A real Adam & Eve?

I know some find this boorish (and was recently the object of all too typically tendentious #catholictwitter tit-for-tat) so if you do just pass it by. But as I'm teaching about this part of the CCC in RCIA this week, my mind's been on it. My thoughts: 1) I always start with an epistemological step-back with these things. Many talk about both the text and the science part with a certainty that is unwarranted (esp the science part, tbh!), especially for they *know*. We frequently repeat hypotheses as if they were facts.

Today we celebrate the ancient feast of Saint Lucy. Like many of the virgin martyrs of the early Church, we know very little of her beyond legend. Notwithstanding the value of legend, some see that paucity as a kind of poverty, if not an embarrassment. Better to pass over it. On the contrary. What's remarkable is in an age that subjugated women and did not believe in moral innocence, the early Church thought so highly of young virgin martyrs that they put them in the center of what was most valorous: the Mass! Young women who accomplished so little!

I guess we're mourning Notre Dame but I'll never forget reading a book about visiting the holy places of Rome written by an English Jesuit from like 100 years ago where he tears into modernity for destroying old St Peter's and building that Renaissance monstrosity instead. #NeverForget
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_St._P…

Voluntarism and Traditionis Custodes: Most bishops (with notable exceptions), despite the Holy Father’s insistence about “all its part[s]… entering immediately in force”, have communicated that they need some time to figure out how exactly to implement the motu proprio. Does this reflect a surreptitious agreement? I say “all” and “immediately”, but you understand that “some” and “when you are ready” is what I mean? On the contrary, I suspect most bishops recognize their allegiance is to a higher law than the mere will of the Holy Father.

Thoughts on the Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes: I won't speculate on the motives of the Holy Father, nor will I judge the merits of his decision. But I will offer some commentary, to give a little clarity (I hope), and to point to the more fundamental issue that remains. Despite the blessings gained by the ressourcement in liturgical practice inspired by the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis has judged that, because of the division that has accompanied it, it is not worth continuing the permissions of Summorum Pontificum.

It’s been said that the problem of suffering is the greatest objection to Christianity. On the contrary, we should think of the Christian faith as the answer to the problem of suffering: this problem being not so much an objection to Christianity, as the human problem itself. Why is there evil? Why do so many suffer in misery? Why does injustice continue, unchecked and unpunished? As we know, Scripture has an initial answer: God created all things good, but because of man's disobedience evil entered the world.

Ever feel like Lent jumps up on you? Like you need some time to think about what you will do, to prepare? There used to be a whole season for the that! Which would of begun this Sunday! Three weeks before Lent, given to ready us, liturgically, to begin this sacred time well. One of the great tragedies of recent Church history was the suppression of the liturgical season of Pre-Lent, otherwise known as Septuagesima or Shrovetide. Paralleling a similar tradition in the East, this season had provided a powerful mystagogy to ready Catholics for Lent.

Hope to correct a misunderstanding here: Have you heard of the phrase, “source and summit of the Christian life”? It’s in the Catechism, quoting a document of Vatican II.

What’s it about?

Is your answer "the Eucharist"? You’re right! But wait. What do you mean by "Eucharist"? A lot of folks take this phrase to mean that either a) the Presence of Christ in the Consecrated Species, or b) the reception of Christ in Holy Communion, is the source and summit. Now, these are related to the right answer: but these are not what the phrase primarily refers to.