CALLED TO COMMUNION - Dr. David Anders -September 24 , 2019

what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests 1 a 33 2 8 8 EWTN I don't understand why I have to earn salvation one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six why do I need to confess my sins to a priest what's stopping you this is called to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network welcome to call to Communion I'm your host David Andrews the number to be on the show is one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight EWTN you can email us at CTC ewtn.com you can text EWTN to five five zero zero zero wait for a response text your first name and question message and data rates may apply you can follow us at twitter at ewtn radio or EWTN radio on instagram the main line again is one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you're outside north america you can dial one two zero five two seven one two nine eight five the rest of you can call me at one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six two eight eight three nine eight six the show is called to communion all people are called to communion with Christ in the church that he founded which is the Catholic Church this show is primarily for those of you that are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church and we'd like to know why what is stopping you from becoming a Catholic you may be opposed to the church theologically you may think Catholics don't rightly understand the Bible or the Christian faith you might be opposed to the church politically you don't like some of the stances may be that the bishop in your community has taken on some particular issue that is important to you a lot of people are not Catholic because their family would not like them to be Catholic and it would cost them a lot in terms of their relationships to become Catholic many more people I think are probably not Catholic because they've never considered that becoming Catholic is something they should think about I've even had people call me and tell me that what is this thing called the Catholic Church that you're talking about here you are talking Catholic Catholic Ithaca I don't know what Catholic is what is Catholic whatever your reason for not being Catholic or at whatever stage of your journey you're on towards away from or in orbit around the Catholic Church call us and tell us about it at one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six we do answer emails on this show particularly as we're waiting for calls to get screened so I'm going to answer one now this one is from Daryl Joe says what do you think of the ancient Christian commentary on scripture edited by Thomas Oden a Methodist theologian it is written as a Christian Talmud and is a nice compilation of the Church Fathers is it a good reliable and church approved series if not can you recommend something similar they would have such discussions by the church fathers in a give-and-take format yeah thanks Darrell appreciate the question I am aware of the ancient Christian commentary series edited by Thomas Oden in fact you know I myself am a convert to the Catholic Church did not grow up Catholic was not educated as a Catholic I was educated in the Protestant tradition went to Protestant schools called colleges and Seminary and when I was in the process of it I was privileged on one occasion to actually hear a lecture by Professor Thomas Oden who came by and gave us a talk so I don't know him personally but I've been exposed to him and I'm familiar with his commentary series and what motivated it if I remember correctly is Oden is a Methodist and Methodists particularly North America and have have you know a bit of a storied history and a little bit of an identity crisis in terms of you know who are we or they would say who are they as Methodists and what is it that unifies their tradition and is it John Wesley you know is it the Wesleyan hymns is it you know is that their tradition of social concern what exactly does it mean to be a Methodist and there is within that tradition a very very sort of liberal progressive wing and a much more conservative and traditionalist wing and Odin himself his professor at a university that is farther to the left on that on that continuum and he himself was kind of cut out of that mold for a while the problem with becoming with swinging too far in that ideological direction within any religious tradition has eventually become kind of unmoored from any kind of coherent identity right anything that would ground you in your actual tradition and he was fishing around for something that could solidify Methodists and he said well you know why not go back to the church fathers and and hence the ancient Christian commentary on scripture series was born I I like anything that will get people engaged in the church fathers and I'm not gonna argue with anybody that wants to read the church fathers of course it's edited by Tom Oden so the selections that he is drawing on of the Church Fathers are going to be at his discretion and so you you shouldn't think that the ancient Christian commentary series is giving you anything like a comprehensive patristic theology no it's giving you Tom Odin and his collaborators it's their particular selections from the Church Fathers which I don't know what their selection criteria were but they're not Catholics and so it's not going to be their selection criteria is not going to be something necessarily to inculcate the Catholic faith but probably aiming at a much more broader conception of ancient Christian identity are there other resources that I recommend you know st. Thomas Aquinas did this in the 13th century he published compiled and published a commentary on the Gospels that was a compilation of comments from the fathers and that's one of my go-to sources the katana area it's called it's it's a compilation of patristic commentary on the Gospels a lot from Augusta and Chrysostom and Jerome and others as well you can find it on the website of the Dominican House of studies so DHS priory org backslash Thomas and you can look over in the scripture commentary section and go to the categoría and examine that so that's one that I like go to it a lot alright thanks Darryl I appreciate the question the number to be on the show one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six are we ready to go to Bernadette okay yes we're ready to go to Bernadette we're gonna go to Bernadette in Millbrook New York Bernadette welcome to call to Communion thank you thank you I happen to be father Angela Shaughnessy sister which-which father Angela Shauna's foe you say father Angeles Shaughnessy oh wait a minute your annual o'Shaughnessy's sister that is correct well you gotta hang on we're gonna have to go to a break in a minute and I don't want to lose you Charles when do we go to a break in half a minute all right I got 30 seconds left you know the reason I got confused at first is my call screener put a note there about the EWTN family celebration and there's another father Angelus he's also a Franciscan that was out there in Denver with me and I was thinking okay which one are we talking about hold on we're going to a break we come back we're gonna talk about Angelus Shaughnessy just give me a minute [Music] on the journey to the heart of the Catholic faith all roads lead to Rome in Roman encounters Cardinal gearheart Ludvig Muller explores Catholic teachings critical to the life of the church delve into pivotal topics like where the Enlightenment went wrong and the right way to be Christian in our skeptical age Roman encounters the latest release from EWTN publishing available now at ewtn our c-calm or call one eight hundred eight five four six three one six there's nothing like ewtn s National Catholic Register revealing engaging inspiring the most comprehensive news of the day from a Catholic perspective with the moral authority that comes from being faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church and in the words of our founder Monsignor Matthew Smith a paper that will always be loyal to the church and has no selfish axe to grind because the truth when the register was founded in 1927 is still the truth today the award-winning National Catholic Register helps readers engage the culture with confidence in the saving and sanctifying gospel of Jesus Christ get six free issues today by ordering online at NC register.com forward slash radio or call eight hundred four two one three two three zero and mention code radio that's 800 4 2 1 3 2 3 0 and mention code radio the National Catholic Register read faithfully [Music] welcome back to call to communion the number to be on the show is one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six so before the break we got Bernadette in Millbrook New York on the telephone this is a unique call right I've never had this call before in the history of this show called communion most of the people who call in say things like why do you Catholics worship Mary which we don't by the way why do I have to say confession to a priest why do you guys pray to the Saints why do you do this why do you do that you Catholics you're nuts that's typically what I'm responding to this is an unusual call because Bernadette is the sister of the priest who saved my life and I'm gonna go back to her in just a second but I got to give you a brief background see I'm a convert to the Catholic faith I didn't grow up Catholic and when I I didn't even know anything about EWTN and I live five miles from the network did not even know it was here live from a whole life within walking distance of EWTN did not know it existed and when I began to explore the Catholic faith I called up Marcus Grodi of all people who lives in Ohio and I said you guys are in the Catholic convert business he walked Protestants into Catholicism I need to get in touch with some Protestants who have become Catholics where do I go that's how I learned about EWTN in my backyard and I had to call Ohio to figure out how to come over here and when I came to you WGN started talking to priests and religious and going to Mass and eventually became Catholic and going to confession I met this incredible priest named father Angelus Shaughnessy Franciscan Capuchin belonged in Pittsburgh but he was on loan down here for several years and and he he played such an important role in my life that I wrote a book about my journey into the Catholic faith with my wife and the book is called the Catholic Church saved my marriage and I the appendix of the book - father Angelus I have an in memoriam because he died unfortunately 2018 and this is what I say about father Angelus father Angelus Shaughnessy OFM Capuchin played a unique and essential role in healing my marriage which is true in the Catholic Church my wife and I owe him an eternal debt of gratitude unfortunately father Angelus died before I could share this manuscript with him he went to his reward at 2:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on March the 2nd 2018 two days after this book went to the copy editor by God's grace in Providence I spoke to father Angelus by phone for hours before his passing I told him again how grateful we were for his priesthood for all that God has done through him and the difference he made in our lives I told him about this book and how much he contributed to its completion father Angelus was too weak to converse but with his very last breath he lifted his hands in blessing and quietly uttered his priestly benediction it was in bloom attic of his entire life he gave himself to the last in charity for the salvation of poor sinners today I can hear echoed in his life--and memory the words of st. Paul the imitators of me as I am of Christ first grin thien's 11 surely father Angelus was to us the face of Christ's mercy eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and Mallette perpetual light shine upon them and may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace amen so that is why I am thrilled to death to have Bernadette in Millbrook New York on the show Bernadette welcome back to call to communion thank you and you make me cry remember his greatest way of saying hello he would say peace be with you I remember that but you know what I remember more about father Angelus was he was the best confessor nice his sister maybe you never went to confession to him I don't know but as he was the best confirmed he was the best confessor I ever knew and he you know and you didn't see him because you're behind a screen but you could just tell you could feel his ears like glommed onto you like glue like listening to every word that you said and when you would finish your confession he had this way of saying is there anything else that would draw out of you things that you didn't know you needed to deal with before God and this man this maid yes doesn't this man he saved my wife she wanted nothing to do with the Catholic faith my wife when I became Catholic she's like get that Catholic stuff away from me and I tried all the apologetics in the world none of it worked and I said would you go talk to father Angelo's and she said nope I said please she said nope and I pestered her and bugged her about it for six months and finally to get me off her back she said okay I'll go see this priest but after that you leave me alone and she went and she went back and she went back and she went back and she went back and and then one day I wake up in the middle of the night and there's my wife praying the rosary and the next thing I know she's you know she's just as Catholic as she can be and she's come back to the church years later I said what did father Angelus say to you she said he told me that my suffering had meaning something that nobody else had ever told me before but he said it and he meant it and he lived it and he loved it god bless father Angelus so Bernadette you must have been you must have been either watching or present at the EWTN family celebration this past weekend in Denver Colorado is that right wow what a privilege what a privilege it's so beautiful what you had to say and then when you said about father Angelus I have to call I knew you were I knew you're on the air every every day daily and I have to call you and tell you you know how much I enjoy in fact I'm gonna get your book I've got to get your book well he's the reason that book exists I'll tell you he is so anybody who's listening on the radio today that father Angelus contributed content to EWTN right and so some of his talks and videos and messages are available in the EWTN religious catalogue as well as the archives on the website go look up father and I I don't know that that exists I wasn't trying to find out if there's anything I can order that I know his speeches were great and he would give the greatest homilies but I never hear his name or anything said about him it's like it he left the face of the well I talk about him all the time so you know you're gonna you're gonna hear about him from me whether you like it or not you're gonna hear about father Angelus for me because the man had a profound impact on my life I tell it burned a bit if you want to when when we get off the air here if you want to leave your contact information with my producer right and then maybe or you can shoot me an email as well am I at my public website address which is at my website Calvin - Catholic comm calvin number - catholic calm and charles bury my producer can help you out as well or you could skew to me he says leave it with ryan who's the call screener and then maybe you and I can get in touch later we can talk more about father Angelus and his legacy I'm probably gonna need to move on because I got a create some more content on the show but I am so glad to hear from you and and I'm just I'm thrilled to death because to meet a living breathing relative of Angela Shaughnessy is to me a great privilege so thank you so much for being with us the number to be on call to Communion is one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you have a question about the Catholic faith or you want to tell me why you're not Catholic you can call me and tell me about it at one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six and whether or not you've heard a father Angela Shaughnessy call me at one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six I want to go now to another email this one is from Cedric Cedric says I am a Protestant with a PCA background and I have been questioning the grounds of the Protestant Reformation Lutheran the authority of the church by claiming that councils had contradicted one another at the leipzig debate he claimed the recent Lateran council has reversed the claim of the council's of Constance and basil that a council is above a pope is this claim true and can you direct me to any resources at address Luther's claim yeah thank you very much I appreciate the question all right so the Catholic the Protestant claim that the Catholic Church contradicts itself and and that the Bible is our only religious authority our highest religious authority how should we evaluate that well the first thing I want to point out Cedric and I really appreciate the call joined the phone call the email is think about the context of Luther's remark Luther isn't a debate with John Eck right he's in a debate with John Eck and they're really discussing soteriology doctrine of salvation sacramental theology and in the context of the debate Eck backs Luther into a corner and he says Luther the positions that you are taking have already been condemned about the Council of Constance in 1415 well some of them had any rate in particular the the sacramental stuff and John Huss the Bohemian heretic and would-be reformer had put some of this kind of thing forward Council of Constance has already dealt with it and Luther responds by saying well that may be true but I don't recognize the authority of the council you know councils themselves Luther argues contradict one another can't rely on the Magisterium of the church so we must rely on scripture alone now I want you to think about the structure of that argument the structure the argument is this is Luther's argument councils and the Magisterium are inconsistent or they fail therefore we should regard scripture alone as the highest authority or the only infallible Authority now here's the question I wanna ask you Cedric does Luther's argument actually reveal to us that God has given us the Bible as our sole rule of faith no no what Luther argues is you can't trust the Catholic faith therefore we should go to the Bible alone but that's not really the question it really misses the point the point is what has God indicated to be the final authority for Christian faith in life it's it's a secondary question right how we are to regard the history of Catholic interpretation of the tradition the primary question is what is God revealed as the final authority for faith and did God establish the Bible as the final authority for faith and wife or did he give us the church that's the question Luther doesn't address that question Luther is backed into a corner and he throws this solution out in a polemical way in response to a debate but that's not what we really have to decide and when we look at the data of history and revelation we see no where does Jesus know where did the prophets know where did the Apostles know where it has God revealed if you want to know the content the Christian faith you should look to the Bible in fact the Bible as it's presently constituted did not even exist at the time of Christ's ascension instead Greece Jesus came and taught by his own divine authority which he proved by rising from the dead demonstrated by his own way of life and instituted sacraments and a governing structure of the church and said to the Apostles go into all nations make disciples teach them everything I've commanded you teach them everything I've commanded you that's oral tradition and I'll be with you to the end of the age a promise of divine assistance whoever hears you hears me whoever rejects you rejects me what have you bind on earth is bound in heaven what have you loose on earth is loosed in heaven whoever sins you forgive a forgiving whoever sins you retain a retained Christ actually taught orally and by ritual and example took that pattern of life and teaching transmitted it as a sacred deposit to authorized individuals with a command that they perpetuate it and a promise of divine assistance not a word in there about our written text as the final rule of faith in life so Luther comes to this conclusion that the Bible is the final rule of faith and life as a response to political necessity not because it's been revealed by God now let's actually look at Luther's charge he's well the council's contradict each other all right so if that's your principle if you find tension right in a body of doctrine or teaching a revelation you should reject it that's is what he's saying okay I find tensions or differences of emphasis of point so different contexts and don't know how to reconcile that therefore we should reject it well on that basis you should reject the Bible too right because the Bible contains points of tension points of difference differences of culture differences of emphasis differences in the history of revelation reconciling those differences has always been one of the tasks and goals of Catholic tradition now there have been people who have said well hey the Bible contradicts itself so we should throw out the Bible one of them was the early heretic Marcion 2nd century heretic in Rome he said hey Old Testament New Testament seemed to be different less throw away the Old Testament guess umar sein was most liked in his doctrine of salvation he was most like Luther Marcion actually held that you're saved by grace a load and faith alone and not by works but for him that meant throw out the entire Old Testament alright so is that how you want to go if I find something that's in tension I'm just gonna throw it away or do you take the Catholic point of view which is that when faced with an apparent contradiction what you do is you harmonize by drawing a distinction that's the rule of st. Thomas Aquinas when faced with the contradiction draw a distinction and when you do that you find that you can arrive at a coherent understanding at a diverse body of material conveyed to us by a consistent tradition even one that contains tension once you admit antecedently it's divine authority then you draw the proper distinctions and you can make sense of it you see what I'm saying thank you very much appreciate the question number two be on the show one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six I've got a call now from Anne in Rochester New York and welcome to called communion hi I love yourself thank you so much so I am NOT a non Catholic on the cradle Catholic and I have a mom's prayer group and it's very strong and we meet weekly and just it's just a great nourishment press all spiritually but um you spoke of father Angelus who told you that your suffering had meaning and it brought to mind a discussion we had today in our prayer group about you know how horrible and sad things happened people and when it's not you it's easier to say well you know God allowed that da da da but when it's you and we had a friend that recently had a terrible loss and another friend who a little bit longer ago had one I tried to take a crack at it today and say ha you know well you know but I just wanted you to explain in your beautiful articulate way how our suffering has meaning sure that's a great question stay with me in the music is rolling for the break I can't stop it it's beyond my power but I'll be back in just a couple minutes it will talk about the meaning and suffering and a pastoral approach how we can approach others that are suffering so hold on for call to comedian [Music] dr. Gregg Papa we want listeners to see that God has a unique and unrepeatable plan for their lives and how to rejoice in the work God is doing in their hearts and in their homes the leading Catholic voices are on EWTN radio father Benedict Groeschel I don't think people should have negative views of God I think you should get a lump in your throat you should feel excited suppose I've been going to take you and introduce you to the Pope or to the president of some country or something you might get a little lump in your throat let me forget it every day you I live and move and have our being in the presence of God these are the class of feelings we should have and we should have them to an intense degree if we really had the sight of Almighty God these feelings are the feelings which we shall have if we realize his presence and in proportion as we believe that he is present we shall have them and not to have them is not to realize not to believe that God is present to us the people you know and trust are on EWTN we need EWTN radio for the reason that Mother Angelica founded this entire enterprise she always saw this as a spiritual growth Network it was to be an enterprise in media that reached people in all aspects of their life she saw this as a holistic approach to reaching the whole person in the middle of the world and bringing them truth and life Raymond Arroyo thinks Catholic radio is important so should you tomorrow on more to life that's just not me we'll help you overcome those hard to make changes in your life and relationships now back to call to communion with dr. David Anders [Music] welcome back to cold to communion the number to be on the show is one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six you can email us at CTC at ewtn.com you can also text five five zero zero zero wait for a response text your first name in question message and data rates may apply main line again is one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six so before the break we were talking to Ann in Rochester New York who had a question about the meaning of suffering and she drew a distinction she said you know it's nice to talk in the abstract about suffering having meaning and that's particularly easy when it happens to somebody else what about what happens to you and that and we do have to draw a distinction between how we understand our own suffering and how I understand other people's or how we respond to it but I'm gonna draw the distinction this way if someone else is suffering and if they're suffering badly for me to go to them and say well you know your sufferings got meaning like a platitude when I myself am not compassionate suffering along with them deeply empathetic bearing their burdens being present to them in a humble attitude of receptive love then my words are not going to be helpful they may even be hurtful because someone may hear me say well your suffering has meaning and think that I'm basically saying well get over it you know that I'm being trite with with their horrific difficulties and so unless I mean you can understand how a person could respond that way so while it is true that suffering can be meaningful we have to be very careful in our pastoral approach that we not push people away by not suffering along with them Christ is of course the perfect example of this Christ told us we have to take up our cross and follow him I mean he invited us into a life of suffering and yet he himself was deeply compassionate towards the suffering towards the indigent the poor the sick he was filled with compassion on their path he went out and actively healed them men then teach them forgave them was present to them and and of course he entered into solidarity with human suffering in the most profound way by taking the suffering of humanity upon himself and dying the death on the cross and so the the most perfect way of demonstrating to others the value in their own suffering is when we ourselves become willing to bear it with them to join with them in their suffering that's the most profound way of showing our belief in the meaning of suffering but when it happens to us what happens to us how can we think about our suffering in a way that can help us realize its meaning is meaningfulness little a couple ways that was beautiful most noble most sublime is that when we suffer for doing good this is commendable before God and men and you don't need a theology degree to see this when we see our fallen heroes even in the civil civic world political leaders military leaders civil rights heroes whatnot shot down in the line of duty you know first responders and they're willing to take on that risk and that personal suffering on behalf of others we respond naturally with admiration we see that that's commendable it's worthy it's honorable but guess what God also passes the same verdict God says that's valuable as well all right it's worthy of or what it's meritorious but that can happen even in the little things of life you know the inconveniences that constantly plug us in domestic life that can create suffering small or great it may seem trivial to someone outside family life but you know imagine the spouse who's had a long hard day and they come home and they're hoping for compassion and it seems to them that those in their family are utterly disinterested in what they've gone through and they feel rejected by the people closest to them that kind of experience can be crushing psychologically and can be an occasion of deep sorrow even those kinds of sufferings we can say like the Blessed Virgin Mary Lord be it done to me according to my word we can accept our present sufferings whether they be great or small interior or exterior as part of the plan of God in His goodness his providential control of all things ordered ultimately for our salvation and the salvation of the world even we don't see the fulfillment but know that God is in control trust in His goodness and his providence and so rather than become embittered or despairing and those are the two temptations we become angry or we despair rather than becoming embittered or disturb despairing we we can still maintain an attitude of acceptance humility and gratitude and thankfulness in that willing surrender to our circumstances is meritorious in the sight of God also because it has merit merit can avail for the good of the universal church st. Paul said book of Colossians I fill up on my own flesh what's lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body the church in the same way when we bear our sufferings and sorrows great or small with an attitude of acceptance to divine providence and willingness to trust in the divine plan and His goodness and that merit that we acquire we can share behalf of our fellows that's why in the old spirituality you would hear people say well let me offer this whatever offer this suffering offer this trial this difficulty for such-and-such an intention for you know for Johnny's salvation or for grandmom's knee surgery or whatever it might be I'm gonna offer this suffering as a prayer on behalf of somebody else or some other intention plus most noble form of suffering that it's fruitful all right in our life there's another one as well as another form that suffering can take in our life it's also fruitful for our salvation and that is suffering can be purifying can be sanctifying it can cause us to become actually holier sometimes our sufferings are the result of our own faults our own vices that have brought these things upon us that's very evident to see that's very evident to see you know think about for example the sin of pride if I'm given to pride and you know the vainglorious and proud person over estimates their worth and therefore they are prone to overstepping in social situations putting themselves forward in an untoward way and you know the old saying pride goes before fall so you do this you suffer from the sin of pride you you overstep you overreach and you end up making yourself look a fool well there's nothing worse to the proud man than to look a fool and that stinks Oh does that sting and then you smart anteriorly and the memory of that humiliation comes back to you again and again and again and you relive that little mini trauma of humiliation and in your in your psychological distress and pain that you experience you have to make a choice in that moment the choice might be and this is what we're often tempted to do I want to bury the memory of that humiliation and I will do it with another sinful pleasure that's what we're tempted to do right so I'll turn to overindulgence in food or drink or sexual fantasy or anger or whatever your vice is I'm gonna bury the memory of that humiliation under some vicious act or it becomes for us an occasion of sanctification now look at it in the face and I say why am i experiencing this present pain it's because I was proud I was vainglorious i overstepped I overreached if I had followed the advice of Christ who says seek the lowest place that you may be exalted don't seek the highest place and then be humiliated he tells us what to do in the gospel if only I had listened to Christ I wouldn't be experiencing this present pain I will now embrace this pain I will embrace it out thou accept it fully as the tool to spur me to greater holiness and humility which is the wellspring of virtue was what dietrich von Hildebrand's and humility the wellspring of virtue and it'll become for me an occasion of becoming more like Christ in his humility and pain was the occasion of that sanctification that's another way that suffering can help us can either be meritorious or it can be a goad to action and to greater purity of heart in life so that's that's my sufferings useful appreciate the call the number to be on the show is one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six let's go to Murray in Golden Colorado Murray welcome to call to Communion hi you had just said something about if we knew or had any sort of knowledge of father Shaughnessy her father Angeles my best friend there her name is Paulette and father Angeles was her uncle it was her dad brother and so she's at 12 this is this is terribly exciting this is like father Angelus celebration day on called the communion I'm so excited thank you for sharing that with me you know earlier in the show I read my my my dedication to father Angelus that I had put out in my book we were privileged to have father Angelus his biological sister call in a little while ago and share some reflections about her brother now we have a friend of father Angelus is nice and during the break I was actually thinking about him and I and I pulled up an article that was published just last year at the National Catholic Register which is EWTN in-house newspaper you know and the title of the article was only the humble are happy a commentary remembering the life and ministry of father Angelus Shaughnessy so Marie thank you so much for for calling in and and sharing that reflection I really really appreciate it what a great man and he touched so many people the number to be on the show is one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight 3 9 8 6 we've got Matt next in Greenville Tennessee Matt welcome to cold communion hi dr. Anderson hi dr. Anders I appreciate everything we do for call to chameleon you were very influential and my wife and I coming into the church last year thank you and we appreciate every your testimony and just your knowledge of and giving clarity as to what the Church teaches has been very helpful especially in this confusing time one question I have is on the poll that came out from Pew Research Center last month which is cousin my life and I had to be a little confused where one-third of us Catholics fury and the real prices of Christ and the Eucharist I just wanted to get your take on that and work some of the causes I've heard of many causes such as you know poor catechesis everything from that to abuses within the church yeah I've even heard of people mention the distinction between the Norva sort of church and the traditional align mass as being maybe a distinction that can be used in this conversation but what's your take on it yeah thanks I really appreciate the question I am I'm really kind of don't take me the wrong way here okay I'm kind of unfazed that doesn't mean I think it's unimportant I do think it's important so when I say I'm unfazed I don't mean I'm indifferent I'm not indifferent but I'm not disturbed in a way that would challenge me in my faith and and here's why right so when what brought me to the Catholic faith was that I studied Christian history I studied it a lot for a long time not only its theology but I studied the social history of the Christian faithful and the experience of the faith that laypeople had throughout the Middle Ages of late Middle Ages in the early modern period that's kind of what I did my doctoral dissertation on was the relationship of of learned and authority Authority to forms of the Christian faith to their own to their own parishioners and and the common laypeople with it you know in the sixteenth century and how how that played out what that relationship looked like then versus now versus earlier up here's in the church's history and and what you find is that scandalous levels of ignorant or unbelief of Christian dogma characterizes every period of church history without exception I haven't found one any different I haven't doesn't matter what period you pick in Christian history if you took a Pew Research poll of the average lay Catholic you would find a wide divergence of opinions it doesn't matter Catholic non-catholic whatever this is true across religious traditions by the way that the authoritative dogmatic teaching of a tradition and the degree of adherence that participants in that religion evidence there's always going to be a gap and depending on the age the era you know the gap could be great or small and the gap could usually great and you know and on the issues that are under debate or discussion those are gonna shift obviously but there's always a gap I mean the the paradigm for me and understanding the nature of Catholic teaching Authority and relationship to the wider Catholic world has got to be the fourth century it's got to be the Council of Nicaea why was there a Council of Nicaea the reason there was a Council of Nicaea is that vast vast amounts of the Christian population throughout the world vast numbers of people explicitly denied the divinity of Christ the Trinity the dogma of dogmas the highest truth of the Christian religion was denied by massive amounts of the Christian population and its leadership and that was in the fourth century they didn't have pure research back then but if they had they would have come up with a lot of people were Aryans you know when I when you get into the Middle Ages one of the things that church reformers Catholic Church reformers were dealing with was the problem of superstition among the Christian faithful and I mean I did a lot of research on this and you found bishops that were going out doing visitations of their diocese to try to actually figure out what people were believing in doing and Roman paganism was still alive in some corners people worshipping the Sun Moon and stars there were Saxon Christians in the 8th century that still believed in elves for crying out loud so you know this this kind of thing is it's just part of being human st. Agustin writes about it st. Augustine writes about it in his tract on catechizing the uninstructed and he gives instructions for how do you deal with ignorant both in the educated population and the uneducated population and unbelief of Christian doctrine how should you handle it so this is not a new problem and I think it is I think it is it's grotesquely simplistic and mono causational reasoning to try to blame this on something like inter-church liturgical politics Vanessa that's a convenient scapegoat pick you know jump in an ideological camp and then use use data right to to to blame that all on the bad guys give me a break I mean how simple that is how convenient that is Jesus had something to say about ideological blinders he's to take the log out of your own eye take the log out of your own eye before you criticize your neighbor I'm not saying questions of liturgical theology are unimportant of course they're important but they're not going to get you to heaven you're not going to go to heaven look and show up there and have Saint Peter say why should I let you in and you'll be like I checked all the right liturgical boxes it's not going to get you into heaven we know what gets you in have you loved God and loved your neighbor have you exhibited the character traits that Christ himself lived and that he taught in the Sermon on the Mount are you in fact poor in spirit are you pure in heart are you meek this is what's going to get you into heaven have you fed the poor clothe the naked given drink to the thirsty fed the hungry visited the sick in the imprisoned that's what's going to get you an avid and the dogmatic tradition and the liturgical tradition of the church are there as truths to be embraced to bring us to that kind of holiness of life people are not born holy they're born with a wounded nature and original sin they need the grace of the sacraments to be healed faith every day is a battle it's a struggle both in the formal aspect of catechesis we always have to do a better job there's always work to be done there's never Jesus says workers are few fields are great always more work to do that we have money time or resources all right that's why Saints are so magnificent because they have an outsized influence and the solution to all of this is oh yeah we got to have forms we have systems we're gonna have videos and EWTN radio and we got to have all these resources what we really need is holiness of life and we need saints because one saint can convert a million so let's get about the business of becoming holy that's what I have to say about that thank you appreciate the call number to be on the show one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you have a question about the Catholic faith or you want to tell me why you're not Catholic call me at 183 three two eight eight three nine eight six go to another email question this one is from nazar nazar says several episodes described in the New Testament have a direct and more ancient parallel source in the ancient pagon Egyptian religious myths and then you list some examples I won't go through all of those in light of that how can you answer the serious allegation that much of the New Testament irreal has been taken or copied or adapted from pagan myths of ancient Egypt alright yeah thanks appreciate the question the reason I didn't read the specific examples is just seems pedantic to do so but the underlying question is what do we do when we find commonalities between biblical narratives and and an ancient Near Eastern parallels and and analogously what do we do when we find similarities between Christianity and and other religious traditions around the world that clearly you know are very distant from Christianity does this bother me it doesn't bother me in the slightest first of all when that whenever I find commonalities among religious traditions I say stands to reason we share a common nature that that goes to show the truth of the Christian doctrine that there is such a thing as humanity same things true of natural law when I find truths of the moral life that are taught consistently across Christianity Buddhism Judaism Islam Hinduism Confucianism Daoism I say stands to reason st. Paul said the same thing for Romans chapter one Acts chapter 17 we share a common nature because we are all children of the one father God and our nature is going to respond to the light of reason in similar ways we'll to be cultural differences yes but will there be commonalities inevitably there is going to be a stock of stories some of them may may evidence direct influence so maybe there's a tradition of storytelling that gets passed from pagan culture and incorporated into Christian culture why because probably because those stories had some sort of moral purchase that seemed relevant to these universal truths about human nature maybe maybe in this course was you know the theory of the psychoanalyst Carl Jung maybe maybe similar patterns of stories emerge across human cultures without direct influence for the very same reason because they tend to tend to kind of reify and capture universal human experiences that that that proceed along similar lines in different cultures again because we tend to share the same nature so so rather than threatening the integrity or truth of the Christian faith when I find similarities across religious traditions I think it goes to undergird the truth of a traditional approach to God religion and morality rather than the modern relativist narrative that tries to point to the existence of differences as the s to demonstrate the truth that there is no common nature or there is no common morality I think it rather proves the opposite that's what I have to say about that thank you his are alright let's go down to can we go to our Matthew in Trenton New Jersey no yeah yeah okay Matthew Trent New Jersey welcome to call the communion hello how are you at the show thank you what can I do for you um I was quote I was wondering how you would approach this situation the family member who was a who's raised Protestant Southern Baptist who has since fallen away from Protestantism and still believes in God the Father and to an extent God the Holy Spirit denies the Trinity and denies the divinity of Christ yeah okay yeah thanks appreciate the question so first of all I think it's very important when when timony administer in evangelistic ways to people that we proceed from a basis of friendship especially if it's a one-on-one situation like this and because you're not going to be able to argue someone directly into Christian doctrine particularly one that's not evident to reason and the divinity of Christ is not immediately apparent to human reason we have to be this is this is a supernatural doctrine requires supernatural gift of faith and so the context of the relationship is going to be critical for conveying the love and grace in your own life it's necessary to a full acceptance of Christian doctrine but there are other things we can do there are there are reasonable arguments that we can make about why we should take Christians claims of divinity of Christ seriously one of them of course is the historicity of the resurrection proving the divine authority of Christ and there's a lot written on that I'm not gonna have time to give you all the references but do some research on evidence for the resurrection and then I would also talk about the the the high view of Christ conveyed by the historic Christian tradition how has that actually played out in human history to impact culture and how how Christianity specifically as opposed to a kind of bear monotheism has actually influenced the course of human events in a positive way some of the resources there I will give you the work of Christopher Dawson Harvard history of the Catholic faith Rodney stark actually non Catholic historian of the Catholic tradition as well as the work of Tom woods the book how the Catholic Church built Western civilization all those can be helpful as well as Brant Petrie's work on the divinity of Christ hello friends this is father Wade moniece's I'm here to take your calls about faith family and fellowship open line Tuesday is next on EWTN radio the EWTN home video highlight for September is st. Brigid of Sweden the movie she was a wife mother and a mystic who's beautiful revelations touched the lives of many throughout the centuries order your DVD at ewtn our c.com 24 hours a day seven days a week or call one eight hundred eight five four six three one six EWTN live truth live Catholic the call a call from God Father Jacob restaurateurs his experience I think probably I wanted to be a priest when I was about twelve years old the problem was that first you had to be a Catholic and I wasn't a Catholic but the Lord took care of that and

Channel: EWTN

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Length: 55min 13sec (3313 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 24 2019