Theological virtues are those virtues that are infused into the soul by God. Among the theological virtues is faith. This fact raises a question. If faith is a product of God’s Grace, can it be rejected? Said differently, if God has disposed the soul to faith, do we really have free will when it comes to belief? This question involves not only the existence of God but also those things that the Catholic Church teaches. To address this question, it... Read more
“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church,” Tertullian famously remarked. Tertullian recognized that the more the world sheds the blood of Christians, the more the Church grows. While it may seem counterintuitive, the willingness of Christians to die for what they believe in often inspires others to become followers of Christ. In this paper, I will examine what constitutes martyrdom in the Catholic Church by examining some examples from the Bible. Finally, I will seek to place... Read more
One of the consequences of the Enlightenment was an effort to reduce religion to a moral framework. This effort was led by Immanuel Kant, who sought to deracinate the moral and ethical aspects of religion from the mystical aspects of faith. In following Kant, Thomas Jefferson went so far as to rewrite the New Testament, eliminating any references to miracles or the supernatural. Such efforts to de-mystify the Bible do it a great injustice, for much of what God intended... Read more
“The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” – Ernest Hemmingway. Are people innately or naturally good? The answer to that question has implications beyond one’s own worldview (although that is also important). The goodness or lack thereof of human beings affects interpersonal relationships, philosophical anthropology, government, and theology. So as to properly examine the issue, it is necessary to define what it means for someone to be “good.” Since the question of whether people are naturally good... Read more
In his prologue to metaphysics, Aristotle wrote that all men, by nature, seek to know. Human beings are rational creatures, and rational creatures seek knowledge. I would like to argue that human beings are also spiritual creatures that naturally seek God. In order to proceed with the thesis that humans naturally seek God, it is first necessary to show that humans have a soul. Establishing the existence of the soul allows us to differentiate those beings with a soul from... Read more
“The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.” – Diary of Saint Faustina, 1578. In the years leading up to World War Two, a young Polish nun began to experience extraordinary revelations. These revelations included long and detailed conversations with Jesus. During one such encounter, Jesus requested Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska to record her experiences in several notebooks. These notebooks would... Read more
Benjamin Franklin once observed that death and taxes are the only two certainties in this world. Most of us would also add suffering to that list. It is the existence of suffering that provides atheists and agnostics with some of their more effective arguments against faith. Suffering also presents religion with a dilemma. If God exists, if God is good, and if God is love, why does He permit suffering? As anyone who has read the Bible (or even just... Read more
The Bible contradicts itself. So is the claim of many atheists and agnostics. While most of these charges stem from ignorance of Scripture or simply efforts to discredit biblical religion, even Christians can be occasionally confused by what appear to be discrepancies in the text. So, while it is tempting to dismiss the claims of contradictions as the usual ramblings of atheists, any contradictions, or at least any significant contradictions, could have immense implications on Catholicism. In this paper, I... Read more
The process of studying a particular thing often entails analysis. To correctly analyze a thing, one seeks to reduce it to its various components. Once this is done, one can study the individual parts more closely. In analyzing the Catholic Church, it is possible to identify four parts or pillars. These four pillars – theology, morality, public liturgy, and private prayer – comprise the Church’s constituent parts. The four pillars are essential to understanding Catholicism. Theology Literally, the science of... Read more
Is religion the refuge of the weak? Friedrich Nietzsche thought so. Is faith a crutch or an opioid that makes life tolerable but is in itself an illusion? That is what Karl Marx concluded. While both Nietzsche and Marx were avowed atheists, the question of whether organized religion – in this case, Catholicism – exists as a coping mechanism is worth examining. The concepts underlying the conclusions of Nietzsche and Marx are relatively straightforward. Human beings are fragile creatures who... Read more
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