Hey fellow brothers in Christ,

I'm here to make a short post with the intention of inquiring into the admissions requirements of the Pontifical Gregorian University for international students. I know they have stuff on their website, but I was also curious as to when their admissions open up, and if they accept students under the age of 18. Could any of you help me with this? Thanks all.

Hey y'all, For academic purposes, I'm looking for famous (or less famous) cases of demonic possession in French around the revolution years, especially if they are somehow entangled with the events of the revolution. Thanks in advance!

I need Help with something. My Ma is Chinese and her family has been since before World War 1. However She has been saying prayers to a statue from China meant for some popular Mother Goddess. Her family has been doing that since the first generation converted to Catholicism where they buy statues of this particular Goddess and say Hail Mary to it........

Now I been saying the rosary for like younger than can remember and my mom has been doing it with me beside her before I even started speaking......................

I only recently discovered this as a Pagan Goddess If you know my Mom.......... She's almost impossible to change her mind with.

She sincerely believes that using this Pagan statue can work as a Lady of Sheshan one.....

I was having an idea of buying an actual Lady of Sseshan statue......... But not only are household models for personal use on a home book shelf practically impossible to find, but even the ones available are large heavy statues costing thousands to purchase and hundreds to ship. And from China.

So I am worried. If a Greek man for example started using a Hera statue for Novenas, would that be idolatry? Is my mom risking inviting demonic forces? s my family possible cursed from generations of using statues of this particular Goddess n Catholic practise?

I am desperate, I need help!

On a side note would buying a generic non-religious item like say a Barbie Doll or Anime Plush work as a substitute? I saw some gorgeous Porcelain dolls not intending or religious purposes but basically just a collector's item from a Chinese cultural heritage store that s dressed in I think Ming Dynasty clothes. Could that work as an alternative? My mom wants to buy one and even talked about using it as a Mary statue in n the alter because she's might give the Goddess statue to a poor relative who needs a Mary statue.

BTW my ma is insisting on her Chinese heritage so good luck with the typical blue-eyed brunette blue and white dress Mary statues found in most CHurches.

Advice on best Theology Baccalaureate.

I am graduating in law in the next months. I am meditating about my vocation. I recently have been thinking in going to Europe to get a undergraduate degree (baccalaureate degree) in Theology. However I do not know which institution is the best. I know Rome has some prestigious Pontifical universities, such as the Pontifical Gregorian University and St. Thomas Aquinas University, but I know there are many other universities that are not directly linked to the Vatican that are also prestigious, such as Spanish and French public universities. Can you explain the differences and the best options and why?

All the best!

I am a lifelong Catholic but I will list my objections to some Catholic “pronouncements”. I say this as a devoted Catholic in order to correct errors.

1. CCC1800 and 1790…

1800 A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience.

1790 A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself.

These two entries are not legitimate Catholic teaching. No Pope, Council or Encyclical has ever said these two entries. In fact, studied closely, they are anti-Catholic.

1. God’s “universal love” defined as “God loves everybody all the time no matter what”.
   

In 2,000 years, the Catholic Church has never defined this as a matter of Faith, yet it is bandied about like an old wives tail and I have heard all the so called justifications, but they don’t comport with reality. The Bible contains dozens of passages where God hates people.

1. The Catholic Church accepts Protestant Baptism when Protestant Baptism is not intended same as Catholic.

Trent said the intent must be the same to make Protestant baptism valid and it is not. I have read the Catholic “justification” and it is contradictory.

I will be interest in yours and will be glad to discuss mine. Thanks

I now quote the CCC from Vatican.va website:

CCC 1790 A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. (no footnotes, no documentation, no references, completely unsubstantiated).

CCC 1800 A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. (no footnotes, no documentation, no references, completely unsubstantiated).

These two passages could easily be misunderstood as undeclared Catholic doctrine, since it contains two absolutist statements… [all] “human beings’ and “must” without any Pope, Encyclical, Church Counsel or Sacred Tradition as source. The CCC is not infallible and cannot declare doctrine on its own.

To the contrary:

“In all his activity a man is bound to follow his conscience in order that he may come to God, the end and purpose of life”. DIGNITATIS HUMANAE #3. (obeying conscience is conditional upon coming to God)

"Conscience is not an independent and exclusive capacity to decide what is good and what is evil. VERITATIS SPLENDOR 60 (conscience cannot be made the complete and total arbiter of a person to decide what is good and what is evil)

“With this imagery, Revelation teaches that the power to decide what is good and what is evil does not belong to man, but to God alone. The man is certainly free, inasmuch as he can understand and accept God's commands. And he possesses an extremely far-reaching freedom, since he can eat "of every tree of the garden". But his freedom is not unlimited: it must halt before the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil", for it is called to accept the moral law given by God”. VS #35 (man must accept the moral law given by God, rather than be subject to the idea that he must obey his conscience, because he does not have the power to decide what is good and evil).

"God willed to leave man in the power of his own counsel, so that he would seek his Creator of his own accord and would freely arrive at full and blessed perfection by cleaving to God". VS #38. (man is given his own internal “counsel” in order to cleave to God).

“When conscience, this bright lamp of the soul (cf. Mt 6:22-23), calls "evil good and good evil" (Is 5:20), it is already on the path to the most alarming corruption and the darkest moral blindness”. EV #24 (conscience can be corrupt and in the darkest moral blindness therefore is not to be obeyed)

“The legal toleration of abortion or of euthanasia can in no way claim to be based on respect for the conscience of others” EV #71 (direct and complete rejection of any claims of respect of conscience of others who wrongly regard abortion).

“through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron” 1 Timothy 4:2 (obviously and quite apparently a person with a “seared” conscience should not follow his conscience.)

None of these three Encyclicals use the term “Primacy of Conscience” that I can find and nothing intimating it.

Conclusion:

The CCC should be rephrased to communicate ‘All humans must obey their conscience conditioned upon, and if, their conscience is properly formed.”

Addendum:

The CCC also omitted a critical item regarding the proper limitation of conscience:

“But the negative moral precepts, those prohibiting certain concrete actions or kinds of behavior as intrinsically evil, do not allow for any legitimate exception. They do not leave room, in any morally acceptable way, for the "creativity" of any contrary determination whatsoever”. VS #67. (conscience is rejected completely when supporting intrinsic evil. The differentiation between invincible and invincible ignorance disappears when the resulting act is intrinsically evil i.e. abortion. The intrinsically evil actor will be judged as such).

I would have thought the “doctrine” of Primacy of Conscience would have been challenged long ago based on these quotes from these three Encyclicals and lack of Church endorsement.

Will I see anyone here at the conference in Notre Dame this coming weekend?

Is the full Vatican Council II available in hardcover? (Austin Flannery ed preferable)

Hello. I'm entertaining the idea of possibly obtaining an advanced degree related to religion, and one of the programs that are on my list is Notre Dame's master's in theology (part-time, hybrid online). Before I even apply to any programs I plan on teaching catechism classes for a couple of years. If I do pursue a degree the main purpose is to enrich myself, intellectually and spiritually, with the secondary byproduct of being a better catechist.

With that said, does anyone have experience, first or second hand, of Notre Dame's theology program? I've read a couple of positive posts about it but they have been short and fleeting, and do not give much insight to the student experience and whether or not it was "*worth it."

*This program is mostly self-funded.

I was wondering if those more versed in biblical studies can point me towards some good sources on Genesis 1-11. Thank you.

Hello all, I'm wondering if anybody here is familiar with Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut? I am considering their MA in Philosophy online as I wouldn't have to move and would be able to continue working. It was one of the first Catholic philosophy programs I found that is available online although I have now realized that it is one of the very few, both online and Catholic. Is there something I'm missing as to why theres really no other philosophy programs online?

I stumbled upon this today. I was wondering if anyone knew the estimated date this could have been written? Also, is this thought to be an official report by Pontius Pilate? I'm having trouble finding information on this document.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0809.htm

I'm looking at using it in a bible study with my teens on the crucifixion. (I'm a Youth Minister) I love to show my teens non-biblical reports so they can see we have historical documents outside of scripture to prove Jesus' existence and the miracles he performed. (I do this, so they don't have circular reasoning. I.e., this is true because the bible says so.)

This is cross-posted in Catholicism because I just found this community and thought my question belonged here.

I just learned about Wolfgang Smith and a documentary from the Philos-Sophia institute titled "The End of Quantum Reality". It's definitely piqued my curiosity and as I've started looking into it I find myself more and more intrigued and at the same time I'm wondering where he falls in the world. Is he one of these pseudo-academic types that panders to a popular audience? That doesn't really seem the case. Is he a part of a fringe school that everyone discredits? That's where I would expect to find him categorized but I'm not sure. Anyone else encounter him or have any thoughts or insights?

Current article I'm reading: https://philos-sophia.org/pondering-bohmian-mechanics/

I'm hoping some of you guys can help me out. My wife is in grad school for sacred scripture, and she's looking to supplement her class materials with additional scripture commentaries. We've been putting our heads together to compile a list, and we've come up with the idea that beginning with Augustine's and Aquinas' commentaries is a good start, but I am hoping that there might be other saints/theologians that have written commentaries on individual books of scripture which would be appropriate for a graduate-level individual.

Thanks in advance for your time!

Edit: Religious Studies student org is the corrected title. The Religious Studies Student Organization of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee cordially invites undergraduates and select Masters students in your program to participate in the Eighth Annual Religious Studies Research Conference. This year the conference will be held on April 4th, 2020 at the Hefter Center, on 3271 North Lake Drive.

Selected papers will be published online, on Digital commons, and the student will be given the opportunity to present their research in an academic setting, to work closely with a mentor, and to improve their prospects for employment and further study.

Submissions from all academic disciplines are welcomed and encouraged, however papers should have an emphasis on religious practice or belief. Presenters should ensure they avoid promoting or belittling any one particular religion. Presenters will also be required to choose a faculty mentor to help direct them in the process of writing the paper and preparing to present it at the Conference. Each paper is allotted 15 minutes for presentation followed by 10 minutes for questions. Participation in the Conference includes complimentary breakfast and lunch for the presenters.

Information for Registration for the Conference can be found on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RSSOUWM/photos/a.325295537498251/3022495354444909/?type=3&theater

Here is our academic journal, which is part of the UWM Digital Commons journal library collection, where past years presentations have been published: https://dc.uwm.edu/rsso/

I am also happy to provide any additional verification to the moderators upon request. This is a great opportunity and I hope to see some of you guys in Milwaukee!

I hold a non-literal interpretation of Genesis - based in Origen, Augustine, and Aquinas. I think it is likely that the sin in the Garden of Eden resulted in separation from God - spiritual death - not physical death. I think that physical death was already present in creation prior to the Fall - plants die when you eat them and carnivorous animals still probably ate meat (this is in accordance with Aquinas). John Calvin, who, yes, is a problematic figure in Christian history, believed that prior to our spiritual death that human death before the Fall likely would have been free of pain and the separation of body and soul would not have occurred. I personally happen to think this is likely as well. I'd suspect that several of you also hold this view, or a similar one.

However, I'm curious how this interacts with the concept of theosis/deification. Our original sin is often referred to as a happy fault because it meant the coming of such a glorious redeemer, Jesus Christ. It is also referred to in this way because the Paschal mystery gave us hope that men may also become "gods" - we were raised to a greater status by Christ's death and resurrection than we were before the Fall. This implies that prior to Christ's Incarnation, this means that humanity was not divine. However, if we did not spiritually die before the Fall but we could still physically die, what happened to us upon our physical death? It seems impossible to me to have an afterlife and, yet, not have divine characteristics.

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Thoughts? I'm not interested in entertaining a literal interpretation of Genesis - it isn't tenable to me - so please don't turn this thread into an opportunity to advocate for young earth creationism or something similar.