Do you want to know how to read the Bible as a Catholic? Ask Pope Benedict:

In this regard, the Second Vatican Council points out three criteria that always apply for an interpretation of Sacred Scripture in conformity with the Spirit that inspired it.

First of all it is essential to pay great attention to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture: only in its unity is it Scripture. Indeed, however different the books of which it is composed may be, Sacred Scripture is one by virtue of the unity of God’s plan whose centre and heart is Jesus Christ (cf. Lk 24: 25-27; Lk 24: 44-46).

Secondly, Scripture must be interpreted in the context of the living tradition of the whole Church. According to a statement of Origen: “Sacra Scriptura principalius est in corde Ecclesiae quam in materialibus instrumentis scripta”, that is, “Sacred Scripture is written in the heart of the Church before being written on material instruments”.

Indeed, in her Tradition the Church bears the living memory of the Word of God and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her its interpretation according to the spiritual meaning (cf. Origin, Homilae in Leviticum, 5,5).

As a third criterion, it is necessary to pay attention to the analogy of the faith, that is to the consistence of the individual truths of faith with one another and with the overall plan of the Revelation and the fullness of the divine economy contained in it.

Read the whole speech; Pope Benedict is a Scripture scholar par excellence, and I have always found a deep understanding of Biblical thinking in his writings.

The first parish of the Russian Orthodox Church has been opened in Rome. Hopefully this is a sign of thawing relations between Moscow and Rome.

David L. Schindler, Provost/Dean and Gagnon Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, has written a strongly-worded criticism of Christopher West’s work popularizing JPII’s Theology of the Body. While assuming West’s “intention of fidelity to the Church” and his love for the Church, Schindler believes that West “significantly” distorts the teaching of John Paul II. It is an interesting article and I encourage all to read it.

Personally, I pray that the Nightline piece on West will bring about a stronger overall Catholic apologetic about the nature of human love and sexuality – I think everyone agrees that it is desperately needed today.

I have posted my reflection for this Sunday’s readings, in which I contemplate what it means to be an apostle of Christ.

I have been using the internet for about 18 years now. I still remember my enthusiasm from participating in an online theological debate in 1992 with a person in Europe while I was at school in Ohio. At the time, this was quite revolutionary. I also remember getting flamed by an anti-Catholic for defending the Church’s ban on contraception.

From those experiences and many others like them, I have grown to have a love/hate relationship with the internet. On the one hand, I greatly appreciate its ability give me access to serious theological writings, beautiful artwork and connections to other great people. On the other hand, I can’t get over the feeling that I need to take a shower from all the filth and slime that covers cyberspace. Aside from the greatest evil on the web – pornography – there is the sheer viciousness that most online discussions involve:

[W]hat is it about the internet that leads some people to be so vicious? [W]hy are some people so badly affected by hostile activities online that they will even commit suicide?

From the beginning of the internet some people have used it to threaten and abuse. Back in the days of USENET, many forums were populated by trolls (people who post messages to get a rise out of another reader) and flames (inflammatory and derogatory messages).

Why? First, because of anonymity. “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”, has become web wisdom . People believe they can create a fake untraceable webmail address. This also explains the success of pornography; people don’t think that their online activities can be traced. In reality, most people leave digital fingerprints which can prove that they are dogs.

And then because of a lack of accountability. If you don’t know who said something or did something you can’t hold them account for doing it. People feel free to be racist, sexist and otherwise inflammatory because their friends and family won’t find out. This has led to a shocking degradation of normal civility. Just check out the comments below a controversial article on a popular magazine like The New Republic. Some of the sentiments are appalling.

Nothing is greater proof of Original Sin than the internet, and this holds as true for Catholic blogs as anywhere else. Look at the most commented posts at your average Catholic blog, and you will see a discussion that quickly devolves into personal (and often vicious) attacks. As Catholics, we must take seriously the call of Pope Benedict:

I am inviting all those who make use of the new technologies of communication, especially the young, to utilize them in a positive way and to realize the great potential of these means to build up bonds of friendship and solidarity that can contribute to a better world.

It is also the case that many bloggers themselves will say things about others (often bishops) that they would never say to them in person, because they would inherently recognize how uncharitable the comment would be. Yet the act of posting it online does not include those preventative signals that we get when talking face-to-face.

In my own family, I strictly control the use of the internet by my children. I want them to be mentally and spiritual mature before I let them loose into the wild environs of the web. I would rather them be technologically inept than be spiritual destroyed by their access to the evil corners of the online world.

Isn’t it great that we have decided to spread American values throughout the world? For example, in Afghanistan, we have our military burning Bibles:

Military personnel threw away, and ultimately burned, confiscated Bibles that were printed in the two most common Afghan languages amid concern they would be used to try to convert Afghans, a Defense Department spokesman said Tuesday.

The unsolicited Bibles sent by a church in the United States were confiscated about a year ago at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan because military rules forbid troops of any religion from proselytizing while deployed there, Lt. Col. Mark Wright said.

Too bad former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbechev is not on the committee that canonizes saints:

Gorbachev agrees John Paul II should be declared as saint

John Paul II, pray for us!

If you want a microcosm of how we got in the economic mess we are in, look no further than this article by New York Times writer Edmund Andrews. Andrews, an economics writer for the Times, tells the personal story of his own slide into deep debt. His story, alas, is all too common, and it starts and ends with a bad mortgage:

Patty discovered a small but stately brick home in a leafy, kid-filled neighborhood in Silver Spring, Md. We sent in an offer of $460,000 and one day later got our answer: the sellers accepted. I felt both amazed and exhilarated, convinced that the stars had aligned for us. I loved the house as soon as I saw it. It was one block from a school and a park. My boys would be within a 15-minute drive, and it would be easy for them to come over and stay whenever they wanted.

The only problem was money. Having separated from my wife of 21 years, who had physical custody of our sons, I was handing over $4,000 a month in alimony and child-support payments. That left me with take-home pay of $2,777, barely enough to make ends meet in a one-bedroom rental apartment. Patty had yet to even look for a job. At any other time in history, the idea of someone like me borrowing more than $400,000 would have seemed insane.

For those who live outside the DC area, a $460,000 house might sound like a mansion, but I can assure you that in late 2004, that would not get you a very large house in the Silver Spring area. So Mr. Andrews was not purchasing a “McMansion,” nor was he getting acres and acres of land. Yet by any historical measure, he was buying a house way over his means – and he was able to do so easily.

I have sympathy for Mr. Andrews, I really do. He recognizes his mistakes and he doesn’t blame anyone else for them. But he clearly got caught up in a wave that pulled thousands of people with it.

What I find most disappointing about the overspending America has engaged in is that Christians have acted no differently than the general population. We too felt that we “needed” a large house, large cars, and large vacations. For all the warnings against money in the Bible (and they are legion), we didn’t show any more financial responsibility than the average non-believing American. Can you imagine the witness we would have had if we had all refrained from such profligate spending and instead used our excess income to help those truly in need?

If the Gospel does not change how we live, what is the point of it?

Speaking of Catholic New Media technologists, nominations for the Catholic New Media Awards will close on May 25th, so if there is a blog you wish to nominate (for example, for the “Best New Blog” award), do so soon.

From our Holy Father:

I am inviting all those who make use of the new technologies of communication, especially the young, to utilize them in a positive way and to realize the great potential of these means to build up bonds of friendship and solidarity that can contribute to a better world.

Young people in particular, I appeal to you: bear witness to your faith through the digital world!

Employ these new technologies to make the Gospel known, so that the Good News of God’s infinite love for all people, will resound in new ways across our increasingly technological world!

Let’s get to it!

As we all know, many dioceses in America celebrate the Feast of the Ascension this coming Sunday, not today. Back in the 1990′s I was living in the Baltimore diocese, which at that time celebrated this feast on the traditional Thursday. However, the week of the Ascension I had a business trip to Seattle, which, unbeknownst to me, had moved the celebration to the following Sunday. So when Thursday rolled around, I went looking for a Mass, figuring there would be many available on a Holy Day of Obligation like Ascension Thursday. However, I eventually realized that in Seattle it was not in fact Ascension Thursday but just Thursday in the 6th week of Easter (and no Mass was available in a time I could go). Then I returned to Baltimore on Friday and that Sunday my parish celebrated the 7th Sunday of Easter. To me, the Ascension never happened that year – I had been sucked into some liturgical black hole which swallowed up Feast Days with abandon. I felt liturgically unbalanced for years.

Now I live in the Archdiocese of Washington D.C., which celebrates the Ascension on Sunday. But last year, a friend and I went to a Divine Liturgy at Holy Transfiguration Melkite Catholic Church on Ascension Thursday, and they celebrated the feast on that day. Then the next Sunday I went to my parish, which celebrated the Ascension on that day. So to me, the Ascension happened twice last year – I had been able to defeat the liturgical black hole and recalibrate my confused liturgical inner sense.

Happy Feast of the Ascension (for those celebrating it today and not Sunday):

Click here to listen to a podcast from a Eastern Catholic parish on the meaning of this feast.

Picture this scene: you are discussing a topic with a fundamentalist, and you stop the conversation, pull out your iPhone and say, “Wait, let me find out what the Pope wants me to think about this.” It will be sure to blow the fundies’ mind and establish you as a true über-Catholic.

Is this some futuristic fantasy I’m talking about? No! It is about to become reality!

On May 24th, World Communications Day, the Pope (well, actually an office at the Vatican) will be launching iPhone and Facebook apps. Now you can get your papal dope straight from the source while getting your geek on.

National Geographic has an article online on the plight of Arab Christians. Too often American Christians think there are two groups in the Holy Land – Jews and Muslims. They forget that we have brothers and sisters in Christ suffering over there who are Arabs.

Last weekend, the group “Little Bethlehem” was at my parish selling beautiful olive wood religious carvings to help support the Christians in Bethlehem and the Holy Land. If you are looking to support Christians in the Middle East, I would recommend buying some of their products.

I have seen a lot of prayer requests over the past few months from people recently laid off and looking for a job. For those looking for a job, I found this article, which attests to the intercessory power of St. Josemaría Escrivá.

St. Josemaría is the founder of Opus Dei and his main message is that we can be sanctified through our regular work – as a laborer, as a mother, as a computer programmer. He placed great value on a job well done, so I imagine a novena to him from those looking for a job could be pretty effective.

Here is a link to a suggested novena prayer (PDF-format).

St. Josemaría, pray for us!