“A Deeper Ground”?
We’ve taken liberal Catholic Fr. Ron Rolheiser to task many times in this section. Frankly, it’s like shooting ducks in a barrel. But no one has called us “condescending” or “arrogant” for doing so. But when we take on neoconservative Catholics, we’re (sometimes) called “condescending” and “arrogant” — with “smarty pants” being another favorite. All we can figure is that certain people don’t like their neocon icons to be raked over the coals.
So we’ll play it safe (in this New Oxford Note) by raking Fr. Ron over the coals — once again. This should be popular with everyone.
In his column in Catholic San Francisco (Oct. 7, 2005), Ron opens with this: “Can you prove that God exists? Some of the greatest philosophers believed that it can be done. Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Leibnitz, Spinoza, Hartshorne, among others, all tried to do it” (italics added).
He mentions Aquinas and Intelligent Design. But Ron doesn’t seem to be persuaded. Says Ron: “What’s to be said about these ‘proofs’? Do they prove anything?”
You May Also Enjoy
Newman's The Church of the Fathers... Ancestral Shadows: An Anthology of Ghostly Tales
How often do we act toward the other person so as to affirm his call by God and his role in God's plan of salvation?
What we desire, says Augustine, is to be at home with the Creator, in whom we have our first and final cause.