Pope Francis (and Holy Week)

As a grad student I'm sure you pay attention to current events. The biggest news story a couple weeks ago was the retirement of Pope Benedict and the election of Pope Francis. Pope Benedict's retirement was certainly a shocker: the last time a Pope needed a 401k was in 1415.

It's certainly a precedent-breaker, but it is theologically sound. Popes have done it in the past, and there's no specific Catholic tradition that forbids it. It's not a sign of weakness either. He was in ailing health, and God was simply calling Pope Benedict to a different life. If anything it's a testament to our former Pope's humility.

In other words, none of the recent events are reasons to doubt the authority and tradition of the Catholic Church. I assure you that everything is going on swimmingly.

Pope Francis election is pretty earth-shattering too. First of all, no Pope has ever chosen the name Francis. His name represents humility and simplicity. There's a lot to like about this guy.


He also happens to be the first South American Pope, as well as the first Jesuit to hold down the throne of St. Peter (WE ARE *clap clap* SJ).

Pope Francis's election comes just in time for the most important week of the Catholic calendar: Holy Week!
This marks the week and all the events leading up to Jesus's Passion, Death and Resurrection, which ultimately has saved us. This is about as busy as his office will get in a normal year.

I feel like a grad student such as yourself can really relate to Pope Francis's message. I hope this fact will help in your discernment of Faith.

-Shoe

Works Cited:
(for image) "Pope Francis- in Pictures." The Gaurdian, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2013. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2013/mar/13/pope-francis-life-in-pictures>.

Evolution and the Catholic Church

Many of you grad school students probably took freshmen biology in college. Some of you may have even pursued a career in such a field. Either way, your professor almost certainly preached to you the Theory of Evolution. Originally hypothesized by Darwin and as you learned in high school and college, evolution is the scientific theory that all life evolved over millions of years (that is, changed and adapted to their environment by way of natural selection, genetic mutations, and other key factors), including humans.

Wait a minute! Doesn't the Catholic Church teach that God created the plants, animals, and humans? In the Bible, weren't Adam and Eve created days after all other life forms? How could evolution possibly fit with Genesis? This could be one of the main objections you have against the Catholic Church, and it certainly deserves clearing up.

The Church allows for intellectuals like us to ascribe to a theory of intelligent design. Think of it as the theory that encompasses both Creationism and Evolution. The core of intelligent design is this: everything that scientists prove happened certainly happened (the Big Bang, evolution of life, etc), but God was behind it all.

So first about the Bible. The story of Genesis certainly happened, but not necessarily literally. The term days in creation may refer to different stages. Think about it: how could there even be days if the sun had not have been created? Also, the story of Adam and Eve could be more of a symbolic anecdote of whatever really happened after Creation. Literalists obviously rule out Evolution, but the Catholic Church is not literalist.

We can believe in evolution as long as we stay true to several core values. First, there were only two first humans that populated the Earth. Evolution supports this because a freak mutation from an ancient primate would have created the first humans (a mutation rare and distinct enough that it would not occur with multiple primates). Second, God created all life. This is pretty easy: God guided the "chance mutations" and natural selection to ultimately create all forms of life (as well as first arranged atoms to create an organic substance).
As long as you keep these in mind evolution is a legitimate, non-heretical belief.

If you're not about that evolution life, it's cool too. The Church doesn't say you have to believe life evolved; if you want to believe the Bible literally, that's fine. Personally, I think it'd be hard to truly believe the world was created 5000 years ago when there are fossils that can be carbon dated to millions of years ago...but that's up to you to decide.

Let's hope evolution and the Catholic Church do not contradict. If not, our Strake Jesuit Bio I classes would be pretty heretical...

-Shoe

Works Cited:

(for the image) Morris, Henry M., Ph.D. "Atheist-Fools.com." AtheistFoolscom. N.p., 21 Apr. 2007. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. <http://atheiststooges.wordpress.com/category/intelligent-design/evolution-cruncher/>.

Martyrs- Defenders of the Faith

Martyrs are Christian men and women who, when faced with the choice to die or give up their faith, decide to choose God over all things. Martyrs are crucial to the Catholic Church because they prove unrelenting and unconditional love for God, even when faced with man's biggest mystery and fear- death.

In the Second Century A.D., A famous Church father named Father Tertullian wrote "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church", meaning that the sacrifice that the martyrs endured would ensure the continuation of the Christian Church and Faith through inspiration of the masses.



Martyrs have been prevalent in the Catholic Church since its foundation. The first recorded martyrdom in the
Church was that of St. Stephen, who was stoned to death because of his faith in Jesus Christ. Further, the Bible holds that each of Jesus' Twelve Apostles but John was martyred for attempting to spread the faith of Christ's Kingdom. If Christ was not truly the Son of God, why would the apostles sacrifice their own lives for Him? Martyrdom as a concept makes no sense if Christ were not the Son of God, but because martyrdom is  and has been prevalent throughout the Church, we can believe that Christ is the Son of God.



-atohme

Grace- Undeserved, Unconditional

One of the biggest mysteries in the Catholic Faith is Grace, and how its very concept is undeserving yet unconditionally given. Consider an example, we're talking in the school hallways, and all of a sudden you decide to insult me and walk away. Later that day, you embarrass me in front of the whole grade by showing them a embarrassing (yet hilarious) picture of me. Finally, after school you decide to beat me up. Not nice right? After that day, do you think I'll still be your friend? Probably not.

This ludicrous example is the very premise for the concept of Grace. As defined throughout the Catholic Faith, Grace is undeserved yet unconditional love; a concept that is really hard for humans to understand and practice. So, it is possible to relate the example above to sinning, or going against God's commands.

Consider another example: You punch me in the face in the school cafeteria. Punishment? You'll probably get detention or a suspension from the school. However, if you punch the Principal in the face, you'd probably get expelled. To take this even farther, if you punched POTUS in the face, you would be considered a threat to national security. Take one thing from this example: even if you commit the same action but to people of higher and higher importance and power, the consequences change significantly. So, when we sin against God, it is an infinite offense, for God is an infinite Being with infinite power and importance.

However, despite every sin of every human being, God sends down His Only Son, to suffer and die for our sins. This is the very significance of the cross and the Catholic Faith- we turn away from God, every one of us turns away from God, yet all are offered a chance at redemption through Christ and the Cross. This is Grace in the purest form. Completely undeserved, 100% Unconditional proven through the sending of Jesus Christ. The least we can say is thank you.

- atohme

Starting with the Basics- God's Existence

As an agnostic, before encountering the Catholic Church you might want to understand the basics- beginning with the existence of God. God's existence is most probably one of the most hotly debated topics throughout  philosophical literature for the past thousand years. From St. Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways in the 12th Century to modern philosophers, God's existence has been proven in many ways.

The first most widely accepted proofs for the existence of God starts with St. Thomas Aquinas' writings in his book, the Summa Theologica. In this book, Aquinas gives Five Reasons for the existence of God. The first of the Five Ways is from the unmoved mover. This proof draws a distinction between potentiality and actuality of motion, and explains that an object can't will itself into existence, for wood can't will itself to burn without fire. However, this means we must arrive at a first mover, an unmoved mover who puts everything else into motion; and this is the definition of God. Aquinas writes from the Summa,

It is certain, and evident to our senses, that in the world some things are in motion. Now whatever is in motion is put in motion by another, for nothing can be in motion except it is in potentiality to that towards which it is in motion; whereas a thing moves inasmuch as it is in act. For motion is nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to actuality. But nothing can be reduced from potentiality to actuality, except by something in a state of actuality. Thus that which is actually hot, as fire, makes wood, which is potentially hot, to be actually hot, and thereby moves and changes it. Now it is not possible that the same thing should be at once in actuality and potentiality in the same respect, but only in different respects. For what is actually hot cannot simultaneously be potentially hot; but it is simultaneously potentially cold. It is therefore impossible that in the same respect and in the same way a thing should be both mover and moved, i.e. that it should move itself. Therefore, whatever is in motion must be put in motion by another. If that by which it is put in motion be itself put in motion, then this also must needs be put in motion by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and, consequently, no other mover; seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are put in motion by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is put in motion by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.

I can't go through each one of Aquinas' Five Ways, however click here for a link to his original text, and here for a detailed explanation of Aquinas' Five Ways.



In the modern time, authors such as Alvin Plantinga's Ontological Argument and William Lane Craig's Cosmological argument have further found truth for God's existence. Plantinga's argument can be found here, and Craig's work in a YouTube video format here.



If you have any questions, be free to comment down below!
-atohme

About Gay Marriage...

Marriage equality is a hot topic in today's world. Society is becoming increasingly comfortable and tolerant of homosexuals. Particularly from the political left, a movement to relax marriage laws to include two men or two women is sweeping the nation. You, as a grad student just out of college, very well might agree with this movement. Your views on it may even be holding you back from joining the Catholic Church. So let's try and get things straight.

The Church does not hate gay people. We are all sinners, and although the Church recognizes that taking part in homosexual acts is a sin, this is no worse than any other sin. All people are welcome in the Church, regardless of their sins and life decisions.

But about marriage. The picture above represents the main argument for pro-gay marriage advocates: equality. The Catholic Church is all about that equality life. But, there's a problem here. Jesus instituted marriage to be between a man and a woman. The Administrative Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explains that "marriage is a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between one man and one woman, joined as husband and wife in an intimate partnership of life and love." A marriage is defined as between a man and a woman. It's not discrimination to say two people of the same sex cannot marry, because they by definition cannot. 

Under secular discourse, you and I very well might agree with pro-gay marriage advocates. Honestly, I do agree with them: people who love each other should be allowed to love each other. But no worries. We are here to simply explain the Catholic Faith to you.

-Shoe

Works Cited:
"The Catholic Church, Homosexuality and Gay Marriage." The Catholic Church, Homosexuality and Gay Marriage. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. <http://www.americancatholic.org/News/Homosexuality/>.

Welcome to Our Blog!

This blog is primarily addressed to graduate school students who are unsure of their faith. Grad school is a scary time in your life. You are trying to figure out your niche in life, as well as what you truly believe. In this blog, we will discuss the Church in detail and defend the Catholic Faith to influence your thoughts (hopefully for the better) on Catholicism. The posts will range from many topics, from century-old issues such as heresies to modern-day topics, such as gay marriage.



Our plan is to start with problems with current issues in the Church and throughout the next few months revisit the common heresies against Catholic doctrine. Through this, we hope to  provide an adequate defense in order to sway your opinion towards joining the Catholic Church and exiting your period of uncertainty about God.