Movies to Watch

This article from the Catholic Educators' Resource Center was eye opening. It also gives a great list of movies with Christian themes to add to your "to watch" list. The only movie on this list I would disagree with (I haven't seen them all) would be The Apostle. While the movie definitely showed a Christian in all his complexity, I thought it made him out to ultimately be a hypocrite, and unredeemed in the end. Check out this great article, and the movies on the list!

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Pope Benedict is liberal - no wait conservative. . .

Summary: If "conservatives" don't like Pope Benedict XVI, neither do liberals. This is a good thing! Click below to read this article:

I took the following quotes from Karl Keating's weekly letter. He got them from the editorial page of National Catholic Reporter:

1. Mike Coverdale of Nevada, Iowa:

"I turned the TV on just before noon, at the very moment Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was announced as Pope Benedict XVI. 'No!' I screamed from the depths of my soul. I hit the speed dial to my wife's cell phone. 'They not only shut the doors with this guy, they locked them!' I shouted. 'I don't know what to do now,' I cried, feeling physically ill."

2. Mark Summit of Portland, Oregon:

"I am deeply saddened and distressed by the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy, so much so that I sat outside the Portland cathedral the afternoon of the 'Mass of the Holy Spirit,' holding a sign that said 'The Spirit Was Asleep.'"

3. Michaeleen Swanson of Lakeville, Minnesota:

"The morning headlines may as well have read instead: 'Cardinals to Catholic Women: Go to Hell.' We Catholic women have been told for so many years, just hang in there, we are only one death away from change. Well, some of us have hung in there, but every day the handhold is slipping."

4. Pierre LaPlante of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:

"Since Cardinal Ratzinger has been elected pope, I guess I won't be returning to the Catholic Church too soon. This man is the most undesirable of all the candidates and a reinforcement of all I would have hoped could have been modified."

Why don't liberals like our new pope? When Pope John Paul II died, all the buzz was: "Now maybe we'll have women priests. Now maybe contraception will be allowed. Now maybe the Church will become more modern in its view of abortion." It was as if Pope John Paul II was an arch-conservative, holding the Church back. Of course, JPII was hated by the traditionalists as much as Pope Benedict is.

Where do liberal critics go wrong? They fail to realize that the crushed wishes expressed in the quote above could never have been realized. Unlike the issue of ecumenism (see yesterday's post), the male priesthood, contraception, and abortion are matters of faith and morals, and are therefore infallibly taught by the Magisterium of the Church. No pope would have the power to change these teachings.

The fact that traditionalists and liberals both hate Pope Benedict XVI is actually a good thing. Both of these groups represent misunderstandings of the Catholic faith. The Truth does not fit into neat categories such as "liberal" and "conservative." It transcends these human-defined pigeon-holes. In fact, Truth is usually a paradox that holds two apparently contradicting ideas in tension (is Jesus God or Man? - he is both). Heresy is usually the embracing of one or the other of those ideas to the exclusion of the other. Pope Benedict XVI is in safe water.

In the love of Christ,

Brother Thomas

Pope Benedict is conservative- no wait liberal . . .

Summary: Is Pope Benedict XVI a liberal or a conservative? It seems that people cannot make up their minds. If you ask "liberal" Catholics, they'll tell you that he's conservative. On the other hand, if you ask "conservative" Catholics, they'll claim that he is a raging ecumenical liberal. Don't take my word for it . . .
Click below to read this article:

From "Traditionalmass.org" - the conservative side

Question: Is it accurate to say, then, that Ratzinger is a conservative?

Answer: No. From the point of view of the Catholic Faith, Ratzinger is not even a Catholic. He is a public heretic just like Wojtyla. He could be styled a conservative Novus Ordite, inasmuch as he is not in favor of women priests, contraception, abortion, sodomy, etc. He also has said a few things in favor of the traditional liturgy. But in comparison to Catholic popes, such as Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI or Pius XII, he is not even a Catholic.

Question: Why do you say that Ratzinger is not even a Catholic?

Answer: Because he is an ecumenical maniac, more ecumenical, I think, than even Wojtyla, if that is possible. But ecumenism is contrary to our holy Faith. It was condemned in no uncertain terms by Pope Pius XI in 1928, as being equivalent to the “abandonment of the religion revealed by God.” Ecumenism is the heart and soul of Vatican II. All of the liturgical, doctrinal, and disciplinary changes of Vatican II were made in the name of ecumenism. Ratzinger assured the cardinals in his very first speech that he would continue the reforms of Vatican II and continue to reach out to other religions through ecumenism. Our faithful must understand that ecumenism is the central problem. Ecumenism and Catholicism cannot get along. If Ratzinger is ecumenical — and he is — then he is no good, and no pope.

Where does this line of thinking go wrong?

1. The assumption that ecumenism is contrary to our holy Faith. Since when has dialoguing with people in search of the truth contrary to the Faith? I think the assumption that some traditionalists make is that ecumenism means compromising the truth of the Faith. Rather, ecumenism means exploring the elements of truth that lie in every Christian denomination and world religion, and then leading non-Catholics and non-Christians down that path of truth to fuller truth. Pope Pius XI rightly condemned sacrificing the truth of faith in the name of ecumenism - and he condemned the ecumenism of his time because it was doing just that. However, the conversion of those in error has always been a focus of the Church. The ecumenism of Vatican II is simply forging relationships with people of other faiths so that we can lead them to conversion and to the fullness of truth.
2. To claim that all of the changes of Vatican II were made in the name of ecumenism is an erroneous statement. The main purpose of Vatican II, according to Pope Paul VI, was to lead the Church in exploration of what Christ intended the Church to be. It wanted to get rid of errors (that have been condemned in the Church throughout history) such as legalism and clericalism, and to reinvigorate everyone to live out their roles in the Church.
3. The last sentence quoted above is ridiculous. Whether or not a pope is truly a pope does not depend on his personal beliefs. It depends on whether or not he was chosen by a proper council of Cardinals. We have had popes that have believed in and practiced great evils, but they have never made their personal errors part of official Church teachings.

In the love of Christ,

Brother Thomas

Tomorrow: we'll hear from the "liberal" sides.

Matters of Faith: Celiac Disease

Our parish is beginning a new catechetical program. Parishoners are being asked to send questions about their faith in to the rectory, and I have been asked to find answers for these questions, with the help of other theologically knowledgeable Catholics. I am going to post these questions and responses on the blog so you may benefit from the great questions that are being generated by our parish!

Dear Matters of Faith,

How is a person with celiac disease (intolerance to wheat) to approach Jesus in the Eucharist?

Response: There is good news and bad news for people with celiac disease. First, the “bad” news is that a valid consecration requires a host made of wheat flour and water. The only variation for the matter of the Holy Eucharist is that the wheat bread may be leavened in some Eastern Churches and rites. This is not just a matter of the Church being stubborn and set in its ways. It has to do with the fact that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist when consecration is performed in the way that He prescribed it. The Church has the obligation to preserve the Traditions that Christ gave us to follow. The use of any flour other than wheat flour, such as rice, barley, corn, or rye makes the bread invalid matter. If a priest said the words of consecration over such bread, there would be no consecration. The same is true for the wine—it must be fermented grape wine. There could be no consecration if the wine were replaced with plain grape juice or with any other liquid. However, the good news is that those who suffer from celiac disease can be accommodated in a couple of ways. I have heard about low-gluten hosts that are consumable by some people with celiac disease. Those for whom these hosts are not available, or who can't have even the slightest amount of gluten can receive communion through the chalice alone. Christ is fully present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Precious Blood, just as He is in the Sacred Body. The key is to speak to your pastor to make arrangements. Your priest would be able to tell you what accommodations are available to you. One more piece of advice: if you are the only one except for the priest receiving the Precious Blood, a separate chalice may need to be set aside for you since the priest drops a piece of the host into the chalice from which he drinks.

In the love of Christ,

Brother Thomas

From the Abbey

When I taught in a Catholic high school, I tried to find a decent moral theology textbook, but I just couldn't find one that had sufficient content, was doctrinally sound, and was appealing and comprehensible for students. I found Responding to God from Priori Press, but this book is written for college students despite the Dominicans' claim that it is a high school text. So, I decided to write my own.

Dear Brother Thomas is approaching its final form after four years of writing and testing it with my students. This textbook teaches catholic moral doctrine and theology in the tradition of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Veritatis Splendor, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church through a series of letters between a teenager named Christine and a Dominican brother named Brother Thomas. I modeled Chrsitine after many of my students who have asked me awesome questions through my ten years as a teacher. I made up Brother Thomas based in part on my own draw toward the Dominican charism and in part on my devotion to Saint Thomas Aquinas. The book has been a success with my students. I hope it will serve home educators and other students as well.

Meanwhile, I inherited a Catholic book selling business called F.A.I.T.H. Matters. Through this business, I sell books at Catholic conferences and to local patrons. I hope to create an Internet catalog very soon. While there are already many Catholic stores on the Internet, I hope to corner a market through my teaching.

Now that I am a stay-at-home father, I hope to combine these activities. I am writing a moral theology curriculum that I hope to sell primarily to home educators. It will be a CD-ROM curriculum with interactive worksheets, flash applications, and an electronic version of Dear Brother Thomas. I also plan to teach the course as a seminar series for deaneries in my diocese. While I teach, I hope to offer my students careful reviews of books and resources that they can buy from me and personal support to help them decide what will be best for them.

The most exciting part of this project is the possibility of teaching teenagers and adults together. Teens have the desire and curiosity to learn this material. Adults have the maturity and wisdom to better understand it. Together they may just become the best possible class to receive the Church's teachings on moral theology.