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.
mrscracker writes: “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.”
You’re absolutely right. It’s the same dynamic that homosexual predators use to desensitize their victims in their early adolescence. It’s also known as “grooming.”
There was a priest of the NY Archdiocese, Fr. Pipala, who had about 30-40 pubescent boys initiated into his secret club at his parish using rituals so they could feel included. Once initiated into the club, the puvescent boys were vulnerable to being abused sexually.
That’s really disturbing Deacon Edward. So sad.
You are thinking along the same lines as I am. In the aftermath of the sexual abuse crisis, we need to be actively aware and less willing to make excuses. Otherwise, we really haven’t learned anything. People, men and women, have done all kind of stupid things under group pressure since the Garden of Eden.
The test in this type of situation should be simple: does this challenging, provocative group activity lead toward Christ, or away from Christ? Especially when the group doing the activity are seminarians or novices and aspirants to religious orders. It’s hard to see how a ceremony where participants are woken up “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” could lead to Christ. Or that Christ would ask anyone to swear that kind of oath in those circumstances.
Yes, this whole thing has more than a whiff of paganism to it. The Archbishop may need to engage in some discipline here.
“For me, it was recognizing that I have not just been saved from sin, but have been filled with divine, Trinitarian life and called to enter into the Mystery of the Trinity for all eternity,” shared Olson, who co-edited a 2016 work entitled Called to Be the Children of God: The Catholic Theology of Human Deification.
“Olson said that deification theology has informed his personal faith “in every possible way.” For instance, he better understands his vocation as a husband and father as a participation in God’s divine work “precisely because it is animated by God’s divine life,” as opposed to something separated from it. Furthermore, he is better able to experience Catholic liturgy as “an entrance into the life of the Kingdom and a foretaste of the heavenly communion.”
This is a wonderful explanation about the Mystical Union of man with God, although it is important to note if in dying , we are restored in Christ, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), The Spirit Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love Between The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Who Proceeds From Both The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Jesus The Christ, we will still be His People, and He will still be our God, even though we will have become completely transformed, through The Spirit Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love Incarnate, which is why “Called To Be The Children Of God”, is a beautiful title that complements God’s Universal Call To Holiness, to be pure in our thoughts, in our words, and in our deeds , and why we can know through both Faith and reason, that in no way, shape, or form, can anyone who desires to accommodate the engaging in or affirmation of sexual immorality, be answering God’s Call To Holiness, and why we can know through both Faith and reason, that The Spirit Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love Between The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Jesus The Christ, Proceeds From Both The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Jesus The Christ.
At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
@ The Faith of Hemingway
Hemmingway’s Catholicism was that of the free spirit. A favorite author for his gift of revealing truth and beauty, the overlooked shades of our humanness. A great writer needn’t be a saintly Catholic, as author Kendall suggests, and essayist James Wilson convincingly tempers.
Ernest Hemingway’s wonderful gift of perspicacity of our humanness in places most of us overlook must have been drawn, I say with prejudice, from a spiritual sensitivity virtually exclusive to Catholicism – as featured in Kendall’s account. However distant from practicing Catholics. My hope and prayer is that God took that into account when he blew his brains out with his favorite shotgun.
Before I entered the final stage in my journey to Catholicism from faithlessness by reading established theology, previously there were authors who were steering me towards the faith. Hemingway, perhaps without his full awareness, provided me with numerous life lessons.
My prayer for suicide deaths is that God in His infinite Mercy gave them an opportunity to make their peace with Him in those last moments. Or nano-seconds perhaps.
We never know what terrible darkness others can be afflicted with.
“This Catholic man is well known in the town and is regularly asked to appear at events in this costume,” Nepil said. “He has done this specific prank many times with family, friends, and other guests who stay at his ski cabin. At no time was there any risk of physical harm, but in hindsight, and even though the host wanted to do this, it should have never happened.”
Clearly this was a prank based on this information, and the fact that “Fortunately, the investigation uncovered that the event was farce, that no oath had taken place, and at no time was there risk of bodily harm. It was, however, part of a deeply imprudent and inappropriate prank,” said the statement, and I would add, those that participated, realized it was a prank, and no harm was intended, as long as this prank was not directed at any specific Seminarian.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila, is a Faithful Bishop, and I trust his judgement.
@ Becoming Like God
This is the richest array of topics seen [by me] in Extra extra. Sort of a mobile feast for commenters. Why, we can discuss how to become gods!
Olson offers us a living example of the real meaning since he hasn’t [to date] exhibited Godlike thunderous pronouncements or anathemas. It’s really being like Christ. That’s the hard reality. And it’s not easy.
Olson also exhibits a sense of humor. But did Christ exhibit humor? I believe so. The parable about the wicked judge, who feared that an angry, persistent woman would do him harm if he didn’t ratify her case. So he acquiesced [and Jesus makes the unimaginable analogy to a wicked judge who succumbs to persistence].
Then there’s the passion and cross. How many of us will jump at the chance to be crucified for that insufferable late night comic?
@ Dialogue with the non-Catholic World
Chapp offers a lucid and succinct picture of the real Council, concluding with this centerpiece from Gaudium et Spes: “only an emphasis on Gaudium et Spes 22–‘it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear’ [n. 22]— can save us from this false progressive narrative. This is the stark reality that Pope Leo must face.”
Three points:
FIRST, Pope Leo XIV, an Augustinian in line with St. Augustine who also wrote clearly: “We can say things differently, but we can’t say different things.”
SECOND, the often misquoted John Henry Newman, regarded as the “father of the Second Vatican Council,” said this of constant change (today the cited Chenu’s “permanent state of revolution”):
“A philosophy or belief [….] enters upon strange territory; points of controversy alter their bearing; parties rise and fall around it; dangers and hopes appear in new relations; and old principles reappear under new forms. It changes with them IN ORDER TO REMAIN THE SAME [caps added!]. In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often” (“The Development of Christian Doctrine,” 1885, Ch. 1, Sec. 1).
THIRD, also in step with “Mysterium Ecclesia” (CDF 1973): “[….] This certain and unchangeable doctrine, to which faithful obedience is due, has to be explored and presented in a way that is demanded by our times. One thing is the deposit of faith, which consists of the truths contained in sacred doctrine, another thing is the manner of presentation, always however with the same meaning and signification[!]” (John XXIII 1962 allocution opening the Council; and Gaudium et spes, 1965, n. 62).
QUESTION: From whence commeth, then, the ambiguous and exploitable four “principles” superimposed, in italics in Evangelii Gaudium (2013), atop the Gospel—especially “time is greater than space”?
And, from thence hath commeth a town hall “synod” and then a shell-game “synod on synodality” (say what?), extending to 2028—and fully redefining (?) the Church from a “hierarchical communion” (Lumen Gentium). As the secular world redefines “marriage,” so too does the Church redefine the marriage of Christ with his Church?
@ Grizzly Bear Blood Oath
This event, as described, sounds like a hazing ritual, plain and simple. The term “initiation” is even used, so why overcomplicate it? The willingness to take a blood oath should have no part in the formation of priests, because this has NOTHING to do with Jesus Christ. The fact that the sponsor, Fr. John Nepil, is a great guy who is charismatic, loves the outdoors, has written a book, etc., doesn’t matter. The fact that the ritual was performed by a Catholic man and that other people like him, have seen his Yeti act and think it’s funny, doesn’t matter. It’s completely inappropriate in so many levels that I am sputtering here. After years of the sexual abuse crisis, a leader at a Church event for seminarians thinks that it’s okay to gather them into a group where they are embarrassed and intimidated into “proving” that they belong to the group.
“It was not a hazing event,” Nepil stressed. “This was a well-intended moment to try to be funny, and it clearly went badly wrong and never should have happened.”
It was a hazing event; it has all the markers of a hazing event. Calling it a prank doesn’t change anything, The seminarians are still in formation and under the authority of the seminary’s leadership, of which Fr. Nepil was one.
Fr. Nepil should be sent off to a penitential stay in a monastery where he can reconsider the foundational basis of his priesthood and the requirements of his responsibilities to others, especially seminarians.