2009-09-17©2009 benjamin i. espen forgotten doctrines it’s good to be catholic ccrc

2009-09-17 ©2009 Benjamin I. Espen

Forgotten DoctrinesIt’s Good to Be CatholicCCRC


Catholic Doctrine The Catholic Church’s Magisterium is the teaching

office This is the divinely appointed means by which the

successors of the apostles pass on “all those things are to be believed with divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the Word of God, written or handed down, and which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by her ordinary and universal teaching [magisterium], proposes for belief as having been divinely revealed.”


Magisterium Ordinary

The ordinary and universal Magisterium, on the other hand, is the ordinary teaching of the Church, accomplished via papal pronouncements, statements of bishops, catechisms, homilies, etc.

Extraordinary The solemn or extraordinary Magisterium is seen in solemn

definitions either by a pope, as for example, the definition of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven in 1950, or by one of the Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church ratified by the pope, as the definitions made by the Council of Trent (1545-1563) to reaffirm the Catholic faith against the Protestants or the definition of papal infallibility by the First Vatican Council in 1870


Doctrine and Dogma Doctrine is all Church teaching in matters of

faith and morals Dogma is more narrowly defined as that part

of doctrine which has been divinely revealed and which the Church has formally defined and declared to be believed as revealed.

Not everything ever said by a bishop, Pope, or ecumenical council is doctrine


Monogenism 37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural

opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own. –Humani Generis


Monogenism What should we note in Humani Generis? Monogeneism is not defined de fide Polygeneism is not denounced de fide


Monogenism So what is this about? It has a lot to do with Arthur Gobineau The father of modern racism He advocated the idea that

the races had differentorigins


Weathervane The traditional rooster on a weathervane is attributed

to Pope St. Nicholas I This is supposed to remind us of the statement of

Christ to Peter: You will deny Me before the cock crows thrice

Also, the weathervane changes rapidly with the weather, a sign of inconstancy

I cannot find the actual pronouncement Thus this must be considered a pious legend,

although possible


Suppression of the Jesuits The Jesuits were suppressed by Papal decree

in 1773. This was largely a political move, since we

can see that the Jesuits were restored to their former preeminence only 40 years later after Napoleon was defeated


Why were the Jesuits suppressed? The Jesuits had been effectively thwarting the

exploitation of the New World Has anyone seen The Mission? The Jesuits also became embroiled in a bitter

dispute with the Jansenists over moral theology

The Jansenists were declared heretics by Pope Pius VI


Defined Verses Only seven verses of Scripture have been defined by the

Extraordinary Magisterium The reference to being "born of water and the Spirit" in John 3:5

includes the idea of baptism. In telling the apostles, "Do this [the Eucharist] in memory of me"

in Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24, Jesus appointed the apostles priests.

In Matthew 18:18 and John 20:22–23, Jesus conferred on the apostles the power to forgive sins; everyone does not share this power.

Romans 5:12 refers to the reality of original sin. The presbyters referred to in James 5:14 are ordained, not merely

elder members of the Christian community


Co-creation Serious attention must be given to the content and unity of the whole

of Scripture if the meaning of the sacred texts is to be correctly worked out" (Dei Verbum 12). This means that no properly understood assertion of Scripture will ever contradict another. If it does so, it must be a false interpretation.

The second criterion is that "the living tradition of the whole Church must be taken into account" when interpreting Scripture (Dei Verbum 12). This states in a general way a limit that was more concretely expressed at Vatican I:

In matters of faith and morals, affecting the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be held as the true sense of Holy Scripture which holy mother the Church has held and holds, to whom it belongs to judge the true sense and interpretation of Holy Scriptures. Therefore no one is allowed to interpret the same sacred Scripture contrary to this sense or contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers" (Dei Filius 2).


Co-creation Co-creation is a mystery of the Faith It is related to the question of theodicy: why is

there suffering in the world


Co-creation Co-creation is an affirmation of free will


Co-creation Co-creation is a term used to describe the

theology of work One has to be careful, this term is used in a

variety of senses


Limits of Charity No one, certainly, is obliged to assist others

out of what is required for his own necessary use or for that of his family, or even to give to others what he himself needs to maintain his station in life becomingly and decently: "No one is obliged to live unbecomingly. –Rerum Novarum 22

2009-09-17©2009 benjamin i. espen forgotten doctrines it’s good to be catholic ccrc

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