On Angels and Demons - Fr. Barron's Review

When will it end? More DaVinci Load served up on the silver screen to distort the truth, history, and real relationship between the Church and Science for millions of movie goers. Let's all grab a hot cup of coffee, kick back, and watch this excellent unpacking of it all by Fr. Robert Barron, and then read this beautiful letter - On Faith and Reason - by Pope John Paul II, and THEN (refill your coffee, grab some cookies) and peruse this "illuminating" website that shows the harmonious relationship of faith and the sciences - http://stoqinternational.org/

“Science can purify Religion from error and superstition; Religion can purify Science from idolatry and false absolutes.”

- Pope John Paul II

Has Christopher West Gone South?

(The videos embedded in this post show a more articulated and contextual unpacking of key points in the Pope's teaching on the Theology of the Body and are a necessary addition to the news interview mentioned below. I hope they help!)

In the past week since ABC Nightline aired a 6 minute video interview on Christopher West, articles have tried to articulate, posts have posited, and Twitter has been twittering with people's reactions to its content. Many have been overwhelmingly positive, seeing through the roughly 10 substantial distortions and misquotes from the 6 minute piece (each clarified by Christopher here), grateful that even a glimmer of the Church's beautiful teaching slipped through the mainstream to potentially 4 million viewers. Others have used up large pockets of cyberspace to attack and belittle one of their own rather than the slanted ABC interview.

Samples of this attack:

"He (Christopher West) is one of the many self-help gurus out their that market their perspectives, attract people who are spiritually foundering, and make a living off their presentations, books, and dvd's... In my diocese (that would be Philadelphia, folks), all those into West have no real spiritual foundation. They follow cultural phenomenon, become spoke people for this "New" understanding and wind up in the end with the usual nothing... Give him time, and he will self-destruct like the rest of them."

- GM

“I’m shocked and horrified by the words that he uses. His mere mention of Hugh Hefner is to my mind an abomination.”

- AVH

"From what I have read, both in the article and from respondants to it, Mr. West has become inflated by the success of his venture. Humility and purity go hand in hand, and it seems he has lost both virtues."

- C

I felt a deep sadness and frustration in reading some of these comments. It seems the Pharisees are alive and well in the Church today. Here is a deeply faithful, prayerful, humble, and yes, very passionate man who has given his life to unpacking the very dense and philosophical truth in the Theology of the Body for hundreds of thousands of people who may never have had the chance to read or hear it, while some of his brother and sister Catholics sit in their pews and criticize him. Jesus was called a drunkard, he was mocked for eating with tax collectors and sinners and talking to prostitutes. He was completely misunderstood and misrepresented by the religious leaders of His day. And every person who follows in his footsteps and tries to engage the culture and bring them the Water of Life gets the same wagging finger from the self-righteous.

Of course the media gave a skewed reading of this teaching. The lens with which it looks is still cracked. But some of the Truth could still be seen through that camera, and it has cut like a surgeon's knife right into our Manichean tumor that has thought the body evil or dirty, and sex something we shouldn't talk about in public. But if the Church doesn't speak of this beautiful mystery of human sexuality, who will? We all know the answer to that question.

The silence on sex in the pulpit and from many of our parents regarding sexuality since the 60's has not prepared any of us well for the media tidal wave that is sweeping away another generation. I say God bless Christopher for speaking this truth.

Has he perhaps gone too far south in his work? Is he too "vulgar"? Well the word means the "folk speech, the common tongue." Maybe going south is exactly where the Spirit is leading him. Deep south... into the heart...

The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter... - Pope John Paul II

Some who severely critiqued Christopher rather than the interviewers have clearly never read the Pope's words, let alone Christopher's. They are crucifying a man based on a distorted 6 minute news clip. Read the Theology of the Body. Be still with it, pray... and pray for God's flawed and faithful servants who have the courage to face the culture, and speak to its heart.

The Pope's Assassin, Ali Agca, Becomes Catholic?

CN CathNews reports: In a letter written from a Turkish prison, Mehmet Ali Agca, author of the failed attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, claims to have renounced Islam and embraced the Catholic faith. Italian weekly Diva e people donna published the letter, French journal 7s7 reports. "I am looking for an Italian woman, who wants to correspond with me. Obviously (I hope) she is Catholic because from May 13 2007, I decided to renounce the Muslim faith and becoming a member of the Roman Catholic Church," Agca writes. "I have decided to return peacefully to the (St Peter's) square and to testify to the world of my conversion to Catholicism," he says in the letter written in Italian. - Read the full article here

Imagine

The Sadness and Madness of Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger, the foundress of Planned Parenthood, has recently been awarded a place in the National Portrait Gallery. She is quoted as saying that the poor and mentally handicapped are "human weeds" that "clog up the path.... drain out the energies and the resources of this little earth." Her solution? "We must cultivate our garden." The more I read about this woman, the more bizarre it gets. And this is the woman that Hillary Clinton is in "awe" of for her heroic work? Sanger was a massive proponent of eugenics and quite clearly a racist. Her own words convict her, as cited in her letters and books captured in this disturbing video. And our tax dollars are supporting her agenda by honoring her in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. God help us to see the lie behind the curtains of these so-called Planned Parenthood "clinics." Please watch and learn from the video for yourself.

For a more in depth look at Margaret Sanger's thought, watch a 1957 interview with Mike Wallace here (the transcript of the interview is available as well). It's a bizarre interview, be warned. Aside from Sanger's thoughts on human life, marriage and the Catholic Church, Mike Wallace holds no punches, and keeps plugging Philip Morris cigarettes! Weird.

PS - Wallace quotes the Church as saying the sole purpose of marriage is the procreation of children. The full teaching is that marriage's end is two-fold: unitive and procreative, that is, it is for the love and union of hearts and for the fruit of that love and union.... life. In this sense, I feel Margaret's pain when she fights him on this point. It seems in her experience, women were looked on as merely baby-making machines and subjogated by marriage and pregnancy. Clearly the vision is skewed here. For the ideal vision and definition of marriage, read this!

Theology of the Body Hits Mainstream Tonight on Nightline

Please pray for a great outpouring of grace tonight as the potential to reach millions with a little taste of Theology of the Body hits ABC's Nightline. Here's a link to the article, and the time tonight is 11:30ish EST.

Taken from Christopher's website:

About the Theology of the Body

A New Sexual Revolution Pope John Paul II devoted the first major teaching of his pontificate to what he called the Theology of the Body. This teaching is being hailed as a “new sexual revolution,” because it calls everyone to an authentic understanding and living out of what it means to be created male and female in the image and likeness of God. There are good reasons why the Theology of the Body is in such demand around the world. It is renewing marriages, awakening vocations, healing deep personal wounds, and setting people free to live the life of greatness for which they were created. This is no passing theological fad, but a rich, refined understanding of our Catholic Faith.

Find resources here.

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Post Script: Visit this link for more info and

clarification on points mentioned in the interview!

Sending Out an SOS

Suffering can set us free. Crying out can often lead to a catharsis. Sorrow affords us a chance to struggle and squirm our way out of the black cocoon of self and into the wide expanse of the world of the Other. The song Message in a Bottle by the Police captures this journey of self-discovery through suffering. Sting, the lead singer of the former band, is a much revered icon in the music world today. He confessed to Jools Holland of the BBC that Message in a Bottle is his favorite song. Just a castaway, an island lost at sea, oh Another lonely day, with no one here but me, oh More loneliness than any man could bear Rescue me before I fall into despair, oh In the late and great Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body, the Holy Father seeks to answer two questions that I feel everyone in their heart of hearts asks at some point in this life: What does it mean to be human? How can I be truly happy? In the first question, he looks into our origins, our history, and our destiny to discover just what it means to be to be human. The Pope's early life was fraught with sorrows - loss of family, Nazi occupation, friends sent to concentration camps, and a Communist takeover of his beloved Poland. But he didn't let these sorrows exile him to an island of isolation. To make sense of it all, he dove into a heartfelt reflection on our beginnings as man and woman. One of my favorite reflections in his Theology of the Body centers on the idea of Original Solitude. That is the experience of Adam, in the beginning, as a being that is in fact "alone." I'll send an S.O.S. to the world I'll send an S.O.S. to the world I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my Message in a bottle, Message in a bottle... Alas, Adam cries out, I see myriads of creatures, beautiful and diverse, but not another person I can love who can return my love! Sending out an SOS is Adam's first "prayer." (Read the rest at Twisted Mystics!)