The January-February issue of Faith Magazine is now online with lots of goodies for you. The editorial is a post-mortem on the Intelligence Squared debate in which the motion "The Catholic Church is a force for good" was roundly defeated. See: The London Debate: Why We Lost and What We Must Learn William Oddie, the author of "The Roman Option", a critique of the lukewarm response in some quarters, to the converts who were looking for a home after the 1992 decision of the Church of England to ordain women priests, writes the column Comment on the Comments. Not surprisingly, he feels strongly about the opposition to Anglicanorum Coetibus. Other topics studied in this issue are the divinity and humanity of Christ, environmentalism and the personhood of the human embryo.You might also want to take a look at the editorial essay in the previous issue: Time to Proclaim the Primacy of Jesus Christ in Creation
As ever, all the content of Faith Magazine is available free online. The printed version is very attractive and you can subscribe via the website. There is a special offer for new subscribers from the USA.
5 comments:
Dr Oddie in his piece reflects warmly on his recent visit to Pusey House, Oxford, where he once worked. Perhaps on his next visit he could ask the Principal, Fr Jonathan Baker, about his links with Freemasonry. In the latest issue of 'Freemasonry Today' it is reported that Fr Baker preached at a recent masonic public school festival at Eton
I didn't watch the London debate as it would have been too painful. Widdecombe is not a great thinker but neither is Hitchens whilst Fry is overrated - he has a history of crumbling under the slightest pressure (just do your homework).
The collapse in apologetics is a cause of major concern. The bishops give the impression that they don't care or are unfazed by the sight of our people humiliated in public. My Catholic peers at university would have been cheering for the fraudulent Fry. I recall our university lay chaplain (whose sister was a nun) revelling in the Bishop of Galway scandal and the latter's humiliation at the hands of BBC radio satirists. Not embarassed, ashamed or defensive but positively enjoying it.
It does not matter if you had the most learned catholic and holiest catholic debating the result would have been the same. Dirt and scandal always have greater appeal. I remember once reading a book where an American bishop in the 19th centruy had taken on a fanatical Protestant. Although he answered every question he retired tired and exhausted. You see Hitchens and Fry like the Protetant fanatic cannot play fair. In a debate they are not there to play fair. I will agree the fostering of ignorance among catholics is diabolical. I remember as a young man reading Radio Replies, books by a priest who ran a radio station in Australia. Recently I found myself exchanging e-mails with a Catholic Journalist who stopped all discussion by declaring his intelligence was too superior to mine. Maybe his superior mind would have won the day.
I was delighted to find the latest issue of FAITH magazine. Such a high quality publication available free online. Thanks father to you and all who produce this journal.
I recently watched Hitchens in three different debates: with Dineesh D'Souza, William Lane Craig (American Philosopher) and John Lennox. In each debate he was comprehensively beaten and came up with what I thought were the strangest of arguments. Perhaps the Intelligence Squared debate is a call for Catholics to become educated in the history of their Faith and the philosophical ideas that underpin it. The New Atheists as a whole seem to me to just twist history, put forward banal arguments or regurgitate old Humean ones. There seems to be a lot of literature emerging in defence of Faith as a whole and even of the Catholic Church. So, be confident. May I recommend Dr. Frain's The Cross and the Third Reich. But we need more like it!
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