Faith and Reason

Always the debate right? One of my latest pasttimes when I want to do something other than study is browse through news stories on my Yahoo home page. (By the way, this is an especially dangerous pasttime now that I'm taking notes on my computer and UW has wireless internet everywhere!) One of the RSS feeds on my page links to stories on the site Catholic World News and it was something on there that led me to want to comment.

Pope Benedict XVI was recently asked to speak at a Roman University called La Sapienza, which means "wisdom". The university, according to the Holy Father's speech, was actually founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303. However, as soon as it was announced that he was coming, a small, but vocal, group of faculty and students began to protest his coming, and protest, and protest, and protest. Finally, the Pope was forced to cancel his visit to prevent demonstrations. (If you'd like, here is the speech he would have given.)

What was the cause of this unrest? Comments made in 1990 by then Cardinal Ratzinger regarding the Church's trial of Galileo, in which he claimed the Church was "rational and just" in acting as they did, taking into account those times. However, in the same speech he stressed that the Church was not hostile to science and that Galileo continued his research with the Church's support. Pope John Paul II also publicly acknowledged the Church's fault in bringing him to trial.

What this comes down to is not necessarily your personal beliefs on whether the Church was right or not 400 years ago in acting as it did against Galileo. What is most surprising to me, is that a university, as an institution of higher learning, should be one that is open to all ideas so that we are able to rationally decide on what we believe. Yet, it seems that sometimes those who cry "free speech" (which I wholeheartedly endorse) are the fastest to strike against allowing it in those that they don't agree with, and that to me is so saddening. I think that nowhere is this more apparent than in the science and faith debate.

Recently, a friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to an article, that was about the finding of a unique dinosaur fossil. What she was pointing out, however, was the comments section. It had immediately turned into a debate between a creationist telling everyone they were unintelligent for not believing the Bible, and evolutionist telling him he was unintelligent because he believed the Bible...believe me, it was not a dialogue. As an undergrad science major who had to sit through professor telling us why religion was a hoax, I know the difficulty that exists in reconciling faith and reason today. While there are many great philosophers and Christian and Catholic professors in all fields, I wanted to ask that we just take a second to pray for our society, that attempts at dialogue and learning may not meet the closed door that Pope Benedict just did and that we all may grow as a result.

To end this (long...) post, here's one of my favorite quotes from Pope John Paul II:
"In my reading and in my studies I always tried to achieve a harmony between faith, reason and the heart. These are not separate areas, but are profoundly interconnected, each giving life to the other. This coming together of faith, reason and the heart is strongly influenced by our sense of wonder at the miracle of a human person - at man's likeness to the Triune God, at the immensely profound bond between love and truth, at the mystery of mutual self-giving and the life that it generates, at our reflections on the succession of human generations."

Retreating

Or rather, all done retreating. Don't worry, not under a rock (although that's what it may seem like since I'm still working out the whole "keep updated" part of this blog!) I spent last weekend at Black Lake Bible Camp in Olympia with my Core Team buddies from our Life Teen program. The retreat, put on by Spiritus ministries, was aimed at youth ministers and was entitled "Your Grace Pours Over Me"

There was only one speaker,a priest, who led the retreat all weekend. He was very energetic and full of ideas, and a couple of his talks were pretty good. He focused on recognizing sinfulness (what he called the "Heart of Darkness") in our lives and inviting the Holy Spirit to push that out so we could be whole for our ministry.

The best part had to be having Mass Saturday and Sunday, as well as Adoration with Benediction Friday and Saturday night. Lots of great (and needed) prayer time. It was relaxing and refreshing and helped recharge the ministry batteries for the second half of our Life Teen year!

I love retreats :)

Back to the Usual Craziness

It was a wonderful three weeks! Sleeping in, reading, relaxing....but of course Christmas break can't last forever, so now we're back in action for Winter Quarter
'08 (I know, I can't believe it's 2008 either!).

This break was great for many reasons! My family got all together again for the first time since June, now that my brothers are in different parts of the country and my sister continues studying on the other side of the state. It was loud and full and very rambunctious, but lots of fun to see them. This last week I got two opportunities to see old friends, first at a New Year's Day party at my friend's parents house and then at the wedding of one of my old college roommates this last weekend. She married another friend from college. The ceremony and reception were beautiful, and many of our old college group made the drive to Canada to celebrate this Holy Sacrament with them. I know their marriage will be very Christ-centered and that they will treat each other with love and respect. How exciting for them!

And now the quarter begins again...another 10 weeks of 18 credit fun! (*Insert sarcastic tone here*). Actually, in all seriousness, I know the classes will be tough and I'll have to put a lot of work into it, but I'm excited to learn the material and get into it. It sure is nice to love what you're studying :)