Catholic Bible Student

Scripture and Christology

2009-03-02T12:09:00.002-05:00

I found a hard-to-find document from the Pontifical Biblical Commission today and I thought I'd share it with you. It's called Scripture and Christology and was published in 1985 in Latin and French. Fr. Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J. did an English translation which has been reproduced online. So here it is: the English translation of the "Instruction on Scripture and Christology.

At the Synod: Tension Between Biblical Scholaship and the Catholic Faith

2008-10-17T15:30:00.003-04:00

I found this report from CNS to be illustrative of the conversations going on at the synod:

During the first 10 days of the Oct. 5-26 synod on the Bible, a recurring theme in the synod hall was the tension several bishops see between some schools of biblical scholarship and the traditional faith of the church.

The day after Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec presented his summary of the synod's initial discussions Oct. 15, several synod members met with reporters to discuss points the cardinal raised.

U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the tension between some schools of interpretation, or exegesis, and the traditional theology and teaching of the church was "not just one of the key -- but I would say one of the most delicate -- questions" for the synod.

He said, "We might look at the tension this way: When you look at the Scriptures, oftentimes you are told, 'Read the Scripture to look just at what this passage says to you or says in itself.'

"That is a very important step," he said, "but when you think of the way in which the church for 2,000 years has been reading and reflecting on the Scripture, the next question seems natural and necessary, and that is, 'How is this passage of Scripture related to all of the Bible and how is it related to the faith of the church?'"

I'm glad that the bishops are working through some of the most difficult and admittedly delicate questions about the Bible and the Catholic faith. It will be very interesting to see what they come up with. The "tension" between biblical scholarship and the Catholic faith is clear: when scholarship definitely proves something that contradicts the way that Catholics have always thought about something...well, what do you do? John Paul II made clear that the Church is committed both to faith and to reason as ways of discovering truth. But what happens when they seem to conflict?

There are a couple basic approaches to resolving the conflict. 1.) You can reject the traditionally held view as erroneous. 2.) You can gloss over the contradiction and ignore it.

But of course, both of these approaches are problematic. The first one is a problem because people have the tendency to throw out the baby with the bath water and reject more than was proved wrong. Or people assume that because one traditionally-held view was proved wrong that all traditional views should be questioned or overthrown. The second approach is a problem because it does not give due credit to reason--a legitimate and binding way of coming to know the truth.

I grant there are other (and more complex) ways of explaining the problem, but I just wanted to break it down for you.

There are a few attempts out there trying to solve this problem, but it just hasn't been done on a wide scale. I'm hoping that the bishops will work through the difficulty and delicacy of the whole thing, but we'll have to wait and see.

A Third Site about the Synod

2008-10-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

As I keep discovering more sites about the Scripture Synod, I keep giving you the links. Today, I came across the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops site about the synod. As for news, it seems to rely on the same sources as the other two sites: basically reporting from Catholic News Service. BUT the site has the added bonus of blogging by none other than Bishop Gerald Kicanas. I think it's pretty unusual to have a bishop blogging during a synod--it may be a first. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it. You can even get an RSS feed of the blog.

My Introductions to the Bible

2008-10-13T17:54:00.002-04:00

One thing I've been working on over the past two years is writing introductions to every book of the Bible for eCatholicHub.net. After lots of sweat, reading, note-taking, writing, editing and after ecclesiastical approval: here they are. Read them, let me know what you think. My hope is that these introductions will help people get quickly into reading the Bible with a basic understanding. They are purposefully short. I attempt to give the reader a handhold for basic points in every book, so that reading the Bible is not a (primarily) confusing experience. I wrote the introductions from a Catholic perspective mainly for other Catholics. But I think lots of different kinds of people will find them useful. So take a look my introductions to every book of the Bible. Oh yeah, that includes the deutero-canonical books.

US Delegates at the Synod

2008-10-11T19:53:00.003-04:00

In a previous post, I didn't explain the synod structure quite right. So, there are 32 members appointed by the pope (all bishops) which are part of a total 253 voting members of the synod. The other members are members of the curia, heads of religious orders and bishops voted for by their respective bishops conferences. In addition there are the experts and observers.

So, the voting members from the US are:
1. Francis Cardinal George
2. Daniel Cardinal DiNardo
3. Archbishop Donald Wuerl
4. Bishops Gerald Kicanas
5. Archbishop Basil Schott, OFM

The experts from the US are:
1. Sr. Sara Butler
2. Fr. Damian Akpunonu
3. Msgr. Timothy Verdon

The observers from the are:
1. Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight
2. Ricardo Grzona
3. Sister M. Clare Millea, A.S.C.J., Superior General, Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

I hope that clears up any confusion about the synod's structure and US representation there.

Synod Struggles Over Inerrancy

2008-10-11T18:00:00.006-04:00

Hmmm...synods, I imagine, are generally rather boring. A bunch of bishops and theological experts sit around having abstruse discussions about Church life and theology. But whoa, you touch the Bible and whether it's true--or at least, in what sense it is true--and zing! you've got a controversy. Thus is the case with the current Scripture Synod.

(For the record, CNS has reporter Cindy Wooton on the ground and National Catholic Reporter has John Allen Jr.)

Catholic Bible Student Notes on the Synod:
1. There's been discussion about the correct Catholic understanding of the inerrancy of Scripture. Check out this article from NCP. Looks like theres been talk concerning the debate between "restricted inerrancy" and "unrestricted inerrancy," a hot debate at Vatican II.

2. John Allen's interview with Cardinal Pell. The Cardinal says: "I would say the synod is going along very sedately and securely. I’d say there’s less division in this synod than in any synod I’ve been to." He also mentions the possibility of setting up an international Institute of Biblical Translation. He says that Cardinal George recommended that the CDF issue a statement on biblical inerrancy (in Cardinal Pell's words) "to make clear that saying the Bible is ‘inspired’ is not necessarily the same thing as claiming that it’s universally inerrant, in every way." The interview is long but makes for interesting reading.

3. Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen addressed the synod on Monday. I'm looking for video of the address if anyone finds it, please post the URL in the comments. From what I've heard it was a moving speech. Unfortunately, he made some negative comments about Pope Pius XII--there's been talk of beatifying this pope and some Jews have been upset by his supposed inaction during World War II. Other Jews like Rabbi David Dalin have defended his actions.

4. If you want to read what's actually going on at the synod without any media filter. Check out the daily bulletins released by the Vatican which include the Holy Father's homilies to the synod, short speeches by voting bishops and an outline of every day's activity.
October 3 another
October 4
October 5 (opening day of synod)
October 6 another
October 7 another
October 8
October 9 another and another
October 10 another
October 11

Ok, these are my notes so far.

What is a Patron Saint?

2008-10-07T14:13:00.005-04:00

Now that the saint database has launched, I've encountered people interested in finding what saints are patrons of what things. This led me to start searching on the internet and I found that patrons are not always official. In fact, patronage is almost always determined by what canonists like to call "popular acclamation." That is, people in the Church say something enough that it becomes accepted as correct, even though the Church has made no official statement about it.

So from what I can tell there are three types of patrons:
1.) Unofficial patrons occupations, activities and illnesses
2.) Official patrons of churches and other official organizations
3.) Official patrons proclaimed by the Pope

Lists of Patron Saints
Here's some lists of Patron Saints from Wikipedia:
Patron Saints of Occupations and Activities
Patron Saints of Illnesses and Dangers
Patron Saints of Places
Patronages of Blessed Virgin Mary
And the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"Patron Saints" in Catholic Encyclopedia

So that led me to ask, "Who made Wikipedia the arbiter of truth in Patron Saints?" The answers: nobody. Since patronage is usually done by popular acclamation instead of by the official organs of the magisterium it's anybody's guess. Does Wikipedia get a vote in the whole popular acclamation thing? I don't think so.

Well, are there any official patrons? Yes. For example, every Catholic place (church, monastery, college, etc.) named after a saint automatically gets the saint as an official patron. A few saints are officially proclaimed patrons of particular countries or other entities by the Pope himself. The Catholic Encyclopedia chronicles a few:

St. Joseph was declared patron of the universal Church by Pius X on 8 December, 1870. Leo XIII during the course of his pontificate announced the following patrons: St. Thomas Aquinas, patron of all universities, colleges, and schools (4 August, 1880); St. Vincent, patron of all charitable societies (1 May, 1885); St. Camillus of Lellis, patron of the sick and of those who attend on them (22 June, 1886); the patronal feast of Our Lady of the Congo to be the Assumption (21 July, 1891); St. Bridget, patroness of Sweden (1 October, 1861); the Holy Family, the model and help of all Christian families (14 June, 1892); St. Peter Claver, special patron of missions to the negroes (1896); St. Paschal Baylon, patron of Eucharistic congresses and all Eucharistic societies (28 November, 1897). On 25 May, 1899, he dedicated the world to the Sacred Heart, as Prince and Lord of all, Catholics and non-Catholics, Christians and non-Christians. Lourdes was dedicated to our Lady of the Rosary (8 September, 1901). Pius X declared St. Francis Xavier patron of the Propagation of the Faith (25 March, 1904).

But you're probably thinking, like I am, ok so where's the real list. I mean, are all patrons of various diseases and occupations just unofficial? Well, let's parse the above list carefully:

Pope-Proclaimed Patron Saints

St Joseph
St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Vincent (de Paul?)
St. Camillus of Lellis
St. Bridget of Sweden
St. Peter Claver
St. Paschal Baylon
St. Francis Xavier

Other Pope-Proclaimed Patronages

Sacred Heart, as Prince and Lord of all, Catholics and non-Catholics, Christians and non-Christians
the patronal feast of Our Lady of the Congo to be the Assumption
Lourdes was dedicated to our Lady of the Rosary

I've been scouring Canon Law and the internet for more information that will hone in on our question, but haven't found much. Let me know if you can find an official list of patron saints. While all the unofficial patronage things are great fun, I want to begin with the official list and then move out in a wider circle, noting the origin (and authority) of each patronage. My gut feeling is that the vast majority of patronages are unofficial and even arbitrary. Let me know what you think.

Another Synod Site

2008-10-03T16:29:00.005-04:00

Catholic News Service has put up their own site about the Bible Synod which starts on Sunday. The site has links to several CNS stories about different aspects of the synod plus interviews and other articles with people somehow related to the synod. It looks like they'll use this site to post news stories about the synod over the next couple weeks. Just keeping you up to speed on the resources you'll need to follow the events...

Oh yeah, and the CNS blog has been tracking things. Here's a post with some random items about the synod.

Politics

2008-10-03T07:00:00.000-04:00

In reflecting on the election and on all the financial turmoil plus Washington involvement and all the doomsday language flying around Capitol Hill, I called to mind a simple verse from the King James Bible:

Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the son of man
in whom there is no help.
Psalm 146:3

New Website on the Scripture Synod

2008-10-02T14:39:00.003-04:00

Jeff Cavins just launched a website that will be keeping track of what goes on at the synod which begins Monday. In the intro video on the site, he says the site will be posting articles, audio and video of synod events. I'm hoping it will be a valuable resource for everyone over the next couple weeks. The site is called scripturesynod.com.

Why is this synod so important? Well, it's the first time in over 40 years that the highest echelons of Church authority are officially discussing the Bible. Yes, the last major document on the Bible was Dei Verbum. A few things have been released by the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the Popes have a made a few comments, but the Magisterium has not grappled with the biblical question in a serious way since the early 1960's. So I think the next couple weeks could be really important in Catholic biblical thought and biblical theology for the next 40 years or so. I could be wrong.

Catholic Saint Database Launch!

2008-10-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, my friends, the database of Catholic saints which I have been working on and telling you about is finally being launched. (Hold onto your hats!) Here's the URL: http://www.ecatholichub.net/study/saints. Click on "Saint A-Z" to see searchable javascript database. Like I told you before, you can search by multiple criteria for anyone listed in the Roman Martyrology--a saint or a blessed. Take a look and tell me what you think. This is a totally unique resource on the web and I think it promises to be a very useful one.

Americans at the Synod

2008-09-30T14:11:00.005-04:00

There's an interesting CNS story about various people the Pope has invited to attend the synod next week. I thought I'd scour through the official Italian list to find the Americans (Zenit has it in English). I only came up with four:

1. Fr. Peter Damian Akpunonu, professsor of biblical exegesis at St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Chicago and member of the International Theological Commission (expert consultant)
2. Sr. Sara Butler, professor of dogmatic theology at St. Joseph's Seminary, Yonkers, NY (expert consultant)
3. Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus (official observer)
4. Ricardo Grzona, president of the Foundation Ramon Pane of Honduras and Catholic consultor to the United Bible Societies of the Americas (official observer)

According to Zenit there are 32 voting members, 41 experts and 37 observers. I thought it a bit disappointing that the US didn't get a voting member at all, but oh well. (This is not correct, see this more recent post for correction.) I also thought the selection of these four people to represent the American perspective at the synod was a bit mercurial. I mean, these are not the names that leap to mind when I think of "American Catholic Biblical Scholarship." But I don't get a phone call from Rome before these things happen. If only...just kidding! Now I will say that the pool is quite small--only 32 votes--so I suppose not every country can get a seat at the table.

It is also a little odd that Fr. Akpunonu is not from the US, but from Africa. Here's his bio at the Mundelein website:

REV. PETER DAMIAN AKPUNONU, S.S.L., S.T.D.
Professor, Department of Biblical Exegesis and Proclamation.
S.S.L., Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome;
S.T.D., Pontifical Urban University, Rome.
Former Associate Pastor 1966-67;
taught at Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu, Nigeria 971-1978;
and Rector of the same 1979-1989;
President of Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 1989-1997.
Author of: The Vine, Israel and the Church
and The Overture of the Book of Consolations (Isa 40: 1-11).
Contributor to Bigard Studies and CIWA Studies.
Member of the International Theological Commission, Vatican City.
Member of Catholic Biblical Association of America, Conference of Catholic Theological Institutions, Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians.

But I suppose being a member of the International Theological Commission probably puts him in good stead to be an expert consultant at the synod. Ah, yes, this must be the case. Turns out Sr. Sara Butler is also a member of the ITC. Here's her bio from the St. Joseph Seminary website:

"Sister Sara teaches dogmatic theology at St. Joseph's Seminary. She recently published The Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide to the Teaching of the Church (Hillenbrand Books). Her articles have appeared in Worship, The Thomist, Theological Studies, Theology Digest, Anglican Theological Review, Communio, Ephemerides Mariologicae, Chicago Studies, and the New Catholic Encyclopedia. In 2004 she was appointed to the International Theological Commission, and she has served on the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission since 1991. Sister Sara belongs to the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity."

At her bio page she has an interesting paper on women's ordination.

The other thing is that the synod is not an exegetical conference, but a pastoral synod. The most important things to discuss is how the Bible functions in the life of the Church as a whole--not the intricacies of biblical scholars opinions on minute topics. So the most important members are the pastors of the Church--the cardinals, archbishops and so on. They represent the authority and pastoral intelligence of the Church. Thank God the Church is not run by Bible scholars!

Oh yes, the other two. I find the official observers less interesting to talk about because, well, I imagine them just sitting in the back of the room shaking hands with people and such--not actually participating in the work of the synod. But anyway. You probably know who Carl Anderson is. He just wrote a new best-selling book and you'll find him wherever the Knights may go. But Ricardo Grzona...hmmm...well, I found a picture of him handing a book to the Pope. According to the American Bible Society, he's a Spanish speaker and has been active in promoting Lectio Divina with the UBS. Unfortunately, most of the stuff about him on the web is in Spanish so I can't do much with it.

A New Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture

2008-09-26T14:47:00.003-04:00

A new project is afoot in the world of Catholic biblical scholarship. It is a new Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. The editors are Peter Williamson, Mary Healy and Kevin Perotta. They've put together a great team of writers including themselves and Edward (Ted) Sri, Curtis Mitch, Tim Gray, Fr. George Montague, Fr. Francis Martin, Bill Wright, Fr. Bill Kurz, Scott Hahn, Fr. Thomas Stegman, Fr. Ronald Witherup, Fr. Dennis Hamm and Dan Keating. Williamson, Healy and Keating are professors at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Perotta is a Catholic writer who has authored and edited many books including a recent series of Bible studies from Loyala University Press. The editorial board includes Scott Hahn, Daniel Harrington, Frank Matera, Bill Kurz, Francis Martin, George Montague and A.Bp. Terrence Pendergast.

The editors lay out their principles for the commentary as follows:

Written in an engaging style that can be read for personal study and spiritual nourishment as well as referenced for exegetical information

Distinguished by a theological and pastoral hermeneutic rather than a focus on technical questions that legitimately interest scholars but have less relevance for Christian life

Interprets the canonical form of the text in light of the whole of Scripture and the Church's faith

Aims to serve readers across a spectrum of Catholic opinion while remaining faithful to Church teaching

Employs ordinary modern English that does not require “translation” for preaching and catechesis

Packed with features useful to preachers and teachers of the word, lay and ordained, and other Catholics interested in deepening their faith

Fills a gap between substantial scholarly resources and brief popular commentaries

If the commentary fulfills all these goals, it will be well worth reading. I hope that they put out the volumes as fast as is reasonably possible. The first ones will be available in November 2008: Mary Healy's commentary on Mark and Fr. George Montague's work on 1 Tim, 2 Tim and Titus.

This commentary is a different animal in the world of commentaries. It reminds me a lot of the Interpretation series, which was a Protestant commentary designed for pastors and lay persons with a high level of biblical knowledge, but little familiarity with the biblical languages and the technical stuff Bible scholars get into. So, hopefully, this new commentary will provide many American Catholic priests with great homily material that is sound in terms of scholarship and yet relevant and applicable for people of faith.

Oh yeah, and they've cleaned up extremely positive endorsements from the likes of Cardinal Schonborn, Cardinal Vanhoye, Archbishop Chaput, Gary Anderson, Romanus Cessario, Aidan Nichols, Robert Louis Wilken, Benedict Groeschel, Ralph Martin (who can be found in my sidebar), and a host of other people.

Right now, the project is New Testament only, but if it is a success I wouldn't be surprised to see an OT commentary too. And with little competition out there, it may happen. If you pick up a copy and read it, let me know what you think.

Catholic Saints Database To Be Released

2008-09-23T18:08:00.003-04:00

On October 1, the database of Catholic saints and blesseds which I have been constructing will be launched into cyberspace by ecatholichub.net. I invite you to take a look at it and let me know what you think once it gets up on the web. The database is based on the data in the 2004 Roman Martyrology which I explained in a previous post. What makes it unique and special as far as online saint databases go, is its comprehensive scope. It doesn't leave out saints or add people who are not recognized by the Catholic Church. There are a few other saint databases online and each one has its merits and problems. But I think this new one at ecatholichub.net will really take the cake. It's more of a reference tool, I suppose, but it provides data that no one else is providing. In that sense, I think it will be very useful for finding saints that are less well known. Right now, we've got 6,882 entries. Now there are still a handfull of double entries that I haven't deleted yet. And there are some entries which include martyr groups or several people for whatever reason. This can result in double entry (when each member of the group is also listed separately) or it can result in masking the total number (for example, if there are 100 martyrs in a group, but we only have the names of three of them).

The most challenging part of putting the database together was translating Latin proper nouns which describe diocesan sees over which a saint bishop ruled or locations where martyrs were put to death. I had piles of Latin dictionaries and word lists all over my desk and I was mining the depths of the resources at Catholic University's library trying to find various words. I got the vast majority of difficult terms and proper nouns from Latin into English, but there are still a few I left untranslated because I couldn't find them. Hopefully, this will not bar people from figuring out who these saints are or confusing them with one another.

One of the coolest features about the database is the ability to search with multiple criteria. You can use any combination of fields to search for saints by name, title, feast day, year of death, etc. I think this should be useful for finding all saints with the name "Odo" or all saints remembers on August 24th and such like.

I really struggled over whether to uniformly translate saint names into English or vary it up a little based on common usage. For example, St. Teresa of Avila is usually spelled "Teresa" in English, but St. Therese of Lisieux is another story. Both appear as "Teresa" in Latin. Then of course, there are different spellings of Anne, Ann, Anna, Hannah and then Mary, Maria, Marie, etc. It goes on. Some saints have a Latinized "-us" on the end like "Bernardus." In most cases, I chopped off the "-us." The reason this is such a struggle is that many people are named after saints and take great pride in the spelling of their names because names are such an important part of our identity and self-understanding. But I judged that in the interest of saint-searchers, uniformity was the best route. I listed many saints with alternative names in the Biography field, so if people are used to calling a saint by a certain spelling or title, it still can usually be found.

I'm hoping that the database will grow over time and new saints and blesseds will keep being added. If it goes in the right direction, we may be able to set it up to take user-generated content like pictures and biographical information. Like I said, I think it will be very useful to a lot of people and it really is a one-of-a-kind thing on the Internet. Once the link is up, I'll provide it for you here and ya'll can have a look for yourselves.

A Synod on Scripture

2008-09-02T10:10:00.002-04:00

Pope Benedict XVI has called a synod of bishops to meet on the theme "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." For those of us not in the ecclesiastical know, this is a big deal. The synod is going to meet Oct 5-26 and talk about the Bible in Catholic life--something that has not been done in an official, serious way since the publication of Dei Verbum 40 years ago.

A little controversy was ginned up back in January when Cardinal Martini wrote a piece giving his opinion on what the synod should avoid saying.

The important thing that will come out of this is an official document penned by Benedict himself that presents the results of the synod and a way forward for the Church regarding Scripture. While I try to avoid predicting the future too much, I'll bet some of his views from his famous Erasmus lecture in 1988 will resurface, albeit in disguised form. This lecture has guided much discussion on biblical hermeneutics in Catholic circles in the United States. I project that the document coming from this synod will be equally important for future discussions. If nothing else, the synod promises to be an important and much needed moment for reflection on Scripture by our Church's leadership.

Here's a couple articles on the synod:
Chinese Catholics Prepare...
Zenit
From CNS
CNA

And here's the official synod preparation document.

Hope

2008-08-12T06:35:00.000-04:00

"Hope is the confident expectation of fulfillment."
-Peter Herbeck

The Roman Martyrology

2008-08-11T14:16:00.005-04:00

I've been working on a saint database for ecatholichub.net, creating a saint database that promises to be the most comprehensive, complete and well-organized saint database on the internet.

To do this, I've been basing the database on the Roman Martyrology. The Roman Martyrology is the Church's official list of saints. For each day, the Martyrology lists usually about ten to twenty saints with a little phrase about where they lived, who they were or where they were martyred. Not every saint in the martyrology is a martyr. But every saint that has been officially canonized or beatified is. The process for canonization was originally set up by Pope Alexander III in 1170. Since then the process has been modified a bit, but the pope maintains the right to name saints. Before 1170, local bishops would name saints based on their lives or popular devotion.

Canonization
I'll explain the Martyrology in a bit, but first you need to know a little about how people become saints. When a holy person dies or is killed for the sake of Christ, he or she might be named a saint by the pope. There is a 5-year waiting period after the person's death before the process can begin. Sometimes this waiting period is lifted by the pope--as in the cases of Mother Teresa and John Paul II. If people are pushing for the person to be canonized and the Church elects to begin the process, the holy person is initially called "Venerable" or "The Servant of God." The process cannot begin until the Church does a basic verification that the holy person in question lived a holy life and was a professing Christian.

Then there is a waiting period where people across the world pray to the holy person, asking his or her intercession for various things. This is not an act of worship, but it is a prayer. That is, Catholics don't worship saints, but they do pray to them, asking them to pray for us. It's like asking a friend to pray for you. Ok, so if a request is granted through the intercession of the saint--usually these are medical miracles--then the "Servant of God" can be beatified. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints (part of the Roman Curia) is responsible for reviewing cases and approving miracles. The Congregation verifies the occurrence of a miracle using evidence and witnesses. Once a miracle is approved by the Congregation and the Pope, then the person is beatified. A beatification is an event, so the person is not officially "Blessed" until after the beatification event. After the event, they carry the name "Blessed" or "Bl." for short.

But you must be thinking, so what's a "blessed"? Is that like a junior saint? Well, in fact, you'd be correct about that. The Church permits people to pray to Blesseds and ask their intercession. Their names are entered in the Roman Martyrology and their feast days actually get celebrated by their religious order or by their local Church. But their feast days are not celebrated in the Church universal.

People continue praying to the Blessed person and if another miracle is granted, then their case or "cause" is resubmitted to the Congregation. If the miracle is approved, then the Blessed is then canonized a "Saint." And yes, canonization is an event too, so the person isn't officially a saint until after the event. Then they get the little "St." in front of their name. Oh yeah, and canonizations are technically infallible pronouncements--they can't be revoked.

So what's the Roman Martyrology?
The Roman Martyrology is where the names of all these people go. It's an official list. Each saint and blessed is assigned a day. Since there's about 6,500 saints and blesseds, each day contains several saints, about 10-20 as I said above. The entries in the Martyrology are meant to be read liturgically, but few places actually practice that right now.
The current edition of the Martyrology was published in 2004. It is only in Latin for now. But since I know a little Latin, I've been working on translating the index and turning it into a saint database. It doesn't have a whole ton of information about each person, but enough to organize it. I hope we get an official translation sometime soon.

Past editions of the Martyrology have often been incomplete or kind of haphazard. Fortunately, John Paul II got serious work going on a well-researched, comprehensive one and they did quite a job. The first edition came out in 2001, but it had a lot of errors and problems, so they reworked it and republished in 2004. There were previous editions in 1946 and 1962.

Now technically a "martyrology" is a list of martyrs, so a whole lot of martyrologies were floating around the early Church. Fortunately, Rome saw to it, that these lists were verified in codified, so we're not all using different or inaccurate lists. Some of the lists are very ancient, for example, from inscriptions in the Roman catacombs.

Well, that's the Martyrology. Oh, and if you want to buy a copy and have $150 to spare, look here at the Vatican Bookstore, yep, it's the official one.

Pope Benedict's Encyclical on Hope

2008-08-07T17:29:00.003-04:00

I've been reading Pope Benedict's encyclical on Hope, "Spe Salvi," and I thought I'd share some juicy quotes with you. So here's the official Catholic Bible Student quote list for Spe Salvi:

"The present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal."
"The Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known--it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing."
"...We possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with God."
"Christianity did not bring a message of social revolution like that of the ill-fated Spartacus, whose struggle led to so much bloodshed."
"[Christ] tells us who man truly is and what a man must do in order to be truly human."
"Knowing how to wait, while patiently enduring trials, is necessary for the believer to be able to "receive what is promised.'"

-Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi

Pope Benedict on Prayerful Scripture Reading

2008-07-29T14:54:00.000-04:00

"I invite you - and so I conclude - to welcome into your hearts the teaching of this great master of faith. He reminds us with deep delight that in the prayerful reading of Scripture and in consistent commitment to life, the Church is ever renewed and rejuvenated. The Word of God, which never ages and is never exhausted, is a privileged means to this end. Indeed, it is the Word of God, through the action of the Holy Spirit, which always guides us to the whole truth (cf. Benedict XVI, Address at the International Congress for the 40th Anniversary of Dei Verbum, L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 21 September 2005, p. 7).

"And let us pray to the Lord that he will give us thinkers, theologians and exegetes who discover this multifaceted dimension, this ongoing timeliness of Sacred Scripture, its newness for today. Let us pray that the Lord will help us to read Sacred Scripture in a prayerful way, to be truly nourished with the true Bread of Life, with his Word. "

-Benedict XVI, General Audience, 25 April 2007.

The 33 Doctors of the Church

2008-07-23T00:53:00.003-04:00

Who are the 33 doctors of the Church? Well, I was wondering too, so here they are:

1. St. Athanasius
2. St. Ephrem
3. St. Cyril of Jerusalem
4. St. Hilary of Poitiers
5. St. Gregory Nazianzen
6. St. Basil the Great
7. St. Ambrose
8. St. Jerome
9. St. John Chrysostom
10. St. Augustine
11. St. Cyril of Alexandria
12. St. Leo the Great
13. St. Peter Chrysologus
14. St. Gregory the Great
15. St. Isidore of Seville
16. St. Bede the Venerable
17. St. John Damascene
18. St. Peter Damian
19. St. Anselm
20. St. Bernard of Clairvaux
21. St. Anthony of Padua
22. St. Albert the Great
23. St. Bonaventure
24. St. Thomas Aquinas
25. St. Catherine of Siena
26. St. Teresa of Avila
27. St. Peter Canisius
28. St. Robert Bellarmine
29. St. John of the Cross
30. St. Lawrence of Brindisi
31. St. Francis de Sales
32. St. Alphonsus Ligouri
33. St. Therese of Lisieux

World Youth Day TV coverage online

2008-07-17T08:09:00.005-04:00

The World Youth Day events are going strong this week. They opened on Monday with Mass with Cardinal Pell of the Sydney Archdiocese on Tuesday, July 15. They close with the finale events: vigil with Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday and mass with him on Sunday. But if you're thousands of miles away from Australia and would like to see some of the action, there's a few places to view the television coverage.

First, take a look at:
The Official World Youth Day Video Site
You can find video of all the major events with little or no commentary (a relief), but it's not live.

Then, see
the EWTN coverage.
EWTN has live coverage of the major events.

Third, see
the Vatican Radio website for live TV coverage.

I'm sure that there are other sites broadcasting video in other languages. If I find them I'll let you know. Of course, you can get video snippets from the major news sources like the AP and Reuters, but they're not going to be bringing huge amounts of coverage.

Also, take a look at the Pope's first address to the youth today where he speaks about the evils of modern culture. You can find the text of all the Pope's WYD speeches here.

UPDATE: You can get the audio of the Pope's speeches at World Youth Day through one of the podcasts I mentioned below: http://www.radiovaticana.org/rss/rss.xml

Thanks to a reader's comment, you can also find TV coverage of World Youth Day at popeinaustralia.com.

The Pope's Podcast

2008-07-14T09:25:00.006-04:00

Did you know the Pope Benedict had a podcast? I didn't, not until last week anyway. Vatican Radio has had a long history of great broadcasting since its founding in 1931 under Pope Pius XI. But who knew they could do RSS with the best?

So here's the nitty-gritty on the Pope's podcast: There are actually two. The first podcast is the complete audio of the Pope's Wednesday audiences and Sunday Angelus messages. Now the Pope has a habit of giving his audiences in 5 or 6 languages, so you have to fast forward through to find the English. But Vatican Radio has already done the work for you in the second podcast, which is their English language programming. On Wednesdays they include only the English portion of the Pope's audiences which is usually 2-3 min.

I subscribed to both. The first one keeps about 10 episodes live on their server, so does the second one, but you have to pick through them to find the Pope's voice. NOTE: The first podcast is also carrying the Pope's addresses at World Youth Day, which he gives in English first.

Here's the Pope's rss podcast links:
Number One:http://www.radiovaticana.org/rss/rss.xml
Number Two: http://www.radiovaticana.org/RSS/inglese.xml

Vatican Radio also maintains a site of recent mp3's of the Pope's voice. This contains mainly the same things as on the podcast, but some additional material like speeches and other things. Also, Vatican Radio puts up podcasts in some 9 languages, so if you happen to want to know what's going on at the Vatican, but want to hear it in Swedish just to spice things up, you can.

Pope Benedict mp3's:
http://www.vaticanradio.org/en1/indice.asp?RedaSel=43&CategSel=16
All Vatican Radio Podcasts:
http://www.vaticanradio.org/en1/rss_feeds.asp

Oh yeah, and you can also watch TV of Papal liturgies at the Vatican Radio website:
Live Video: http://www.vaticanradio.org/en1/video_ctv.asp
On Demand Video: http://www.vaticanradio.org/en1/video_menu.asp

Historical Christian

2008-07-07T13:10:00.005-04:00

I just added a link to the Catholic blog "Historical Christian" by Aimee Milburn, a friend of mine from Denver. She writes very frequently (and very intelligently). Find meditations on what it means to be Catholic in our era and a detailed dialogue with Cahtolic Tradition. You won't be disappointed by this veteran blogger. Try it. You'll like it.

Find an mp3 talk by Aimee called "What is the Catholic Gospel?" here.

Lectio Divina Methods

2008-07-02T11:26:00.003-04:00

I've been writing Lectio Divina meditations for almost two years now, but I've come to realize that there are LOTS of different methods for actually doing Lectio Divina. Pope Benedict has been talking about it quite frequently, telling us that it is good to practice it. But how are we supposed to actually do it?

The Catechism gives it a glib couple references, which aren't all that enlightening (CCC 1177, 2708). The Wikipedia article is pretty lame, but at least it gives the four movements of Lectio Divina. Ok, did you know that Lectio Divina had movements? What's Lectio Divina anyway? What if I don't even know what "lectio" means? Whoa, whoa, I'll attempt to give you an introduction here that will make some sense and help you actually sit down and pray with the Bible, instead of just reading it. That's the point, isn't it? The Bible is God's Word, but so often we just read it as if it were a novel or a newspaper. Lectio Divina is all about reading the Bible with the knowledge that it is God's word and not just some book.

Part 1: What is Lectio Divina anyway?
Lectio Divina means "divine reading." It is an ancient Christian practice of reading the Scriptures with prayerful attention. It is not a Bible study method, but a prayer method. This is important. With Lectio Divina we're trying to reap the spiritual fruits of the Scripture, to "squeeze the juice out" as Pope Benedict is fond of saying. We are not trying to gain archaeological information or just simple knowledge. With Lectio Divina, we are using the Scripture to draw closer to God through reading and understanding the Bible. It is a perfect example of what St. Augustine calls "credo ut intellegam, intellego ut credas." That is, "I believe in order to understand, I understand in order to believe." With Lectio Divina we do a bit of both. We start with the premise that this is the Word of God (I believe). Then we read the Bible with full attention (I understand) and faith (I believe). We think about what we've read (I understand) and then we use that new understanding to draw closer to God in prayer (I believe). I'm basically assuming here that you'll be doing Lectio Divina individually. It can be done in a group, but it's not very common.

Part 2: What are the "movements" in Lectio Divina?
Lectio Divina has four "movements." We're not talking about physical movement here, but interior, spiritual movement. So what are the movements called? Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio and Contemplatio. Ok, in case you hadn't guessed it, you can basically add an "n" to the end of every word to magically turn it from Latin into English. But if you're talking to your friends about Lectio Divina, cut off the "n", you'll sound smarter. :) So that leaves us with "Lection, Meditation, Oration, and Contemplation." Let's take each one of these apart

Movement 1: Lection
Lectio or Lection is the most basic part and the first step in the process: Read! Doesn't sound too hard, just actually read the text of the Bible on which you are going to be meditating. There are couple important pieces here. Don't pick something uber-long that you'll never get through. Pick something manageable, maybe between a verse and a chapter. You can also do your Lectio Divina in bite-size chunks, so if you want to do one verse at a time that's okay, just make sure that you're getting something like a complete thought. That is, it might be confusing and unhelpful to meditate on "sons of Magbish, one hundred and fifty-six" (Ezr 2:30 NAB). On the other hand you could probably meditate for a long time on "and the Word was God." (Jn 1:1) So pick what you read carefully and make sure it's not too long or too short.

And when you do sit down (or kneel or stand) and read it, read with full attention of your mind and heart. Read it patiently, not with the rush to finish, but enjoy it, savor it. Remember, this is GOD's word, it's not just another book. Keep that in mind, that in some way, God is actually speaking to you through what you are reading. This is very important. Read it with greater attention than you would read the line in the newspaper that shows how much your mutual fund went up or down. Read it with more attention than you would a passionate love letter from your significant other. Read it with more attention than you would that line of information on ESPN's website about how your team did last night. Read it with your mind so you understand it. But read it with your heart too, so you get it, so it sinks in, so it makes a difference.

Movement 2: Meditation
Meditation is the next step after reading. Now meditation can vary from a very simple exercise, to a very complicated one. If it is helpful to you--and only if it is helpful--you can do a bit of studying on the verse. You can look up cross references, read footnotes, read the comments I write, read the places where the Catechism uses the passage. But don't bog yourself down with too much. The point is not to indulge in information overload, but to grow spiritually. Keep that in mind while you study. But, you need not do all this. And don't do it if it doesn't help you pray.

Ok, so after you've done your studying or not, meditate! Well, ok, but what does that mean? It means to think deeply about the passage at hand. Ruminate, digest, absorb, remember. Think about what the passage means--to you, to God, to the world. Think about how it affects everything: behavior, politics, religion. Think about how it makes a difference, about the fact that it is something that God is saying. Think prayerfully--this is where "meditation" is a little different than just "thinking." Go back and re-read it if you need too, but focus on meditating, the kind of deep spiritual thinking that you do when you learn something that profoundly changes your life, when you encounter God in a new way, when you begin to pray. Once the meditation is in full gear, you're ready to move to the next movement: Oration.

Movement 3: Oration
Oration is a fancy word for "prayer." This is the point where you transition from meditative thinking into the realm of prayer. Oration is a conversation with God--that's what all prayer is, right? So go from meditating on the passage to actually talking with God. Ask him questions, tell him things you would only tell your closest friend (or maybe not even). And listen to him.

This kind of prayer requires that your heart not be flailing around in the turbid waters of regular life. This is NOT the time to think about the grocery list or the car payment or the kids' lunches or clipping your toenails. This is God-time. It is His and He gets it. It is about having a real conversation with God, a real back-and-forth, a real question and answer time, a real meeting of the minds. Pray. Pray about what you learned, pray about what you read, ask God to reveal it to you more. Ask God to reveal himself to you more. Pray out loud or pray quietly, but pray. Seek God through His Word. This is the time to really benefit spiritually from the Word. Open your heart to Him and let Him transform you.

Movement 4: Contemplation
Contemplation is the final stage of Lectio Divina. You've gotten past the reading and thinking, the meditating and even the prayer conversation. Now you've come to the wordless prayer of Contemplation. Now, it is important to remember that Contemplation is not a technique. It is not like a push-up or a sit-up. It is a relationship. Think of it in the same way you think of those quiet moments with your significant other when the love-experience is so intense that words have stopped and you're just looking into one another's eyes and knowing one another in way that is too deep for words. That's what contemplation is like. You find yourself caught up in God's love, His life, His being. All of the details and fine points of life fade into the background as you just soak in the Father's presence, as you stare into the eyes of Jesus. Contemplation of this kind is an experience of love, a foretaste of heaven, a window into eternity.

Don't become overly concerned if this last stage is difficult to get to or doesn't really feel like anything. The spiritual doctors of the Church have written a lot about contemplation and if you want a good understanding of it go read some St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis De Sales or St. Therese of Liseux.

Now that you've completed one Lectio Divina, you can either be done or you can go on to the next verse and keep going. Just keep this rhythm of the four movements in mind. Lectio Divina is life-transforming because it is a way to connect to the life of Jesus and the realities of His Word.

Pope Benedict on Exegesis

2008-06-17T09:08:00.004-04:00

One thing which I believe is a cause of "concern" — in the positive sense of the word — to all of us, is the fact that future priests and other teachers and preachers of the faith must receive a good theological training; we therefore need good theological faculties, good major seminaries and qualified theology teachers who not only impart knowledge but inculcate in students an intelligent faith so that faith becomes intelligence and intelligence, faith.

In this regard, I have a very specific wish.

Our exegesis has progressed by leaps and bounds. We truly know a great deal about the development of texts, the subdivision of sources, etc., we know what words would have meant at that time.... But we are increasingly seeing that if historical and critical exegesis remains solely historical and critical, it refers the Word to the past, it makes it a Word of those times, a Word which basically says nothing to us at all; and we see that the Word is fragmented, precisely because it is broken up into a multitude of different sources.

With Dei Verbum, the Council told us that the historical-critical method is an essential dimension of exegesis because, since it is a factum historicum, it is part of the nature of faith. We do not merely believe in an idea; Christianity is not a philosophy but an event that God brought about in this world, a story that he pieced together in a real way and forms with us as history.

For this reason, in our reading of the Bible, the serious historical aspect with its requirements must be truly present: we must effectively recognize the event and, precisely in his action, this "making of history" on God's part.

Dei Verbum adds, however, that Scripture, which must consequently be interpreted according to historical methods, should also be read in its unity and must be read within the living community of the Church. These two dimensions are absent in large areas of exegesis.

The oneness of Scripture is not a purely historical and critical factor but indeed in its entirety, also from the historical viewpoint, it is an inner process of the Word which, read and understood in an ever new way in the course of subsequent relectures, continues to develop.

This oneness itself, however, is ultimately a theological fact: these writings form one Scripture which can only be properly understood if they are read in the analogia fidei as a oneness in which there is progress towards Christ, and inversely, in which Christ draws all history to himself; and if, moreover, all this is brought to life in the Church's faith.

In other words, I would very much like to see theologians learn to interpret and love Scripture as the Council desired, in accordance with Dei Verbum: may they experience the inner unity of Scripture — something that today is helped by "canonical exegesis" (still to be found, of course, in its timid first stages) — and then make a spiritual interpretation of it that is not externally edifying but rather an inner immersion in the presence of the Word.

It seems to me a very important task to do something in this regard, to contribute to providing an introduction to living Scripture as an up-to-date Word of God beside, with and in historical-critical exegesis. I do not know how this should be done in practice, but I think that in the academic context and at seminaries, as well as in an introductory course, it will be possible to find capable teachers to ensure that this timely encounter with Scripture in the faith of the Church — an encounter on whose basis proclamation subsequently becomes possible — can take place.

-Pope Benedict XVI, "Audience with the Bishops of Switzerland," 7 November 2006.
Complete text available from EWTN.