Comments for Thinking in Church and with the Church at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:15:11 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/thinking-in-church-and-with-the-church.html#comment-7830 I recall a University Sermon at Oxford, where, during the Bidding Prayer, the preacher invited the congregation to pray for "all places of useful and godly learning; let us pray also for the University of Oxford..." I particularly liked "also." - Michael Paterson-Seymour Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:21:49 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/thinking-in-church-and-with-the-church.html#comment-7829 It is a characteristic of this age to forget that Faith is superior to reason, and to instead emphatically stress the corollary, that Faith is not in conflict with right reason. Other ages have had it the other way around, stressing that Faith is superior to reason, whilst deemphasizing the corollary. Science has had a nice run over the past few centuries. Nice miracles; cell phones, light bulbs, space probes, a truly remarkable and wonderful run. Now, in the face of a certain timorous handwringing on the part of theology in the face of these triumphs, Big Science has arrogated to itself the right to extrude its method into domains where the result can only be barking madness (see Strephen Hawking's recent embarrassment concerning the supposed scientific abolishment of the need for God, for notable example, though every single multiverse theory points to the same end of the same road). The pendulum has begun its swing back from the materialist/positivist extreme. I only hope there is time to retrieve this civilization from the consequences of its having swung so very far in that direction........ And so it goes......... - Rick DeLano Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:02:39 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/thinking-in-church-and-with-the-church.html#comment-7813 One of the most important reasons I became a Catholic was because of its catholicity, its universality. To every "either/or" question that the world has asked since the breakdown of the Medieval Synthesis, the Catholic answer is "both/and." Are we composed of bodies or souls? Both. Was Jesus God or Man? Both. Is the truth to be found in faith or reason? Both. Are the essences of things in themselves or the mind of God? Both. It's marvelous and almost miraculous how Catholicism manages to marry such an amazing number of (seeming) opposites. And it shows how much bigger the Truth is than all those reductionist philosophies and religions would have you believe. - Thomas Beyer Sun, 21 Aug 2011 01:07:34 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/thinking-in-church-and-with-the-church.html#comment-7810 The Irish writer James Joyce once gave a backhanded compliment to the faith when asked why, given his depiction of the Church in his novels, he did not become a protestant. He apparently replied, "why exchange a logical, coherent absurdity for an illogical, incoherent absurdity." Here in Southeastern Michigan, it is rare to encounter logic or coherence on many cultural and political and economic subjects and issues. I see no small correlation between this blind faith in unions or diversity or government dominance of everything and this region's continued decline. But I have felt fortunate that this is not the case with the Archdiocese of Detroit. I won't name names, but there is a considerable "creative minority" -- logical and coherent and faithful -- among the priesthood, religious, laypersons, media, and academics that once seemed missing "back in the day." When the American Catholic Council arrived in Detroit this summer, they discovered that their image of the Church here had as many blind spots as a 1975 Cadillac (about the time progressive Catholics last convened here). CT continues to be our GPS on all things Catholic... - Graham Combs Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:31:16 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/thinking-in-church-and-with-the-church.html#comment-7805 Wonderful essay. We have far too many third-graders in our pews. As one parishioner said to me recently, "The trouble with this parish is people don't hold hands during the Our Father, and they don't shake hands at the Sign of Peace. That's what being a Catholic is all about." They've been fed pablum for so long I'm not sure they have the stomach for the steak and potatoes that demands some real mental chewing...but we try. - Deacon Dana Sat, 20 Aug 2011 03:19:03 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/thinking-in-church-and-with-the-church.html#comment-7804 Outstanding. Thank you. - BobbyC Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:45:41 +0100