October, 2008
Greetings, vocation bloggers! October has come and gone, and the cold winter is upon us up here in Providence. Surprisingly, it has been pretty mild so far this winter. I hope the weather will make up its mind soon so I do not have to be hot and cold!
The school year is really in motion now (and so are the examinations and papers). I have five classes this semester, ranging from eastern philosophy to physics. I am really enjoying Eastern Philosophy and my Wisdom of St. Augustine courses, because each deal with many challenges that arise throughout a person’s life. The Buddha, for example, views all life as suffering, though it is an illusion that must be overcome. St. Augustine views life as a search for God, during which every individual has the opportunity (or grace) of finding Him. These two views account for different problems that we all encounter during our lives. My opportunity to learn about these different views is a wonderful one, and God willing I hope it will help me in my ministry in the future.
I am sure many of you bloggers are wondering: why does a seminarian need to study philosophy? Well, the simple answer to this question is that philosophy is a starting point for theology. Philosophy, literally “love of wisdom,” is (today) the academic study of what is true about the universe outside of humanity and the universe inside of humanity (human nature). This study helps us investigate the capacities of human reason; and theology, being the study of God and the Church, the “understanding of the Faith,” needs a foundation in human reasoning in order to reason properly about the Faith. Without the assistance of philosophy, the “understanding” part of theology would have no foundation, and the principles and teachings of the Church would be a matter of opinion; but, as we know, the Catholic Church teaches authoritatively so that its faithful may have no hindrance to gaining salvation (which might be lost if teaching was a matter of human opinion). One of the best ways to appreciate the teachings of the Church is to understand the teaching, knowing the answer to the question: “Why does the Church teach that?” If you want to know more about this subject, I highly recommend reading a document which Pope John Paul II wrote, titled Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason). This text is very clear on how and why the Church upholds philosophy and theology as guides to understanding the teachings of the Church. (I think www.vatican.va probably has it under the papal archives). This was not as short of an answer as I said it was going to be, but at least you have something to read to better understand (or make sense out of) my answer. I have really come to love philosophy over these past three years, so I hope that you can appreciate the reason why seminarians need to study it. Ultimately, (here’s the simple answer) philosophy helps us in priestly ministry because we can better explain the Faith with it.
Have a great fall! Eat plenty of pumpkin pies and drink a lot of apple cider, and I will write again in November. God bless!
