Barney's Immortal Soul

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was probably the foremost Catholic evangelist in American history.  In addition to reaching millions through his long-running radio and television programs he was also known to make direct approaches, in person or by telephone, to  famous non-Catholics.  He usually got right to the point:

"There's something I'd like to talk to you about"

"What would that be, Bishop Sheen?"

"Your immortal soul!"

On numerous occasions his audacious approach led to that person's conversion and reception into the Church.  Some notable examples are famed Jewish violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler, agnostic journalist Heywood Broun, and actress, author, and congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce.

Of course there are very few who have the perfect combination of gifts to carry off such in-your-face evangelization.  Sheen's years on radio and television had made him a national celebrity, while this provided an easy entree to many public figures it took far more than Sheen's sparkling personality to lead these souls to conversion.  Sheen was extremely well-educated and possessed of a significant intellect but he also had the graces and indelible charisms of his sacerdotal and episcopal ordinations.  And he knew where his real power came from: he invariably made a holy hour every single day! 

There aren't many like him, but we could use a few these days.

I have a hunch that if Sheen were alive today, and in the fullness of his powers, one of the public figures who might receive such a phone call is Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank.

We cannot, of course, judge Barney's soul; but we are certainly expected to take account of his public actions and outward demeanor.  From these we can legitimately draw the conclusion that his soul would seem to be in great jeopardy.  And, like the rest of us, he's certainly not getting any younger.  For years I've despised his politics and scandalous lifestyle but I've recently begun to remember him in my prayers.  Jesus told us to pray for our enemies and in the sense that his politics and lifestyle are inimical to ours I think this is fully warranted.

(I also pray for his political defeat, so he'll have plenty of free time to contemplate greater issues!)

I hope I don't sound too much like the Pharisee (as in "the Pharisee and the Publican" in Luke 18), heaven knows I have my own sins to atone for.

Anyway, the late Archbishop is properly titled "Servant of God Fulton Sheen", his cause for canonization having been opened in 2002.  As you probably know, one of the prerequisites for canonization is an authenticated miracle, and I can think of few earthly events more likely to be acknowledged as supernatural and miraclulous than Congressman Frank's true and public conversion to the Catholic Faith.  Perhaps we should all begin directing our prayers to this great Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, for this intention.

Credo - Part I

Credo - "I believe".  We all say it at Mass, but how often are we called-upon to declare what we believe - or why we believe it's true?

I had a conversation recently with a former colleague and he was basically asking me that question - why do I believe what I believe and do what I do?  Why do I believe in God?  Why am I a Catholic instead of something else?  Why in particular do I strive to practice the Faith in a decidedly traditional orientation?

It's actually something that I've given some thought to in the past, so I was prepared to answer him in a fairly succinct fashion - well, succinct for me - as opposed to one of my interminable diatribes.  Anyway, I thought the substance of it might make a good blog post, especially during Holy Week.

Ok, here goes:

It's easy to say that we "believe" in God because we were brought-up to do so, but rote learning can only take one so far.  In my case I fell away from the Church when I was in my late teens, although I never consciously stopped believing.  It was only when I began my journey back that I sometimes dared to question the existence of God.  As I said, this is a succinct explanation so I am not going to elaborate upon every step and mis-step I took along the way, I'm just going to tell you why I believe now.

1. I believe because of the evidence of my senses.  Throughout my life I have observed in nature a marvelous complexity and consistency which has convinced me that a higher power or intelligence was responsible for its design and creation.  The catchy term for that these days is "intelligent design".
2. I am further convinced by the Proofs for the Existence of God which St. Thomas Aquinas proposed in his Summa Theologicae.  This great saint distilled the arguments in favor of God's existence into five beautifully simple yet utterly convincing propositions which made complete sense to me, and I only wished I had been introduced to them at an early age.  Faith can be completely rational!
3. I believe because of miracles.  Science cannot explain miraculous images such as that of the crucified Jesus on the Shroud of Turin or the color representation of Our Lady of Guadaloupe on the famous tilma of Juan Diego.  Indeed, modern scientfic technologies have actually validated the inexplicability of these phenomena.  Science cannot explain the many well-documented cures which the Church has recognized as genuine after exhaustive invstigations.  Science cannot explain the "Miracle of the Sun" which was witnessed by tens of thousands of people in Fatima on 13 October 1917.  Et cetera. 
4. I believe because I believe that God has at certain times answered my prayers.  This is entirely subjective but since I am only accounting for my own belief and not that of others I consider it valid.

Of course there are lots of other little things, but those are the ones which are capable of  concise explanation.  Perhaps some or all of these would fail to convince certain individuals, but my intent isn't really apologetic here.  I just think it's an interesting exercise to try and quantify why one believes what one believes.

To avoid having one big, overly long post, I will end here for now, and pick up with "Why I am a Catholic" in Part II.