Monday Musings

A few random thoughts and ponderings to start the week...

Today is May 13, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. May is Mary's month, and this being the day after Mother's Day today is the perfect day to pray a rosary. Pick up your beads and get at it.

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Remember that we still have one week of Easter left. Don't forget to wish someone a Happy Easter while we are still in this liturgical season. Of course the pop culture forgot about Easter many weeks ago, but as Catholics we are called to transform and transcend the culture. Surprise someone with a "Happy Easter!" greeting while there is still time left. You might get a strange look , but you may also get an opportunity to share your faith.

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Last week was busier at home than I expected, so I did not get around to posting here on the blog as I intended. This week should be less hectic, so hopefully I'll have more time to blog. As usual though, I won't make any promieses. :)

This Week's Headlines

As another week comes to an end, this is your chance to top off your glass with a final helping of news, current events, and just plain interesting stuff that may not have made into the mainstream media. A chance to linger for a few more moments before we close the door on the week. Below are some links to articles, blogs, and miscellaneous happenings that caught my eye over the past few days. Sample what you like. I'll serve up more next Friday...

7 things Pope Francis wants you to know about Jesus' Ascension - "Recently, Pope Francis gave an explanation of the Ascension, what it means, and how it affects our lives. Here are 7 things he wants you to know."

What the Lord’s Ascension Means  - "What the feast of the Ascension means is that the One who had to leave us for a time, even to the extent of taking physical leave of those whom he most loved in the world, is thereby much closer to us now." See also: The Ascension: What’s In It For Me?

Mary’s Month - "In this special month, in which we will celebrate Christ’s Ascension into Heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, I encourage you to deepen your devotion to Mary."

Mother’s Day: Gender Matters - There are many, many excellent mothers who do things very differently. ...And yet all these differences don’t necessarily tell us whether or not a woman is a good mother. That’s defined by the relationship she has with her child, by who she is to that child."

Pope Francis Calls Whole Church to Evangelical Spirit, Ecclesial Spirit, Missionary Spirit - "In an inspiring homily delivered on May 5, 2013, during the Holy Mass offered especially for those involved in Confraternities committed to ecclesial, evangelical and missionary service, Pope Francis again sounded the major theme of his pontificate."

Pope says Christians must learn to patiently endure trials, each other - "Learning how to patiently carry 'the weight of difficulties, the weight of contradictions' is something people learn gradually, he said. It's a process of maturation that lasts a lifetime. 'It's like fine wine.'"

Sourpusses hurt the church's witness, mission, pope says at Mass - "Pope Francis said joy is a 'pilgrim virtue,' one that moves Christians to journey out into the world preaching the Gospel and proclaiming Christ."

Pope to Women Religious: Unity With the Church Is Part of Your Vocation - "Pope Francis told leaders of women’s religious orders today that their vocations can only be recognized within the fold of the Church." See also: Careerists and Climbers Doing "Great Harm" to the Church

Pope to Nuns: Don't Be Old Maids - "Francis also warned the sisters against using their vocations for personal ambition, saying priests and sisters who do so 'do more harm to the church.'"

Why Pope Francis Doesn't Give Communion - "Receiving communion means receiving the body of the Lord, with the awareness of forming a community. But if a man, rather than uniting the people of God, has devastated the lives of many persons, he cannot receive communion, it would be a total contradiction." See also: Pope Francis Urges Bishops to Deny Communion to Pro-Abortion Catholics

Pope Leo’s Ideal Was Not State Control - "Leo’s ideal is not State control, with individuals as wardens, but a society built up of societies; a culture truly social, based on human friendships and family ties and alliances."

Gosnell, abortion and the sanitizing of facts - "The prosecution’s case is dramatic stuff.  Yet many of the nation’s prestige media have tried to ignore the details of Gosnell’s trial – which under any other circumstances would be swarmed over as sensational."

Senate Republicans Demand Hearing on Gosnell, Abortion Clinics - "Congress and States should gather information about and correct abusive, unsanitary, and illegal abortion practices and the interstate referral of women and girls to facilities engaged in dangerous or illegal second- and third-trimester procedures..."

Deliberations continue in notorious Philadelphia abortionist case - [It seems like it shouldn't take that long, but here's why...] Why is the Gosnell Jury Taking so Long? See the Jury Sheets

Details of Kermit Gosnell Abortion Horrors Taking Emotional Toll on Jury - "The News Journal reported that some of the jurors appeared somewhat downcast when told they had to reach 227 separate verdicts on those counts." [These people need our prayers as they dig deep into the evil perpetrated by this man.]

Gosnell: Tip of the Iceberg? - "Now, there is substantial evidence that a situation resembling elements of the Gosnell case existed for years at the Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge..."

Gallup Poll: 58% of Americans Oppose All or Most Abortions - [A bit of good news as America begins to wake up.] And this: Reporter Covering Gosnell Murder Trial Changes His Mind on Abortion

Women's Rights? Why Every Woman Should Oppose Abortion - "Countless women have been made to think that they have no other option but abortion; that they are not capable of being good mothers. They have been coerced by cowardly, weak men, who want to avoid stepping up to their responsibilities and make women think that this 'is the best choice'. Abortion is never a 'choice'. It is an invasive, destructive, violent and agonizing act against womanhood."

Like Slavery, Planned Parenthood Now Targeting Black Women - "The struggle for racial justice in America – whether fighting slavery, or fighting for civil rights – has always been informed by absolute standards of right and wrong, of good and evil, that transcend even the cleverest human mind. Black history is testimony to where we wind up when those standards get lost."

Arguing Against Abortion - Here you will find a "list of resources, which, though far from comprehensive, may be of use to pro-lifers."

Cleveland kidnapper may face death penalty — for beating pregnant captive until she miscarried - "Courts and legislatures have been wrestling with that contradiction, where a fetus is something less than a person for purposes of lawful abortion but a full person for purposes of 'unlawful termination,' since Roe was decided."

"Psychic" Sylvia Browne Told Kidnap Victim's Mom Her Daughter Was Dead - "Psychics and mediums, despite what so many people tell you, are not just harmless fun. It's likely they are either complete and heartless frauds or they could actually be something much worse."

Sen. Graham predicts Benghazi investigation bombshell - "We're going to find political manipulation seven weeks before an election. We're going to find people asleep at the switch when it comes to the State Department, including Hillary Clinton."

More on Wedding Attendance... - [A follow-up to a piece I linked to last week.]

John Milbank: Gay Marriage a “Strategic Move” That Has Nothing to Do with Gay Rights - "We have sleep-walked into the legalisation of practices whose logic and implications have never been seriously debated..."

Homosexuality & Diabetes: An Unspoken Likeness - "Diabetes is a too-common affliction in America today. But even if you disagree with what the following people say, what is interesting is that they are saying these things with no scolding from the usual suspects: mainstream media powers, grandstanding politicians and airheaded celebrities, et al. Nobody is calling these people bigots or haters or anything of the sort. And, in fact, there is a lot of truth in what they have to say."

Redefining Marriage: A Battle Hundreds of Years in the Making - "The floodgates opened in the nineteenth century, an age of religious and social experimentation.  The loosened moorings could be sensed in the experimental polygamies and polyamorous practices of various American sects of the 1840s. The real threat, however, appeared later..."

Answering the Question: The Right to Marriage and Infertile Couples - "Does the 'office of marriage' involve the capacity to undertake a work or action: an unimpeded conjugal union that is naturally ordered to the procreation of children--or does it also involves the capacity of knowledge (whether certain, probable, or possible) of a result (conception) in addition to the action?"

The madness of liberal moralizing - "The paradoxes of liberal morality were on glaring display last week. The Obama administration OK’d the sale of “Plan B” post-coital emergency contraception over the counter without prescription (or parental consent) to girls as young as 15. At the same time, the City Council moved a step closer to banning anyone under the age of 21 from buying cigarettes (the legal age is now 18)."

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted: Catholic and American? Part one - "...many Catholics have at best ambivalent feelings about the relationship between Catholicism and America. ...Should Catholics still be excited about being American citizens?"

Do Catholics Represent Evangelicals in America’s Legal Elite? - "...Evangelicals do not seem overly bothered by the fact that relatively few of them occupy positions at the top of the legal profession–no Evangelicals sit on the Supreme Court, for example–and wonders why. One explanation, he says, is that Evangelicals believe, and are comfortable with the fact, that Catholics represent their outlook on things."

Protestant South Becoming a New Catholic Stronghold - "Catholics in the South say their experience holds lessons for their Northern counterparts." [Dominus vobiscum, ya'll!]

War of the Words: Who Do We ‘Worship’? - "Using ‘worship’ as another word for ‘adoration’ of God is probably a sure-fire way to avoid confusion in dialogue with non-Catholics. There’s no reason to stop using it in this restrictive sense. But this shouldn’t lead us into confusion about the historical uses of the word. It pays to have a firm grasp of this."

But Whom May We Evangelize? - "...when we talk of evangelization today, we have to talk directly and seriously about and to the systems that are politically and culturally closed to any such notion that Christianity can be presented freely in their domains."

Would God Really Send Someone to Hell? - "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in hell chose it."

20 Arguments For God’s Existence - [Lot's of information here - a great resource.]

The Theology of the Bottle - "God made wine (and King Beer) to give us joy, and the habit of moderation in all things will make sure it remains servant and never master." See also: Cause for Mirth: The Return of Abbey Brewing to the United States

Catechism for the Year of Faith

Part of a continuing series.A selected quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church in honor of the Year of Faith (October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013)

1114 "Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions, and to the consensus . . . of the Fathers," we profess that "the sacraments of the new law were . . . all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord."

1115 Jesus' words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific, for they anticipated the power of his Paschal mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church, for "what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries."

1116 Sacraments are "powers that comes forth" from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are "the masterworks of God" in the new and everlasting covenant.

1118 The sacraments are "of the Church" in the double sense that they are "by her" and "for her." They are "by the Church," for she is the sacrament of Christ's action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are "for the Church" in the sense that "the sacraments make the Church," since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons.

1119 Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as "an organically structured priestly community." Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful "who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ."

1120 The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.

1123 "The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That is why they are called 'sacraments of faith.'"

1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.

1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God." From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.

1134 The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial. For every one of the faithful on the one hand, this fruit is life for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in charity and in her mission of witness.

1136 Liturgy is an "action" of the whole Christ (Christus totus). Those who even now celebrate it without signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is wholly communion and feast.

1140 It is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head, that celebrates. "Liturgical services are not private functions but are celebrations of the Church which is 'the sacrament of unity,' namely, the holy people united and organized under the authority of the bishops. Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole Body of the Church. They manifest it, and have effects upon it. But they touch individual members of the Church in different ways, depending on their orders, their role in the liturgical services, and their actual participation in them." For this reason, "rites which are meant to be celebrated in common, with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and quasi-privately."

1142 But "the members do not all have the same function." Certain members are called by God, in and through the Church, to a special service of the community. These servants are chosen and consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ the head, for the service of all the members of the Church. The ordained minister is, as it were, an "icon" of Christ the priest. Since it is in the Eucharist that the sacrament of the Church is made fully visible, it is in his presiding at the Eucharist that the bishop's ministry is most evident, as well as, in communion with him, the ministry of priests and deacons.

1145 A sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols. In keeping with the divine pedagogy of salvation, their meaning is rooted in the work of creation and in human culture, specified by the events of the Old Covenant and fully revealed in the person and work of Christ.

1147 God speaks to man through the visible creation. The material cosmos is so presented to man's intelligence that he can read there traces of its Creator. Light and darkness, wind and fire, water and earth, the tree and its fruit speak of God and symbolize both his greatness and his nearness.

1152 ...Since Pentecost, it is through the sacramental signs of his Church that the Holy Spirit carries on the work of sanctification. The sacraments of the Church do not abolish but purify and integrate all the richness of the signs and symbols of the cosmos and of social life. Further, they fulfill the types and figures of the Old Covenant, signify and make actively present the salvation wrought by Christ, and prefigure and anticipate the glory of heaven.

1153 A sacramental celebration is a meeting of God's children with their Father, in Christ and the Holy Spirit; this meeting takes the form of a dialogue, through actions and words. Admittedly, the symbolic actions are already a language, but the Word of God and the response of faith have to accompany and give life to them, so that the seed of the Kingdom can bear its fruit in good soil. The liturgical actions signify what the Word of God expresses: both his free initiative and his people's response of faith.

1156 "The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of solemn liturgy." The composition and singing of inspired psalms, often accompanied by musical instruments, were already closely linked to the liturgical celebrations of the Old Covenant. The Church continues and develops this tradition: "Address . . . one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." "He who sings prays twice."

1161 All the signs in the liturgical celebrations are related to Christ: as are sacred images of the holy Mother of God and of the saints as well. They truly signify Christ, who is glorified in them. They make manifest the "cloud of witnesses" who continue to participate in the salvation of the world and to whom we are united, above all in sacramental celebrations. Through their icons, it is man "in the image of God," finally transfigured "into his likeness," who is revealed to our faith. So too are the angels, who also are recapitulated in Christ:

Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets.

1163 "Holy Mother Church believes that she should celebrate the saving work of her divine Spouse in a sacred commemoration on certain days throughout the course of the year. Once each week, on the day which she has called the Lord's Day, she keeps the memory of the Lord's resurrection. She also celebrates it once every year, together with his blessed Passion, at Easter, that most solemn of all feasts. In the course of the year, moreover, she unfolds the whole mystery of Christ. . . . Thus recalling the mysteries of the redemption, she opens up to the faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present in every age; the faithful lay hold of them and are filled with saving grace."

1167 Sunday is the pre-eminent day for the liturgical assembly, when the faithful gather "to listen to the word of God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and glory of the Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God who 'has begotten them again, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' unto a living hope":

When we ponder, O Christ, the marvels accomplished on this day, the Sunday of your holy resurrection, we say: "Blessed is Sunday, for on it began creation . . . the world's salvation . . . the renewal of the human race. . . . On Sunday heaven and earth rejoiced and the whole universe was filled with light. Blessed is Sunday, for on it were opened the gates of paradise so that Adam and all the exiles might enter it without fear.

1171 In the liturgical year the various aspects of the one Paschal mystery unfold. This is also the case with the cycle of feasts surrounding the mystery of the incarnation (Annunciation, Christmas, Epiphany). They commemorate the beginning of our salvation and communicate to us the first fruits of the Paschal mystery.

1180 When the exercise of religious liberty is not thwarted, Christians construct buildings for divine worship. These visible churches are not simply gathering places but signify and make visible the Church living in this place, the dwelling of God with men reconciled and united in Christ.

1181 A church, "a house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful assemble, and where is worshipped the presence of the Son of God our Savior, offered for us on the sacrificial altar for the help and consolation of the faithful - this house ought to be in good taste and a worthy place for prayer and sacred ceremonial." In this "house of God" the truth and the harmony of the signs that make it up should show Christ to be present and active in this place.

1186 Finally, the church has an eschatological significance. To enter into the house of God, we must cross a threshold, which symbolizes passing from the world wounded by sin to the world of the new Life to which all men are called. The visible church is a symbol of the Father's house toward which the People of God is journeying and where the Father "will wipe every tear from their eyes." Also for this reason, the Church is the house of all God's children, open and welcoming.

Quote of the Week

“Even if the forces of darkness appear to prevail, those who believe in God know that evil and death do not have the final say. Christian hope is based on this truth; at this time our prayerful trust draws strength from it.”

-Blessed Pope John Paul II

Monday Musings

A few random thoughts and ponderings to start the week...

I had a couple of random thoughts a few days ago concerning atheism. Someday these two ideas may make the basis of a good post or two, but for now I'll just throw them out here...

1) Atheists are more closed-minded than theists - I know, you usually hear the opposite...especially from atheists. They usually claim that they decided to reject God because they opened their minds and became more enlightened. But I don't think that's at all true. Actually atheists have closed their minds to the possibility of a Higher Being. Atheists reject a possible explanation for or existence, simply because they are unable to fathom a thing that is so far above them that they cannot comprehend it. They have their eyes to the ground and are unwilling to look up beyond the material world. They reject a hypothesis because their brains aren't big enough to grasp it. Meanwhile, those of us who believe in God are willing to expand our minds and let God in.

2) Sometime atheistic scientists propose the idea that there are infinite parallel universes in which different realities exist. They use this little mathematical trick to get around some statistical problems that trouble their atheistic mindset. Without going into details, let's just say that it's easier for them to imagine a world where "black" is "white" and "white" is "black" than to admit that there may be a God Who gave us the one universe we live in. So, maybe there's a universe where gravity works differently, or there are different properties for solid matter, or your parents never met and you were never born. With infinite universes, anything is possible, right? So, if there really are an infinite number of universes where anything is possible, then I wonder if we (here and now) are living in the universe where a GOD exists? Wouldn't that be a crapper for atheists?

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I'm working on possibly reviving two series of posts. One is the Male-only Priesthood series, which I allowed to wither and die last year because of my own laziness. The other is a series of posts on the writings of the Church Fathers. I think I'll start with the priesthood series first, since I never really finished it. Then I'll restart the Church Fathers posts. But this week, I may post something completely different...just not sure what yet.

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We are still in the Easter Season... wish someone a 'Happy Easter'! It may surprise them, but it will also remind them that Easter is more than just one day.

This Week's Headlines

As another week comes to an end, this is your chance to top off your glass with a final helping of news, current events, and just plain interesting stuff that may not have made into the mainstream media. A chance to linger for a few more moments before we close the door on the week. Below are some links to articles, blogs, and miscellaneous happenings that caught my eye over the past few days. Sample what you like. I'll serve up more next Friday...

May Crowning -  "...the month of May is dedicated to the Mary, whom we celebrate as Queen of Heaven on the last day of this month."

The Feast of St Joseph the Worker and a Catholic View of Human Work - "The Church rightly proclaims that the path to true freedom and flourishing is the Way of Jesus Christ.She also affirms that there is a dignity to all human work precisely because of the dignity of every human worker engaged in it. "

Pope Francis on Abortion and Homosexual "Marriage" - "Because of his personal style, some on the theological left (or just the left in general) have wondered if and hoped that he might "change the Church's teaching" on issues like abortion or homosexual 'marriage.' Such hopes are bound to be disappointed."

Bergoglio, according to his former personal secretary - "I worked with him for more than twelve years. It was a very cordial and deeply enriching experience for me."

Man Refused (again) Hand Communion at Papal Mass - [I was very happy to see that this practice is being continued under Pope Francis.]

Emeritus Pope Benedict returns to Vatican to live near Pope Francis - "Inside the small building, Benedict will have a small library and a study. A guest room is available for when his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, comes to visit." See also: Pope Emeritus Takes Up Permanent Residence in the Vatican

All Are Welcome! - From Cardinal Dolan: "We can never judge a person . . . but, we can judge a person’s actions."

Women-priest fakers allow Protestants to define who Catholics are. There must be consequences. - Father Z tells it like it is: "The women’s ordination thing is silliness.  It is a circus. A Protestant church hosted the circus.  They gave the Catholic Church the finger." See also: Reuters Reports on the "Ordination" of a Woman Priest

Pentagon: Soldiers Sharing Christian Faith Could Be Cause for Court Martial - "The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith..." See also: Christian soldiers no more - Is Obama the new Nero?


Coming Soon: The KKKatholic Church - "The Catholic bishops and anyone else worried over religious liberty should not take this latest development lightly."


The Good, the Bad, and the Naked - "At the end of the day, immorality and it’s source – sin – is not glamorous, and it isn’t just ugly; it is sad. Of all the creatures visible and invisible in the cosmos, Satan is the most miserable and pitiable."

None So Blind That Cannot See - "The feminists knew that they needed the concerted and cooperative effort by the media. The reality of abortion, i.e. the photos of aborted children must never see the light of day."

CBS Finally Sends Reporter to Cover Kermit Gosnell Murder Trial - [A little late, don't you think?]

If Abortion Doesn't Require Parental Consent, Why Does Anything? - 'Even if there were some constitutional right to abortion, which there isn’t, it wouldn’t follow that minors’ exercising of that right cannot be regulated."


The euphemism imperative - "The essence of abortion is that there are two lives when you start and one when you finish. If it were your business to perform them and fight all restrictions on them, no matter how slight, you wouldn’t want to be forthright and honest about it, either."


Obamacare's new taxes, many have no idea what's coming - "If you want to make something expensive, you regulate it. Good work, pushing that agenda, Obama! What a great victory for you."

Saudi Arabia warned U.S., U.K. in writing about Boston Marathon bomber in 2012 - "It is possible the Department of Homeland Security received the information from the Saudi government but never passed it on to the White House "

Not Married at 23? Don’t Have an Existential Crisis Just Yet. - "When you live your single years as God intends you to live them—faithfully, obediently, chastely, seeking truth and making a gift of yourself to all those around you—there is wholeness. There is peace. There is joy."

"Should I Attend the Wedding or Not?" - "At Catholic Answers, we hear from the relatives and friends of fallen-away Catholics who are planning their weddings outside the Church. What is a serious Catholic to do?"

The Church, the Bible, and the Trinity of Divine Persons - "In trying to cut out the role of the Church (to affirm 'the only infallible, authoritative Word of God,' Scripture), they end up cutting out the branch they're sitting on."

Quotes and Rumors of Quotes - "Before you cite anything in your formal writing (e.g., articles, books), track down the original quote.  It's best to do so in all of your writing—including Facebook conversations and discussion forums sites—but even there you can at least admit you don't have the original quote on hand."


Victory for the Ground Zero Cross - "Symbols matter. What we remember and how a society explains and understands tragedy is of crucial importance." [It's nice to know that sometimes we win.]

Why the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Matters

The Easter Season is typically the time for First Communion celebrations. As friends and family and fellow parishioners welcome new communicants receiving Christ's Body and Blood for the first time, the Eucharist has been on my mind lately, especially the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation - that the bread ceases to be bread and becomes wholly Christ's Body, and likewise the wine becomes His Blood. Or more precisely, the entire substance (the "be-ing" or the actual reality) of the bread/wine passes away and is replaced by the substance of Christ's Body and Blood; only the accidents (the physical properties) of bread and wine remain.

In this post I just wanted to briefly note two things about this doctrine as it relates to our "separated brethren" in Protestant denominations…

1) While all Protestants reject transubstantiation, some do believe in Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist.

Within Christianity, there are essentially four theological positions regarding the Eucharist:

1) Memorial Meal - the bread and wine are merely symbolic and have no spiritual benefit in and of themselves; by receiving the bread and wine we are reminded of Christ's Passion and Death, but it is simply a memorial feast to commemorate these events;

2) Spiritual Communion - Jesus is present to us when receiving the bread and wine, not fully and physically present, but spiritually present with those who receive; participation in Communion brings spiritual blessings and perhaps even Grace - but the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine and Jesus is not literally there;

3) Consubstantiation or Sacramental Union or simply Real Presence- the bread and wine remain bread and wine, but Jesus Body and Blood are truly present along with the reality of the bread and wine; various denominations use different terminology to describe this and with various nuances; but they all agree that Jesus is truly present offering Grace to those who receive;

4) Transubstantiation - only the Catholic Church uses this terminology, and it is exactly as described above…the bread and wine cease to be, and in their place Jesus' Body and Blood are physically present; this physical presence of the Son of God is worthy of adoration/worship, and receiving His Body and Blood offers Grace.

Obviously, the third concept is the one that most resembles the Catholic doctrine. Among the Christians who  hold some version of this view are Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and other high church, especially Mainline Protestant, groups. Whereas Evangelicals and Fundamentalists gravitate to the first two categories. In discussing the Eucharist with Protestant Christians it is important to realize these differences. Christians who hold to the various "Real Presence" views (#3) are indeed much closer to Catholics in their understanding of the Body and Blood offered at Communion. We owe it to them to acknowledge this closeness and not lump together all Protestants into one camp.

2) The difference between transubstantiation and simply the Real Presence (whether it be consubstantiation, sacramental union or some other term) still matters!

It is tempting to conclude that the seemingly minor differences between Catholics and these high church, sacramental Protestants are so insignificant that it doesn't really matter. The important thing is that we all agree that Jesus is truly present. What difference does it make how we describe that Real Presence, or whether the bread and wine remain, or whether they are completely transformed? The important thing is that Jesus is there, right?

But it does matter for at least two important reasons: One reason is that the Protestant view of bread-remaining-bread and wine-remaining-wine presents some very real theological questions. For instance, if Jesus' physical presence is united with bread then we must grapple with the notion of a God-bread union. How does a union between God and bread affect our understanding of the Incarnation? After all, Jesus' Incarnation as a man presented a similar theological problem in the early Church. How could Jesus be both God and man? Does one cancel out the other? What does God's union with man do to human nature? How do we understand this union of two natures in Jesus as it relates to the rest of humanity? The Church embraced the idea of the Incarnation (a God-man) because this pointed to the truth that God elevates human nature to Himself by joining our nature to His. What happens to the nature of bread when it is united to the nature of God? And if the Eucharist is a union of the God-man with the reality of bread...well, that opens a whole new set of questions. If God is truly present in this bread, He is worthy of adoration and worship. So how do we separate our worship of God in the Eucharist from the idolatry of bread-worship? Is this now divine bread? When Catholics kneel before Jesus in the Eucharist we know that the bread is no longer bread. We worship Jesus, God-made-flesh. The bread is no more. If we accept the Protestant notion of Real Presence with bread remaining, we would then be kneeling before a wafer of bread too, since the reality of bread remains.  The Protestant position does not sufficiently address any of these problems.

A second reason that this Protestant-Catholic debate over transubstantiation matters is because of Church Authority! At the Council of Trent the Catholic Church looked back over 1500 years of Christian history and theology concerning the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and said that the term "transubstantiation" correctly identifies what happens at consecration. Meanwhile, the Protestant Reformers  rejected that term and instead each group adopted its own understanding of the Eucharist, and each new group since that time has done likewise. So now we must ask: Who has the authority to make such a statement? Who has the authority to say, "THIS terminology is correct; THAT terminology is false"? Who has the authority to define a doctrine of the faith such that believers are bound by that decree? This hits at the core of the Catholic/Protestant debate. Does the Church have such power?

If the Church does not have such power then what about other doctrines that have been settled in like manner? What about the Trinity? What about Christ's two natures? The virgin birth? What about any of the core doctrines and statements of faith in the Creeds? If the Church does not have the power to speak with authority on these matters, then all of it is up for grabs. All of it can be discarded. And that is what we see in Protestantism - a constant splintering of the Body of Christ, where previously established doctrines can be questioned, altered, modified or dropped altogether.

And this is especially crucial since we are thinking specifically about the Eucharist here. It strikes at the very heart of "Communion" - worshiping as one Body, and in so doing receiving the One Body, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus prayed for Christians to be one as He is One with the Father. And He prayed that we be sanctified in His Truth. If that is our Eucharistic goal - sanctity and oneness in Truth, and unity in Christ - then I would ask, has Protestantism moved us toward that goal? Does Protestantism yield clarity and oneness? The obvious answer is, No. Quite the opposite. It has lead to a constant splintering of the Body of Christ and a plethora of competing doctrines. And the reason for this division is their denial of Church authority to settle doctrinal disputes. Transubstantiation is but one example.

So this debate does matter. There are Protestant churches which come close to Truth, and yet do not embrace the fullness of Truth. We should acknowledge their shared reverence for Christ's Body and Blood, but encourage them to embrace a fuller understanding of that divine Presence.