I Have a Question. - Fr. Hugh Barbour, O. Praem

Can You Trust Your Doctor?
Should you toss the tube? Were the Wise Men dumb to worship the Holy Child?

Q Recently I was talking with the associate pastor and DRE at my parish. In our discussion, the topic came up of the possible naming of St. Therese of Lisieux, the "Little Flower," as a Doctor of the Church. Our DRE said she would like that very much, because St. Therese, according to her, didn't believe in purgatory. She seemed to think such a declaration would give authority to the saint's opinion. What do you think?

A Your question gives me a chance to do two things: first, to vindicate St. Therese's strong belief in purgatory, and second, to explain just what the authority of a Doctor of the Church is.
Anyone who claims that St. Therese of Lisieux didn't believe in purgatory has not read carefully all of her works. In her Last Conversations, under July 8, 1897, we read (translation mine): "Oh, if you only knew how sweet my judgement will be! But even if the Good God punishes me a bit, I will find even that sweet. If I go to purgatory, I will still be very content, I will behave like the three Hebrews, I will walk about in the furnace singing the song of love. Oh, how happy I would be, if there I could deliver other souls, suffer in their place; then I would do well, I would deliver the captives!" That should adequately address the ill-founded opinion of the DRE.
Yet even without reading a word of St. Therese's works, we know that the writings of a Doctor of the Church cannot contradict defined dogmas of the Catholic Faith, if he or she writes after a given dogma has been defined as binding on all the faithful, as contained in the deposit of revealed truths. A saint is declared a Doctor of the Church if, in addition to his or her holiness, the Church wishes to indicate the quality of the saint's teaching as particularly fine and authoritative. This authority can extend to a saint's teaching in general, as, for example, in the case of St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Bonaventure, or to his teaching in some particular area, as in the case of St. Alphonsus Liguori for moral theology, or of St. Teresa of Avila in the doctrine of prayer and the mystical life.
The basic orthodoxy of all the saints and blesseds declared by the Church is guaranteed, and all the existing writings of any of them are carefully examined for doctrinal integrity. In the case of a Doctor, however, the works of the saint are declared to have a more excellent degree of authority in theological reasoning and discussion. In this case, for example, an opinion offered by St. Robert Bellarmine about the interpretation of a passage of sacred Scripture would have more authority than one offered by St. John Bosco about the same passage, even though both are great saints.
In addition to the ecclesiastical honor and recognition given to a Doctor of the Church, there is, even more importantly (at least, if you follow the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, and you ought to, since the Church has proclaimed him the "common" or "universal" Doctor), a divine recognition in heaven: the special glory of "aureola" given to those who had the charism of teaching in the Church, following the words of the prophet Daniel, "those who instruct to justice will shine like the stars for all eternity" (Dan. 12:3).
As a little girl, St. Therese saw her initials written in the stars of heaven. We may certainly hope that the Church will recognize not only her holiness, but also her teaching as a mistress of the spiritual life, in this, the centenary year of her death and entry into the glory of heaven.

Q A friend of mine will not let her children watch any television. I don't mean just junk they could watch on the network stations, but even videos. She says that even though a video may have nothing immoral or inappropriate in it, the media of film and television are bad for anyone to watch, period. I asked her what she meant, and she could only say that TV and movies, including videos, make people "too passive," and this was dangerous. Is there any official Catholic teaching on this point? I think she's off and too extreme about it.

A As with any exaggeration, there is some truth, which is the basis of your friend's decision about television.
First off, it is her right as a parent, along with her husband, to make such a choice for her family. Secondly, it is also true that television is a passive form of experience, and this can have a negative effect on one's ability to learn and to think independently. Let's see how this can be.
According to sound philosophy, recognized by the Church, all merely human knowledge begins with the senses. As Aristotle says, "There is nothing in the intellect, unless it is first in the senses." Our senses include both our external five senses and our internal senses, such as imagination and memory, which organize and store what we have experienced through the external senses. It is from the work of these senses that our minds are able to form concepts and begin reasoning and understanding. If our sense life is not vigorous and active on its own, then the quality of our understanding and reasoning can be seriously impaired. Video media "do all the work" for our imagination and memory, and also determine the quality of the sense experiences we have.
It only stands to reason, then, that if a significant amount of time is taken up with "pre-packaged" video stimuli, our own active powers of imagination may be weakened. This is perhaps why so many kids who spend a great deal of time in front of the screen complain that listening to someone speak or read is "boring." Their memories and imaginations are simply too weak and dependent on fabricated experiences to appreciate normal human communication. All this can combine to make even "good" video media into enemies of intellectual and moral maturity.
That being said, however, it must be kept in mind that, like any other of the arts, the contemporary media of communication can have tremendously beneficial impact on individuals and society. The Second Vatican Council recognized this fact and published a decree on the media of communications. The "high-tech" use of media is even a priority in evangelizing the world, which is so attached to the use of such media, and which tends to view a message as more worthy of a hearing if it is presented via up-to-date means.
The equivalent occurred in the Church of antiquity when the Fathers of the Church used the prevailing techniques of classical rhetoric to interpret and convey the gospel to the Greco-Roman world. Even St. Paul went so far as to quote pagan authors, the poet Pindar and the playwrite Menander, in his proclamation of the gospel to the nations.
Even so, your friend's concern is well-directed, even if her practical decision seems extreme. Let's hear what the Second Vatican Council had to say: "Those who are at the receiving end of the media, and especially the young, should learn moderation and discipline in their use of them. They should aim to understand fully what they see, hear and read. They should discuss them with their teachers and with experts in such matters, and should learn to reach correct judgements. Parents, on their parts, should remember that it is their duty to see that entertainments and publications which might endanger faith and morals do not enter their houses, and that their children are not exposed to them elsewhere."

Q Recently, I was in a Catholic bookstore that sells devotional articles. There were two friends with me, one a Catholic, and the other a Protestant. A woman in front of us in line was buying a statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague. Both my friends commented after we left the store about how they found devotion to the Child Jesus, especially in that form, kind of hard to take seriously. My Protestant friend's opinion didn't surprise me, but my Catholic friend's agreement with him did. How can we explain devotion to the Holy Child to those who say we should only worship an adult, risen Christ?

A If Christ had willed only to be worshipped as He is now in heaven, as a "risen adult," as they say, then He would not have appeared on earth as a Child, or at least, His childhood would not have been included in the message of salvation contained in the Holy Gospels.
As it is, however, Christ inspired the evangelists by His Holy Spirit to tell the story of His virginal conception and birth at Bethlehem. The Letter to the Hebrews presents the sentiments of Christ the God-Man "upon entering the world" at the moment of His incarnation, when He was the merest of children in the womb of His Blessed Mother. Our Lord was the Savior of the world at every moment of His earthly life, and because of the special gifts of knowledge and wisdom given to His Sacred Humanity, He merited our salvation continually, from His conception until He breathed forth His Spirit on the Cross. As the great Benedictine spiritual writer Abbot Marmion has said, "The mysteries of Christ are our mysteries." The events of His life are all sources of grace and enlightenment for the Christian soul. Thus it is that the Holy Spirit has inspired the Church to celebrate each year all of the mysteries of the life of Christ, because each one has its own special grace for our souls, and its own special glory given to the Father.
The greatest of saints and mystics have found deep spiritual wisdom in devotion to the Holy Infancy of Jesus. This devotion goes back to the earliest days of the Church. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, which originated partly in the third century, contains an account of the miraculous appearance of the Holy Child at the celebration of the Eucharist. St. Alexander of Alexandria, the predecessor of St. Athanasius, had a vision of the Child Jesus persecuted by the Arians. St. Francis of Assisi, St. Cajetan, St. Dominic, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Anthony Mary Claret, and most recently, Blessed Faustina, all had a tender devotion to, and even experienced visions of, the Holy Child. This devotion is not only for the sentimental or the effeminate, it is for all the faithful, following the example of the great saints and mystics of the Church. In fact, it is really the devotion of God Himself, Who "has hidden these things from the wise and clever and revealed them to the merest children." Think of the amazing revelation of wisdom contained in the Heart of the Child Jesus! A very fine book has recently been published by Ignatius Press on this very topic, called Redeemer in the Womb, by Thomas Saward.
Devotion to the Infant Jesus can renew in our hearts a deep appreciation for the mystery of God made Man, and of His love for the little and the poor. Perhaps taking up devotion to the Child Jesus would be a fitting way to follow the Holy Father's call to meditation of the mystery of Jesus based on a sound theology, as a preparation for the Holy Year of A.D. 2000, the end of two millennia since the birth of the Holy Child.

Q It seems to me there are very few saints in the world. I was talking about this to a friend who reads a lot about prayer and the mystical life. He said the teaching of the Church is that everyone is called by God to the heights of holiness in this life, even to the high states of prayer given to the great mystics like St. Teresa or St. John of the Cross. Is it true that all Christians are called to become mystics? Is this the teaching of the Church?

A The words of Christ, "Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," are directed to all Christians without exception. The Second Vatican Council made this abundantly clear in the dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, where it says, "It is quite clear that all Christians in any state or way of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love" (Lumen Gentium 40). Before the Second Vatican Council, there had been a great controversy among theologians as to whether the "perfection of charity," which consists of the closest possible union with God in this life and is found in the highest states of mystical prayer, was the end of the Christian life. If this were true, it would mean that all of the faithful, not just clergy, religious and contemplatives, should be introduced to the ways of mental prayer and contemplation.
This was not at all clear to some writers, who taught that there were "ordinary" and "extraordinary" ways of holiness in this life. The "ordinary" holiness would consist of vocal prayer and reception of the sacraments, with instruction in the faith and the practice of the virtues needed for one's state in life. The "extraordinary" degree would be for those who dedicate their lives more or less exclusively to the things of God (religious and contemplatives), who would then practice mental prayer and the ways of contemplation. This doctrine was developed in reaction to a heresy called "Quietism," which troubled the Church in the 17th and 18th centuries. Quietism over-emphasized the passive elements of prayer to the point that it taught that one should "let God act," and not even resist temptation or be concerned about eternal salvation. As a reaction to this heresy, there was a great deal of teaching which de-emphasized or even ignored the mystical life experienced by the saints. The ordinary way of the faithful in obeying the laws of the Church was enough; the saints being almost like miraculous, exceptional confirmations of the Catholic Faith, but not models for the life of everyone.
Right away, though, the saints themselves began to react to this error. St. Alphonsus taught his missionary preachers how to teach the faithful to make a meditation. St. Francis de Sales' teaching which encouraged holiness through contemplation among the laity was promoted. Finally, in this and the last century, the Church encouraged a revival of the study of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Dominicans and Carmelites, who had always followed St. Thomas very closely, started proving from his writings, from Scripture and from the Fathers, that the mystical life of prayer in its full development was the normal, organic result of the life of grace for all the members of the mystical Body of Christ. St. Teresa's Interior Castle is for everyone, not just nuns. The mystical "dark nights" can be undergone by any Christian, if he does not give up the battle for spiritual progress in union with God. The great teachers in these things were the Dominicans Arintero and Garrigou-Lagrange, the Carmelite Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, the Benedictine Abbot Marmion and the Trappist Dom Chautard.
The works of these men are available in English; most of them are in print and can be found in a good Catholic library. Of all the teachings of Vatican II, this was one of the most important, and yet who hears of it from the pulpit?
Maybe it will be the modern, post-Vatican II faithful who will have to remind the priests and religious that the call to contemplation is for them, too, not just for the laity. That would be a great turn of events. Our Holy Father learned the ways of mystical prayer from a devout layman, while he himself was a young lay student and worker. His early life gives an example to all of us that the way of the saints, Christ's call to perfection, is a universal one.

Q It is easy for me to see why the Church opposes the cloning of human beings. What I don't understand is how a cloned human gets a soul, since it comes to exist in such an unnatural way. Would God "go along" with such a process and give a soul to a cloned human?

A God is the Author of nature. He, so to speak, obeys His own laws, when He infuses a rational, spiritual soul into an organism really disposed to function in a rational, spiritual way. The moral circumstances of the conception do not determine whether or not God infuses the soul.
After all, a conception which occurs out of wedlock, or by force of adultery, is brought about in an immoral way. But according to the laws of nature, which determine that when matter is properly organized, a human conception, the infusion of a soul created directly by God, is the inevitable result. Whether the conception is by the union of human seed and ovum, or by some other artificial arrangement of bodily matter, doesn't change this fact. So God "goes along" with the laws of nature He has set in place.
This doesn't mean that He goes along with sin. Already the Holy Father has pointed out that in the case of in vitro fertilization, the human dignity of the fertilized eggs must be defended. In the end, the Church will be the one voice defending the rights and humanity of the human persons produced by cloning, just as She already does all the others. After all, original sin has marred us all from birth.
One confusion may be lurking in your question, however. In Catholic philosophical language, the "law of nature" means the physical laws not determined by human reason and freedom. The "natural law" refers to the moral order of human reason, faith and freedom. What is possible for human beings to do, making use of the laws of nature, is not always morally right according to what man knows to be true and good for his happiness. The same laws of nature are at work when a butcher uses a knife and when a murderer does, but the actions are infinitely different according to the natural law.

Q How can anyone hold that the complicated system of the Catholic Church in giving out indulgences can be justified from the Word of God?

A Pope Paul VI in the Apostolic Constitution Indulgentiarum Doctrina of 1967 provided the Church with a very clear and beautiful exposition of the teaching behind indulgences. This teaching is extensively offered again in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the numbers considering the Sacrament of Penance.
The pope wisely points out, "If we wish to understand exactly the doctrine of indulgences and its benefits in practice, we must remember truths which the whole Church, enlightened by God's Word, has always believed." The necessity of expiation for personal sins, the reality of the communion of saints, the power of binding and loosing given to the apostles and their successors, purgatory, heaven and the development of doctrine under the guidance of the Holy Spirit Who leads the Church "into all truth": all of these go into the understanding of the practice of granting indulgences to the faithful. A full answer would have to explain each of these doctrines, and how they interrelate.
Your question calls indulgences a "complicated system." Rather, indulgences are a practical result of a deep understanding of the ways of God with men. Are works of mercy, visiting the sick, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry sometimes very complicated to arrange? Is meditating on Scripture, singing God's praises with correct harmony and rhythm, giving or hearing a sermon complicated? Are these natural and even necessary aspects of Christian life? Do they have value in the sight of God?
Complicated things are usually the practical ones. Didn't St. Paul say, "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest having preached to others, I myself might become a castaway" (1 Cor. 9:27)? Didn't he order that prayers be offered up for all sorts and conditions of men? Didn't he refer to the devotional practice of the early Christians of being baptized on behalf of the dead?
Penance, prayer for others, even for the dead, works of mercy; all of these might seem complicated, but they are very practical responses to the needs and realities of the spiritual life. The Word of God involves the Christian in some very complicated activities, indeed. This is because the Word is practical, meant to be carried out in the extremely varied aspects of human life. Indulgences are just a practical outgrowth of the life of the Christian Church, who, in Her wisdom, encourages prayer, penance and works of mercy for the spiritual growth of the Body of Christ, which has been wounded by our own personal sins.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, unlike Mohammed or modern Protestant apologists, never promised that the Gospel would be simple and uncomplicated, only that it would be powerful, and so practical. The Catholic Church is like a good mother to Her children, both powerful and practical in Her application of the Gospel.