? It would almost seem to be a rational response to the perceived absence of God.

If people were to die on such a massive scale, would Christians not think that it is indication that the Second Coming is at hand? If we believe that God permits evil to happen for the sake of bringing about the good, are we also justified in presuming that His mercy would otherwise prevent something so terrible from occurring? Do we who have benefitted from cheap energy mistake the works of God's mercy for the inevitable effects of human progress?


Cormac McCarthy Society