The Arrow's Path

I apologize for no blog updates this week. I am woefully behind due to the 4th of July holiday, myself catching a bit of a summertime cold, my daughter having to have a tonsillectomy this coming week, and starting school again as a graduate student this next week. Life has been extremely busy for me this week. I hope to return to regular blogging again this weekend or early next week.  I can't remember if I have shared my latest personal news.  f I have not, I guess it is time to let the cat out of the bag. After much thought and prayer (for like the last 5 years at least), I have decided to get back into education. I initially had a teaching license in Tennessee 25+ years ago but never used it (and it long since expired). So, as of August 1st, I doing two things. One is that I am going to be starting a new job at a small country school outside of town. Initially, going to be a para/substitute/bus driver (and probably get drafted to be an assistant football coach at so...

I apologize for being woefully behind on my continued reflections on Pope Leo XIV's latest encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas.  I have been meaning to sit down and write my thoughts on Chapter 3 for a few weeks now, but real life has taken over.  There is one thing I would clarify before continuing. I have noticed particularly in Chapter 3, but beginning in previous chapters of this encyclical, the Pope Leo has started using the terms "technocrat" and "technocracy" quite a bit. As someone who understands what he is referring to, this does not bother me. Unless I missed it, he never clearly defines what he means by those terms; he alludes to (dare I say heehaws around) definitions, sometimes imprecisely. As I do not believe these terms are common English parlance outside certain political science and techno-babble circles, I feel the need to try to define the terms, or at least my understand of them, as it becomes a very central concept in Chapter 3.  As I understan...

 I had a question/comment posed to me:  I wanted to discuss a couple points of theology. What really made me want to convert was a fundamental disagreement with Protestantism on two things: Grace and "total depravity. Concerning the former, I don't view grace as a one and done deal. I believe we have to cooperate with it via our free will. We have to put our money where our mouths are and show up. When I found the Church actually teaches this it was a massive breath of fresh air, as I had lived in the tension of seriously disagreeing with Protestantism on this point. Concerning the latter, I think people are generally good, as we were made in the image of God, but have a tendency to sin. The Church, of course, conceptualizes this as Original Sin. The idea that we're totally depraved is refuted by the fact that we're not totally depraved. That one is kinda easy. And again, living in that tension. Some protestant denominations believe it more than others, but that notion...

 Had an interesting question posed on the meaning of the Council of Trent's teaching on marriage: Good morning! I’m really struggling with a teaching expressed by the Council of Trent and wonder if you can help me understand it: “If any one saith, that the marriage state is to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony; let him be anathema.” My difficulty isn’t that I think marriage should be considered superior to celibacy. I don’t have any problem saying that both are good gifts from God or even that virginity for the sake of the Kingdom has a unique significance. What I’m struggling with is the idea that one vocation is objectively more blessed than the other. If God genuinely calls some people to marriage and others to celibacy, why would faithful obedience to one divine vocation be considered more blessed than faithful obedience to another? If a woman ...

I just finished reading the second chapter of Magnifica Humanitas , continuing my series of reflections upon it in real time as I read it. Chapter 2 was entitled, "Foundations and Principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church." Largely, Pope Leo XIV attempts to set forth the framework of how Catholic Social Teaching is understood and applied to the Church itself. I presume so as to then be able to pivot in the next chapter on how these same principles might be applied to greater society outside the Church. There was nothing too remarkable, in my opinion, about this chapter. He sets about laying the foundations of Catholic Social Doctrine. He grounds this Social Doctrine in paragraph 48 in being centered and following out of the Trinity. Being an Augustinian priest, this does not surprise me as St Augustine wrote an entire book on the Trinity where he partially goes through nature looking for triads found in all levels of society and nature that prove the Triune nature of Go...

As I stated previously , Pope Leo XIV has released his first encyclical entitled Magnifica Humanitas . I opened with a reflection on the Introduction to this teaching document. The opening was concise but theologically solid, as it presented the core of Catholic Social Teaching from the 1890s onward. I am continued to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest this encyclical chapter by chapter in real time. I have not read the entire document yet, but rather reading it privately in sections and then commenting on it before reading more. I find it helpful to engage in pieces and not read the entire thing and then start my analysis, as that tends to lead to a more broad overview and not looking at each section in it's unique own right.  Today, I read through Chapter 1 of the document. My initial reaction to the 1st chapter is not quite as positive as my enthusiasm for the opening introduction. It gets a little theological squishy in the early middle section (more on that in a moment), ...