Becoming Like God – “The revival of deification theology in the Catholic Church has big implications, from ecumenism to AI.” ‘You Are Gods’: The Ancient Theology That’s Making a Comeback — and Could Help Unite East and West (National Catholic Register)
The Faith of Hemingway – “Hemingway showed a whole generation how to act like a man despite all. He became a father figure of sorts: It was not only his children who called him “Papa.'” Catholicism in a time of crisis (World)
Grizzly Bear Blood Oath – “Clergy in the Archdiocese of Denver are divided over the handling of a controversial “blood oath” ceremony involving a vice rector and seminarians during a ski trip last year.” ‘Yeti blood oath’ divides Denver seminary (The Pillar)
A Distancing in Style – “All we have seen and heard indicates that the crucified and risen Christ who sends the Spirit is the very heart of Leo’s spirituality and theology.” Centered in Christ: Reflections on Pope Leo’s First 100 Days (Public Discourse)
Dialogue with the Non-Catholic World – “Vatican II’s often-misread final document is best understood by returning to its central claim: Jesus Christ reveals man to himself.” ‘Gaudium et Spes’ Was Clear: Christ Is the Key to Unlock the Mystery of Man (National Catholic Register)
Fitzgerald’s Magnum Opus – “I certainly recall learning nothing in high school English about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Catholicism.” Jay Gatsby’s Great Desire for Deification (Word on Fire)
Not Just a Vision – “Danny Kruger MP’s impassioned speech to an empty House of Commons chamber on the need to restore the UK’s Christian heritage has been viewed more than 3 million times. It’s a roadmap for a Christian counter-revolution, says David Campanale.” Danny Kruger’s speech has gone viral. Is this a turning point? (Premier Christianity)
The Francis Era – “The pope stands under the judgement of no man, but not even the pope can elude the judgement of history.” Greater than Eternity: On Pope Francis’ ultimate legacy (The Lamp)
Visible Sign of Communion – “As the third Metropolitan Assembly of the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh kicks off, the Pope shares how their meeting is “a visible sign of communion in the Church.” Pope Leo sends message to Byzantine Catholics in United States (Vatican News)
A Paradoxical History – “Whatever one’s take on these hauntings by Joachim, whether they come with the mandate to be embraced or resisted, they continue to be a phenomenon. ” The Hauntings of Joachim de Fiore (Church Life Journal)
Adapting New Technology – “EWTN Global Catholic Network Chairman and CEO Michael P. Warsaw announced a new organizational structure designed to enhance EWTN’s faithfulness to its mission in the digital landscape and increased impact around content development and distribution.” EWTN Announces Change in Structure of Global Catholic Media Organization (The Malaysian Reserve)
Cornerstone of Academics – “Colleges increasingly view students as customers and prioritize job training over broad intellectual development.” Five Steps to Revive the Liberal Arts (The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal)
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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#7 Not Just a Vision
I saw Danny Kruger’s speech to the empty House, and I had seen his previous speech during the (brief) debate on assisted suicide/euthanasia. It is hard not to be impressed.
Nevertheless, I have some problems with the more recent speech and I’m greatly looking forward to Gavin Ashenden’s take on it.
About half way through my reading of “The Francis Era,” the legacy of our last pontiff became painfully clear.
I am — and, I suspect, will forever remain — sick unto death of Bergoglio and all of his senseless folderol.
May God have mercy on his soul. I fear he will need every ounce of it.
Re #7 More Than a Vision
P.S. I was very much looking forward to reading this article, especially in view of my reservations about Mr. Kruger’s speech.
Forget it.
Would it be possible for CWR to note when an article is restricted so I don’t get all excited (and annoyed)?
@ Becoming Like God
“Deification,” yes, but precisely by grace (as clearly noted) and participation, rather than by seeming to arrogate the very nature of God.
Two points:
FIRST, the heresy of agnostic Western modernism is to presume that our selves are self-created and self-sufficient—that rather than “ex-isting” we “subsist” (as is/does only God who is uncreated and subsistent being in person). So, yes, a document on deification partly as ecumenically in step with the Eastern Orthodox Churches. But, also to be carefully crafted so as not to aggravate the chasm between Christian “faith” in the Incarnation event and the alternative monotheistic “beliefs” of Islam?
Severely monotheistic Islam arose partly as a response to fragmented Christianity (Byzantine Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism)—as seen through the eyes of early Arabia with its vast desert separating contingent human beings, who are absolutely submissive, from a distant and totally inscrutable (non-Trinitarian) Allah. And, by whom the “dictated” Qur’an (“the word made book” and the very essence of God) then replaces Jesus Christ (“the Word made flesh”).
SECOND, “deification,” a chance toward ecumenical unification, but also a chance to avoid a misstep in interreligious dialogues. That is, neither what could easily appear as late Western arrogance nor as a facile “pluralism of religions,” but creative engagement with a thoughtful Muslim who discovered something new (deification?), only a few years prior to the Council:
“It all comes down to knowing whether one should hold strictly to the fundamental religious values which were those of Abraham and Moses, on pain of falling into blasphemy—as the Muslims believe; or whether God has called men to approach him more closely, revealing to them little by little their fundamental condition as sinful men, and the forgiveness that transforms them and prepares them for the beatific vision [deification!]—as Christian dogma teaches.” (el Akkad in 1956, as cited by Jean Guitton, “The Great Heresies and Church Councils,” 1965).
SUMMARY: Deification, today as an ecumenical response to an 11th-century schism. And, on the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea, also a chance to reflect on earlier Byzantine sectarianism—and on what happened at its geographic (and interreligious) Arabian periphery, the expansive 7th-century mosque-state with today some 1.8 billion very sectarian followers.
@ A Distancing Style
We read: “It is the ‘global synodal process’ launched by his predecessor and now taking on further impetus due to a document signed by Pope Francis during his last hospitalization. That document provides for an elongated three-year process, beginning this past June and slated to culminate in a little defined ‘ecclesial assembly’ to be held at the Vatican in October 2028.”
In 1963 the new Pope Paul VI had the freedom to either continue the Second Vatican Council, or not. Likewise, Pope Leo XIV also has the freedom to continue what is underway toward 2028, or not.
If the rebranded and “little-defined ‘ecclesial assembly'” shows any signs under Cardinal Grech to still posture itself as a replacement for authentic synods of bishops, or even the Second Vatican Council (Lumen Gentium and the “hierarchical communion”), then cut the head off the snake. The Holy See is bigger than Malta.
A group of seminarians studying at Denver’s St. John Vianney Theological Seminary were taken on the trip in January 2024 by then-vice rector of the seminary, Fr. John Nepil, during which they were woken in the middle of the night and invited individually to swear a “blood oath” in a ceremony involving a dagger and a man in a yeti costume.”
**********
Pretty ridiculous especially for Catholics, but men seem to go in for this sort of initiation stuff: fraternities, freemasons, African tribes, Knights of Columbus, etc.