A Song for Sunday

A beautiful song from the soundtrack of Brooklyn.  A little Irish brogue for your Sunday

"I left the Catholic Church because of science"

A sociological study was released last week that I’ve been reading.  The study looked at people who were raised in a religion but now don’t practice it anymore.

Interestingly a very small % left over doctrine – things like contraception, teachings on marriage between a man and a woman, abortion, etc.

By far the largest category said they left the Faith they were raised in because of science.

One sample response from the study, “I’m a scientist now, and I don’t believe in miracles.”

This study confirms, once again, that many see a great contest taking place in our world between science and religion, particularly science and Catholicism.  Of course people point here to the Galileo controversy as proof that the Church hates science and hopes to wipe it out.  Of course what most don’t realize is that it was a personal rift between the Pope and Galileo that caused the controversy, nor do many know that, scientifically speaking, we now know that both the Church AND Galileo were wrong, nor can anyone point to any OTHER instance of the Church coming after a scientist…but none the less there we have it…the Church hates science and Galileo is proof of it.

Maybe you know people who are like the majority in the study – people who say “I left my Catholic Faith behind because I believe in what I can measure and test and study – I believe in the observable.”  Maybe part of YOU wrestles with that?  I know at times growing up Catholic I wrestled with that question

And so as I was reading through some of this report, it came across my Twitter feed that Pope Francis addressed scientists this week.  I’m sure this address of the Holy Father was lined up months ago, but for me the timing was providential.

One of the things Pope Francis said was “Openness to the Grace of God, an openness which comes through Faith, does not weaken human science, but rather leads it to move forwards”

His point is one that has been made many times – Our Catholic Faith does not COMPETE with science.  Science, when done without an agenda, seeks to know what is true.  Faith, when pursued without an agenda, also seeks to know what is true. 

Of course a problem arises here: Faith and science can both be done WITH an agenda.  The Catholic Faith has been practiced with an agenda and a pretext for advancing personal interests.  We can also hopefully recognize that sometimes science is practiced with an agenda and a bias as well.  I am reading a book right now on Cyberpsychology, and it amazes me how quickly the author switches back and forth between science and personal opinion, but in the mind of the author – she views her opinions as science, and that is very dangerous.

Pope Francis also addressed this challenge with scientists this week saying “Every scientist needs to be watchful for the toxins which poison the mind’s pursuit of truth and certainty, and admit that every scientist has their own history, their own way of being and thinking, their own background, their own beliefs which can spill into their work.

Here I think we get some help from our readings. The first reading today tells us: “scarcely do we guess the things on earth” – this is a beautiful and true admission – THERE’S SO MUCH WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT WHAT WE SEE ON EARTH!  That is not a taunt to science, it is simply stating something very true.  There’s a lot in our world that we can’t explain just with science.  I love science shows, I loved studying math, I love sociological studies, I love studying psychology, physics and electricity still boggle my mind but I love trying to understand it.  Biology and the study of plants is so exciting to me, as a person who hikes and spends my free time outdoors.  I’m still completely humbled/amazed thankful for the science that led to my brother being able to survive cancer and the chemotherapy ---- I love science and the study of the observable.  It has given us so much!  Water purification, the ability to connect with people all over the world, surgery, healing, the ability to increase the productivity of our land 1,000 times more productive than land was a few hundred years ago.  The list goes on.  While saying that we love science, we still should be able, at the end of listing all that great stuff, say exactly what our first reading says – scarcely do we guess the things on earth!  There’s so much we still don’t understand, that we will never be able to observe.

Are all the things we see in the world – war, violence, abuse, terrorism, slavery, bullying, suicide, greed, destruction of the environment, aborting children and even killing them after they’re born…is it all explainable by chemistry?  Is it all explainable through psychology?  Is it all explainable by the theory of Relativity?  And the other side of that coin – is all the goodness that we see, the acts of kindness, the sacrifices people make for others, the charity, the love..can Mother Teresa, who is canonized a saint this weekend – can all the goodness we see be explained using electrons, photons, or behavioral psychology or a brain study?

Pope Francis answered this question yet again this week when he reminded scientists: “the sciences alone, however, are not sufficient to understand the mystery contained within each person”.  We all can admit that, I think, with just a wee bit of humility.  There’s a lot going on in the world that we will never be able to explain no matter how far science progresses.  The first reading notes that the wisdom that God gives through the Spirit completes the picture of what we see when we look around the world.  The things we learn about the world through our Faith fill in the gaps, the rather LARGE gaps, of all the things that we can’t measure nor study in a test tube.

Scarcely do we understand the things on Earth – this raises a great point as well.  What is your estimate for the things of the world that science CAN explain?  Again, if we think about all the things we experience in a day – how much of it does science explain?  I think the word from the reading is very accurate – Scarcely do we understand.

Some say, of course, “well, science hasn’t given us an answer to everything just yet, but it will eventually.”  But here it is really important to note something – this statement is a complete act of Faith and is as unscientific as saying there are three persons in one God.  To say that science will eventually explain everything is completely unscientific, because science HASN’T explained everything yet, so that person is putting their hope in something that no one has ever observed, thus committing the very crime they accuse the person of Faith of – believing something can be true that hasn’t been observed.

As a person who loves and is amazed by science, biology, math, physics, astronomy, psychology, oceanography, etc. my experience has been one in which the study of science has been the exact opposite of a THREAT to my Faith.  The more I’ve learned about science, the more I observe trees growing, the more I observe children growing in the womb through the power of ultrasounds, the more I learn about the universe, and the stars and the northern lights and the human body the CLOSER it has brought me to my Catholic Faith and to God – science has deepened my Faith, not drawn me away from it.

As St. John Paul II noted, Faith and Science are two wings by which we come to know the Truth.  May all those who see a conflict between the study of the observable and the pursuit of the Truth through Faith once again recognize that for all those pursuing the truth of the world, studying the observable truths of our world shouldn’t lead us away from the Faith.  Faith and science, if both are pursued in honesty and humility, help us see and appreciate the entirety of what we see when we look around our lives.

May we never lose sight of the infinite number of miracles that we see each day.

DePauw Activities Fair and "selling" Catholicism

Support Each other and Be Supported

AWESOME video celebrating one of my parishes' 150th anniversary

"It's all political at that parish!"

I hear people say all the time in the Catholic world something along the lines of - "I don't get involved at my parish because it is all political"

By political they of course mean it in the sense that you have to know certain people and be "connected" and "political" in the sense that certain people have more influence at the parish than others.

"I don't get involved at my parish because it is all political" is the mantra of the person who: 

1) is looking for an excuse not to live out the Gospel in community and/or

2) doesn't understand human nature

GET OVER IT!!!!

There are a lot of ways to become an active Catholic outside one's parish, but if you avoid the parish structure because it is "too political" that's just crazy - of course it is political - politics in that sense of the word means "what happens when you get people together in the same room to work on things."

If you want to see something happen, you have always had to be able to persuade people that it is the way to go forward.  People who hate that fact are usually people who don't have the desire to put in the work to try to persuade people that their way is the best.  They are people who typically just want to come in and have everyone listen to them and recognize the brilliance of their ideas and their desired direction for something, and are shocked when people don't instantly recognize their brilliance.


The things going on at a Catholic parish are always going to be "political" and the Catholic Church will always have a "political" element to it on this side of heaven - if you don't like that, my advice is to quit whining, get involved, and be the change you want to see happen at your parish.

A Cloud of Witnesses and Home Field Advantage

Babies with birth defects are "tragedies" and "expensive"?

They are according to Planned Parenthood.  

Utilitarianism at its most pure and inhumane

Father Calloway's New Book on the Rosary

Father Donald Calloway, MIC, has done the Church yet another tremendous service in writing a wonderful book on the rosary.

Father Calloway's book is titled "Champions of the Rosary: the History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon"

The title alone should get people jacked up!


I have a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother, but I think many people today struggle to find a solid explanation for Marian intercession in general, and the rosary in particular.


Father Calloway's book contains several different elements, all of which I found to be extremely unique and helpful.

Starting from the back (for some reason I always start looking at books from the end) I first came across an AWESOME appendix - "The Rosary in Art".  What a great idea to highlight for people all the different places that the rosary shows up throughout Western Art.  Seeing all these wonderful images collected in one place forces the unbeliever to confront the fact that for a TON of people throughout history, a devotion to the rosary has been a real thing.

Now jumping to the beginning, the first part of the book is chaptered by century as Father Calloway walks the readers through the historical development of the devotion.  As Cardinal Newman says, the further one immerses themselves in history, the more they cease to become Protestant.  As with the art appendix, when one is confronted with all the evidence of the development of the rosary, it becomes clear that this isn't just a devotion someone invented a few years ago.

The second part of the book is devoted to the saints who have championed the rosary through the centuries.  Art is compelling.  History is compelling, but even more compelling is hearing from individuals and seeing Marian devotion lived out in the lives of saints.  The saints have always provided us something to shoot for, and Father highlights many of the spiritual heroes of the Church who had the rosary at the very heart of their lives.

Finally, Father Calloway concludes the book with a third section - a how to for those interested in picking up the rosary as a devotion.  Art is compelling, history is compelling, the lives of saints are compelling, but MOST compelling for us to day is lived experience, and so the best encouragement and advice that most priests give today to people asking about the rosary is "why don't you give it a try for a while, and see if it changes you."  This concluding section of the book is becoming more and more important as well because so many are not exactly sure how to pray the rosary, as seemingly fewer and fewer young people grow up with the devotion in their childhood.

I highly recommend this book for anyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, who wants to know more about why us crazy Catholics pray the rosary.  I'm thankful that Father Calloway undertook this most important project, and I pray that many people will read this book, and then buy copies for their friends and loved ones as well!

Oh crap...it's poor people!

"Where I am, there also will my servant be" - Jesus Christ


People ask, all the time, "where is Jesus?"


It isn't a big mystery, though.  Jesus, His Church, and His saints have all been in lockstep on this question - Jesus is present most intensely in the poor and in the Eucharist


And so if you want to meet Jesus, you have to spend time in the presence of the poor and you have to spend time in the presence of the Eucharist.  Or you can avoid the poor and avoid spending time in the Presence of the Eucharist, and instead keep asking "where is Jesus?"


Although Christ says He is to be found in the poor and in the Eucharist (or perhaps because He says so) people avoid spending time with the poor like they are avoiding the plague, and they avoid spending time in silence in the presence of the Eucharist like they can't spare 5 minutes (unless, of course, it is time to binge watch a show, then magically a person is able to find 4 free hours a day)


So often when we encounter the poor - perhaps someone approaches and asks for help - we freak out and in our mind we say "Oh crap...a poor person...I didn't budget time for this...how quickly can I get rid of this person...how quickly can I pass them off to someone else?"


There are people who are more comfortable working with the poor than you (social workers, the Sisters of Charity, etc), but Christ's words and the instruction of the saints are clear - YOU NEED TO SPEND TIME HELPING THE POOR.  Talk to them.  Give them a meal.  MAKE TIME FOR THEM BECAUSE YOU ARE MAKING TIME FOR JESUS

When you say to yourself, "How quickly can I get rid of this poor person who has just crossed my path" you are saying "how quickly can I get rid of Christ and get back to my plans?"


Do we just SAY "Your Will be done", or do we mean it?


The two ways we most clearly encounter Christ (according to Christ) are also linked.  Encountering the poor draws me to prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament helps me become more open to encountering the poor.  In both scenarios, the Presence of Christ is not IMMEDIATELY obvious.  At Mass, the Host, when elevated by the priest, still looks like bread.  The poor, when encountered, are dirty, grumpy (sometimes), rude (sometimes), inconvenient, and there is never a glow around the poor nor are there halos.

Trusting Christ when He says He is present in the poor is very similar to the trust that is involved when He says He is present in what still looks like bread and wine.


There are agencies that help the poor, and we need to be familiar with them, but not so that we can pass off the poor to "experts" but so that we can be familiar with all the ways to help the poor.


When an emperor asked St. Lawrence to produce the treasure of the Church, he brought forth the poor of Rome.  May we see the world in the same way

Faith is EVIDENCE

What we've been up to at World Youth Day

Homily from my favorite place on Earth

A quick reflection on "In sickness and in health"

Oftentimes the marriage vow "in sickness and in health" is thought of only from the perspective of the healthy person (will you take care of your loved one when they are sick?)


But I also think it is a vow that "I will love and honor my spouse when I am sick, and I will ALLOW my spouse to care for me, I will ALLOW my spouse to be there for me...I will not shut my spouse out when I am sick and struggling"


It may be harder to let other people help us than it is to be the one helping

Catholic Social Teaching - a path forward through the sicknesses of this world

If you ask 1,000 people who "have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" how we should structure our society, you'll get 1,000 different answers.

Particularly when the world seems to be falling apart, I'm really thankful for my Catholic Faith - a light guiding us out of darkness - if we'll only walk toward it....together

My Favorite Picture from the Last 5 Years

Laws, even laws about marriage, give LIFE!

My brother Father Anthony Hollowell came to visit.  A great homily on law and life

I Love This

Go to the Margins!

Telling the world to always "just follow your conscience"...

...will never lead to martyrdom