Work on Oneself<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\nIn what follows I will try and distinguish two sorts of questions\u2014and answers\u2014to this theme that continue to make me uneasy.<\/p>\n
In the original questions, there are two very different sorts of things being asked: (1) Is God Catholic? and (2) Is God a<\/em> Catholic?<\/p>\nThe answers I would give would go as follows: (1) Is God Catholic?\u2014Yes<\/em>, at least one should hope so; and (2) Is God a<\/em> Catholic?\u2014No<\/em>, not necessarily.<\/p>\nReturning to the questions: there seems to be a difference between \u201cbeing Catholic\u201d and \u201cbeing a<\/em> Catholic.\u201d What I mean by this is that the first question (Is God Catholic?) uses the term \u2018Catholic\u2019 in a way that is not limited to \u201cbeing a<\/em> Catholic.\u201d In other words, the term \u2018Catholic\u2019 in the first question is without content if the answer is no, it makes no sense. If God is not \u201cCatholic\u201d in the first sense, then why should anyone or anything be \u201cCatholic\u201d?<\/p>\nHowever, while being Catholic (in the first sense) and being a<\/em> Catholic (in the second sense) are not mutually exclusive, we need not assume that God is a<\/em> Catholic. First of all, it would raise all kinds of stupid, difficult questions. Questions like, \u201cIf God is a Catholic, then, is what kind of a Catholic is God? Is God a Roman Catholic or some other kind of a Catholic?\u201d This should show how \u201cbeing Catholic\u201d and \u201cbeing a<\/em> Catholic\u201d are different at a certain level and therefore demand different kinds of answers.<\/p>\nSome might find this redundant and point me towards the \u201cbig C\u201d and \u201clittle c\u201d distinction, the difference between catholic and Catholic. I have used this distinction myself, but I think it is too generic for these questions. Yes, surely God is universal. In fact, that statement is backwards: the universe is Godly.<\/p>\n
But my suggestion is that while God is the fullest expression of what we can possibly hope for it to mean to \u201cbe Catholic\u201d\u2014as Catholics of any kind, Catholicism in the widest sense\u2014we need not assimilate God into our tribe, our history, our home team.<\/p>\n
If God is Catholic, then, the term \u2018Catholic\u2019 is nothing but a reflection of God and God becomes the ultimate measure of this reflection. But this particular kind of Catholic reflection is not the same as registering God at our local parish (or in our Roman Church) and calling God a<\/em> Catholic.<\/p>\nIn the end, this distinction helps me make some sense out of my own Catholicism: it also helps me to understand myself in relation to God\u2014that who I am is both God in one sense and not God in another sense.<\/p>\n
1. I am God, God dwells in me and I image God, in the first sense of \u201cbeing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n2. I am not God, I cannot contain God, God is everything and I am nothing, in the second sense of \u201cbeing <\/em>a.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nGod is Catholic. Otherwise, we have no reason whatsoever to imagine and practice and live in the Catholic family. But make no mistake: God is not a<\/em> Catholic. Otherwise, we have no reason to imagine and practice and live in the Catholic family.<\/p>\nJust as we are persons but not individuals, God is Catholic but not a<\/em> Catholic.<\/p>\nThis may seem to be a petty and trivial use of language and waste of time\u2014and in too many ways it is!\u2014but I hope it serves to pull us (myself first and foremost) out of our complacency as Catholics without throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I also hope it shows that many people can be Catholic, the universe itself is Catholic, without being a<\/em> Catholic. If it possible for God, it must be possible for man and creation.<\/p>\nThe danger I will end with it this: we cannot allow the idea or the term \u2018Catholic\u2019 become the measure of things; God must always be the measure. And that measure is beyond the very concept of size, measurement, and, indeed, everything\u2014even beyond<\/a> the word \u2018God\u2019.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.chester.anglican.org\/dev\/images\/Rublevs_Icon_on_Trinity.jpg\" "\\"trinity\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In \u201cSilly God, Voting is for Kids\u201d, I did something that I generally dislike: I was gave a litany of things that God is not. (It is one of my pet peeves, actually.) As surprising\u2014albeit not uncommon\u2014as this contradiction was, I was even more surprised when I began to type this sentence: God is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[345],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sam-rocha"],"yoast_head":"\n
Is God Catholic?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In "Silly God, Voting is for Kids", I did something that I generally dislike: I was gave a litany of things that God is not. (It is one of my pet peeves,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is God Catholic?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In "Silly God, Voting is for Kids", I did something that I generally dislike: I was gave a litany of things that God is not. (It is one of my pet peeves,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vox Nova\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-21T03:06:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/lmyefski.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/04\/introspection-look-inside-oneself-know-thyself.jpg?w=320&h=238\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam Rocha\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Rocha\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/\",\"name\":\"Is God Catholic?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-21T03:06:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-06-21T03:06:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/a460a69ba2ce25216ea414bf1b8bd129\"},\"description\":\"In \\\"Silly God, Voting is for Kids\\\", I did something that I generally dislike: I was gave a litany of things that God is not. (It is one of my pet peeves,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is God Catholic?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/\",\"name\":\"Vox Nova\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/a460a69ba2ce25216ea414bf1b8bd129\",\"name\":\"Sam Rocha\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44659e4318d7bceca9eeb3fdc1236e8f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44659e4318d7bceca9eeb3fdc1236e8f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sam Rocha\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/author\/srocha\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is God Catholic?","description":"In \"Silly God, Voting is for Kids\", I did something that I generally dislike: I was gave a litany of things that God is not. (It is one of my pet peeves,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is God Catholic?","og_description":"In \"Silly God, Voting is for Kids\", I did something that I generally dislike: I was gave a litany of things that God is not. (It is one of my pet peeves,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/","og_site_name":"Vox Nova","article_published_time":"2011-06-21T03:06:09+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/lmyefski.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/04\/introspection-look-inside-oneself-know-thyself.jpg?w=320&h=238"}],"author":"Sam Rocha","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sam Rocha","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/","name":"Is God Catholic?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-06-21T03:06:09+00:00","dateModified":"2011-06-21T03:06:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/a460a69ba2ce25216ea414bf1b8bd129"},"description":"In \"Silly God, Voting is for Kids\", I did something that I generally dislike: I was gave a litany of things that God is not. (It is one of my pet peeves,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/06\/20\/is-god-catholic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is God Catholic?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/","name":"Vox Nova","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/a460a69ba2ce25216ea414bf1b8bd129","name":"Sam Rocha","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44659e4318d7bceca9eeb3fdc1236e8f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44659e4318d7bceca9eeb3fdc1236e8f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Sam Rocha"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/author\/srocha\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lmyefski.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/04\/introspection-look-inside-oneself-know-thyself.jpg?w=320&h=238\" "\\"look")
In \u201cSilly God, Voting is for Kids\u201d<\/a>, I did something that I generally dislike: I was gave a litany of things that God is not. (It is one of my pet peeves, actually.) As surprising\u2014albeit not uncommon\u2014as this contradiction was, I was even more surprised when I began to type this sentence: God is not Catholic<\/em>.<\/p>\n