Volume > Issue > A Penny Catechism (for Philosophers)

A Penny Catechism (for Philosophers)

EDITORIAL

By James G. Hanink | January 1999

Fides et Ratio (FR) “Faith and Reason,” the Holy Father’s new encyclical, is an old philosopher’s gift to Mother Church, and it calls us to our lessons.

Warm-up question: What did The New York Times say in its news section?

The Times reported that the encyclical signals “paradoxes” — we have a papacy “marked by a return to rigid conformity in doctrinal matters,” and yet we have a Pope who “still meets regularly with scholars to debate ideas….”

Hmm. Was the Times’s dumbfounded woman on the beat, Alessandra Stanley, perhaps angling for an invitation? Are there scholarship funds (not that she’d really need them)?

Enjoyed reading this?

READ MORE! REGISTER TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

You May Also Enjoy

The Shrinking of Sacred Time

We have a few holy days of obligation, a few interruptions of our frenzied pursuit of riches. Slowly they are being whittled down. Soon we may have none left.

Abortion as “Growth Experience”

Almost all abortion ideologues refuse to address the core question: Is the unborn child a fellow member of the human family, one to whom we owe love, life, and justice?

What Is a Catholic Novel?

Review of Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Catholic American Writing edited by Daniel J. Tynan