Posted by Dennis Buonafede• February 25, 2011 • http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org
Ideas Have Consequences – The Eclipse of Reason
Pope Benedict’s 2010 Christmas Greeting to the Roman Curia, a Catholic version of the American “State of the Union Address”, was notable for the emphasis placed upon human reason. His Holiness did not so much focus on the loss of Faith occurring in Western Democracies as he did the loss of Reason. At one point in his address he stated:
“To resist this eclipse of reason and to preserve its capacity for seeing the essential, for seeing God and man, for seeing what is good and what is true, is the common interest that must unite all people of good will. The very future of the world is at stake.”
A frequent lament I hear on talk radio is that “common sense” is not as common as it should be. We should not be surprised, however, because no one is teaching “common sense”. Now you would think that “common sense” would not be something that has to be taught, that it is something that arises from simple experience, but in our relativistic and pluralistic culture very little is “common”. This is the point Pope Benedict is trying to make.
Over the last 500 years, a shift from a common worldview has gradually eroded the foundational “common sense” that everyone shared and learned through cultural osmosis. What replaces it is a nebulous relativism where all opinions are held to be equally true and valid, and where there are no universal truths, just different preferences. In short, there are no true/false, good/bad, moral/immoral, but rather an all encompassing and ever changing legal/illegal framework that determines what is permissible.
When it comes to teaching religion and philosophy, this poses a dual problem. Since the faith is not practiced weekly by a majority of students, they lack the experiential commonality needed for any coherent transmission of the elements of the faith.
Simultaneously, since all non-empirical statements are processed by the students as being mere “opinion”, they lack a rational foundation for any body of truth to be conveyed. This state of affairs undermines the attempt in high school to convey a nuanced and mature understanding of the Catholic faith and results in students concluding that it is all myth and thus not “true”.
As mentioned above, it is a sad reality that most of my junior students are non-practicing Catholics for the simple reason that their parents, like the vast majority of Catholics in North America, don’t practice. This does not change as they become seniors; in fact, most seniors work on Sunday. In spite of this lack of religious practice, many students say they believe in God when they start high school in Grade 9. The story changes dramatically starting in Grade 10.
Most of my students went to a Catholic elementary school and received the Sacrament of Confirmation in Grade 8. Granted, many of them did so because it was the expected thing to do and their parents “made” them; they are still at the age where their ‘faith’ is that of their parents. In short, they possess a childish faith that is vague and unreflective.
This “childish faith” does not survive high school adolescence. If students do manage to preserve their faith by the time they graduate high school they most likely won’t survive University.
One student who recently finished a semester of philosophy with the highest mark in the class expressed this reality in a presentation to the class. With her permission I share her insights here.
“As the years of high school have gone by, my faith has gone down a steep slope. Despite being raised in a strongly Catholic family, I came into this course as a non-believer.
Being a logical person, the answers that my parents would give me about my faith were never enough to satisfy me. … Eventually, I stopped asking questions. … With biology being my favourite subject I had come to accept Charles Darwin as a prophet who had brought forth the good word of Evolution.”
She continued to attend Mass weekly out of respect for her parents. When she went off to University she probably would have stopped attending Mass. Religion had become merely a course necessary for graduation; and what it taught was mere opinion to be accepted or rejected as it suited. Like so many of my students, she took Philosophy because she was tired of “taking religion”. Her story is unique only in that she came from a practicing family. For students who do not practice their faith, this switch is almost instantaneous after the first year of high school. The current scandals and oft-repeated “sins” of the medieval church - such as the Inquisition or the Crusades - merely solidify their distrust of the Church.
I learned early on in my career that my real dilemma as a religion teacher was in finding a way to overcome this situation so that what my students learned was not just an academic necessity for graduation, but a life changing reality. I came to realize that it wasn’t so much a lack of faith I was dealing with, it was a lack of reason.
Ideas have consequences...
The first year of my teaching philosophy (the third in my career) was a learning process for both my students and me. The way I taught the subject that first year rendered it too abstract, disjointed and un-engaging. One student described it as worse than watching golf and watching paint dry, simultaneously. Sadly, I only contributed more to the sentiment that there is no right or wrong answer outside of the hard sciences.
While mulling over this dilemma during the summer break I came across the phrase “ideas have consequences”. I had heard this phrase long before, but now the lights went on upstairs. I immediately adopted this phrase as the theme of the philosophy course and set about making a few structural and thematic changes.
Remaining faithful to the mandated curriculum and the provincial expectations, I started to tie the ideas and philosophies we were studying to the consequences that result from these ideas. Human Nature was replaced by Metaphysics as the beginning unit, with Aquinas' warning in mind that a small error in the beginning leads to a large error in the end. Human Nature follows, then ethics and political/social philosophy. A unit on the Holocaust, which is a curriculum requirement, closes up the semester. Providentially, I came across an article by Ray Cotton entitled “The Holocaust: Ideas and their Consequences”. It was a perfect way to tie it all together.
As I started to teach using this framework, I started to notice a small transformation. We spoke of “God” only in a philosophical sense, as the first uncaused Cause, or the first unmoved Mover, or we would examine the argument from Design. I would link philosophy to Catholicism only where reason supported a Catholic doctrine or dogma, such as the Eucharist and Aristotle’s Categories. I would not allow my students to answer any question or dilemma with an appeal to the Commandments, the Bible or Church teaching – it had to be resolved by reason, and reason alone.
Many students came alive with this approach with debates based on substance rather than “feelings”. Several would come up to me and tell me that they started going to Mass, some radically changed their lives for the better. My yearbooks contain statements from students like:
“You drove me crazy! I’d go home ranting to myself, having deep conversations with my sisters like never before!”
“Philosophy is actually more important than I originally thought!”
“Taking philosophy has been honestly life changing. I truly loved every part of it because it taught me a lot about life and myself.”
These kids are hungry!
Over the years I found the more focus that is placed on the consequences of ideas, the more confident students become with the possibility of there being universal, objective and eternal truths. As the student above put it:
“Classical metaphysics gave me a strong, reasonable foundation to base my reality on. After all, what can I believe in if I don’t believe in common sense? … What I never realized was how Darwin’s logic was flawed and what consequences had come of it … The unit that provoked the most thought in me was that of social philosophy. Here I really saw what “ideas have consequences” meant …
In conclusion, philosophy has taught me to think outside the limits that have been set for me. … I have been dragged out of Plato’s cave and into the sunlight to see both the beauty of truth and how damaged our world has become. … It is up to us to stand up for truth and not fall victim to the “-isms” that have led the world to where it is today. Philosophy is not just another high school course.”
Admittedly, not all of my students were as enthusiastic about philosophy as those quoted above, but it appears that the more comfortable they become with universal truths as grasped by reason, the more confident they become in accepting the proclamation of the Gospel. Good, solid, objective philosophy is not the only solution to the current crisis of faith - nothing replaces good catechesis and personal witness, but it is a necessary component if we are to equip our children to survive this crisis with their faith intact.
This article is a part of the ongoing series; Ideas Have Consequences - by Dennis Buonafede.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Coincidences? The Battle of Vienna on September 11, 1683 & the attack in New York on September 11, 2001.
By Natalio A. Yaria on Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 4:09pm.
There are events that become turning points in history which do not probe the theory of economic determinism or class struggle. There are two events that can serve as examples; both coincide on the month and day that took place, but not on the year: the Battle of Vienna on September 11, 1683 and the attack to the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.
First, there is a time span of three hundred and eighteen years between the first and the second event; second, both attacks were initiated by elements of Islam to the centers of Western Civilization; and third, both attacks were not spontaneous events determined by economics or class confrontations.
The response of Catholic Europe in the Battle of Vienna was a defensive act. The best defense was an implacable counterattack; for if Vienna fell, Rome would have been the next target. The evidence indicates that the Battle of Vienna was intended to impose Islam on Christendom.
If, like some people say, the Battle of Vienna was a clash between two Faiths, they are wrong on two counts: Faith is only given by God to each of us individually, not human was given that power. Second, a person or a religious institution might be a messenger of the will of God, but the message can never be imposed in the Lord’s name to any individual, or nation, or a group of nations.
After Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months, the Battle of Vienna took place in the morning of September 11 and ended in the evening of 12 of September 1683. The battle marked the turning point in the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, the 300-year struggle between the forces of Christendom and the Ottoman Empire.
It was a battle between The Holy League, led by the Catholic Habsburg dynasty, versus the Ottoman Empire and fiefdoms, which were occupied territories or a sphere of activity controlled or dominated by particular persons loyal to the Ottoman Empire near the Kahlenberg Mountain in Vienna. Even though the Ottomans fought on for another 16 years, they finally gave up; and Christendom regained control of occupied Hungary and Transylvania.
The result was the major strategic military defeat of Islam by the forces of Christendom which marked the historic end of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe.
The attack to the Twin Towers seems to indicate that it was more a commemorative act of revenge by ever-present extremists than evidence of a continuation of the clash of two civilizations. I believe that there is no coincidence on the dates. Time will probe this hypotheses correct
There are events that become turning points in history which do not probe the theory of economic determinism or class struggle. There are two events that can serve as examples; both coincide on the month and day that took place, but not on the year: the Battle of Vienna on September 11, 1683 and the attack to the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.
First, there is a time span of three hundred and eighteen years between the first and the second event; second, both attacks were initiated by elements of Islam to the centers of Western Civilization; and third, both attacks were not spontaneous events determined by economics or class confrontations.
The response of Catholic Europe in the Battle of Vienna was a defensive act. The best defense was an implacable counterattack; for if Vienna fell, Rome would have been the next target. The evidence indicates that the Battle of Vienna was intended to impose Islam on Christendom.
If, like some people say, the Battle of Vienna was a clash between two Faiths, they are wrong on two counts: Faith is only given by God to each of us individually, not human was given that power. Second, a person or a religious institution might be a messenger of the will of God, but the message can never be imposed in the Lord’s name to any individual, or nation, or a group of nations.
After Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months, the Battle of Vienna took place in the morning of September 11 and ended in the evening of 12 of September 1683. The battle marked the turning point in the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, the 300-year struggle between the forces of Christendom and the Ottoman Empire.
It was a battle between The Holy League, led by the Catholic Habsburg dynasty, versus the Ottoman Empire and fiefdoms, which were occupied territories or a sphere of activity controlled or dominated by particular persons loyal to the Ottoman Empire near the Kahlenberg Mountain in Vienna. Even though the Ottomans fought on for another 16 years, they finally gave up; and Christendom regained control of occupied Hungary and Transylvania.
The result was the major strategic military defeat of Islam by the forces of Christendom which marked the historic end of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe.
The attack to the Twin Towers seems to indicate that it was more a commemorative act of revenge by ever-present extremists than evidence of a continuation of the clash of two civilizations. I believe that there is no coincidence on the dates. Time will probe this hypotheses correct
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Homosexual priest suspended for defending gay ‘marriage’ legislation in Argentina
by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman. LifeSiteNews.com
Tue Mar 08 10:20 PM EST
BUENOS AIRES, March 8, 2011 () - Nicolas Alessio, a homosexual priest who denies the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality and has publicly agitated for the approval of Argentina’s new homosexual ‘marriage’ law, has been suspended from his priestly functions following a trial by the Archdiocese of Córdoba.
In an interview following the ruling, Alessio said that he was refusing to comply with the suspension, which requires him to cease administering the sacraments, claiming that he owed obedience to his ultra-liberal order, which calls itself the Enrique Angeleli Group of Priests, and openly supports homosexual ‘marriage’. He told a reporter that only force could stop him from continuing in his duties at his parish “I obey my community first, before him [Archbishop Carlos Ñáñez], and his canons and decrees and sanctions,” he said. He noted that the whole group has refused to comply with the archbishop’s order to retract their homosexualist position.
In a videotaped speech posted on YouTube, Fr. Alessio is seen at a rally in support of homosexual ‘marriage’ where he “asks forgiveness” for the Catholic Church for opposing the homosexual political agenda.
“First, I want to ask forgiveness because I belong to an institution that is still converting to the gospel of Jesus, a Jesus who never condemned homosexuality, who never condemned homosexual marriage, and, to the contrary, this same Jesus condemned the proud, the powerful, and those who discriminate.”
“I want to ask forgiveness for this institution that doesn’t want to lose power and still wants to manage our consciences, wants to manage the consciences of Argentineans, wants to dominate the consciences of all of those who want to live in freedom. I want to ask forgiveness for this Church that is not resigned to lose power and wants to impose its truths as if they were unique and absolute.”
Alessio openly acknowledges that he himself is a homosexual, and denies it is an illness based on his own experience. “It not only is not an illness, it not only is not a deviation, much less a sin. Homosexuality is a gift, it is a richness of nature, that must be recognized and respected,” he says in the speech.
In contrast to Alessio’s statements, the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual behavior is “intrinsically evil”—evil by its very nature—and that the homosexual orientation, while not a sin, is an “intrinsically disordered” attraction that must be resisted.
Appearing to endorse polytheism, Alessio goes on to say that “Those who speak, and believe themselves to have the authority to speak in the name of God (...) Please, the gods, the gods are more pluralist than we are. The gods are liberty, the gods are love, the gods are a rainbow of diversity and the gods are with us.”
Argentinean television reports that sources within the Catholic hierarchy say that if Alessio refuses to obey the Church, he will be excommunicated.
Tue Mar 08 10:20 PM EST
BUENOS AIRES, March 8, 2011 () - Nicolas Alessio, a homosexual priest who denies the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality and has publicly agitated for the approval of Argentina’s new homosexual ‘marriage’ law, has been suspended from his priestly functions following a trial by the Archdiocese of Córdoba.
In an interview following the ruling, Alessio said that he was refusing to comply with the suspension, which requires him to cease administering the sacraments, claiming that he owed obedience to his ultra-liberal order, which calls itself the Enrique Angeleli Group of Priests, and openly supports homosexual ‘marriage’. He told a reporter that only force could stop him from continuing in his duties at his parish “I obey my community first, before him [Archbishop Carlos Ñáñez], and his canons and decrees and sanctions,” he said. He noted that the whole group has refused to comply with the archbishop’s order to retract their homosexualist position.
In a videotaped speech posted on YouTube, Fr. Alessio is seen at a rally in support of homosexual ‘marriage’ where he “asks forgiveness” for the Catholic Church for opposing the homosexual political agenda.
“First, I want to ask forgiveness because I belong to an institution that is still converting to the gospel of Jesus, a Jesus who never condemned homosexuality, who never condemned homosexual marriage, and, to the contrary, this same Jesus condemned the proud, the powerful, and those who discriminate.”
“I want to ask forgiveness for this institution that doesn’t want to lose power and still wants to manage our consciences, wants to manage the consciences of Argentineans, wants to dominate the consciences of all of those who want to live in freedom. I want to ask forgiveness for this Church that is not resigned to lose power and wants to impose its truths as if they were unique and absolute.”
Alessio openly acknowledges that he himself is a homosexual, and denies it is an illness based on his own experience. “It not only is not an illness, it not only is not a deviation, much less a sin. Homosexuality is a gift, it is a richness of nature, that must be recognized and respected,” he says in the speech.
In contrast to Alessio’s statements, the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual behavior is “intrinsically evil”—evil by its very nature—and that the homosexual orientation, while not a sin, is an “intrinsically disordered” attraction that must be resisted.
Appearing to endorse polytheism, Alessio goes on to say that “Those who speak, and believe themselves to have the authority to speak in the name of God (...) Please, the gods, the gods are more pluralist than we are. The gods are liberty, the gods are love, the gods are a rainbow of diversity and the gods are with us.”
Argentinean television reports that sources within the Catholic hierarchy say that if Alessio refuses to obey the Church, he will be excommunicated.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Opportunity of Lent
Posted by Deacon Mike Bickerstaff • March 6, 2011
For the full article See: www.integratedcatholiclife.org
On Ash Wednesday we will begin our observance of the penitential season of Lent. What better time to turn away from our dependency on the world and towards a life of trust and hope in the Lord! The Lord’s Sermon shows us how. We are to practice a detachment from the attractions of the world. This means that we are to turn away from disordered attractions, not all attractions. Not all who are poor find the blessedness that comes only from God, for even the poor can have a disordered attraction for wealth. Not all who are rich are automatically condemned; some know how to apply their wealth for the common good without having a disordered attachment to it.
During the coming penitential season, we are called to embrace and practice the three pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent is most of all to be a time of deep conversion for us. These three pillars are central to this conversion and our surrender to the Lord. They are inseparable from one another.
Prayer
There is much interest in prayer, but do we really pray as we should? Do we even know how to pray? It is one of the questions I most frequently hear from Catholics; "Can you help me learn to pray? Can you help me find time to pray?" Admitting there is too little space here to give a detailed answer, let's just commit this Lent to do it. The Church teaches that Christian meditation should be one of our primary expressions of prayer – for a beginner, that means simply thinking about a truth of the faith, a Person of God, an event in the life of Christ, a passage of scripture, etc. Here are some tried and true ways to do this.
•On a daily basis, pray the Rosary. Why not pray the rosary together with your family this Lent? After the evening meal, gather as a family (or with friends) and pray the vocal prayers of the rosary while thinking about (meditating on) the mysteries – those major events in Christ's life.
•On a weekly basis – Friday is an excellent choice – do the same with the Stations of the Cross. There are many good meditations for the Stations, but I particularly benefit from the prayers and meditations of The Way of the Cross by St. Francis of Assisi. A copy of this is easy to find on the internet.
•Don't rush through the prayers. Spend time in them. And make these prayers a priority in your daily schedule. Remember, you were not made for earth, but for heaven. Nothing is more important, other than Christ to Whom you pray, for you to know. And by praying together as a family, you will teach your children What and Who is most important.
Fasting
Fasting and other forms of self-denial, as spiritual practices of materially subduing and controlling the physical appetites of the body, helps us, by God’s grace, to enable the soul to more perfectly and freely pray. I leave it to you to decide what form your fasting will take; reducing consumption of food items, giving up television, going without that unneeded purchase. This is the connection of fasting to prayer and it is the secret to a better, deeper, more joyful life in Christ. But fasting is also connected to almsgiving, for what we save through material fasting and the time saved by giving up a particular activity can be redirected to those who are in greater need. What a wonderful gift to give yourself and your children! If you have children, meet together as a family and explain what you are doing and why? Make it a family project.
Almsgiving
As I mentioned, fasting enables giving, so let us commit to living within our means, not just for our financial well-being, but also for the good of others. Our children best learn who they are to be by seeing who their parents really are. Let them see us doing without excessive spending so as to remain within our budgets. But especially let them see us doing without even things we can afford so as to help those who have less. Let us commit to avoiding occasions of sin such as immoral movies, but also let them see us spending more time in family prayer and service to others and less in excessive entertainment. This opens our hearts to the needs of others.
All for the Love of God
None of these three pillars means anything if not motivated by and through an ever-deepening love for God. Show our children and others what motivates us… the love of God and our love for Him. It is in this practice of the virtues that we overcome, by God’s grace, the practice of vice and possess the blessedness of God. Give ourselves to God, surrender fully to Him, and then we will be rich in what counts.
May you have a blessed Lenten season.
We value your comments and encourage you to leave your thoughts below. Please share this article with others in your network. Thank you! - The Editors
For the full article See: www.integratedcatholiclife.org
On Ash Wednesday we will begin our observance of the penitential season of Lent. What better time to turn away from our dependency on the world and towards a life of trust and hope in the Lord! The Lord’s Sermon shows us how. We are to practice a detachment from the attractions of the world. This means that we are to turn away from disordered attractions, not all attractions. Not all who are poor find the blessedness that comes only from God, for even the poor can have a disordered attraction for wealth. Not all who are rich are automatically condemned; some know how to apply their wealth for the common good without having a disordered attachment to it.
During the coming penitential season, we are called to embrace and practice the three pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent is most of all to be a time of deep conversion for us. These three pillars are central to this conversion and our surrender to the Lord. They are inseparable from one another.
Prayer
There is much interest in prayer, but do we really pray as we should? Do we even know how to pray? It is one of the questions I most frequently hear from Catholics; "Can you help me learn to pray? Can you help me find time to pray?" Admitting there is too little space here to give a detailed answer, let's just commit this Lent to do it. The Church teaches that Christian meditation should be one of our primary expressions of prayer – for a beginner, that means simply thinking about a truth of the faith, a Person of God, an event in the life of Christ, a passage of scripture, etc. Here are some tried and true ways to do this.
•On a daily basis, pray the Rosary. Why not pray the rosary together with your family this Lent? After the evening meal, gather as a family (or with friends) and pray the vocal prayers of the rosary while thinking about (meditating on) the mysteries – those major events in Christ's life.
•On a weekly basis – Friday is an excellent choice – do the same with the Stations of the Cross. There are many good meditations for the Stations, but I particularly benefit from the prayers and meditations of The Way of the Cross by St. Francis of Assisi. A copy of this is easy to find on the internet.
•Don't rush through the prayers. Spend time in them. And make these prayers a priority in your daily schedule. Remember, you were not made for earth, but for heaven. Nothing is more important, other than Christ to Whom you pray, for you to know. And by praying together as a family, you will teach your children What and Who is most important.
Fasting
Fasting and other forms of self-denial, as spiritual practices of materially subduing and controlling the physical appetites of the body, helps us, by God’s grace, to enable the soul to more perfectly and freely pray. I leave it to you to decide what form your fasting will take; reducing consumption of food items, giving up television, going without that unneeded purchase. This is the connection of fasting to prayer and it is the secret to a better, deeper, more joyful life in Christ. But fasting is also connected to almsgiving, for what we save through material fasting and the time saved by giving up a particular activity can be redirected to those who are in greater need. What a wonderful gift to give yourself and your children! If you have children, meet together as a family and explain what you are doing and why? Make it a family project.
Almsgiving
As I mentioned, fasting enables giving, so let us commit to living within our means, not just for our financial well-being, but also for the good of others. Our children best learn who they are to be by seeing who their parents really are. Let them see us doing without excessive spending so as to remain within our budgets. But especially let them see us doing without even things we can afford so as to help those who have less. Let us commit to avoiding occasions of sin such as immoral movies, but also let them see us spending more time in family prayer and service to others and less in excessive entertainment. This opens our hearts to the needs of others.
All for the Love of God
None of these three pillars means anything if not motivated by and through an ever-deepening love for God. Show our children and others what motivates us… the love of God and our love for Him. It is in this practice of the virtues that we overcome, by God’s grace, the practice of vice and possess the blessedness of God. Give ourselves to God, surrender fully to Him, and then we will be rich in what counts.
May you have a blessed Lenten season.
We value your comments and encourage you to leave your thoughts below. Please share this article with others in your network. Thank you! - The Editors
Friday, March 4, 2011
What’s Mine is Yours
Posted by Charlie Douglas • March 3, 2011
http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org
About the author: Charlie Douglas is a senior vice president with a leading global wealth management institution.
He is the author of two books: "Awaken the American Dream" and "Rich Where It Counts". Charlie also serves as the editor for a national journal on estate and tax planning.
Charlie is a speaker on such topics as the pursuit of God and money and morality in the marketplace.
He is a past Board member for Catholic Charities of Atlanta and is active at St. Brigid's Catholic Church with his wife, Lori and their daughter, Elizabeth.
Send an E-Mail to the authorRead all of Charlie Douglas PostsWe made the finals! Thank you. Please click to vote now for Integrated Catholic Life in each category.
A closer look at “private property” and our obligations to others
My young daughter Elizabeth has a favorite tee-shirt that boldly proclaims, “The Toddler Laws of Property”:
1.If I like it, it’s mine;
2.If it’s in my hand, it’s mine;
3.If I had it a little while ago it’s mine;
4.If it looks just like mine, it’s mine; and
5.If I think it’s mine, it’s mine!
Fittingly, that shirt accurately depicts the way toddlers often treat things in their little world. Children most definitely have their own rules and ideas when it comes to possessing possessions.
Part of parenting then is to disciple our children to take notice of other children’s needs and to openly share. It’s a message that needs to be frequently delivered in a variety of forms as it cuts against a child’s natural inclination. Each of us is made in the image of a generous God, yet being generative is not innate.
As adults, we too, oftentimes struggle to live with a generative spirit. In fact, it is countercultural in our capitalistic society to be faithful to the message found in 1 Timothy 6:18-19: “Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is the true life.”
For the most part, private property is viewed as our property. Something to be accumulated, protected, and passed on to our immediate loved ones after we are gone. Even so, private property is far from sinful. In fact, private property acquired by just means is oftentimes a worthy endeavor that advances the common good.
The Good of Goods
Goods that are justly pursued by individuals out of self-interest can lead directly to the increased good of the larger society. Adam Smith long ago observed that an “invisible hand” often guided the unintended actions of individuals toward increased societal wealth.
In addition, the noble pursuit of capitalism through self-interest often yields more than unintended acts of service. A moral free market system can inspire many intended acts of beneficial service, where receiving money/private property as a result of extending constructive goods and services to our neighbors advances God’s creation. Unlike socialism and the community of goods, free market capitalism offers economic incentive to develop our God-given gifts and talents.
Goods and private property, after all, are not a bad thing. There is nothing holy about debt, or not being able to pay your bills, or an economy that cannot afford to manufacture and/or pay for goods. In many ways, we can financially serve the poor better by not allowing ourselves to join their ranks. Economically speaking, humanity is better served by helping to alleviate poverty rather than contributing to it.
Poverty is not a virtue. It has no intrinsic goodness. Only the motive behind poverty may be virtuous if the desire is to help remove the obstacles which stand in the way of working toward spiritual perfection. But goods and private property gained through just means can support a quite holy effort.
Rising standards of living can surely be in concert with the development of human dignity, solidarity, and human rights. It may be just as holy to expand and invest in an honorable business, which employs others and provides worthy goods and services, as it is to give to charitable endeavors.
Jesus’ message enlightens us that having money in our hands is not the problem; it is having money in our hearts. The reason why it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, is not because a man is materially rich. Rather, it is because the rich may find themselves to be more attached to material wealth than to God.
Unfortunately, when goods are viewed as “our private property” they tend to become our end instead of God. And when we understandably protect our private property from outsiders through security gates and alarm systems we may unknowingly help create a mindset where it becomes difficult to see that the sick, poor, and society’s so-called undesirables are our brothers and sisters too.
Goods have a Global Destination
Our faith instructs us that in the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind. The goods of creation are therefore destined for the whole human race and supersede our right to private property.
As stewards of providence and God’s trustee we ought not to regard material goods as solely our own, but as a universal resource that is to be shared when we see others in need. "If someone who has the riches of this world sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 Jn 3:17). Saint Ambrose put it this way, "You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor person. You are handing over to him what is his. For what has been given in common for the use of all, you have arrogated to yourself. The world is given to all, and not only to the rich."
At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by the amount of our private property or the goods we have garnered. When we are judged by God, it will be: “I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; a stranger and you welcomed me; naked and you clothed me; ill and you cared for me; in prison and you visited me.” Matthew 25:35
Still, in these trying financial times our focus can easily become turned inward, where our goods and private property are held onto with a firm grasp. Solidarity for the poor can get swept aside over our own financial concerns. Therefore, it is especially during these turbulent economic times that we must be intentional about others in need and our obligations to them.
It is only through making a paradigm shift from “privately owned” to “God owned” that the “Toddler Laws of Property” can be prevailed over by our living out “God’s Law” regarding the global destination of goods. If we are to become rich in the true life that we are called to, what’s mine must also be yours.
We value your comments and encourage you to leave your thoughts below. Please share this article with others in your network. Thank you! - The Editors
http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org
About the author: Charlie Douglas is a senior vice president with a leading global wealth management institution.
He is the author of two books: "Awaken the American Dream" and "Rich Where It Counts". Charlie also serves as the editor for a national journal on estate and tax planning.
Charlie is a speaker on such topics as the pursuit of God and money and morality in the marketplace.
He is a past Board member for Catholic Charities of Atlanta and is active at St. Brigid's Catholic Church with his wife, Lori and their daughter, Elizabeth.
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A closer look at “private property” and our obligations to others
My young daughter Elizabeth has a favorite tee-shirt that boldly proclaims, “The Toddler Laws of Property”:
1.If I like it, it’s mine;
2.If it’s in my hand, it’s mine;
3.If I had it a little while ago it’s mine;
4.If it looks just like mine, it’s mine; and
5.If I think it’s mine, it’s mine!
Fittingly, that shirt accurately depicts the way toddlers often treat things in their little world. Children most definitely have their own rules and ideas when it comes to possessing possessions.
Part of parenting then is to disciple our children to take notice of other children’s needs and to openly share. It’s a message that needs to be frequently delivered in a variety of forms as it cuts against a child’s natural inclination. Each of us is made in the image of a generous God, yet being generative is not innate.
As adults, we too, oftentimes struggle to live with a generative spirit. In fact, it is countercultural in our capitalistic society to be faithful to the message found in 1 Timothy 6:18-19: “Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is the true life.”
For the most part, private property is viewed as our property. Something to be accumulated, protected, and passed on to our immediate loved ones after we are gone. Even so, private property is far from sinful. In fact, private property acquired by just means is oftentimes a worthy endeavor that advances the common good.
The Good of Goods
Goods that are justly pursued by individuals out of self-interest can lead directly to the increased good of the larger society. Adam Smith long ago observed that an “invisible hand” often guided the unintended actions of individuals toward increased societal wealth.
In addition, the noble pursuit of capitalism through self-interest often yields more than unintended acts of service. A moral free market system can inspire many intended acts of beneficial service, where receiving money/private property as a result of extending constructive goods and services to our neighbors advances God’s creation. Unlike socialism and the community of goods, free market capitalism offers economic incentive to develop our God-given gifts and talents.
Goods and private property, after all, are not a bad thing. There is nothing holy about debt, or not being able to pay your bills, or an economy that cannot afford to manufacture and/or pay for goods. In many ways, we can financially serve the poor better by not allowing ourselves to join their ranks. Economically speaking, humanity is better served by helping to alleviate poverty rather than contributing to it.
Poverty is not a virtue. It has no intrinsic goodness. Only the motive behind poverty may be virtuous if the desire is to help remove the obstacles which stand in the way of working toward spiritual perfection. But goods and private property gained through just means can support a quite holy effort.
Rising standards of living can surely be in concert with the development of human dignity, solidarity, and human rights. It may be just as holy to expand and invest in an honorable business, which employs others and provides worthy goods and services, as it is to give to charitable endeavors.
Jesus’ message enlightens us that having money in our hands is not the problem; it is having money in our hearts. The reason why it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, is not because a man is materially rich. Rather, it is because the rich may find themselves to be more attached to material wealth than to God.
Unfortunately, when goods are viewed as “our private property” they tend to become our end instead of God. And when we understandably protect our private property from outsiders through security gates and alarm systems we may unknowingly help create a mindset where it becomes difficult to see that the sick, poor, and society’s so-called undesirables are our brothers and sisters too.
Goods have a Global Destination
Our faith instructs us that in the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind. The goods of creation are therefore destined for the whole human race and supersede our right to private property.
As stewards of providence and God’s trustee we ought not to regard material goods as solely our own, but as a universal resource that is to be shared when we see others in need. "If someone who has the riches of this world sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 Jn 3:17). Saint Ambrose put it this way, "You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor person. You are handing over to him what is his. For what has been given in common for the use of all, you have arrogated to yourself. The world is given to all, and not only to the rich."
At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by the amount of our private property or the goods we have garnered. When we are judged by God, it will be: “I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; a stranger and you welcomed me; naked and you clothed me; ill and you cared for me; in prison and you visited me.” Matthew 25:35
Still, in these trying financial times our focus can easily become turned inward, where our goods and private property are held onto with a firm grasp. Solidarity for the poor can get swept aside over our own financial concerns. Therefore, it is especially during these turbulent economic times that we must be intentional about others in need and our obligations to them.
It is only through making a paradigm shift from “privately owned” to “God owned” that the “Toddler Laws of Property” can be prevailed over by our living out “God’s Law” regarding the global destination of goods. If we are to become rich in the true life that we are called to, what’s mine must also be yours.
We value your comments and encourage you to leave your thoughts below. Please share this article with others in your network. Thank you! - The Editors
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Islamic extremists assassinate only Christian in Pakistan’s cabinet
Islamabad, Pakistan, Mar 2, 2011 / 11:28 am (CNA/EWTN news). - By Alan Holdren
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com
Shahbaz Bhatti, a leading voice for religious freedom and peace in Pakistan, was assassinated March 2.
The 42-year old Bhatti served as federal minister for religious minorities. He was a Catholic and the only Christian in Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's Cabinet.
Bhatti was slain by three men as he left his mother's home in Islamabad by car. His usual police escort was not present because Bhatti preferred to keep a low profile while visiting his mother, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Eyewitnesses told the AP that as the vehicle left the driveway, two men pulled Bhatti out of the car while a third fired on him with an automatic weapon.
Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, head of the nation’s bishops, called Bhatti’s slaying “a perfectly tragic example of the unsustainable climate of intolerance in which we live in Pakistan.”
In a statement issued through the Vatican’s missionary news agency Fides, Archbishop Saldanha said, “We call on the Government, the institutions, the whole country to recognize and take decisions about these issues, because there must be an end to this situation, where violence prevails.”
In a separate statement to Fides, Peter Jacob, secretary of the bishops' justice and peace commission, said Christians “are in a state of shock and panic.”
“We feel vulnerable,” he said, “especially the defenders of human rights and religious minorities.
“This murder means that the country is at the mercy of terrorists, who can afford to kill high-ranking personalities. We feel very vulnerable: they are more powerful than defenders of human rights and religious minorities.”
Pakistani Church officials said they have not decided yet how to respond.
At the Vatican, the papal spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, recalled that Bhatti was the first Catholic to hold such a high position in Pakistan and that he had met with the Pope last September.
“He bore witness to his own commitment to peaceful coexistence among the religious communities of his country,” the spokesman said of Bhatti.
“Our prayers for the victim, our condemnation for this unspeakable act of violence, our closeness to Pakistani Christians who suffer hatred, are accompanied by an appeal that everyone many become aware of the urgent importance of defending both religious freedom and Christians who are subject to violence and persecution.”
Bhatti had received death threats in recent months from Islamic extremist groups angered by his opposition to the nation’s anti-blasphemy law. The law is designed to prevent any public criticism of Islam or its prophet, Muhammad.
Bhatti and other critics, including Pope Benedict XVI, say the law should be abolished because it is consistently used to harass and intimidate religious minorities, mostly Christians.
The blasphemy law has created deep divisions in Pakistani society, especially after a Christian mother named Asia Bibi was sentenced to death for allegedly violating it. She has been in prison for more than a year despite widespread international protests.
Al-Qaida and the Punjab province-based Pakistani Taliban Movement claimed responsibility for Bhatti’s killing, according to the AP.
A leaflet left at the scene charged that Bhatti, an “infidel Christian,” was serving on a government committee working to overturn the blasphemy law. The Pakistani government has repeatedly denied the existence of such a committee.
The note concluded, “with the blessing of Allah, the mujahedeen will send each of you to hell.”
Before his appointment as minister for religious minorities he founded and led the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance and the Christian Liberation Front.
Fides reported last month that the Pakistani Secret Service was “deeply concerned” that an attack on the minister was “imminent.” Pakistani sources said he was a “number one target” for his work to abolish the law prohibiting blasphemy.
Bhatti told Fides he would not change his stance.
“Pray for me and for my life," said Bhatti. “I am a man who has burnt his bridges. I cannot and will not go back on this commitment. I will fight fanaticism and fight in defense of Christians to the death.”
Bhatti is the second prominent government official to be assassinated this year because of his position on the blasphemy law. The Muslim governor of the Punjab region, Salman Taseer, was murdered at the start of the year by a body guard who said he was angered by Taseer’s defense of Bibi.
After the governor's funeral, on Jan. 5, Bhatti told Vatican Radio that Tasee assassination might intimidate other opponents of the blasphemy law.
“But,” he added, “I believe that the discovery of this violence cannot create fear and cannot stop us from raising our voices in favor of justice and the protection of minorities and innocent people in Pakistan."
He was aware that his life was in danger. He had given the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera and the BBC a pre-recorded message to be broadcast in the event he was killed.
In the message, Bhatti said that death threats will not change his opinions and principles. He asserts that he will not stop speaking on behalf of Pakistan's “oppressed and marginalized persecuted Christians and other minorities.”
“I will die to defend their rights,” he said in his message
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com
Shahbaz Bhatti, a leading voice for religious freedom and peace in Pakistan, was assassinated March 2.
The 42-year old Bhatti served as federal minister for religious minorities. He was a Catholic and the only Christian in Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's Cabinet.
Bhatti was slain by three men as he left his mother's home in Islamabad by car. His usual police escort was not present because Bhatti preferred to keep a low profile while visiting his mother, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Eyewitnesses told the AP that as the vehicle left the driveway, two men pulled Bhatti out of the car while a third fired on him with an automatic weapon.
Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, head of the nation’s bishops, called Bhatti’s slaying “a perfectly tragic example of the unsustainable climate of intolerance in which we live in Pakistan.”
In a statement issued through the Vatican’s missionary news agency Fides, Archbishop Saldanha said, “We call on the Government, the institutions, the whole country to recognize and take decisions about these issues, because there must be an end to this situation, where violence prevails.”
In a separate statement to Fides, Peter Jacob, secretary of the bishops' justice and peace commission, said Christians “are in a state of shock and panic.”
“We feel vulnerable,” he said, “especially the defenders of human rights and religious minorities.
“This murder means that the country is at the mercy of terrorists, who can afford to kill high-ranking personalities. We feel very vulnerable: they are more powerful than defenders of human rights and religious minorities.”
Pakistani Church officials said they have not decided yet how to respond.
At the Vatican, the papal spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, recalled that Bhatti was the first Catholic to hold such a high position in Pakistan and that he had met with the Pope last September.
“He bore witness to his own commitment to peaceful coexistence among the religious communities of his country,” the spokesman said of Bhatti.
“Our prayers for the victim, our condemnation for this unspeakable act of violence, our closeness to Pakistani Christians who suffer hatred, are accompanied by an appeal that everyone many become aware of the urgent importance of defending both religious freedom and Christians who are subject to violence and persecution.”
Bhatti had received death threats in recent months from Islamic extremist groups angered by his opposition to the nation’s anti-blasphemy law. The law is designed to prevent any public criticism of Islam or its prophet, Muhammad.
Bhatti and other critics, including Pope Benedict XVI, say the law should be abolished because it is consistently used to harass and intimidate religious minorities, mostly Christians.
The blasphemy law has created deep divisions in Pakistani society, especially after a Christian mother named Asia Bibi was sentenced to death for allegedly violating it. She has been in prison for more than a year despite widespread international protests.
Al-Qaida and the Punjab province-based Pakistani Taliban Movement claimed responsibility for Bhatti’s killing, according to the AP.
A leaflet left at the scene charged that Bhatti, an “infidel Christian,” was serving on a government committee working to overturn the blasphemy law. The Pakistani government has repeatedly denied the existence of such a committee.
The note concluded, “with the blessing of Allah, the mujahedeen will send each of you to hell.”
Before his appointment as minister for religious minorities he founded and led the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance and the Christian Liberation Front.
Fides reported last month that the Pakistani Secret Service was “deeply concerned” that an attack on the minister was “imminent.” Pakistani sources said he was a “number one target” for his work to abolish the law prohibiting blasphemy.
Bhatti told Fides he would not change his stance.
“Pray for me and for my life," said Bhatti. “I am a man who has burnt his bridges. I cannot and will not go back on this commitment. I will fight fanaticism and fight in defense of Christians to the death.”
Bhatti is the second prominent government official to be assassinated this year because of his position on the blasphemy law. The Muslim governor of the Punjab region, Salman Taseer, was murdered at the start of the year by a body guard who said he was angered by Taseer’s defense of Bibi.
After the governor's funeral, on Jan. 5, Bhatti told Vatican Radio that Tasee assassination might intimidate other opponents of the blasphemy law.
“But,” he added, “I believe that the discovery of this violence cannot create fear and cannot stop us from raising our voices in favor of justice and the protection of minorities and innocent people in Pakistan."
He was aware that his life was in danger. He had given the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera and the BBC a pre-recorded message to be broadcast in the event he was killed.
In the message, Bhatti said that death threats will not change his opinions and principles. He asserts that he will not stop speaking on behalf of Pakistan's “oppressed and marginalized persecuted Christians and other minorities.”
“I will die to defend their rights,” he said in his message
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