Category: Catholicism

Primacy of Conscience?

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Earlier this week I saw a video on Twitter where a Catholic claimed to be doing the right thing, even though it stood in stark contrast to Church teaching. As expected, there was lots of talk about the “primacy of conscience”. Whenever this comes up, I like to share a few paragraphs from Veritatis Splendor, the encyclical by the Pope John-Paul II on “The splendor of truth”:

32. Certain currents of modern thought have gone so far as to exalt freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which would then be the source of values… The individual conscience is accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of moral judgment which hands down categorical and infallible decisions about good and evil. To the affirmation that one has a duty to follow one’s conscience is unduly added the affirmation that one’s moral judgment is true merely by the fact that it has its origin in the conscience. But in this way the inescapable claims of truth disappear, yielding their place to a criterion of sincerity, authenticity and “being at peace with oneself”, so much so that some have come to adopt a radically subjectivistic conception of moral judgment.

…. Once the idea of a universal truth about the good, knowable by human reason, is lost, inevitably the notion of conscience also changes. Conscience is no longer considered in its primordial reality as an act of a person’s intelligence, the function of which is to apply the universal knowledge of the good in a specific situation and thus to express a judgment about the right conduct to be chosen here and now. Instead, there is a tendency to grant to the individual conscience the prerogative of independently determining the criteria of good and evil and then acting accordingly. Such an outlook is quite congenial to an individualist ethic, wherein each individual is faced with his own truth, different from the truth of others. Taken to its extreme consequences, this individualism leads to a denial of the very idea of human nature.

These different notions are at the origin of currents of thought which posit a radical opposition between moral law and conscience, and between nature and freedom.

Veritatis Splendor, Pope St. John-Paul the Great

Or, you could use the pithier comment left by one Twitter user:

The conscience should acquiesce to the primacy of truth, not truth to the primacy of conscience

Writing to Bishops

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Earlier this week, I wrote a post on Facebook saying that I had spent the first few days of 2019 writing letters to different bishops, and invited others to do the same.

The purpose in writing these letters was to encourage our bishops to be fearless in the exercise of their office, to teach Catholic doctrine faithfully and to protect their flocks from physical and spiritual abuse, all the while being respectful of their office.

My friend Noelle asked me for an outline of what I wrote. Unfortunately, each letter had been different in content. However, I thought it might be helpful to post a synthesis of what I had written over the course of the different letters…

Your Excellency,

There is no sugar-coating it, the Church is in a state of crisis. Unfortunately, much of this relates to the laity’s wavering confidence in the episcopacy, as well as their faith in the upper echelons of the Church’s hierarchy. I am grieved to say that over the past year, both the sin and utter timidity of many, many bishops has continued to be on full display for all the world to see. The results of this have been devastating. Catholics are leaving the Church. Of those who remain, many are withdrawing their financial support. Those in RCIA are reconsidering their choice. Many souls are at risk.

If ever there was a time when the Church cried out for strong and fearless leadership, it is now. The flock need to see the faces of their shepherds and hear their voices. We need to be reassured that the Diocese is in good hands. We need to know that those who would prey on innocents will be swiftly removed and automatically reported to the secular authorities. Not only that, we need to have complete confidence that Catholic teaching will be upheld without exception in every parish, particularly in the extremely unpopular area of personal morality. We need to know that our shepherds will not cower in fear, but will defend us from the wolves.

St. Ignatius, on his way to execution in AD 107, wrote a letter to encourage his fellow bishop, Polycarp. I humbly offer these words to you as an encouragement to be fearless as you shepherd the Diocese over the coming year:

“The times call for you…as one tossed with tempest seeks for the haven, so that both you and those under your care may attain to God. Be sober as God’s athlete: the prize set before you is immortality and eternal life”

Thank you, your Excellency, for giving this letter your attention. You are in my prayers and I am always at your service. I look forward to hearing from you as to how I may assist in your effort to comfort and strengthen the Church.

God bless,

David Bates

Do icons get chilly?

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When people visit my Byzantine parish, one question they often ask is: “Why do some of the icons have scarfs on?”

This scarf is an adornment which is simply a sign of devotion.

As far as I can tell, it began with the Kyivan Rus’ and Ukrainian Christians have continued to do so ever since. It appears to have links to the Holy Protection of the Mother of God

Consanguinity Chart

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Okay, this is admittedly a bit random, but I’ve recently had several conversations about what makes someone a 1st or 2nd Cousin and what makes one once or twice removed.

So, with the goal of using this to win all future arguments, here is a diagram which shows the different names used for different levels of consanguinity (literally, “with the same blood”):

1 … 56 57 58 59 60 … 317