The field of medicine has a long and rich tradition in human history. The need and desire to heal the body would seem to be natural and basic to the human condition in which we find ourselves. The human body is subject to an apparently almost endless variety of injuries and diseases. Almost from the first moment of consciousness a child begins to experience, without fully understanding what is happening, the possibility of pain, injury, and illness--in short, the possibility of a lack of wholeness (health) in the body. However, the child also experiences a corresponding reality: pain can go away, injuries can heal, and the body can overcome illness. Being from the beginning within human community, in the presence of the other, the child also experiences the possibility that an "other" sometimes can "make it better." Already in this primitive experience we can see the roots of the vast area of human endeavor we think of as the field of medicine. Moreover, also revealed in this experience is the truth that from the very beginning we can see the art of healing taking place precisely in the context of human relationship. It therefore should not surprise us that the personal relation of the healer and the one to be healed, the physician and the patient, has taken such a foundational, and almost sacred, place in the tradition of medicine.

The roots of modern medicine in the West are generally traced to the ancient Greeks. Hippocrates is often identified as "the father of medicine." Thus, even though on the surface the practice of medicine today obviously looks very different from the practice of the Greeks, modern medicine still tends to be seen as in some sense participating in a tradition and a line of work in basic continuity with ancient Greek medicine, as well as those who worked in and developed the field in the centuries between the ancient world and the present day.  Read more »

Introduction

Catholics generally know that the Roman Catholic Church has a hierarchical organization. However, the understanding of how this hierarchical organization relates to all the members of the Church is not always very clear even in the minds of some of the most faithful Catholics, and the situation among Catholics in general is presumably far worse. The Pope, of course, stands alone at the head of this hierarchy, as is acknowledged even by those who wish it were otherwise. However, many people go through their lives without ever seeing or hearing the Pope in person. Indeed, for centuries this was the case of almost everyone in the world. This does not in any way subtract from the importance of the Pope or his ability to fulfill his mission to the entire Church. However, it would seem natural for the faithful to look for some additional guidance on a level closer to themselves. Some in fact do so, often in relation to their parish priest or the equivalent. Nevertheless, there seems to be in some cases almost a lack of realization or appreciation of the importance of the episcopate, another level of the hierarchy directly below that of the Pope, a group of sacred persons second only to the universal earthly Vicar of Christ in the Church.  Read more »

The Apostle Thomas has, over time, become almost universally identified with the name "Doubter," because of his notorious initial refusal to believe in Christ's Resurrection. Although this was undoubtedly a key and defining point in Thomas' lifetime, the concentration on this event can also have the unfortunate effect of obscuring the rest of Thomas' apostolic life. There is actually a substantial amount of information on his work, which seems primarily to have been done in India. This essay will first review some of what can be learned about Thomas personally, particularly from the biblical references to him, and summarize a few of the stronger points of evidence for the historical reality of his apostolate in India, and then concentrate on giving as accurate as possible an account of his mission there and its significance.  Read more »

One of the primary areas of interest to humanity at all times is the area of relationships between man and woman. The fullest relationship in this area is the traditional marriage relationship. Therefore, the process by which two people reach the marriage state also has an obvious importance. Many different customs and moral guidelines have governed this area throughout the history of humanity, with varying results both in pre-marital relationships and in marriages themselves. In the present day in Western civilization, it must be admitted that these results are what might be called mixed. They might also be called disastrous. The custom of dating, in all its forms, has been the primary courtship custom for some time, and in some ways this has worked well in the past. However, in the present time in the United States and Canada common observation reveals that there seems to be little or no order in dating and courtship, which traditionally would be considered pre-marital relationships. Indeed, dating relationships do not appear to lead to marriage with any significant reliability or predictability, and the whole area of relationships between men and women seems to be in a state of disarray. Pregnancies outside of marriage, long-term sexual relationships outside of the ordering influence of marriage, dissatisfaction and distrust between men and women who are supposedly in loving relationships, widespread fear of commitment and marriage, and widespread divorce among those who do marry are just a few of the obvious concerns which confront modern humanity in this area. It is the purpose of this essay is to examine some possible implications of the theological anthropology of Pope John Paul II--as articulated primarily but not exclusively in The Theology of the Body--for the societal approach to courtship and dating, and to speculate on possible specific consequences of this anthropology for the custom of dating. This will not necessarily lead to changes that can easily be implemented on the level of the individual, but perhaps may still indicate a direction in which people of good will may turn their efforts to change societal mindsets on the custom of dating.[1]  Read more »

(A number of people after reading this essay have been prompted to ask me questions about psychology and their own personal situations. I appreciate that they presumably saw something they liked in this essay, or else they would not contact me for help, but I should clarify that I myself am not a psychologist or therapist of any kind. If you are looking for a good Catholic psychologist or therapist, you may wish to consult CatholicTherapists.com, which tries to list therapists who are faithful to the teachings of the Church.)

In considering the broad issue of how Catholicity and psychology can be combined or integrated, the first question that must be addressed is whether such integration is even possible. Although there may be many reservations about psychology as a field of study among devout Catholics, it must be said that at first glance it is difficult to see how there can be any incompatibility between the Catholic Church and psychology, if psychology is understood only as a field of study. After all, the Catholic tradition has consistently held that "all things are true by one primary truth," and therefore "truth cannot contradict truth."[1] Any field of study which examines anything in reality would seem to have the potential for truth, however many errors may in fact exist in any given legitimate field of study. Of course, if one understands psychology in the sense in which it seems to exist almost exclusively today in the real world, namely in the sense of modern secular psychology, the question of compatibility between Catholicity and psychology becomes more complex. This paper will look at how psychology (at least in the sense of the field of study) can be approached in a truly Catholic way, and, while necessarily not descending to the level of detailed content in such an approach, comment on some possible aspects of it.  Read more »

Chapter II of Dei Verbum, Vatican II's dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, concerns the transmission of divine revelation. This subject involved some controversial questions among Catholic theologians at the time of Vatican II, and the discussion of these controversial topics was further complicated by the widespread desire to treat these issues in an ecumenical manner. What eventually resulted was, like so many other parts of Vatican II documents, essentially a compromise text. As a result, it is not as clear on some of the controverted points as one might desire.[1] Nevertheless, while there is not necessarily enough material available to resolve all these questions, one can attempt to correctly interpret the Council text here at least to the point of excluding erroneous interpretations, which might seem to indicate that the text takes positions on some points which in fact it does not. That is approximately what will be attempted here, with chapter II of Dei Verbum being considered in light of the relatio of the Council itself on that text.[2]  Read more »

Much has been written on the subject of sacramentals, approaching them from a variety of different perspectives. This paper, though, will confine itself principally to a thorough consideration of the treatment of sacramentals in the most relevant parts of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In the Summa Theologiae this means the primary sources will be in the Tertia Pars, the first article of question sixty-five, and the third article of question eighty-seven. The section of direct interest here in the Catechism of the Catholic Church extends from paragraph 1667 to paragraph 1779. Since the consideration of sacramentals by Saint Thomas is largely made in the context of the remission of venial sin, at least the coverage of what he has written will heavily emphasize that aspect of the sacramentals. The article on sacramentals in the Catechism of the Catholic Church naturally gives a broader view of sacramentals. In addition to being considering separately, these two sources will also be compared and contrasted to note what is constant and what is different between them, and what can be learned concerning the sacramentals and their role in the sacramental life of the Church.  Read more »

Private revelation involves some communication to an individual or individuals from God or some messenger of divine origin.[1] When this occurs, it is obviously a dramatic and probably life-changing experience for the one to whom God gives the communication. Furthermore, private revelation has the potential to affect those around the recipient, and perhaps many other people. Something that purports to be a revelation from God calls for a response, in a deep way that most things do not, from each individual who hears of it. If any individual decides that he or she is certain that a given message is in fact from God, then that person may, if necessary, overturn anything and everything in his or her life based on that message. This is not an illogical way of proceeding for any religious person, including a Roman Catholic. In comparison to conforming oneself to the revelation of God, nothing else matters. However, precisely because of the enormous consequence that a claim of private revelation may involve, one should approach such claims with extreme care. Therefore, it is always important in such cases to examine and remember what private revelation is, and what place it should have in the broader picture of the faith and spiritual life of members of the Roman Catholic Church.  Read more »

Pope Pius XI issued Casti Connubii, his encyclical on Christian marriage, in 1930. Pope John Paul II issued Familiaris Consortio, his apostolic exhortation on the Christian family, in 1981. These documents are parallel in many of the issues they raise, because of the similarity of their topics. Thus, within the context of considerations on the family, both of these documents deal to some degree with the question of the role of the woman in the family. Still, these writings reflect the thoughts of two different Popes, teaching in two very different times, despite the relatively small number of years actually separating them. The cultural difference between their times seems especially obvious on this specific issue of the role of women. It is not surprising, therefore, that certain nuances of difference can be found in comparing the writings of Pius XI and John Paul II on this topic. However, as will be seen, a comparison of these writings not only yields what would appear to be slight nuances of difference, but also reveals what must be admitted to appear as significant contrasts, if not contradictions, between the positions of Pius XI and John Paul II.  Read more »

Abbot Columba Marmion, a Benedictine who was born in 1858 and died in 1923, has been said by some to be the greatest spiritual writer of the twentieth century. Some of his work has even been compared that of Saint Therese of Lisieux. He wrote a number of books and was renowned as a preacher and spiritual director during his life, and further collections of his work have been published since his death.[1] It would take volumes to cover his spiritual thought as a whole in any real depth at all. What will be undertaken here is only a relatively short, and inevitably incomplete, study of the principle theme covered by Abbot Marmion, namely the divine adoption. The divine adoption of Christians as children of God the Father was such a dominant point in the thought of Abbot Marmion that he is sometimes referred to as the doctor of the divine adoption.[2] Even this more specific topic cannot be considered as deeply as one might like in a paper of this length, but what will be attempted here is at least an overview of the doctrine of divine adoption as expressed by Columba Marmion and the spiritual riches which he drew from it and spread to others.  Read more »

Thomas Jefferson undoubtedly was one of the greatest intellectual influences in the founding of the United States. While he was not active in the making of the Constitution, except for the Bill of Rights, he did write the Declaration of Independence, and he was an influential statesman and President in the early years of the nation. Moreover, although Jefferson did not write any organized work detailing his entire political philosophy, he probably had more of a conscious philosophy behind his revolutionary ideas than some of the other founders, or at least that appears to be the common view. However, Jefferson did not draw his political philosophy from nowhere, and so in considering its value the question arises of what the principal source was. A good case can be made that it was the political philosophy of John Locke. Examining all similarities between the writings of Locke and Jefferson would be a task beyond the possible scope of this essay. Instead, the focus here will be first on the relation between the basic ideas of Locke and Jefferson on the nature of man, the nature of government, the idea of revolution, and finally law in society.  Read more »

In Chapter IV of his book Love and Responsibility, in a section titled "Procreation and Parenthood," Karol Wojtyla develops an argument against the use of contraception. His argument here is ultimately based in a line of thought which is developed throughout the book, emphasizing love as the only appropriate response to the human person. More specifically, the argument focuses heavily upon parenthood. At first glance, this argument appears to approach the moral question of contraception in a way that is quite different from the argument against contraception as anti-life. Wojtyla's argument here also appears somewhat different from the argument against contraception as anti-love which Wojtyla himself, as Pope John Paul II, advanced a little over twenty years later in the apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio. The purpose of this essay will be to analyze this argument from Wojtyla in Love and Responsibility, and then comment on some possible strengths or weaknesses of the argument.  Read more »

Genesis 34 tells the story of the rape of Dinah, and the revenge taken for this by her brothers Simeon and Levi. It is certainly not one of the more uplifting stories told in the Old Testament, nor does it immediately appear to have deep theological significance, nor is itlikely to be considered widely as a topic for fruitful spiritual meditation. However, it is a story with some interest, as will hopefully be seen in part here, and it has far-reaching consequences for Simeon and Levi, which make it very relevant to the larger story of the Pentateuch. Moreover, in the context of a terrible crime this story raises controversial questions of vengeance and justice within the family of Israel itself. It is this aspect of the story that will be examined here, and an attempt will be made to find answers to some of these questions from the text of Scripture.  Read more »