If you want to listen to my interview on the Son Rise Morning Show from this morning, you can hear it online at:

September 14th Son Rise Radio Show Archive

You need to let the entire file load and then cue the audio almost to the end of the file to catch my segment. (The show airs from 6am to 9am and I was on at 8:40am.)

To see the article referenced in the interview, click here.

A great question from the mailbag:

I read your article on Catholic Scripture Interpretation and was grateful to see that you had an email address in case people had questions.

When I am reading what may be a historical passage of the Bible (particularly the Old Testament) but it seems to me to not be “something that really happened” how do I know if it is something that the Church expects me to consider factual as a matter of faith?

Things that come to mind are the the flood, the miracles of Moses and the pharoah’s magicians, and the crossing of the Red Sea but there are many more.

I do believe all of the truths that our Church teaches. I’m just not sure where the line is drawn. I realize that this may be a very big question, but perhaps you can point me down the right path.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

This is a really good question and one that many people struggle with.

If we look at the guidelines to Biblical interpretation the Church proposes we find that, unlike fundamentalist churches, the Catholic Church actually allows a pretty wide latitude in Biblical interpretations. Obviously, any interpretation that contradicts the Catholic Faith is not allowed, as the same Spirit which inspired the Bible has led the Church in her definition of dogma. But the doctrines of the Church are not a straight jacket in reading the Bible; they are more like road markers which keep us on the correct path. But the truth is that this path is actually quite broad, allowing many flavors of interpretation under one umbrella of faith.

The subtitle of my article on Scripture interpretation is “Resting on Fundamentals, Resisting Fundamentalism”, which reflects the fine line that Catholics should maintain when reading the Bible. On the one hand, we cannot subscribe to the prevalent liberal interpretations which discount any possibility of the supernatural and therefore see the stories of the miraculous in the Bible as fanciful and mythological. To do so is to reject the power of God to intervene in our world in a supernatural way. However, we also are not to be fundamentalists, reading the Bible as a direct account of the events they describe. None of the biblical books, even the historical books, were written in the fashion of a modern newspaper, simply reporting the facts and remaining unbiased in its reporting (at least, that is what newspaper articles are supposed to be). They are intended to be theological reflections of actual events, focusing on the work of God in the activities of our world.

So how are we to understand the accounts of the miraculous in the Bible? Are we to reject them out of hand or accept them all on face value? The answer is neither. We are to look at each story in the context and culture in which it was written. Sometimes a biblical author will write about a natural occurrence and give it a supernatural meaning. This is completely legitimate, as often God will work through our ordinary circumstances to work His Will in our lives. Sometimes the natural convergence of events will lead to a “miraculous” result. Also, sometimes we are reading about an event from a very specific point of view, which might leave out all the details of the event to bring about a theological message. For example, many believe that the Flood was a localized event (not world-wide), and there is nothing in the Catholic Faith against this interpretation.

But we also must be willing to accept that sometimes God does work in our world in a truly miraculous fashion. The crossing of the Red Sea is a fantastical story, but when we study it more in-depth, we find that a miraculous intervention by God is the only explanation that really fits all the facts. An enslaved people is able to escape from a supremely powerful nation intact and then passes down the details of that story for generations. Purely natural explanations actually take more faith than the supernatural one in this case. Simply rejecting the miraculous from the Bible makes it a meaningless book.

So did the Flood, the crossing of the Red Sea, the miracles of Moses, etc. actually happen exactly the way they are describe in the Bible? I cannot answer that question directly, but instead just give the guidelines the Church gives us:

• No interpretation that contradicts Catholic teaching is to be accepted.
• We cannot reject prima facie accounts of the miraculous.
• We must read each account within the context and culture of the human author, realizing the limitations and preconceptions he brings to the sacred text.

I hope that these are helpful guidelines for you as you continue to read the Sacred Scriptures. May God bless your reading abundantly!

I am so seriously excited:

Pope to publish 2nd part of Jesus of Nazareth in spring

I find it quite appropriate that my book and the pope’s will come out in the same year, as the first part of “Jesus of Nazareth” was one of the main inspirations for writing my own book about Jesus.

So if you can only buy one book about Jesus next year, then buy “Jesus of Nazareth, Part II”. But if you can buy two books about Jesus in 2010, buy the Pope’s book as well as “Who Do You Say That I Am?” by your blog host (coming in September 2010). After all, what is more important than knowing Jesus better?

Did you know that on 9/11/01 a church was destroyed? St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was completely demolished when Tower 2 fell down on it. Fortunately, no one was in the church when it collapsed, but only a few damaged icons and other religious items were able to be recovered.

St. Nicholas Orthodox Church

As you pray for the victims of 9/11 and their families, be sure to pray for this congregation that they might be able to restore their church building. They have had a great deal of troubles trying to rebuild their church, and I’m sure they would appreciate our prayers.

St. Nicholas, pray for us!

I’ll be on the Son Rise Morning Show on Cincinnati’s Sacred Heart Radio (740AM) on Monday the 14th at 8:40AM. If you live in Cincinnati, be sure to tune in (did you hear that, Mom?). You can also stream the broadcast at sacredheartradio.com.

I’ll be discussing how new technologies like ebooks impact our ability to understand the Bible. You can see some of my thoughts on this topic here.

Be sure to listen in!

In the 1980′s, no one personified the pro-life movement more than Joan Andrews (now Joan Bell). She was a heroic defender of unborn life, and eventually she served a number of years in prison for the nonviolent rescues she performed at numerous abortion clinics around the country. I had the privledge of meeting Joan a number of times and working with her on a few events. She is the real deal – a living saint (and like a true saint, she would vociferously deny this). She wrote a book about her experiences (which is now unfortunately out of print) called “I Will Never Forget You“, published by Ignatius Press in 1989. It details her rescue work and her unflagging commitment to protect unborn children from destruction.

Imagine now that in twenty years the United States government made this book required reading in the public schools. Unbelievable, right? Well, something similar has occurred in Russia, as excerpts of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s classic “The Gulag Archipelago” – a book banned in the Soviet Union – has now become required reading in Russian schools.

If you told someone when the book came out in 1973 that this would occur, I’m sure they would think it impossible. But nothing is impossible for God. Through prayer, we can make something just as impossible happen – conversion of America to a Culture of Life.

Every crisis is a crisis of saints. Joan Andrews is one of the (too few) saints of our day. The way we will stop legalized abortion is more saints – will you be one?

Fr. Richard McBrien is not a fan of eucharistic adoration. My own thoughts on the matter, which I’m sure show that I am not literate or well-educated:

Prayer is the most important activity that a Christian can do; it is in fact the foundation of everything we do.

Below is a very informative video interview with Bishop Christodoulos of the Holy Metropolis Greek Orthodox Church on “Why do Christians pray?” It is directed towards Orthodox Christians, but its wisdom is applicable to all Christians.

Episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” would often show Captain Picard sitting in his office reading from an actual book – not a tablet or computer screen, but a real paper book. I think the writers of the series wanted to show Picard as an intellectual and deep thinker, and they knew having him just read from a tablet device would not give off that impression. But they knew that a book would surely show that the good Captain had a great mind.

I thought of that when I read this quote:

There are modes of learning and thinking that at the moment are only available from actual books. There is a kind of deep-dive, meditative reading that’s almost impossible to do on a screen. Without books, students are more likely to do the grazing or quick reading that screens enable, rather than be by themselves with the author’s ideas.

- William Powers, author of a paper published at Harvard called “Hamlet’s Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal” (source)

I find in my own experience that this statement rings very true. When I try to read something on a screen, I find myself more often than not “grazing,” not reading. My mind cannot focus as deeply on screen text and I usually cannot stay with the material very long. Yet when I read an actual (paper) book, I am much more able to do the “deep-dive” reading that Powers describes. This is why if I find something on the Internet that I really want to digest, I print it out.

This brings up an interesting question that all Christians should contemplate: how will this affect our biblical literacy? The Bible is the most important text we as Christians have in our possession, and it contains the story of God’s unbelievable love for His people. Yet the Bible is a challenging text to read – it consists of widely varying genres from quite diverse cultures (diverse from our own and even at times from each other). There is no question that the Bible requires the “deep-dive, meditative reading” that Powers says is “almost impossible to do on a screen.” So what does this mean? If we as a society transform into an entirely screen-based reading society, will our knowledge of the Scriptures begin to fade? Will we be able to delve deeply into the Word of God? Powers says that only paper allows a reader to be able to “be by themselves with the author’s ideas.” What happens when the author is God?

One could argue that our inability to do deep reading on the screen is simply due to it being a new media, and that future generations will be able to read meditatively even from a screen, as that will be the only reading that they will know. But what if that is not the case? What if the human mind simply cannot process words from a screen as well as it processes words on paper?

Can the Word become flesh in pixel form?

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Mary,
Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
God chose you as His Mother,
You are our mother too.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Most Blessed among women,
Please bless all that we do.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
You are the Queen of Heaven,
We hope to be like you.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Mary,
Happy Birthday to you!

Before I became Catholic in the early 90′s, I was a practicing Evangelical Christian. Now, for those Catholics who are unfamiliar with exactly what an “Evangelical” is (and what they believe), it basically means that I was a Christian who believed in the inerrancy of the Bible, that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, that I must make a personal decision to accept that salvation, and that I was called to evangelize other people with the Good News about Jesus Christ.

But after I became Catholic, I still believed all of those things (although admittedly my view on what each of these meant shifted a bit). So was I still an Evangelical Christian? I considered myself one (and still do). But many Catholics – and many Evangelicals – are uncomfortable with the idea that one can be Evangelical and Catholic.

One Catholic, however, who embraces the dual designation is Francis Beckwith, the former President of the Evangelical Theological Society, who recently returned to the Catholic Faith of his youth (and which you can read about in Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic). Dr. Beckwith recently had a debate with Dr. Timothy George on the question “Can you be Catholic and Evangelical?” It was held at Wheaton College, the premier Evangelical college in the United States (and one I considered going to for a while). Video of the debate can be found on Wheaton’s website here.

If you are interested in ecumenism or just want to understand better the relationship between the two most dominant religions in our country, you should really watch the debate.

Yesterday Archbishop Wuerl celebrated Mass at my parish for the installation of our new pastor, Fr. Thomas LaHood. The Mass was beautiful and the installation was quite moving, as Fr. LaHood made a profession of faith in front of the congregation to be faithful to the teachings of the Church, and to give a full submission of intellect and will to the teachings of the Pope and the college of bishops. I’m also sure that Archbishop Wuerl gave a wonderful homily. Of course, I couldn’t tell you a thing he said because my 2-month old daughter spent the entire homily screaming as loud as she could. And that wasn’t even the most embarrassing to happen to me during the Mass.

Here’s what happened. Near the beginning of Mass, my daughter started getting fussy. Maybe the incense was bothering her. Maybe she was just excited to see the bishop process in. But whatever the reason, I saw a meltdown might be about to happen. So I took her out and fortunately I was able to settle her down pretty quickly. In a little bit my wife came out and offered to take her and nurse her. I confidently told her that she was fine and that I’d take care of her. Famous last words.

As soon as my wife went back into the church, my daughter began screaming like the world was coming to an end (and to a two-month-old nursing baby, the sight of your mother walking away is the end of the world). I tried every trick in my dad-playbook – the rocking, the football-hold, the walking outside – none of it worked. She cried and cried and cried. I was stuck outside, able to barely see the Archbishop through two sets of windows.

Finally, at the end of the homily, she fell asleep. So I went back into the church and found my seat in the 2nd row. Soon the Liturgy of the Eucharist began, and at the epiclesis the altar server rang the bells. Well, I guess my daughter wasn’t completely asleep, or else she was really struck by the descent of the Holy Spirit, because as soon as the bells rang, she began to scream again. Here I was, sitting in the 2nd row at the moment of consecration with the bishop celebrating to our packed congregation, and my baby is louder than a 747 taking off. I didn’t want to walk out in the middle of the consecration, so I tried to calm her for a few moments. But as soon as the consecration was completed, I ran out of there like Usain Bolt with a bear chasing him.

Needless to say, the moral of the story is: if the mother of a child asks to take him or her from you, there is only one correct answer: yes, dear.

Pope Benedict recently urged members of an ecumenical commission that a better understanding of Western and Eastern spirituality and doctrine will promote “a better, reciprocal appreciation among all Christians“:

Common ground in Eastern and Western spirituality “is the valuable lifeblood for a broader relationship between Catholics and Orthodox,” [Pope Benedict] said.

The pope’s remarks came in a written message to Catholic and Orthodox participants in an inter-Christian symposium Sept. 3-5 in Rome. The message, addressed to Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, was released by the Vatican Sept. 3.

The pope said the symposium’s focus this year on St. Augustine [he's everywhere!] in Eastern and Western traditions was important for learning more about Christian theology and spirituality in the West and East and how they developed.

While the fourth-century saint and theologian was of fundamental importance in influencing theology and culture in the West, “the reception of his thinking by orthodox theology turned out to be rather problematic,” said the pope in his written message, which was read at the symposium’s opening session.

That should be an interesting symposium. In the East, Augustine is considered by many as the cause of many of the West’s “problems.” His theology of the Trinity led in many ways to the acceptance of the filioque in the West, and his teachings on predestination and the role of grace in the believers’ life are seen by many as contradictory to the synergistic view of salvation commonly taught in the East. It is Eastern practice to refer to Augustine as “Blessed Augustine,” not St. Augustine, and I’ve often said that never was the term “Blessed” used in a more derogatory tone than when some people put it before the name Augustine.

But I hope and pray that this symposium will find a good deal of common ground between East and West in the life and writings of this great saint. Those interested in this topic would likely be interested in reading The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church by Seraphim Rose, which is a sympathetic reading of Augustine by an Orthodox monk of the 20th century.

This is a pretty cool story:

Man Uses Photographic Memory to Recite the Bible

A man with a photographic memory has memorized most of the Bible and uses his gift to preach as a traveling evangelist.

The Jackson Sun reported that Charles Matlock, 59, is known as the “Walking Bible of West Tennessee” and can recite entire books and chapters.

Matlock said he started to memorize the Scriptures when he was 12 years old. He recalled memorizing his homework one day and thinking to himself that he could also memorize Scripture. The first passage he memorized was John 1:1-5.

But I especially like this quote from Mr. Matlock:

Matlock emphasized, “I want a relationship with Jesus more than just reading and memorizing verses.”

I’ve always wanted to have a photographic memory. I think I would start with memorizing the Bible, then move to the Catechism, then perhaps the Summa Theologica, the Code of Canon Law, the collected works of Scott Hahn…(actually that last one would probably be too much to memorize even with a photographic memory).

Always good to see when bishops are doing their jobs even when they will get serious resistance:

• My own ordinary, Archbishop Donald Wuerl, has joined the fight in DC to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. I am sure he is going to get plenty of flack for this, but it is also good to see that he is joined by some fine Christian leaders.
• The ordinary of my hometown, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, has banned a sister from teaching at Catholic parishes and institutions because she vocally supports the ordination of women as priests. Needless to say, this has not made him popular in the local Catholic academic scene (otherwise known as the “do-it-yourself Magisterium”).

I don’t think we can ever really grasp the tremendous pressure a bishop is under. He is responsible for the salvation of thousands, sometimes even millions, of souls, and has a huge number of people and causes vying for his attention. He must defend the Faith, yet do so in such a way as to not alienate people needlessly. I honestly don’t know how anyone can do it.

Pray for your bishop and all bishops that they might be given the grace to do their jobs faithfully.

Holy apostles, pray for us!