As I was finishing off St. Augustine’s Confessions, I read the section in Book Eleven where he devotes a substantial amount of ink to the subject of time:
Who is there who can say to me that there are not three times… the past, present, and future, but only present, because these two are not? Or are they also; but when from future it becomes present, comes it forth from some secret place, and when from the present it becomes past, does it retire into anything secret?
For where have they, who have foretold future things, seen these things, if as yet they are not? For that which is not cannot be seen. And they who relate things past could not relate them as true, did they not perceive them in their mind. Which things, if they were not, they could in no way be discerned. There are therefore things both future and past. – The Confessions, Book XI, Chapter 17, St. Augustine
As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think of this scene from the Star Wars spoof, Spaceballs:
I really hope I’m not the first person to have read The Confessions and thought of this…
Yesterday, Brantly Millegan posted on his blog Young, Evangelical, and Catholic the second part of his series “Why we’re contraception-free” (Part 1 | Part 2). I’ve really been enjoying it and I think you should read it too 🙂
Just in case you hadn’t heard, this Sunday on the Feast of Corpus Christi (June 2nd), Pope Francis will be presiding over an hour of Eucharistic Adoration in St. Peter’s and is inviting all Catholics around the world to do the same.
A few months ago we had “Mega Adoration” in San Diego when several hundred young adults attended Adoration together in one of San Diego’s larger churches. Clearly Pope Francis heard about this and decided to take it to the next level… 😉
St. Francis will be doing this at 5pm (Rome time), which works out at 4pm in England and in the USA it’ll be 11am on the East Coast and 8am on the West Coast.
So, join the Facebook Event, find yourself a chapel or church and go pray!
As you’ll see from the categorization of this entry, this is an apologetics post. In this article I am going to be defending the use of the writings of the Early Church Fathers in demonstrating the historicity and veracity of the Catholic Faith.
The problem with writing a defence of anything is that, even with the best will in the world, it’s still easy to come across as though you’re attacking those to whom you are responding.
So, if you’re reading this post and you feel that it comes across as Protestant-bashing then I’m truly sorry. This is certainly not my intention. In fact, this was one of the reasons why I penned the Ecumenical Apologist entry, to try and dispel such charges. In this post I simply want to present something of an explanation as to why one should care about the Early Church Fathers.
Forgotten Treasure
On the occasions when I’ve been engaged in apologetics with non-Catholic Christians I’ve often mentioned the Early Fathers. I’m usually met with blank stares. The Early who?! Unfortunately, like Catholics, our separated brethren haven’t read much of the Early Church Fathers either 🙁
One of my hopes for this blog is that it will encourage both groups to read the Fathers and learn more about our common heritage. The Early Church Fathers are fundamentally important in ecumenical work since they were living in a time prior to the divisions of the Great East/West Schism and the Reformation.
On the odd occasion when I do encounter non-Catholics who have heard of the Fathers, they usually only have second-hand information and have actually not read any of their writings. This is not true of all non-Catholics, of course, but in my limited experience it has at least been the larger majority. It should come as no surprise then, upon meeting Catholic or Protestant Christians unfamiliar with the Fathers, I immediately encourage them to begin by reading the letters of my favourite Early Church Father, St. Ignatius of Antioch 🙂
Wrong Way #1: Ignoring or Fearing the Church Fathers Reason: It Reduces Christianity to Incoherence
Wrong Way #2: Exploiting the Church Fathers Reason: It Doesn’t Treat the Fathers Honestly
Wrong Way #3: Treating the Church Fathers as Infallible Reason: The Fathers Occasionally Disagree
In this blog post I would like to talk a little bit about the third item. In apologetic exchanges I have often had to correct the non-Catholic assertion that we regard the Fathers as infallible. We don’t. As Joe points out, the Fathers occasionally disagree. It is on this point that I sometimes hear another objection. Here is what someone recently wrote to me:
“The fathers didn’t agree on every matter of doctrine so their opinion is no more reliable than anyone else’s. There were some heated arguments between some of them. In what way are they different from two modern-day non-Catholic pastors disagreeing over a certain interpretation of the Bible?“
I would like to take the rest of this blog entry to address this objection.
A few years ago I went on a pilgrimage to Rome with some friends from Washington DC. We spent a wonderful few days touring the sights and praying in some of the most beautiful churches on earth.
Sadly, this weekend I received a message on Facebook that one of the priests who accompanied us, Fr. Bill Dunn, recently died. A doctor for thirty years before entering the seminary, he was a kind and gentle soul. I hadn’t met him prior to our trip, but he and I had the opportunity to become better acquainted on one of our itinerary-free days in “The Eternal City”. We ended up wandering around the city in a search for the best cappuccino money could buy:
Fr. William Dunn: Rest In Peace
The natural human response at the death of a friend is one of mourning, sadness at being physically parted from a loved one. For the Christian, however, death is not the end. As Christians, we also respond with thanksgiving, praising God for allowing us to share in the life of one who loved the Lord so deeply. Finally, the Catholic also responds with petition, that God will have mercy on our friend’s soul and grant entrance into Heaven. I say it is a Catholic’s natural response but, in truth, I think it is the natural response of every Christian, Catholic or otherwise. We want the best for our loved ones, in this life and the next, so we naturally want to intercede for them in this life and the next.
As I was finishing off St. Augustine’s Confessions, I read the section in Book Eleven where he devotes a substantial amount of ink to the subject of time:
Happy feast day of 
For your Friday entertainment…
As you’ll see from the categorization of this entry, this is an 