Anthony Tohme
12101
Theology II
Mr. Cole
Church Chapter 5: Marks of the Church
Section 5:Catholic and Apostolic
4/17/13- Rites of the Catholic Church
- not to be confused with rites of the Orthodox Church
- Orthodox rites are in schism with the Catholic Church, Catholic rites are in communion
- Roman Catholic Church is one rite among many
- Roman (Western or Latin) rite-- cultural liturgy that the Church in Rome had
- Peter and Paul set up the Church in Rome, prayed in culturally specific way
- Church in Asia (Asian rite)- same understanding as Roman Church, but different cultural liturgy
- highlight different things as important during mass/different customs
http://www.ourladyofthecedars.net/-- Maronite Catholic Church
http://www.walsingham-church.org/site/Welcome.html
Our Lady of Walsingham-- part of the Roman Catholic rite, but they also perform the Anglican rite. This is approved by the Catholic Church, as stated on its website.
- No mark of the Church are more important than another. They all work together to define what the Catholic Church is and what it represents. For example, the Holiness of the Church guarantees that it comes from Christ, and its Apostolic mark ensures that Christ’s teachings are passed down accurately through the centuries.
Chapter 6
4/22/13
- Rating: Based on my work in class today, I would give myself a 4 for both critical thinking and creativity. I put my critical thinking to use by adapting what I learned so far this year and before to answer the questions on page 179. We obviously haven’t read the chapter yet, so critical thinking was imperative in trying to understand and answer the questions correctly. I gave myself a 4 in creativity because I exhausted most possibilities in trying to predict what this chapter could cover. I had to use my creativity to guess what topics could possibly be in the book. I can still work on both creativity and critical thinking because I wasn’t fully focused the whole class.
4/23/13
- I gave myself a 4/5 on critical thinking because the activities that I attempted required me to think and apply my knowledge to a specific scenario, instead of regurgitate material from the book. Specifically, the third grade classroom scenario and the dialogue between a Catholic and non-Catholic made me think about the book material and explain it in a succinct way.
- I gave myself a 3 on content because after reading my answers after re-reading the book, I mis-represented some of the information, especially in the third grader exercise. Though this may be attributed to over-simplification, the facts came out wrong in relation to the three-fold role of Christ represented in the mass. Other than that slip up, I got the other information correct.
- I gave myself a four on creativity because I consider the two exercises I completed a touch more creative than I believe myself to be. I’m usually not very good at writing out dialogues, but this one came very easily to me. Not to sound boastful, but I was pleased with the ease with which I was able to come up with questions and responses between two people.
4/24/13
- Today, we didn’t get an opportunity in school to complete our assignments because a substitute never showed up, and the Dean of Students office gave us a free period. I’ll summarize the work we were supposed to do in class, mainly from the three basic questions.
- The universal call to holiness as a general concept demonstrates that the goal of Catholic life is holiness. Though the nature of holiness is intrinsically a different question, its source is indisputable: we get our holiness from Christ via the Church and its sacraments. This universal call to holiness was defined in the second Vatican Council. Before Vatican II, Catholics had been taught to “pay, pray and obey”, but Vatican II changed everything by defining Catholic life as participating in Christ’s three-fold role as priest, prophet, and king. Striving to be holy does not mean trying to perfect in every sense of the word; rather, it means being in the process of growing into a more intimate relationship with Christ. We must follow the natural law ingrained in our hearts by God, and strive to become spiritually united with Christ. And, just in case there is any ambiguity about natural law, God has codified it into the Ten Commandments and Christ’s New Law of Love. To summarize, the Catholic universal call to holiness prescribes an obligation to follow Christ’s law and try to understand and be in union with God.
- The Catholic liturgy, generally speaking, is the official public service provided by the Church to its members. Most Catholics know it colloquially as “mass”. However, the liturgy has a different dimension from just the mass. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “liturgy means rite; we speak indifferently of the Byzantine Rite or the Byzantine Liturgy” (indifferently meaning interchangeably). Therefore, the word liturgy can pertain either to the mass itself and all the prayers/readings that occur during mass, or it can refer to an entire rite and way of celebrating the mass.
- The liturgical year governs the arrangement of the Church’s celebrations of Christ’s life events and mysteries of faith throughout the year. In the Latin rite, the liturgical year is divided into six seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, the Easter Triduum, Easter, and Ordinary time.
4-25-13
- My lack of thought could be passed off as “it’s a Friday” mentality, (even though it was a Thursday) but excuses don’t give me a reason to be lazy. I was lethargic during the short order and the analogies/homily I wrote were not very insightful or applied.
- Despite my lethargy, I was more creative than anything during Theology on Friday. I found my homily exercise in specific to be very creative because of the links I wrote to everyday life as well as its vernacular.
- I gave myself a 5/5 on content because the information I used to create the homily and analogies was wholly correct, even if their information was not applied very thoughtfully. Even though my critical thinking was not up to standard, the basic information I used to do the problems was right.
4-29-13
- The Sacraments correspond to human nature because they help us understand truths that are not of this world. People have an instinctive need to understand, as the book puts it, "that which is invisible by experiencing that which is visible". For example, even if I tell someone I love them repeatedly , they won't believe me unless I show visible signs of that love, such as kindness, affection, or hugs. I can toss around the phrase "I love you" however many times I like, but human nature only allows us to understand the invisible (like the emotion of love) from the visible (signs that demonstrate love). It is the same with God and the Sacraments. The Sacraments correspond to human nature as they allow us to understand deeper realities, such as God, through their efficacious and visible nature. So the sacraments both allow us to receive grace from Christ and serve as instruments to help us understand the Trinity.
- Non-Catholic: I don’t understand the purpose of your Catholic sacraments. You say they are supposed to provide salvation, but didn’t Christ already die for our sins?
- Catholic: Yes, Christ did die for our sins, but he only forgave our sins; he didn’t bring us back into right relationship with God.
- Non-Catholic: That’s a nice sounding phrase, but can you explain to me what it means?
- Catholic: Sure. When Adam and Eve committed Original Sin, they infinitely ruptured humanity’s relationship with God. When Christ, an infinite being, came to atone for our sins, he simply repaired the gap between ourselves and God; choosing to cross that gap is our choice. In other words, Jesus gives us the ability to choose salvation, but actually choosing it is our job.
- Non-Catholic: Oh, now I get it! But where do sacraments come in? Isn’t faith enough to achieve salvation for God?
- Catholic: No, even though faith is a necessary precondition to properly receive a sacrament, faith in-and-of-itself isn’t enough to be saved. Sanctifying grace repairs the relationship between humans and God and lets us achieve salvation. Sacraments are efficacious signs of that grace, meaning that they provide the grace necessary to enter into heaven. So we need to choose to receive sacraments, not just believe in God to achieve salvation.
- I think I have properly used my rational skills to understand and explain the use and nature of sacraments through both the blog post and the dialogue. Of course, there is always room for improvement, but overall I think my thought was on par with my average.
- Both my blog post and dialogue were not very creative, mainly because they just regurgitated information without any real deep thinking going into how to make them more creative or interesting.
- I feel that I completely understand the subject of sacraments, in relation to both human nature and necessity of salvation. Of course, the final judgment is left to Mr. Cole, but the information I placed in the assignments checked out with the information in the book. I also used the Catholic Encyclopedia, so I’m confident that my information checks out with reputable sources.
4-30-13
- Blog Post: The catechumenate in the Catholic Church was the process by which new members became initiated into the Body of Christ in the early church. During the catechumenate, hopeful members were instructed in Christ's teachings and teachers prepared them to receive the Sacraments of Initiation, which are Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. The catechumenate was divided into three parts in the early church: the catechetical, the ascetical, and the liturgical. The catechetical portion dealt with instructing the initiate about official Church doctrine, usually by a question and answer method (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05075b.htm). The ascetical portion of the catechumenate involved spiritual exercises to attain the virtues valued by Christians in the early church. The liturgical section taught initiates the liturgy and rituals of the Church, especially about the mass. The catechumenate relates to the Easter Vigil because the custom for the Church in its early years was, and still is, to initiate new members on the night before Easter.
- Baptism chart:
- Critical Thinking: 4-- The exercises that I did do didn’t really involve any critical thinking, just looking up information on the internet and in the book. I gave myself a 4 in this category because I spent most of the period on the Catholic Encyclopedia (www.newadvent.org) reading and trying to understand the different aspects of the catechumenate.
- Creativity: 4-- I gave myself the same grade as critical thinking because I didn’t have to do anything creative, just research and find information from reputable sources. I should have done more exercises that required creativity, but I spent too much time on the catholic encyclopedia.
- Content: 5-- I got all of my information directly from either the book or the Catholic Encyclopedia, meaning that it was correct and verified information. Re-reading the book and the blog post confirmed my information had no errors.
5-01-13
- Blog Post: The Miracle at Lanciano is widely considered the first and greatest Eucharistic miracle of the Catholic Church. This miracle occurred in reaction to an unnamed Basilian monk's doubt about the Real Presence of of Christ in the Eucharist. The Church teaches that the Real Presence of Jesus Christ is present in the eucharist, in the sense that the Eucharist's bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Miracle of Lanciano took place in the 8th century A.D. in a small church called St. Legontian, on the Adriatic Sea in Italy. During the consecration of the host, the bread became live flesh from a human heart and the blood became real blood from the same body. The blood type from the Miracle of Lanciano matches the blood type found on the Shroud of Turin, indicating that the Eucharist truly transformed into the body and blood of Christ.
Though it's very self-evident that the Miracle at Lanciano is connected to the Real Presence doctrine, it's equally obvious that an actual transformation (like the one that happened at Lanciano) does not occur at every celebration of the Eucharist. The actual transformation of the host to flesh and blood was a miracle to confirm believers' faith in the Real Presence doctrine of the Church. The difference between ordinary Eucharist and what occurred at Lanciano is that the ordinary transformation of the host is beyond sensory experience; Christ merely made it perceptible in one instance at Lanciano. However, just because we cannot see or feel this transformation does not mean that it doesn't happen. For example, we don't see our brains fire their neurons or see the stars burn up hydrogen as fuel, but we take it on faith that these phenomena do occur.
http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/why-lanciano-matters
Ratings:
- Critical Thinking: 4--The blog post about the Miracle at Lanciano required both researching information and analyzing it by comparing and contrasting the Lanciano miracle and the Real Presence doctrine. I didn’t analyze as well or in as much depth as I could have, so I gave myself a 4 instead of a 5.
- Creativity: 4-- Apart from the research and regurgitate routine for the Miracle at Lanciano blog post, I gave myself a 4 in creativity because I managed to insert a little creativity with the analogies. Not to sound boastful, but I think that the analogies tying together natural phenomena and the Real Presence doctrine were pretty creative.
- Content: 3-- When I was looking up the Miracle at Lanciano, I initially posted some incorrect information from a dubious source. I soon corrected that info from credible sources, but the initial slip-up merits a ⅗.
5-02-13
- Critical Thinking: 4-- I chose to make a powerpoint presentation over the article about forgiveness. The article went very in-depth about the Catholic understanding of forgiveness, and there were very few chances for me to extend on its points. I did, however, read the article a few times to understand it completely, so I gave myself a 4.
- Creativity: 5-- I went all-out on the powerpoint, aesthetically speaking. I added new themes, colors, pictures, and animations, in addition to the text.
- Content: 5--All of the information I used on the powerpoint came directly from the article. I assume the article is a valid source, seeing as Mr. Cole chose it. So the content on my slides was also true and correctly represented the Church’s teachings on forgiveness.
5-03-13
One of the most hotly debated Catholic issues of the twentieth century is the issue of male-only ordination. Throughout the centuries, only men have been allowed to become priests in the Catholic tradition. Nowadays, people are increasingly labeling the Church as a misogynistic institution for its suppression of female ordination. However, blindly accusing the church of misogyny blatantly ignores the reasoning behind keeping priests strictly male. The Church prohibits women from becoming priests, not for sexist reasons, but rather because it has no authority to change the tradition created by Christ. The Church's authority comes exclusively from Christ, so to break with His teachings would mean that the Church no longer has authority. For example, consider a scenario in which my teacher gives me the authority to give detentions in his class only. If I begin to roam the halls and give detentions to whomever I please, those detentions are invalid because I acted outside the authority granted to me by my teacher. I was given authority to hand out detentions in class, not outside in the hallway. Similarly, Christ gave the Catholic Church authority to proclaim and instruct others in His teachings and traditions; nothing more. So what the Church can do is constrained by what Christ did. To accuse the Church of misogyny is to accuse Christ of hating women, which is clearly untrue. Christ broke all social norms concerning women and men's interaction with them. Christ associated with women in public, which was frowned upon; he accepted His women disciples, which was unheard of ; and he spoke with a Samaritan adulteress, which was a massive no-no in Judea during the first century A.D. For all these reasons, it's obvious that Christ by no means hated or wanted to oppress women. Now that we've established that Jesus was, in fact, not a misogynist, the Church's teaching on female priesthood becomes very clear. Although he welcomed female disciples, Christ appointed 12 men to start up His church and proclaim the Word of God throughout the world. So the argument for keeping priesthood strictly male goes like this: The church is constrained by what Jesus did and said during His time on earth, and Christ only appointed men to be his apostles. Humans can't know the mind of God, so it is impossible to understand why Christ chose His apostles as He chose them. All we know is that Christ did choose twelve men to become priests, and the Church has no authority to change Tradition instituted by Christ its founder.
- Critical Thinking: 4-- I gave myself a 4 for critical thinking because though the websites I used helped shape the argument in the blog post, I used my cognitive skills to further on that information. The website provided the groundwork, and I used my critical thinking to fully develop the argument.
- Creativity: 4-- I think that I earned a ⅘ on creativity for today’s assignment because I came up with much of the blog post’s argument myself. The article I read laid the foundation for the post, but I used my creativity, as well as critical thinking, to think up more facets of the argument.
- Content: 5-- I know that the content I posted was accurate for two reasons. First, its groundwork came from a reputable Catholic website; and second, I verified my trains of thought with Mr. Cole. I obtained the content for my blog post from two valid sources, so the content facet earns a 5.