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is necessary that everyone who desires to know the truth adhere to this Word. ( In John, L. 14, lec.2) Here we have a fundamental distinction. “The Word of God is true of itself, since it is not measured by things.” So unlike the human mind which comes to the truth by conforming itself to things, God contains all truth
because things conform to Him. So how are we to reach the fullness of truth? By knowing God. A consequence of what we have said is that since God possesses the whole of truth, and every other truth depends on Him and points to Him. He alone is the teacher without qualification. As St. Thomas explains, God is first and
properly a teacher because He has doctrine from Himself. (Just as God is first and properly a father because He is the begetter of another in virtue of Himself, whereas all other fathers are so called because of the existence and power that they have received from God.) Any lesser truth directs the mind to the fullness...
therefore, the knowledge of all truths is not fully had until they are seen in their relation to the source of truth. When Jesus speaks about the truth He identifies it with Himself, and he indicates that it is what makes us free. Knowing the truth, which is found in God essentially, and the Word personally, is what ma...
free. And since the end of a liberal education is to know the truth, which enables one to live the life of a free man, it follows that the fullness of liberal education is found in a program of studies under the inspiration of the church Christ established while He was on earth to guard His truth. That is, a
Catholic liberal education is the fullness, or perfection, of a liberal education. It is not merely an education for Catholics, nor an education with Catholic customs and practices added on. No, a Catholic liberal education is the perfection of an education ordered towards the truth. It is Catholic through and through,...
all the parts of such an education however humble they are. John Paul II indicates as much in Ex Corde Ecclesiae: [A] Catholic university is completely dedicated to the research of all aspects of truth in their essential connection with the supreme Truth, who is God. It does this without fear but rather with enthusiasm...
is Catholic. This is not the case with a Catholic liberal education. Catholicism makes all the difference in such an education, for it orders that education from beginning to end. It defines the kind of education it is, and it perfects all the natural parts of the program of studies by ordering them to the supreme Trut...
one of the founders of Thomas Aquinas College, says much more precisely what I am trying to get at. When one finds a Catholic school with a Great Books curriculum, one is inclined to suppose that Catholic belief is incidental to its educational program, and that (at most) it modifies but does not determine that program...
obviously, Catholic in the way that theology is Catholic. Theology is Catholic because it proceeds from principles that are divinely revealed and that are handed down to us by the Church. The other parts of a Catholic liberal education are more or less informed by these principles, or are more or less helpful in making...
doctrine, and they are more or less intimately ordered to theology. Catholic theology is most fully and perfectly a Catholic discipline, philosophy is less so, and still less the other disciplines, until one arrives at disciplines only slightly under the light of Catholic learning, such as geometry. This point should n...
it is the higher animals that are more fully and more obviously alive. It is more difficult to see the life in the lowest forms of animals and plants. Or, to take another example, it is quite evident that human beings act for a purpose, but it is harder to see that purposeful activity in some other animals, and still
more difficult to see this purpose in the activity of some plants and in the inanimate world. So too the higher disciplines are more obviously Catholic because they have some bearing, directly or indirectly, on Catholic doctrine, or they help to elucidate Catholic teaching and ends. This is much less evident in, say, t...
He has ordered marriage towards Catholic ends. As Pope Leo XIII puts it: “By the command of Christ, [marriage] looks not only to the propagation of the human race, but to the bringing forth of children for the Church” (Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, #10). So the natural end of marriage is perfected by this spiritual end, ...
ends of the Faith. Hence, it is the perfection of marriage. So, too, Catholic Liberal Education is not just an education with Catholic trappings, no, the very education is essentially Catholic. It does not seem to me to be good enough to say that the parts of a Catholic education are called Catholic because of somethin...
something accidental to them. I think it is better to say, even in the hardest cases such as geometry and the other mathematical disciplines, that they acquire a Catholic character insofar as they are parts of a Catholic education. Of course, it would be strange to say that geometry is Catholic in the way theology is. ...
with principles held by faith. But insofar as any part of a Catholic liberal education is ordered to knowing the fullness of truth, then, that part, even if it is geometry, has a Catholic character as a lesser truth ordered to the fullness of truth. That is, geometrical truth is ordered to the truth about God as the na...
of marriage is ordered to, and perfected in, the spiritual end of Catholic marriage. I know that is still vague, but I will leave it at that until someone pushes me to say more during the discussion period. How is there a Catholic philosophy? In one sense of the word there is only one philosophy. As Aristotle puts it, ...
is right also that philosophy should be called knowledge of the truth, for the end of theoretical knowledge is truth” (Metaphysics, II, ch. 1, 993b19). With this meaning of the word “philosophy,” there would not be many philosophies, because there is either truth or falsehood. So it would not be necessary to ask is thi...
the truth attained by the human mind, the philosophical truths, would not contradict the truth revealed by God through the Church. As Pope Leo XIII puts it in Aeterni Patris: Those, therefore, who to the study of philosophy unite obedience to the Christian faith are philosophers indeed; for the splendor of the divine t...
understanding, and not only detracts in nowise from its dignity, but adds greatly to its nobility, keenness, and stability. (p.9) In another sense of the word “philosophy,” any natural effort to know the world around us can be called philosophy and be defined by its principles and methods. In this sense of “philosophy,...
are distinct approaches to understanding the world, that is, distinct principles and methods of inquiry. The philosophy of Descartes would differ then from that of Aristotle. And to the extent that Descartes appears to hold that the soul and body are distinct substances, and he seems to hold a curious view about what s...
Cartesian philosophy would not be a Catholic Philosophy, even though Descartes was a Catholic. In Fides et Ratio, John Paul II seems to use this sense of the word “philosophy.” He distinguishes philosophies by their principles and methods. However, that still makes the passage I quoted earlier curious: “The Church has ...
any one particular philosophy in preference to others.” How are we to understand this passage in light of centuries of papal teaching extolling the philosophy of St. Thomas? For example, Pope Pius XI: We consider that Thomas should be called not only the Angelic, but also the common or universal doctor of the Church; f...
which exists for a brief period of time…” He then goes on to say that only those things composed from common consent of Catholic Doctors are not based on a weak foundation because they are “supported by principles and notions deduced from a true knowledge of created things.” Clearly Pius XII is warning the faithful abo...
point, if one looks to the Latin text of Fides et Ratio, it becomes clear that the passage I have been quoting is very loosely translated, and, as a result, might give a false impression. As literally as I can put it, the passage should be rendered as follows: The Church does not hold forth her very own philosophy, nor
does she have preference for one to the detriment of others. What the Holy Father is saying, then, is that the Church urges the faithful to seek for truth wherever it can be found. She is not bound to this or that philosophy, especially not to philosophies that are popular and so could be a fad. The Church does not
reject truth found in any particular philosophical school, but she also has a longstanding endorsement of the perennial philosophy found in St. Thomas Aquinas’ teaching. So there is a Catholic philosophy, a philosophy that is a handmaid to the truth revealed by God, and taught by His church. That philosophy is one in t...
and to the extent that one thinks of philosophies distinguished by their principles and methods it is found principally in the teaching of St. Thomas. Can one study theology apart from Catholicism? Recall one of the presuppositions of this lecture: education is ordered to knowing the truth. As a result, if we consider ...
but who has not accepted the principles of the theological arguments, those principles that must be held by faith, then he has not fully attained the science of theology. No doubt one can become aware of an argument without accepting the principles upon which that argument is based. However without a grasp of the princ...
to a new truth. Instead one has engaged in a logical exercise, something like a hypothetical consideration, without coming to grasp a new truth. Therefore, without accepting the principles of a theological argument, which admittedly are held by faith, one cannot have the science of theology, and so there is no theologi...
theology one would be like someone who follows an argument in astronomy but who is ignorant of the geometrical principles upon which the astronomical argument depends. So theology is unique because the truth of its principles is not seen by the human mind, but grasped in the light of faith. Without faith there is no sc...
turn briefly to a kind of practical corollary to the thesis of this lecture. As the Psalmist says, “Teach me thy way, O Lord, that I may walk in thy truth” (86:11). If a man wants to grow in the truth not only will he pursue a program of studies that is ordered to the truth, but he will also
live a life that is suitable to that pursuit. Jesus has told us that He is the way, the truth, and the life. The order here is noteworthy. Jesus tells us that He is the way before He tells us that He is the truth. That is, He is the path towards the truth, and the truth is what will
give us life, not only an examined life, but life everlasting. In order to receive the truth that we are pursuing, we must follow the path that Jesus points out to us. If He is the way, then we have to imitate Him if we hope to arrive at the truth. Obviously we imitate Him by becoming good. So a
life of virtue is the path to the truth. The virtues I am talking about are both virtues proper to the intellectual life, such as docility, studiousness, and perseverance, but also moral virtues such as temperance and patience. All these virtues are on the path towards the truth. So if Jesus is the truth to which all o...
ordered, then the truth will be found not only in study, but also in a life of virtue, and even more so in a sacramental life that unites us more closely to the one who is Truth, especially in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is Jesus fully present to us, and, as we have argued, He is truth
itself. So how will we succeed in this program? It all begins with us on our knees, continues in the classroom and in a life of study, and culminates in the sacraments. That is a truly Catholic, truly liberal education, because it is an ordered whole: a Catholic liberal education. I would like to conclude by quoting Ar...
Gomez. He addressed the seniors at our last graduation mass in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel with the following words: Jesus is the Logos, the divine Reason through whom the universe is created. He is the Truth and Wisdom of God. In Him we find not only the unity of knowledge, but we also find the fundamenta...
The year is 1565. On the island of Malta, 600 Knights of St. John, commanding a force of some 8000 men, prepare to defend their island fortress from attack. These same Catholic Knights had been driven from their previous stronghold, the Isle of Rhodes, in 1522, by the Ottoman Turks. Under Suleyman the Magnificent, the ...
Egypt and northern Africa, and had established a strong foothold on the north coast of the Black Sea, the gateway to all of Europe itself. In 1526, the Hungarians had been defeated at the Battle of Mohacs, and only the Austrian Habsburgs now stood in the way of the Moslem advance. Vienna came under attack in 1529, but ...
the capital, and their over-extended campaign failed. Now, the Turks had raised a fleet of 181 ships, carrying some 30,000 soldiers, and Malta was the prize they sought. Their goal was to plunder and sweep all the ships of Christian Europe from the Mediterranean. Then, in control of the sea lanes and trade routes, with...
would be set to fall before them. Our Lord and Our Lady, top left, blessing the Catholic fleet at Lepanto For more pictures, click here The Turkish fleet appeared off the coast of Malta, and laid siege to the island. All through the summer of 1565 the contest for Malta raged. In the end, the Knights of St. John (Knight...
and the Turks were forced to withdraw in defeat. It did not, however, end the threat from the Ottoman Turks. In 1566, Pius V ascended to the Chair of St. Peter in Rome. Pius V was a Dominican Monk with a reputation for piety and austerity. A teacher of philosophy and theology for 16 years, unlike some previous Popes, h...
who continued to lead the ascetic life of a simple monk even after becoming Pope. Pius V was also very serious about defending Christendom against the Ottoman Turks. He knew they were not just going to go away and leave Europe in peace. Vienna and the eastern borders continued to be threatened by Moslem military power ...
soon be at risk. Cyprus came under attack again in 1570. Seeing the increasing danger to Christendom, Pius V called on "The Holy League," consisting of the Papal States, Spain, Genoa, Venice, and the Knights of Malta, to address the Moslem threat. A Christian naval fleet was assembled under the overall command of Admir...
John was a capable naval commander. The Spaniards were led by Santa Cruz, the Genoese by Andrea Doria, and the Venetians commanded by Agostin Barbarigo and Sebastian Veniero. The fleet under Don John's command was some 300 ships strong, with over 100 ships and 30,000 men being supplied by Philip II of Spain alone. The ...
provided funding for many of the others as well. The Venetian contingent was around 100 ships, manned in part by additional Spanish soldiers. In the Venetian fleet were six galleasses. Heavier, broader, and much slower than conventional galleys, they were nonetheless technologically advanced - the heavy gun platforms a...
another 30,000 were fighting soldiers. Don Juan of Austria, Chief Commander of the Holy League's fleet, inflicted the largest naval defeat on the Muslims in History In September of 1571, Don John moved the Catholic fleet east to intercept the Turks at Corfu, but the Turks had already landed, terrorized the population, ...
reached Don John that the Christian stronghold at Famagusta on Cyprus had fallen to the Turks, with all prisoners being tortured and then executed by the Moslems. Don John then pulled up anchor and moved to engage the Turkish fleet in the Gulf of Lepanto, off the southern coast of Greece. The Turkish fleet, some 330 sh...
had been reinforced by Uluch Ali, the Bey of Algiers, and head of the notorious band of Moslem corsairs (pirates) that had long terrorized Catholic ships in the Mediterranean. On the night of October 6, with a favorable wind behind him, Ali Pasha moved his fleet westward toward the mouth of the Gulf of Patras to interc...
The clash that was to come would be the largest naval engagement since the Battle of Actium in 30 B.C. At dawn, on October 7, 1571, the two fleets met. Don Juan split his fleet into three sections: on the left (north), the Venetians under Agostin Barbarigo; on the right (south), Andrea Doria led the Genoese and Papal g...
commanded his flagship and galleys. Santa Cruz, with a force of 35 Spanish and Venetian ships, was held in reserve. He ordered his captains not to fire until “close enough to be splattered with Moslem blood.” The iron rams were removed from the Christian ships, as the plan was for boarding and close quarter fighting. T...
position in front of each of the three Christian divisions. Don Juan of Austria in battle, at the bow of the ship, painted by Juan Luna y Novicio Ali Pasha's fleet approached in a giant crescent formation, and seeing the opposing fleet, he also ordered his fleet split into three divisions. Ali Pasha himself took up the...
forward to engage Don John's ships. The Venetian galleasses opened fire, and almost immediately eight Moslem ships were hit and began to sink. The Catholic galleys, their decks filled with soldiers, opened fire with arquebuses (1) and crossbows as the Moslem ships drew alongside. Ali Pasha's men attempted to board the ...
attack was beaten back with deadly shots from their crossbows and arquebuses. Don John ordered the ship of Ali Pasha to be boarded and taken. Two times the boarding attack of the Spanish soldiers was beaten back, but on the third attempt they swarmed over the deck, now awash in blood, and took the ship. Ali Pasha was c...
(against the wishes of Don John), and the Battle Flag of the Ottoman Fleet came down off the mainmast. The head of the Turkish admiral was spitted on a long pike and raised on high for all the enemy ships to see. The Turkish attack in the center collapsed, and Don John sent his ships in pursuit of the retreating Turks,...
to aid in the battles raging on his flanks. Fresco of the Lepanto battle plan by Antonio Danti On the Catholic right, Uluch Ali and his pirates had broken through Doria's lines and managed to capture the flagship of the Knights of St. John. Santa Cruz, seeing what had happened, came up to the rescue, and Uluch Ali was ...
The Genoese were in a fight for their lives with the remainder of Uluch Ali's ships, but after Don John had broken the enemy fleet in the center, he turned and came to the aid of the Genoese. The Algerian corsairs were finally overcome, and fled for their lives in full retreat. Admiral Mahomet Sirocco, commanding the T...
close to the rocks and shallows on the northern shore of the gulf and was able to outflank Barbarigo's Venetian galleys. Barbarigo's flagship was surrounded by eight enemy galleys, and the Catholic Admiral fell dead from Turkish arrows. His flagship was taken for a time, but aid finally arrived, and Sirocco's flagship ...
and, like Ali Pasha, killed right on the spot. The engagement lasted, all total, around four to five hours. When it was all over, 8,000 men who had sailed with Don John were dead and another 16,000 wounded. The Turks and Uluch Ali's corsairs had over 25,000 dead, and untold thousands more wounded and captured. Over 12,...
from the Moslems. The Venetian galleasses had taken a heavy toll on the Turkish fleet. It was a major victory for the Holy League and Christendom. At dawn, on October 7, 1571, as recorded in the Vatican Archives, Pope Pius V, accompanied by a group of the faithful, entered the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to pray t...
intercede for a Catholic victory. The prayers continued in Rome as the Catholic and Moslem fleets battled far away in the Gulf of Lepanto. Later in the day, the Pope is said to have suddenly interrupted his business with some Cardinals, and looking up, cried out, Saints Peter, Roch, Justine and Mark ask Our Lady for th...
to business! Our great task at present is to thank God for the victory which He has just given the Catholic army." The Pope, of course, had no way of knowing that the battle was taking place and being decided on that very day. (No cell phones in 1571!) When news of the victory finally reached Europe, church bells rang ...
across the continent. The Battle of Lepanto was a decisive victory, with only 40 of the over 300 Moslem ships surviving the engagement. The Turkish force of some 75,000 men was in ruins. The battle, although a great victory for Catholic Europe, did not end the threat of invasion, or completely break the power of the Ot...
follow in the years to come, and Vienna itself would come under attack again, and yet again. Today, the long clash between Christendom and Islam is still evident in the political and ethnic geography of Europe, Africa, Byzantium, and north into Russia. The battle also extends, in varying degrees, throughout the Near an...
Christian knights, soldiers, and sailors have died defending Christendom against the onslaughts of Islam down through the centuries. Today, the borders of many European countries, Canada, and the United States are practically wide open, and the old enemy is invited to come in and make himself at home. And many 'Christi...
bothered with unpleasant history. But the enemy has not forgotten history. He remembers it all too well, and he is still deadly serious about his religion. His goal over the years has not changed in the slightest, and he is very patient. The enemy within is now smiling, just biding his time. And long dead Christian kni...
Published on Monday, April 09, 2012 02:34 Written by Los Angeles TravelingMom Fields of gold and orange poppies swaying in the breeze are a spectacular sight in spring when California’s landscape blooms with a mosaic of colorful wildflowers and shrubs. Winter rains determine the intensity and duration of wildflowers su...
the kids, pack a picnic and bring your camera. Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve Masses of poppies grow in this western Mojave Desert 15 miles west of Lancaster, a stone’s throw from Los Angeles. Other wildflowers include owl’s clover, goldfields, and the scented grape soda lupine found along the Tehachapi Vista...
of the quiet countryside. During the wildflower season, the nearby Jane S. Pinheiro Interpretive Center shows a short video, and offers free guided tours. Shaded picnic tables available. Seven miles west of the Poppy Reserve is the Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park, where a native Joshua Tree and Juniper Wood...
Where there are clusters of rocks, expect plenty of wildflowers. Seen throughout the park is the desert dandelion, a hearty flower that forms brilliant patches of gold across the landscape. The flowers are yellow and some have a red dot in the center. Look carefully, you may even see a desert tortoise snacking on one! ...
If your child frequently gets colds, sinus infections and laryngitis you may have considered having his or her adenoids removed to see if the infections would lesson. A new study from the Netherlands says you might want to rethink that. According to Chantal Boonacker, who led the research team at the University Medical...
The watchful waiting approach seems to be as effective as surgery. Adenoids are tissue that sit in the back of the nasal cavity and are above the roof of the mouth. You can see your tonsils when you look in the mirror and open your mouth, but you can't see your adenoids. Their purpose is to help fight infection in
children and usually shrink and disappear by adulthood. Sometimes the tissue becomes enlarged. A surgery called an adenoidectomy may be performed in children with a chronic cough and cold. The study suggests that in children with respiratory problems, delaying the surgery may be a smart financial and medical decision. ...
an average of nine or ten respiratory infections - including colds and sinus infections - in the past year. Half of them were randomly chosen to have an adenoidectomy right away and the rest were assigned to a watchful waiting strategy over the next two years. In a report released in 2011, the study team found no diffe...
respiratory infections or ear problems in kids who did or didn't have immediate adenoidectomy. Of the 57 kids initially allocated to watchful waiting, 23 went on to have their adenoids removed. Researchers also looked into the expense of the two medical approaches. Boonacker and her colleagues found that once surgery, ...
was about one and a half times more expensive than waiting - at an average of $1,995 versus $1,216. The cost may be different in the U.S. There are other reasons a child may undergo an adenoidectomy, such as ear infections or airway obstruction. Boonacker cautioned that the financial and clinical findings might not app...
physicians prefer the watchful waiting approach before having a child undergo surgery when possible. The typical treatment for children with breathing problems would include antibiotics for infection or topical nasal steroids for allergies. In another study published alongside the new report, researchers from Montreal ...
complications after removal of their adenoids and tonsils. Boonacker said that in general, complication rates tied to adenoidectomy are low. The procedure typically lasts about 30 minutes and doesn't require an overnight stay. Boonacker would like parents to know about the study's findings to help them make good treatm...
When Madison Minton was six months old, her parents noticed that her breathing was frequently labored. Now in second grade, the child is on eight medications for asthma and other pulmonary ailments. “Madison’s situation is typical,” says Deborah Payne, Energy
and Health Coordinator of the Kentucky Environmental Foundation. “People in Eastern Kentucky often don’t have the financial capacity to move away so they live with the consequences of being downwind of a coal processing plant. This means that Madison is
exposed to high quantities of dust every single day.” Payne calls coal mining “one piece of the birth defect puzzle” and says that at every stage, coal is problematic, from its extraction, to its processing, transport, and eventual burning. “At
each step there are negative health consequences for adults, children, and fetal life,” she continues. And it’s gotten worse. As mountaintop removal [MTR] has horned-in on underground mining, the health maladies of residents of eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia, eastern Tennessee,
and southwest West Virginia—Appalachia—have begun to pile up. Here’s why. MTR requires the use of explosives to reach coal streams, a process that makes it even more perilous than underground mining. According to Physicians for Social Responsibility [PSR], MTR blasts
release selenium, iron, and aluminum into the air. Selenium is particularly hazardous, PSR says, because it accumulates in tissue where it can cause circulatory, kidney, liver, and nerve damage. But that’s not all: Later, chemically treated liquids are used to
wash the coal and, more often than not, this brew ends up in groundwater. Even more frightening, a group called Appalachian Mountain Advocates estimates that when the time comes to turn coal into electricity, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury --
in the form of coal ash -- gets spewed into the oxygen we breathe and the water we drink. Not surpringly, this hasn’t fazed the coal companies. In fact, by all accounts, MTR has been a boon for them, allowing
the removal of two-and-a-half times more coal per hour than traditional underground mining. Already, the rush to extract -- four million tons a year is taken from each coal-rich county -- has cleared nearly 2200 square miles of forests, reduced
470 mountain summits to rubble, buried 2000 miles of streams, and damaged the ecosystems needed by fish and wildlife. Still, it is the human toll that is causing the lion’s share of brow furrowing. A first-of-its-kind study released in June
1011 -- “The Association Between Mountaintop Mining and Birth Defects Among Live Births in Appalachia, 1996-2003” -- brought six scientists together to analyze more than 1.8 million hospital birth records for the central portion of the region. Their findings should
jolt both advocates of reproductive justice and those who purport to support the right to life. Indeed, the scientists were cautious, recognizing that most birth defects come from a mix of genetic and environmental factors. Nonetheless, in areas where MTR
is used, health abnormalities -- including spina bifida, heart, lung, and genital malformations, cleft palate, hydrocephalus, and club feet -- greatly exceeded defects in non-MTR areas: 235 per 10,000 versus 144. The study also found that living in an area
with mountaintop removal increases the chance of having a child with a circulatory defect by 181 percent. Adults, researchers say, also suffer. Numerous health surveys have confirmed that adults living in areas where there is mountaintop removal have significantly more
illnesses than others of comparable age -- with high rates of diabetes, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, asthma, liver disease, hypertension, heart problems, and kidney failure. Factor in poverty -- which affects nearly a third of Appalachia’s residents -- and it’s
hard not to despair. Despite these realities, scientists say that they still have a lot to learn about the risks associated with MTR. “We have not yet investigated the health of pregnant women,” says Dr. Michael Hendryx, Director of the
West Virginia Rural Health Research Center. “We know that at certain times during pregnancy there is a greater risk of toxins passing through the placenta. That has to be studied. Throughout Appalachia we hear stories about kids developing cancer at
early ages, having asthma and other serious respiratory symptoms, getting frequent rashes and skin blisters. We also hear about kids with digestive and dental problems, kids losing their adult teeth while they’re teenagers. If they drink water from a well
that water is usually not treated and we suspect that it is tainted by chemicals that come off a mining site and then rot their teeth. Other people have different kinds of air-related problems. In some places people have to
wipe a thick layer of coal dust-- it comes from the processing plants--off their furniture every day or two. The health problems vary depending on what people are exposed to -- but they need to be documented and then analyzed.”