Here is a list of online documents on St. Augustine by the Popes, from Pius XI (Ad salutem), John Paul VI (Augustinum Hipponensem) and Benedict XVI (Wednesday Audience and Homily at Pavia).
The Eye-Ear/Heart/Hands-Feet Metaphor as used in the Scriptures help illustrate how a human being is formed integrally. The Eye/Ear are the windows to the external world. We are taught through a point-and-tell method that engages the eyes and the ears. We teach babies for example by pointing objects to them and telling them what it is. As we grow up, we are introduced to more “refined” ways of the point-and-tell. Remember how you were taught the basics about computers? In the Scriptures, the Eye/Ear metaphor is also used in the formation of the faith. The wonderful deeds of God are seen and the proclamation about these are heard so that these can be remembered and proclaimed. Read the rest of this entry »
Last July 25, the Catholic Church in the Philippines celebrated the 40th Year of Humanae Vitae with a rally at the University of Sto. Tomas campus. The rally also had another purpose, that of formally declaring the Church’s opposition to the Reproductive Health Bill that our legislators would like to pass as law. The Bill is actually a misnomer, even a deliberate ploy to mislead: since when is bearing children a sickness? I still remember the Beijing Conference of 1996 and its agenda of women’s health which was nothing but a ploy to promote abortion and artificial contraception.
Here is the “Decency Gap/Eve Reinhardt” video that was pulled off YouTube and published at GoogleVideo instead.
“Decency Gap” is used among pro-abortion groups to refer the gap of funding left open after President George Bush reinstated in 2001 the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits U.S. funding for international organizations that perform or provide information about abortion.
Eve Reinhardt is an independent filmmaker who met with Carlos Polo, director for Latin America’s Population Research Institute (a pro-life organization) in an interview for an unbiased documentary on abortion. In this video, she is exposed as being tied up with a multimedia theatre project called “The Decency Gap” which is being financed by among others, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the Peruvian pro-abortion group “PROMSEX”
The feed is 4 minutes long and may be for most surfers heavy on the download. If it stalls, just refresh your browser. Let it run the whole duration first, so that it is buffered in your browser. Subsequent playing would be smoother than the first one.
If you wish to have in an MPG format that you can play in your Windows Media Player or WinAMP, you can download it here. The file is in a compressed ZIP Archive (21.85MB)
The encyclical “Deus caritas est” will be one of the encyclicals to be read for a book report to be submitted around August 2008. Here is a link to a translation I made of an article where Pope Benedict XVI summarizes the content of his first encyclical.
I haven’t gone to any Body Exhibit yet, and I don’t think I’ll ever go to one. But imagine a public exhibit where dead people are shown, and you’ll see why Bishops would object to it.
Today’s topic is an introduction to the ten principles behind the Catholic Social Teachings. A “principle” is anything out of which something proceeds in any manner whatsoever. Thus, one speaks of the soul as the “principle” of life, and one can speak of a “principled man” because of the strong convictions that guide his life. Ideas too have their principles. In the case of the Social Teachings of the Church, there are ten. These are the principles of
All these ten principles have their basis in the Natural Law and Revelation. In other words, all can be grasped either by reason or faith.
The Compendium of the Social Doctrines discuss these principles in par. 160–208. It is in the light of these principles that social evils are seen as “evils” and not just some “irregularity.”
More about this is found in my notes here and here. The progress of our lessons are found here.
Here are a number of links I gathered from the web about studyying effectively. Most of these lead to webpages from the guidance offices of universities and colleges outside of the Philippines. The tips range from having a mind prepared for study (tips for concentration), to classroom skills (effective note-taking), to cultivating study habits and developing certain study skills (speed reading, improving the memory) and recuperating from an intense period of study (i.e., how to rest so as to study better.) The tips are useful especially or students who still have to develop good study habits. Good study habits are needed not only for passing exams so as to get mediocre grades; they also help one cultivate a good work ethic later on.
In Cardinal Martino’s presentation of the Compendium to the press, he also mentioned it as “accompanied by extensive indexes that make for easy and very useful consultation.” He does not elaborate further on these “extensive indexes” but these are mainly of two kinds: the Source Index and the Analytical Index.
Anyone familiar with the indexes of the Catechism of the Catholic Church would find the indexes of the Compendium a welcome treat. The Source Index for example gives one a comprehensive list of the Bible passages and Magisterial texts that are quoted or alluded to in the numbered paragraphs of the Compendium. One who would like to study the Scriptures or view certain scriptural passages in the light of the Church’s social teachings need only to look at the Biblical index and see which passages are used in the Compendium and in what context. The Index to the Magisterium provides references not only to the Social Encyclicals but to related documents. These indexes when used intelligently in combination with the ones found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in the Enchiridion Symbolorum is a great help for studying the sources of Catholic faith and morals.
The second tool that would be appreciated by students especially, is the Analytical Index which is a complete list of the subjects treated under each of the main sections of the Compendium and cross-indexed with the paragraph numbers. Subjects are categorized under keywords. A glance at the Analytical Index would give one the idea of how extensive are the subjects treated under the Compendium.
With both the Source Index and the Analytic Index, the Compendium becomes a reference book that one can read over and over again. Like other Church documents, it grows with the reader. The more one reads it, the better one understands its contents; each time it is read, truths that may have been missed before, come to light.
“Notes” is where one gets supplementary materials on class lectures for Theology 104-106.
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