IMPORTANT READING FOR ACADEMY

Dear Friends:

This first entry is a primer for our new "course", a book study of Professor G. Kaczor's work entitled The 7 Big Myths of the Catholic Church. The seminar is meant to be a primer for dialogue regarding modern conventional views of the Church and Dr. Kaczor's analysis of their relevence when discussing the Roman Catholic Church today, nearly two millennia since Her founding by God incarnate, Jesus of Nazereth.

I write this "blog" entry from Arnold Hall, a retreat house in Pembroke, MA, a suburb near Boston (The picture you see is from the JFK memorial Library in Boston, where I visited and edited my notes). At Arnold Hall I participated in a workshop called the Ars Praedicandi, Latin for The Art of Preaching. I have been impressed by the lectures bost most especially the priests who are in attendance.

There is Fr. C.J. McClosky. Although he will take no credit for it, we learned that he has been a great evangelizer of Protestant Christians. We learned this as he was being introduced by Fr. Roger Landry. Specifically, in the last 20 years he brought into the Catholic Church some prominent Washington politicians, media types and the like. People like Robert Novak, the noted journalist, Federal Justice Robert J. Bork and former Speaker Newt Gingrich. You get the picture (and may remember that Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Bush the First).

Speaking of the Supreme Court of the United States, I just had a long conversation with Fr. John Jay Hughes. He is just shy of his 85th birthday and is a direct descendent of Chief Justice John Jay, the founding Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. Additionally, Fr. Hughes studied under Pope Benedict XVI (Fr. Jos.Ratzinger) at the University of Munster, Germany. Jay remained in Germany and Austria during the decade of the 1960s and rubbed elbows regularly with catholic theologians like Fathers Karl Rahner, S.J. and Hans Kung.
His last visit with the Holy Father (Emeritus) was just a few years ago where they spoke casually in German about old times at one of the audience halls in the Apostolic Palice.

Here also is Fr. Raymond DeSouza of Kingston, ONtario. Fr was the lead commentator on EWTN's coverage of the conclave that elected Pope Francis last month. Also here is two other media-savvy priests, Fr. John Trigilio and Fr. Kenneth Brighenti who co-authored the book "The idiot's guide to Catholicism" and appear regularly on TV. Another priest who I have met before who is truly a brilliant scholarly gentleman is Fr. George Rutler, pastor of the Church of Our Savior in Manhattan (Park Ave and 37thSt). Besides being a true scholar, George is another Anglican convert (like Jay Hughes) and spoke very eloguently to us about Msgr. Ronald Knox.

Finally there is a good humble priest who is laying in the shadows as they say, seemingly very understated. He is the Archbishop of Montreal, Christian Lepine (soon to be a Cardinal, perhaps). You would not even know it because he is seemingly a simple, prayerful man, just like the Chief Shepherds of our flock, notably Pope Emeritus Benedict and our current Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis.

I suppose you may be wondering what this has to do with the Academy. Well it serves as a primer for what the Academy seeks to do: evangelize and catechize. It is my desire that you will bring with you your deepest questions about the faith. Whether this is simple theology (what we believe and why), ecclesiology (why the Church is structured as She is, for instance, all male Holy Orders), moral issues (Contraception, so called same sex marriage, abortion, gravity of sin) and lastly communio. Communio is our willingness to belong and love Her, Holy Mother Church as She is. Perhaps we think She should change Her ways before we are fully willing to enter into Her mystery completely (so called Faithful Dissent)?

I hope you enjoy this session. Check back here frequently for more messages!