The Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities begins with Education and offers some essentials for action:

• Biblical and theological foundations that attest to the sanctity and dignity of human life
• Scientific information concerning the humanity of unborn children, especially that made available by modern genetic science and technology
• American founding principles, as articulated in the Declaration of Independence, that reflect unchanging truths about the human person
• Society’s responsibility to safeguard every human life, to defend life by non-violent means wherever possible, and never purposely to destroy innocent human life
• Discussion of effective and compassionate care for those who are terminally ill and for persons with disabilities
• Information about effective, compassionate, and morally acceptable solutions to the very real and difficult problems that can exist for a woman during and after pregnancy, as well as help for those who suffer from the consequences of abortion
• Affirm the value of human life in the manner of its expression as well as the content, seeking to explain and persuade, while showing respect to all who disagree

The bottom line, is that the more someone knows about abortion and human dignity, the less likely they are to have one, or encourage others towards abortion. Furthermore, if we want to make abortion illegal in our country it will take an informed electorate. For people to vote for pro-life candidates who can install pro-life judges, and for us to pass pro-life laws on a state level, it will require a voting public that knows the issue and is appalled by what they know. For us to educate others, it begins with ourselves. Eliminating abortion begins with education and there are many ways to become better educated yourself as you help to educate those around you.

With this in mind, it’s no longer surprising that the pro-abortion movement is so active against providing mothers considering abortion with medically accurate information, ultrasounds, and options.

I’ve gathered a select list of resources to help educate yourself and others on issues of life, but also encourage you to share your favorite resources in the comments below.

Learn the history of abortion in America

The pro-life website Abort73 has put together a short overview of the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade.

Learn about pregnancy

If you know someone who’s pregnant and considering abortion, one of the first resources you should buy for them is National Geographic’s The Biology of Prenatal Development. It’s in and out of availability at Amazon, but it’s one of the strongest medical videos for life. The video does not address the abortion issue, but it effectively removes the arguments of abortion advocates who try to deny the humanity of the unborn. The DVD was produced by the Endowment for Human Development and has been endorsed by dozens of medical school professors and received 11 awards for excellence in research and presentation. Priests for Life intends to make this video available to every pregnancy center, every school, and every parish in America – and you can help!

Learn about the abortion procedure

One of the more grim aspects of education is to become familiar with the abortion procedure itself. This is not a comfortable task. As Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life says, “Only seeing such images can bring us to the kind of indignation needed to sustain the sacrifices that will be necessary to finally bring an end to this injustice.” Though pictures of aborted children are shocking, they are no more shocking than the act of abortion itself. Until you see what abortion does, you will never accurately understand what abortion is. There are some things for which words alone fail to accurately communicate their brutality.

Fr. Pavone’s explanation of the most common abortion procedures: Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) and Suction Curettage is a great place to start. Fr. Pavone shows the instruments used and talks through each procedure along with medical diagrams.

Next, I recommend the 1984 documentary, “The Silent Scream“, where Dr. Bernard Nathanson narrates the abortion of a twelve-week-old fetus as you watch via ultrasound. You can watch the entire 30 minute film on YouTube. The grisly title comes from the fetal movements as the child is poked and dismembered, appearing to cry out in pain. Dr. Nathanson’s own story is also compelling. He founded the National Abortion Rights Action League (now NARAL Pro-Choice America) and has performed thousands of abortions. It was only when he saw an abortion via the ultrasound that he reconsidered his position and led him to direct the Silent Scream.

“Now for the first time we have the technology to see abortion from the victims vantage point. Ultrasound imaging has allowed us to see this. So for the first time we are going to watch a child being torn apart, dismembered, disarticulated, crushed, and destroyed by the unfeeling steel instruments of the abortionist.” Dr. Bernard Nathanson, Silent Scream

And finally, if you can stomach it, the last videos I recommend display the horrifying reality of abortion and its aftermath in grim detail. Warning: These videos are extremely graphic because abortion is an act of violence which kills a baby. Live Action’s Here’s the Blood and The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform’s “Choice?” (and Part 2).

These are only a few of the many, many other sources for learning about the revolting procedure and grim aftermath.

“Let us mourn for these children. May our hearts be broken enough for God to enter and stir us to action to defend their lives.” Priests for Life

Learn about alternatives

Many women considering abortion don’t see it as their “choice”, but their only option. But there are countless services eager to help with alternatives. I’ll be covering this in more detail in the upcoming compassion article, but you can start by learning about resources in your community today. If a mother in crisis asks for help, how would you respond?

In my community we have a network of churches who provide baby showers and child care for mothers who choose to keep their children. There are also many pregnancy care centers who provide counseling, charitable items, referrals, education and more. Spend a few minutes today learning about the resources available in your community.

In any case it’s important to know that there are alternatives to abortion. Here are a few options you should know about:

• OptionLine – 1-800-395-HELP (email)
• Birthright – 1-800-550-4900
• Bethany Christian Services – 1-800-BETHANY
• National Life Center – 1-800-848-LOVE
• Several Sources Foundation – 1-800-662-2678

Learn how to effectively communicate to others

Sharpen your skills at making an effective argument in a gracious way.

The following resources will help equip you to address the topic of abortion next time it comes up, and give you the confidence to bring it up in more challenging environments. Live Action has done a great job helping communicate the Answers to Common Challenges. If you’ve ever heard objections like, “Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one” or “Overpopulation demands abortion“, this is a great and growing resource. They’ve also interviewed dozens of people in their Perspectives project. These videos can help understand the basic conversations that happen around the topic of abortion. Live Action is great because they reduce the issue to the most essential parts. In most cases there’s no need to get into complex distractions.

Live Action’s talking points are super simple:

1. Do you think that abortion is right or wrong?
2. When do you think abortion is right or wrong?
3. Do you think it’s right to kill an innocent human being?
4. If abortion does kill an innocent human being, then would that be wrong?
5. What evidence do you have that a fetus is not an innocent human being?
6. Do you think that abortion is right or wrong?

Dr. Peter Kreeft has also covered abortion from a philosophical perspective in an approachable way in a great lecture, “Pro-Life Philosophy“, and article, The Apple Argument Against Abortion. In each, he outlines arguments for and against abortion rights, and systematically addresses strengths and weaknesses.

Dr. Kreeft is particularly effective in dealing with the argument from skepticism – one who identifies with the US Supreme Court’s Majority Opinion that “We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins.”² He outlines the four logical options for someone considering abortion: 1) the fetus is a person, and you know it, 2) the fetus is not a person and you know it, 3) the fetus is a person and you’re not sure, and 4) the fetus is not a person and you’re not sure. And then shares how U.S. law deals with these scenarios in every other case except abortion.

What is abortion in each of these cases?

The skeptic has just as much reason to for not choosing to support abortion, because they just don’t know. If a demolition crew destroyed a building without checking if anyone was in it they’re guilty of a crime. If someone was killed in that building, they’re guilty of manslaughter. But even if no one was in the building they’re still guilty of criminal negligence.

Offline, there are plenty of great books to recommend. I’ll list a few here:

Why Pro-Life?
by Randy Alcorn
(also available as a free download)

The Gospel of Life: Evangelium Vitae
by Pope John Paul II
(also available online)

Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments Expanded & Updated
by Randy Alcorn

The Right to Privacy (Bioethics & Culture)
by Janet E. Smith

Architects of the Culture of Death
by Donald De Marco and Benjamin Wiker

10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn’t Help
by Benjamin Wiker

Educate the world!

In the upcoming “Advocacy” article, I will outline different ways we can educate others on the importance of ending this human rights abuse. But there are other ways to start educating others today.

One way to get the word out is to speak to youth about chastity, love, and the horrors of abortion. Generation Life has a program to speak to junior high and high school students and your local pregnancy care center likely has further opportunities. If you can’t find this near you contact Generation Life for more information on how to bring chastity education to schools near you.

Another way is to begin having conversations with friends about abortion. Listen to what compels them to their conclusions about abortion.

Use Facebook and Twitter to share pro-life news articles. There are lots of great pro-life Facebook pages to “Become a Fan!” Tune in and share with your friends.

You can also comment on blogs, YouTube videos, and respond to Tweets. Google Blog Search allows you to see who in the world has written about abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, planned parenthood, NARAL, etc. And you can sort by most recent to comment on posts written in the last day or so.

What else?

Please share your education related resources and initiatives in the comments below. What educational resources had a significant impact on your beliefs about abortion? What educational resources do you recommend to women considering abortion?

1. Evangelium vitae, no. 5
2. U.S. Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), Section IX

In this post, I thought it might be helpful to examine the word “evangelization” and what exactly it means.  Evangelization in its original Greek means to bring or announce good news, to preach or proclaim as glad tidings.  In its nonbiblical, Graeco-Roman usage it described the public proclamation of significant events such as an announcement of the Emperor Augustus’ birthday, “the birthday of the god [=emperor] was for the world the beginning of joyful tidings (evangelia) which have been proclaimed on his account.” ¹  Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger [now Pope Benedict XVI] explores this meaning of “gospel” showing how it relates to the kingdom that Jesus ushers in:

Alongside [an] Old Testament root is a non-Jewish one, a sort of political theology typical of the great kingdoms of the Orient, of the Hellenistic kingdoms and finally of the Roman Imperium.  In this context, ‘gospel’ means the news of a new ruler’s accession to the throne.  His actions are ‘glad tidings’.  He ushers in–this is the constant refrain of the proclamation–a new and better time; he gives peace, justice and well-being; his existence and action are ‘gospel’, a renewal of the world and of history.  In short, the term is an assertion that utopia has been realized, and in this sense it is reminiscent of this century’s utopian gospels of salvation, with their announcement of a new man and a new society.  The gospel of Jesus Christ radically transforms this political theology.  The new ‘kingdom’ comes, not from this or that ruler, this or that ideology, but only from God himself. ²

In the Bible the term appears in the context of a joyful or important message delivered by a designated messenger, for example Isaiah 61:1-2, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prinsoners, to announce a year of favor for the Lord….”  This is the verse Jesus read in the synagogue in Luke 4:18-19 referring to Himself.  Continuing, Luke 4:43 says, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God because for this purpose I have been sent.”  Matthew in his Gospel used the term only once, “…and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  When the angels of the Lord appeared to the Shepherds in the fields, the Shepherds were filled with fear, and the angel said, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  For today…a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.”

The noun form of the word in the Latin Vulgate is evangelion which is translated as “gospel.”  This noun form appears in the Gospel of Mark (see 1:1, 1:14, 15; 8:35; 10:29; 13:10; 14:9) and most especially in Paul (see 1 Thess 1:2-9;  1 Cor 15:1-11;  1 Cor 1:17-25; Rom 1:1,9, 16-17; 10:14-21; 15:14-21).  The noun form describes the content of the messge.  It is a retelling of the Christ-event: that is the meaning of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  The four Gospels are so named because they are proclamations or announcements of the Christ-event.  But Paul uses both the verb form (proclamation) and the noun form (content): “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” (1 Cor 1:17)

In the documents of the Second Vatican Council evangelization had this dual meaing: proclamation of the gospel and its content.  Evangelization can be defined simply as proclaiming the Christ-event.  It is an announced message or, put another way, the proclaimed gospel.

1. John R. Donahue, S.J. and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., The Gospel of Mark of Sacra Pagina, vol. 2 (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2002), 14.
2. Joseph Cardinal Ratizinger, “Evangelization, Catechesis and Catechism,” Gospel, Catechesis, Catechism: Sidelights on the Catholicism of the Catholic Church, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997), 39.

For me, as I received the mark of ashes today, I’m particularly filled with a deep repentance for my apathy for the unborn. It’s not for lack of belief, but rather my belief has come with little action. But as St. John tells us in his first epistle, we ought to be concerned when our belief does not love with actions and truth.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18)

In my first year as a baptized Catholic, I’ve become increasingly aware and convicted of this discord — thanks in part to the daily prayers for an end to abortion offered at Mass. From my first few pro-life initiatives it’s clear that I’m joining so many faithful Catholics as they witness to the world the dignity of the human person. But it’s also to you that I must ask forgiveness for not joining you sooner. I promise to make up for lost time.

Being new to pro-life initiatives, I’m appreciative of the blueprint for action provided by the U.S. Catholic bishops in their Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities. The campaign involves four vital approaches: prayer, education, compassion and advocacy.

In upcoming posts I will examine these four approaches, and discuss how we might get involved in tangible and practical ways to “respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life.”¹ Many of the initiatives are new to me, so I invite you to share your experiences along the way.

Please consider joining me during this season of Lent to love the “least of these”² with actions and in truth.

1. Evangelium vitae, no. 5
2. Matthew 25:40

I wanted to emphasis our need to “share” our faith because I do believe that for many within the Catholic Church, this is a foreign concept.  We have come to view evangelization as simply doing good and being good.  The sense that we need to articulate and express our faith is a stretch for many within the Church.  There are many reasons for this due to confusions regarding questions of salvation, Rahner’s “anonymous Christian,” grace versus nature, the necessity of the Church for salvation, and what about those people who never hear or come to know Jesus.  These questions are just a sampling of some of the underpinnings that need to be explained for the Catholic faithful to again capture the evangelization fervor of Pentecost. 

And in my view, I want to help move the body of Christ to understand that our universal call to holiness also includes a universal call to mission.  I believe that we are doing a good job within our parishes to get people to understand their need for and their call to holiness (although we could still do a better job with discussions related to sin and confession), but I think that their is no real sense of people’s call to mission outside of service. 

But, before these theological questions and misunderstandings get addressed, I would again like to focus on what evangelization is and (after reviewing the comments of my last post) to discuss a foundational element of evangelization — ecumenism.

I like to use the title “ecumenical evangelization” because I believe that unity is a means to evangelize the world.  We normally think of ecumenism as separate and in some circles antithetical to evangelization.  In truth, ecumenism is a necessary means to evangelize the world!  Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Redempotoris Missio says,”The missionary thrust therefore belongs to the very nature of the Christian life, and is also the inspiration behind ecumenism: ’that they may all be one…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.’ (Jn. 17:21)”  Ecumenism is necessary to build unity, and unity is important as a witness to the world.  A wounded unity is an obstacle to evangelization.  The Church’s Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio (Restoration of Unity), says that the visible division of Christian communion, “openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.”  

For the Church, ecumenism is a dialogue with those communities of the baptized who profess a belief in the Triune God such as the Eastern Orthodox and those Christian ecclesial communities who have their roots in the Protestant Reformation.  The Second Vatican Council acknowledges that it has a communion, albeit imperfect, with these communities.  It also believes that the Catholic Church has the primary responsibility to reach out to these communities.  To dialogue with these communities the Catholic Church humbles herself through repentance and by accepting some responsibility for the division of the Church.  In doing so, it invites a true dialogue to take place.

The foundation for this unity is found in the Trinity.  The triune God is both the one and the many.  God the Father is both unified in substance and different in relation with the Son.  The Father gives Himself totally to the Son, and the Son gives Himself in return to the Father.  Within this relationship we see the basis for ecumenical evangelization, that is, self-giving love for the other.  In addition, the Son was sent to divinize humanity.  Taking on human form, the Son is able to unite all of humanity to himself.  This unity of humanity and divinity is manifested after his ascension into heaven.  The Church, the body of Christ, is united to the Head, and continues Christ’s mission in this world of unitinig humanity to himself.

Looking towards this Tri-Personal God, we understand that unity is important for our evanglization of the world.  How then do we achieve unity?  How is ecumenism to be practiced?  Well, while there are definitely official channels of dialogue and discussion among Church officials on theological questions, and these discussions seem to be bearing some fruit in some circles, it struck me recently that the challenge is also there for us, the lay faithful, to practice ecumenism and cannot be merely relugated to priests, bishops, and popes.  We too need to work to encourage unity, to dialogue with people outside our walls on issues of disagreement, and to find common areas of agreement that we can work on together (i.e. life issues).  We cannot and should not seek out some sort of false unity.  While both Catholic and Protestant beliefs share in this spiritual mission and are unified in an evangelizing purpose, this unity is perfected in its visible expression to the world. We must work for a visible, unified, Church that holds firm in its beliefs, but perhaps whose expressions may differ.  We cannot forsake or wash over our differences, but should mutually seek out truth.  And, we cannot seek only truth and remove any sense of charity.  Love and truth (Caritas et Veritas) are essential for ecumenism to work, they are essential in building unity, and as such are crucial in our efforts to evangelize the world. 

For every posting on this blog, we try to incorporate a picture with it that expresses the concept in visual form.  For ecumenism, I am not sure what that picture looks like.  It is for us to figure out and to do so together, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, but in doing so we need to make it a discussion of truth in love.  We must hold both together for ecumenism to bear fruit and ultimately to bring the world to Christ.

Orthodoxy is necessary for evangelization to occur. Without it, one hasn’t anything to share, but their own conjecture and opinion. Without orthodoxy, there is nothing to share, and no need to share it. For evangelization to have meaning there is a necessary precursor of catholicity (right thinking-truth, fullness of faith and universal mission). Evangelization is about conversion of hearts, leading others to Christ through word and proclamation, into his visible body, the Church.

The idea that one would share their faith so that others might convert is odd to many even among Catholics.  Too often I hear that one just needs to be a good person and when people notice, they will inquire as to the reason.  The quote by St. Francis of Assisi, ”Preach the gospel and, if necessary, use words,” has become a mantra to not use words at all.  Can you imagine if the Apostles followed this principle?  While our personal witness and holiness of life is important and necessary, so is being able and willing to articulate and share the faith we hold so dear.  It is not an either/or, but a both/and.  After the Second Vatican Council we have had an emphasis on our univeral call to holiness.  What has not, in my opinion, been equally emphasized (outside of social action), is our universal call to mission.  These two principles: holiness of life and sharing this with others must go hand in hand.  We have two goals in life– to become holy and to lead others to holiness!  

And, we need to ask ourselves how are we going to become holy?  It is only through a total gift of self.  It is through giving, that we gain.  So too with our faith.  If we want to gain in faith, we need to give it away.  If we want to gain in holiness, we (in a sense) need to give it away.  Holiness is not possible without mission.

1. Ad Gentes 2

The Crucified Rabbi is available for only $14.95 from Amazon.com. Marshall’s book encompasses a wide-range of topics exploring their OT and Jewish roots: Jesus’ messiahship; Mary as Queen mother of the fulfilled Davidic kingdom (the Church); the papacy; Catholic view of baptism; the Mass and the Eucharist; Catholic priesthood; priestly vestments; cathedrals; parishes; monasticism; Catholic views on marriage; holy days and the liturgical calendar; Saints; and the afterlife. His book also includes a very helpful appendix which lists over 300 OT passages Marshall believes Jesus fulfilled in His NT life and mission. His bibliography includes both useful scholarly and popular works for further reading. This book is a must read. 

In this book, Marshall beautifully shows how Catholic Christianity is intimately connected with its Jewish origins. He masterfully weaves together biblical narratives, traditional Jewish literature, the lives of the Saints, magisterial Catholic sources, and his own personal anecdotes, to produce a gripping story of discovery. With this book, Marshall has successfully shown how Catholic Christianity’s roots lie in the OT narratives as they reach their fulfillment in the NT. 

Marshall’s work is particularly interesting to me because he was an ordained Episcopalian priest, and it was through his study of the OT and Jewish roots of Christianity, which he presents in this book, that he became convinced that the Catholic Church is the Church Jesus founded. Despite many hardships and difficulties, he and his family entered the Catholic Church, and he is currently completing doctoral work in Philosophy at the University of Dallas. His conversion story is available online from his popular blog Canterbury Tales.

The United States Mint recently unveiled the new designs for the Presidential $1 coins that will enter into circulation this year. It has frequently been said that a nation’s coins are a mirror of its values. In the United States we have an incredible mix of people and motivations which shape our culture. As a result our coins reflect both good and embarassing elements. The first coin of 2010 will honor former Presidents Millard Fillmore. The obverse design on the Millard Fillmore dollar is by United States Mint Sculptor, Engraver Don Everhart. The common reverse design of all the Presidential coins is also by Everhart and features a dramatic rendition of the Statue of Liberty. Inscriptions on the reverse are $1, and United States of America, E Pluribus Unum, 2010, and the mint mark with 13 stars appearing on the edge of the coin. Translated from Latin, the motto “E Pluribus Unum” means “Out of Many, One.” This motto first appeared on U.S. coinage in 1795 and became a mandatory inscription in 1873. The motto “In God We Trust” first appeared on US coinage in 1864. Since 1938, all US coins have carried the inscription.

In 2007 the United States Mint debuted the new series of circulating commemorative dollar coins honoring the former presidents. The golden colored dollar coins featured rotating obverse designs with four president coin designs to be released each year. For the first time in Mint history the national motto was moved to the rim of the coin. As a result of this “special incused edge lettering” there was much public discussion concerning God being moved (quite literally) to the margins. The first dollar honoring George Washington, was released into circulation on February 15, 2007. Shortly thereafter a number of coins were discovered missing the national motto altogether. Public controversy broke out after the “accident” of what became dubbed the “godless dollars.” This caused much public outcry and even a call to boycott the new coins. In response to wide spread public indignation President Bush signed into law H.R. 2764, which required that instead of being concealed on the edge, the motto “In God We Trust” should be moved to the obverse or reverse of Presidential Dollars as soon as practicable.

Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th President of the United States (1850-1853) As a child his father was said to be Scottish Presbyterian. As an adult Fillmore had no formal religious ties, and indeed had showed little interest in religion, until he joined the local Unitarians congregation in 1831. In 1843, Fillmore ran for governor of New York. While it was a close race, Fillmore lost. He blamed the  defeat on recent Catholic immigrants. Being out of a job, Fillmore looked for an opportunity that would keep him in politics. In 1847, he won election as New York’s comptroller, or chief financial overseer. Fillmore’s winning margin over his Democratic rival was so wide that he was instantly seen as a leading Whig candidate for the upcoming 1848 national campaign. In his report from January 1849, he suggested that a national bank, with the stocks of the United States as the sole basis upon which to issue its currency, should be established. This idea led to the essential principle of our present system of national banks.  In June 1848, Millard Fillmore was nominated by the Whig national convention for vice president, with General Zachary Taylor. Both major parties of the time, the Whigs and the Democrats, avoided an official platform statement on the contentious slavery-extension issue in order to preserve their national unity. The men were to be sworn in on Sunday, March 4, 1849, but being a devout Christian, President-elect Zachary Taylor refused to be sworn into office on a Sunday because it was the Sabbath. Instead, Taylor and Fillmore were sworn in on the next day, Monday March 5, 1849. During a hot day in Washington on July 4, 1850, President Zachary Taylor remained out in the sun too long then had a snack of a large bowl of chilled and iced milk. He complained of stomach pain and died shortly thereafter. Millard Fillmore succeeded him as president. Taylor’s Cabinet resigned and President Fillmore at once appointed Daniel Webster to be Secretary of State. In the autumn of 1852 he was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for the presidency by the Whig National Convention.

President Franklin Pierce’s 1852 appointment of a Roman Catholic, James Campbell of Pennsylvania, for Postmaster General marked the first Catholic cabinet officer and touched off a political storm that led to the prominence of the nativist American Party (more commonly referred to as the Know-Nothing Party). Millard Fillmore joined the Know Nothing Party and they made him their candidate for president in 1856. The party produced a vast amount of propaganda against the Catholic Church stating that Catholics were not patriotic but owed their allegiance solely to the Pope and therefore could never be true Americans. Frequently anti-Catholicism was voiced as opposition to the Roman papacy, particularly to papal influence in political affairs. Misinformation contributed to ongoing discrimination against Catholics and the popular slogan of the 1884 presidential election, wherein Republicans decried the Democratic Party’s association with “rum, Romanism, and rebellion.” The Know Nothing party sought to exclude from office all Catholics and non-native born citizens while also urging the repeal of naturalization laws. The anti-Catholic movement enjoyed great success in the 1850s, most notably electing governors in Massachusetts and Delaware. In the thirty-fifth Congress, which assembled in December, there were seventy-five Know Nothing members elected. In the election of 1856 Fillmore was pitted against Democrat James Buchanan and the first presidential nominee of the new Republican Party, John C. Fremont. Fillmore carried only Maryland in the election, but won 40 percent of the voted in ten other Southern states. The new presidential dollar reminds us that coins, like national leaders, are a product of their times. The political and theological elements are held in tension should cause us to consider with caution how we as Christians may unwittingly allow national interest or dominant culture to shape our thinking in undesirable ways.

Recently my wife and I have been reading through St. Francis de Sales’ masterful spiritual classic, Introduction to the Devout Life. St. Francis de Sales’ preface has a great passage that I think has much to say on these matters. 

He explains that he is not writing for the vowed religious in orders or monasteries, but for

those who live in town, within families, or at court, and by their state of life are obliged to live an ordinary life as to outward appearances….just as the mother of pearl fish lives in the sea without taking in a single drop of salt water, just as near the Chelodonian islands springs of fresh water may be found in the depths of the sea, and just as the firefly passes through flames without burning its wings, so also a strong, resolute soul can live in the world without being infected by any of its moods, find sweet springs of piety amid its salty waves, and fly through the flames of earthly lusts without burning the wings of its holy desires for a devout life.¹ 

In short, we are all called to become Saints, regardless of our vocation or state in life. This is the “universal call to holiness” about which the Second Vatican Council taught (5^th Ch. of Lumen Gentium). We can pray at all times (e.g., 1 Thess. 5:17) by practicing the presence of God, offering short prayers before we work (e.g., cleaning dishes, typing at the computer, attending meetings, fixing plumbing, etc.) thereby transforming our very work into prayer, and even silently praying brief prayers while we work (e.g., “Jesus, I love you,” “O God come to my assistance,” etc.). All of us can share our faith with others. We can do this by telling our family members, friends, colleagues, about how God has worked in our lives. We talk to people about our friends, spouses, parents, and children; we can also talk to people about our relationship with God, since that relationship is the most important one we have. Sometimes we’ll be called upon to explain the faith to the best of our abilities. This will take study and experience, but we all have to begin at some point if we are ever to gain such important experience. Finally, we can serve others in numerous ways that are simple (but not easy) every day: pray for others, offer our work and sufferings as prayers for others; doing the little things well (smiling for others, cleaning up for others, simple greetings and courtesies, offering to lend a hand when the opportunity presents itself, being better listeners, etc.). 

Soup kitchens and service/mission trips are wonderful. But we all have daily opportunities which can draw us closer to God, and through which can draw others closer to God. Religious orders and communities are wonderful, necessary, and essential. But those of us who are not called to such vocations must not use that as an excuse to neglect God. God desires all of us to become Saints. For those of us who are called to live in the midst of the world, the very world becomes our monastery; the streets, the workplace, the many varied vehicles of transportation we use, all of these locales become for us our houses of prayer, our temples, and at the same time our mission field. The most important of these will always remain our home, where we are called upon to spread Christ’s love among the members of our family. In St. Francis de Sales’ words, we are to become souls living “in the world without becoming infected by” the world. 

St. Francis de Sales

All of us can become Saints. Such sanctity is achievable, although the path is arduous, and I’m as far away from it as you, further away probably than most of you. As Catholics we must not neglect the aid of the Communion of Saints, on earth, in purgatory, and in heaven, for we are called to bear one another’s burdens (e.g., Gal. 6:2), and how wonderful such brotherly and sisterly aid can be. We should also frequent the Eucharist, the source and summit of our lives (Lumen Gentium no. 11), precisely because the Eucharist is Jesus’ gift of Self, of His very life, and Jesus is the center of our lives. We will invariably fall down, again and again. Thanks be to God for the Sacraments, including Confession! What lavish gifts the Lord has provided for us! He has given us all the means to grow in holiness. Let us then strive to become Saints. For those of us called to a secular vocation as described by St. Francis de Sales, let us become Saints in the midst of the world. We can do it with God’s grace. Put simply, we must follow Jesus, walking by faith every day.

1. St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, trans. with an introduction and notes by John K. Ryan (New York: Doubleday, 1989), 33-34.

St. Mark

In this post I’m moving first to Mark’s Gospel before looking at any other major books or passages of the NT because the tradition of the early church, following the testimony of Papias (preserved for us by Eusebius) is that Mark’s Gospel is a summary of Peter’s preaching in Rome. What is interesting about this view is that the general contours of Mark’s Gospel follow the general outline of Peter’s preaching recorded in the Book of Acts. If you take a look, for example, at Acts 10:36-43, we see that Peter begins his preaching about Jesus with Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Of all four Gospels, only Mark begins in this way. Moreover, in 1 Peter 5:13, we find Peter referencing a “Mark” as his travelling companion, both of whom send their greetings from Rome. 

The Petrine nature of Mark’s Gospel, although dismissed by most scholars, is noted by Dr. Richard Bauckham. Dr. Bauckham points out that,

Since Matthew’s Gospel has a special interest in Peter…it is very noteworthy that Mark mentions Peter by name considerably more frequently than Matthew does. Furthermore—a point of considerable importance for our argument that Mark’s Gospel claims Peter as its principal eyewitness source—Peter is actually present through a large portion of the narrative….¹

In fact, as Dr. Bauckham mentions, when you compare Mark with the other Gospels in terms of length, Mark has a higher frequency of mentioning Peter than any of the other Gospels.² 

As examples, Dr. Bauckham mentions that,

…Peter is both the first and the last disciple to be named in the Gospel, encompassing the whole scope of Jesus’ ministry, while Peter is also the most often named disciple in Mark, as well as being named proportionately more often in Mark than in the other Gospels.³ 

Thus, Dr. Bauckham is led to conclude that Mark is

a Gospel that presents, to a far larger degree than the others, a Petrine perspective on the story of Jesus.⁴

I agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Bauckham’s assertion that Peter alone among the Christians in the early church would have portrayed himself in such a negative light.⁵ 

When the First Vatican Council makes its declaration concerning the authority of the pope, it cites texts from the

St. Peter preaching

Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John, but not Mark. In fact, that Mark’s Gospel is omitted from Vatican I’s discussion, and that it is considered by many to be the least “Catholic” of the Gospels, is one of the major reasons why the idea that Mark’s Gospel was the first of the four Gospels (known as Markan Priority) became the accepted position among scholars only after the 1870 declaration of papal infallibility, starting in German universities during the Kulturkampf.⁶ All of this notwithstanding, Mark gives us some insight into Peter’s role in the earliest Christian community gathered around Jesus. 

St. Mark

Notice first of all that in Mark’s list of apostles, not only is Peter mentioned first as in all of the others, but Mark specifically tells us that his name was changed to Peter, which in Greek means “rock” (3:16; more on the importance of the name “rock” when we come to Matthew 16:18). When we come to the hinge of Mark’s Gospel, Peter’s confession in Mark 8:27-30, we find absent most of the specific language Jesus employs in the version found in Matthew 16, but we still see Jesus addressing all of His disciples present when He asks the question about His identity. Again, when he turns to them after their initial response about who people say He is, He asks them all in the plural,

“But what about you [plural]?” he asked. “Who do you [plural] say I am?” (NIV).

It is only Peter who answers now. Before, when the disciples answered, Mark doesn’t specify who answered, or how many of them. But now, Mark singles out Peter alone who answered. And, although we don’t find the elaborate detail as in Matthew 16, with Jesus changing Simon’s name to Peter, the event is implied by the very fact that there’s no mention of his name as Simon here, but solely, Peter, Rock. And, moreover, Peter gives the correct answer, “You are the Christ” (8:29, NIV). The rebuke of Peter which follows (8:33) is important, and we’ll discuss it in more detail when we reach it’s parallel in Matthew 16 (in light of Eliakim’s fall in Isaiah 22:25). For now, suffice it to say that Peter recognizes that Jesus is the Christ, but he does not understand what this meant, namely that it entails Jesus’ death. Like the blind man Jesus has to heal twice in the passage immediately preceding this one (8:22-26) it is going to take more than one try for Peter to get it. It’s not until the resurrection that it all falls into place for Peter. 

Now, neither Peter, nor any of the popes who follow him, are completely sinless. Peter denies Jesus three times, and Mark’s Gospel

None of this is meant to indicate that a full-blown doctrine of the Catholic papacy is seen already in Mark’s Gospel. What I think a close examination (which I have not done here) of Peter’s role in Mark’s Gospel shows is his role as spokesperson on behalf of the Apostles. We’ll see how the other Gospels emphasize different aspects of this role, and what this role looks like. I hope to show how this role represents a specific office. In light of the full weight of NT evidence we shall discuss in future posts for the central role of St. Peter as the first pope, we can see why his role of spokesman for the disciples in Mark did not need to be more elaborate for the early community; Peter’s authority would have been known to all (as it is to the tax collectors who approach Peter alone among the other disciples present to ask about Jesus’ payment of the Temple tax in Matthew 17:24—-more on this in a later post).

But this emphasis already in Mark should be expected, since Mark highlights that Jesus is not simply the Son of God, but is also the Christ. The idea of a Christ, a Messiah, was most frequently associated with King David, with a Davidic Messiah, a son of David. Mark emphasizes Jesus’ role as the Son of David, the royal Davidic Messiah, especially in places like Mark 10:47-48 (where Jesus’ is called “Son of David”) and 12:35 (where Jesus mentions that the Messiah is viewed as the “Son of David”). As we have seen in previous posts, the Davidic Kingdom (under Solomon) had 12 royal ministers, and was composed (while it was united) of 12 tribes, and included a royal steward representing the king. So too would the restored Davidic Kingdom of the Messiah Jesus, whose 12 apostles in Mark (and the other 3 Gospels) represent the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel and whose spokesman Peter was to be His royal steward.

In the next post in this series, I want to move to the Apostle Paul’s evidence for the  unique authoritative role of Peter in the early church. 

Select Bibliography: 

Hahn, Scott and Curtis Mitch. The Gospel of Mark. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2001. 

Healy, Mary. The Gospel of Mark. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008.

1. Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2006), 126.
2. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 125, 155 and 161.
3. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 161.
4. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 171.
5. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 178.
6. David Laird Dungan, A History of the Synoptic Problem: The Canon, the Text, the Composition, and the Interpretation of the Gospels, Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999); William R. Farmer, “State Interesse and Markan Primacy: 1870-1914,” in Biblical Studies and the Shifting of Paradigms, 1850-1914, ed. Henning Graf Reventlow and William Farmer, 15-49 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995).

Dr. Gary Anderson from his University of Notre Dame profile

Dr. Gary Anderson is Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the University of Notre Dame and is quickly becoming one of the world’s leading scholars of Second Temple Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls and especially of biblical interpretation among early Jews and early Christians. He is also a Protestant convert to Catholicism. He earned a B.A. from Albion College, an M.Div. from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament from Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. 

Dr. Anderson was raised Protestant and in fact entered Duke University as a Protestant seminarian. He writes some brief autobiographical insights in his important book The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination. He tells how important studying church history at Duke University under such giants as Dr. David Steinmetz helped point him in the direction of the Catholic Church. He eventually entered the Roman Catholic Church and became one of the leading Catholic scholars of early biblical interpretation. 

Dr. Anderson’s story is interesting because he was initially trained in Enlightenment-shaped historical biblical criticism. At Harvard he studied ancient biblical languages and historical methodology from such luminaries as Dr. Frank Moore Cross (W.F. Albright’s famous student). It was at Harvard, however, that Dr. Anderson became a student of the great Jewish scholars of biblical interpretation, Dr. Moshe Goshen-Gottstein and Dr. James Kugel, and it is from them especially that he learned the importance of studying the history of the Bible’s reception in Jewish contexts, and thus became a leading scholar in that field.¹ 

While teaching for about a decade at the University of Virginia, Dr. Anderson immersed himself in the world of early Greek Christian biblical interpretation through regular readings and discussions with his esteemed colleagues there, Dr. Robert Louis Wilken and Dr. Judith Kovacs. He writes of this experience that it “was almost like a second graduate degree in early Christianity.”² In addition, for about fifteen years, Dr. Anderson read and studied St. Ephrem in Syriac with two leading Syriac specialists, Dr. Sidney Griffith and Dr. Robin Darling Young.³ Eventually, his reputation grew so much in the field of biblical interpretation, that Harvard University hired him to teach at their prestigious institution. Anyone interested in how early Jews and Christians interpreted the Bible, particularly biblical stories about Adam and Eve, or biblical concepts like Sin and redemption, should start reading Dr. Anderson’s works if you haven’t already. His writings on sin are especially important for understanding the biblical roots of Catholic concepts like indulgences and the importance of almsgiving. 

Select Bibliography of Dr. Anderson’s works: 

BOOKS: 

Sin: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sin-History-Gary-Anderson/dp/0300149891/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263831593&sr=1-2 

The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2001. Available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Perfection-%C3%82-Adam-Christian-Imagination/dp/066422699X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263831523&sr=1-1 

JOURNAL ARTICLES: 

“Mary in the Old Testament.” Pro Ecclesia 16 (2007): 33-55. 

“Redeem Your Sins by the Giving of Alms: Sin, Debt, and the ‘Treasury of Merit’ in Early Judaism and Christianity.” Letter & Spirit 3 (2007): 37-67. 

“Biblical Origins and the Problem of the Fall.” Pro Ecclesia 10 (2001): 1-14. 

ACADEMIC ESSAYS: 

“From Israel’s Burden to Israel’s Debt: Towards a Theology of Sin in Biblical and Early Second Temple Sources.” In Reworking the Bible: Apocryphal and Related Texts at Qumran, ed. Esther G. Chazon, Devorah Dimant, and Ruth Clements, 1-30. Leiden: Brill, 2005. 

“The Status of the Torah in the Pre-Sinaitic Period: St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.” In Biblical Perspectives: Early Use and Interpretation of the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Michael E. Stone and Esther G. Chazon, 1-23. Leiden: Brill, 1998. 

“The Cosmic Mountain: Eden and Its Early Interpreters in Syriac Christianity.” In Genesis 1-3 in the History of Exegesis: Intrigue in the Garden, ed. Gregory Allen Robbins, 187-224. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1988.

1. Gary A. Anderson, The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2001), XV.
2. Anderson, Genesis of Perfection, xii.
3. Anderson, Genesis of Perfection, xii.