Clarifying Catholicism

"Reality is not something we reach for or grasp for. It is something we are born into. From our earliest pre-intellective moments, our sense organs are being shaped, molded, into how they will later intelligize, as Zubiri will later say truthify, the world. And along the way to mature intellection, we are constantly, both subconsciously and consciously formalizing content, simply because real...

"Again, primordial apprehension is the most basic apprehension humans experience. It is just raw stimulation. We experience this as babies before we can even form concepts about the world. And this is what makes Zubiri’s philosophy radically realist, for before we even attempt to rationalize the world by forming concepts about it, the way our minds are shaped are totally dependent upon things...

"For the Ancients and Scholastics, the senses are inferior to the intellect, which is located in the soul. For the Rationalists, the senses are also inferior to the intellect, which is, this time, located in the mind. For Kant, the Senses are organized by the intellect, but the intellect never reaches reality. For Hegel, the intellect, and by extension reality itself, fluidly shapes itself ov...

"Why should being belong to things themselves, rather than the process of knowing things? Why should we equate being, truth, and reality? How can we assume that knowledge belongs to the soul rather than the body? Why does the spiritual, assuming it exists, have so much power over the physical when it comes to knowledge? Doesn’t the physical world have just as much to do with forming a person’...

"The Second Vatican Council’s integrity relies on its continuity, but so long as there is skepticism of the council’s continuity, whether that comes from progressives or traditionalists, its realization will be greatly hindered. Thus, an attack on Lumen Gentium’s interpretation of NSOC should be considered an attack on the council’s legacy, which is why it is crucial to protect the council’s...

"Each conciliar document has a fundamentally different intention, the former focusing on Christian unity with the East, not formally commenting on the subject of other religions, and the latter systematically and thoroughly commenting on that matter; given their different intentions, there is clearly no contradiction here. The assumptions each council makes are also starkly different. The for...

“Lumen Gentium 16 holds considerable magisterial weight in its theology of other religions. It was carefully crafted by a commission of bishops and theologians, approved by a consensus of bishops from across the world and in union with the pope, contains sententia fidei proxima teachings, intends to comment directly on the relationship between Catholicism and other religions, operates with a histo...

"This episode has demonstrated that it would be problematic to categorize Cantate Domino’s expression of No Salvation Outside the Church as an infallible statement. Though it was endorsed by a council and pope, neither the council fathers nor the pope actually drafted it. It seems to present a widespread theological opinion, or a sententia ad fidem pertinens, rather than a de fide doctrine, d...

"Analyzing the source, type, intention, assumption, scope, reception, and interrelation of magisterial statements can help to distinguish their abiding principles from their changeable expressions and applications. These criteria can also be used to evaluate whether two seemingly incompatible magisterial statements are discontinuous with each other, which is precisely what the following chapt...

"This episode has demonstrated that the Church is not only obligated to restate or reapply its fundamental principles to changing situations but that failing to do so would ironically yield discontinuity. This is why the theologian Henri Bouillard writes, “a theology which is not up to date is a false theology.”

"That said, several Church Fathers considered the Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament and pagan philosophers like Socrates to be within the confines of the Church, since Christ was partially revealed to them as universal wisdom, or logos. However, once a Jew or pagan had heard the Gospel, their conversion was required for their salvation. Christianity’s legalization accelerated this idea.&qu...

"Theologian Richard John Neuhaus observes, 'The irony is in the agreement between Lefebvre and the liberal party of discontinuity.' Additionally, the consequences of either side being correct are similar. If even one conciliar principle is demonstrably discontinuous, it could throw into question several other conciliar statements, as well as the Church’s claim to infallibility altoget...

"The second big debate surrounding infallibly taught doctrine is about moral issues that Jesus didn’t directly teach about and instead rely more on ethical systems derived from reason alone. Take contraception, for example. Where does Jesus say that contraception cannot be used by couples? Remember how I mentioned natural law earlier in this episode? Well, given how sparse or arguably even non-exi...

Obviously, a pope speaking on an airplane is very different than every bishop in the world agreeing about something. And bishops all agreeing that Jesus is the Son of God is very different than the bishops all agreeing that Jesus’s favorite food was, indeed bacon. So, when the Church teaches, the weight of the teaching is going to depend on the infallibility of the subject, the nature of the objec...

"Time after time, throughout the earliest ecumenical councils, Rome’s position won out, even though Rome was hardly a political powerhouse after the rise of Constantinople. Between Monophysitism, Nestorianism, Monothelitism, iconoclasm, and others, the Roman positions ultimately defeated heresies at every turn. Some, myself included, argue that this is because Rome, having been replaced by Constan...

"Remember that Jesus promised indefectibility to the Church as a community; it doesn’t reside in one individual person, though there is one very notable exception I’ll touch on soon. However, when all bishops, who dual wield the awesome indefectibility of the Church as a community and as an Apostolic institution, do agree on a teaching, their teaching is considered infallible. And there are two in...

"In episode one of this series, we justified the Church’s teaching authority by exploring scripture. Specifically, we explored the biblical basis for bishops, who were ordained by a ritual called the “Laying on of Hands,” which evolved into what Catholics today call the Sacrament of Holy Orders. However, there are some people who have expressed doubts about the role bishops are supposed to play in...

"Magisterium this. Magisterium that.” I’m honestly astonished by how frequently I hear Catholics throwing that word around without properly understanding what it means. Let’s break it down."

Yes, indeed, our feeble human words fail to convey the almighty Word of God. But, given how we Christians believe that God created us with a similarity, or likeness, to Him, we can use our feeble human words to analogously speak about God, relative to our experiences.

"Why does the Catholic Church have so many rules? And with over 2,000 years of councils, papal documents, and catechesis, does every Church teaching have the same amount of relevance today? These are a few questions I hope to answer throughout this series on Church teaching authority."

In part twenty four of this series about the ecumenical councils according to the Catholic Church, Will Deatherage explores a few trends he observed from the ecumenical councils.

In part twenty three of this series about the ecumenical councils according to the Catholic Church, Will Deatherage examines the Second Vatican Council, which responded to problems of the modern world.

Clarification: Gallicanism was NOT the idea that the Church is subservient to the state in matters of doctrine; it is the idea that local bishops must accept a papal doctrine for it to be valid, which led to the state attempting to manipulate its bishops on a mass scale. In part twenty two of this series about the ecumenical councils according to the Catholic Church, Will Deatherage examines the F...

Corrections: St. Peter's is not a cathedral, should have said Pope Julius III, NOT Julius II  In part twenty one of this series about the ecumenical councils according to the Catholic Church, Will Deatherage examines the Council of Trent, which responded to Protestantism's doctrinal challenges against the papacy.

In part twenty of this series about the ecumenical councils according to the Catholic Church, Will Deatherage examines the Fifth Lateran Council, which responded to a king's attempt to assert power over the pope.