vol VII: Notes

2014

Notes

[Notebook: DB 78: Catholicism 2.0]

[Sunday 24 August 2014 - Saturday 30 August 2014]

Sunday 24 August 2014

[page 13]

Monday 25 August 2014

Statistics is the science of frequency, probability is a measure of frequency agaist some base, which is taken to be the whole set of possible events.

Gifted with a sense of humour that can lighten up the darkest night, perhaps inherited from my father's wartime experiences.

Tuesday 26 August 2014

First draft letter to Abuse Inquiry completed.

Theology and religion are essential components of all human societies just like all the sciences and arts, and the safety and security of societies depends upon the truth of their theologies and the effectiveness of their technologies.

Wednesday 27 August 2014

Thursday 28 August 2014

Theology, which should be the epitome of the sciences, is by far the stupidest, so that while we are doing very well in the less complex subjects like physics and chemistry, we are pretty hopeless in the more complex areas of global physiology and the overall guidance of human development. We are working in the dark because without a viable theology we have no global view.

Friday 29 August 2014

Text of submission to Royal Comission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse

Thursday 28 August 2014

The Secretary,
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
GPO Box 5283
Sydney NSW 2001 Australian Government

Dear Secretary,

I am writing to you not as one who was sexually abused within the Catholic Church but as someone who has had considerable intellectual and emotional involvement with the Church and may be able to provide some useful insight into its behaviour.

A term of reference reads: AND We direct you to make any recommendations arising out of your inquiry that you consider appropriate, including recommendations about any policy, legislative, administrative or structural reforms.

Here I propose that the Church can no longer be permitted to exist as an absolute and infallible monarchy outside the law and must instead join the contemporary human world as a legal person constituted along democratic and evidence based lines and subject to the normal laws for consumer protection and public accountability.

1. My experience with the Church

I was born in 1945 and educated by the Sisters of Mercy and the Marist Brothers in Mount Gambier, SA and the Dominican Fathers at Blackfriars College, Prospect, SA. I entered the Dominican Order at age 18, was simply and solemnly professed, but had my vows annulled and was asked to leave after five years. Tenison Woods College, Blackfriars Priory School

At Marist Brothers I was taught by the now infamous Brother Bonaventure Searson, later Father Peter Searson. Apart from being rather violent in his attempts to 'make men of us' he did not seem any worse than the other brothers at that time (late fifties). We were caned regularly. A favourite ritual was to send us for a run to the school gate and back (about 1 kilometre) in the morning frost, and then cane those of who had committed some offence on their frozen hands. In those days this seemed quite normal to me. Broken Rites Australia

We moved to Adelaide when I was in year 11, and I went to Blackfriars. During my time there I came to believe that I had a 'vocation' to join the Dominican Order, and ultimately entered the Order in early 1963 when I was 18.

On reflection, I am somewhat doubtful about my 'vocation' to join the Dominicans. I see two motivations. The first was that I understood that joining the clergy exempted me from service in the Vietnam war, the prospect of which terrified me. The second, more relevant to the Commission, is the sexual indoctrination I received from the Church. Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, Code of Canon Law 233: The formation of clerics

From an early age I recall heavy emphasis on sin, particularly sexual and sensual sin. The whole raison d’etre of the Church is effectively built on sin, starting with the the Original Sin recorded in the Book of Genesis. This ‘sin’ allegedly occurred when soon after their creation the first people succumbed to curiosity and ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This disobedience is believed by the Church to have led God (Yahweh) to destroy the initial perfection of the Universe it had created and to make work, pain and death part of human experience. Original sin - Wikipedia

We were taught from the earliest age that we were sinners. Because of our original sin, there was no way we could go to heaven unless we were baptized into the Catholic Church: the doctrine of extra ecclesiam nulla salus. No matter what we did, the presumption was that it was bad and should be stopped, an enormous psychological burden. William Fanning: Baptism

I feel that I was made aware from the age of about five that ‘playing with myself’, wrestling with my friends and sensuality in general were sinful. This emphasis continued throughout my schooldays, and it was clear to me by the end of my schooling that since I was unable to forgo sensual and sexual pleasure I was doomed to an eternity of excruciating pain in Hell: an indoctrination that I would now class as intellectual abuse, since it induces baseless fear: there is no evidence for the existence of Hell. J J Farraher: Masturbation

The pains of Hell were heavily emphasized by the Redemptorist Fathers who came to the Marist Brothers School in Mount Gambier to give us ‘retreats’. They tended to roar at us from the pulpit, dwelling on the excruciating pains of hell and the extraordinary duration of eternity. Since burns are the most painful events in many of our lives, Hell was described as a fire that burnt but did not consume. An image they used that sticks in my mind is that if a bird were to pass the Earth every century and brush it with its wing, the whole Earth would be worn away long before eternity was over. Joseph Wuest: Redemptorists, Old Time Gospel Ministry

The emphasis on sexual sin and Hell was reinforced by the emphasis on the fact that one could hide nothing from the Church’s omniscient God. From the first years of primary school the nuns made much of the ‘recording angel’ who wrote down our good deeds in golden ink and our bad deeds in black ink. These would be totted up at death and the decision for Heaven or Hell made accordingly. Recording Angel - Wikipedia

A further important feature of the indoctrination is the notion that although God saw everything, one could keep one’s own sins private. This inhibited us from talking to one another about forbidden matter, and perhaps facilitated the shroud of secrecy that made children ashamed to talk about their abuse and enabled chronic abusers like Searson to get away with their crimes for so long. One could have one’s sins forgiven in the secrecy of the confessional. The Church has maintained that this ‘seal’ is so strong that it can be used to shroud even criminal matters that should be brought to the attention of the police. Catholic Catechism: Seal, Richard Nolan

Finally, there was the ‘last judgement’ by which God would send the sinners to an eternity of punishment in Hell and the virtuous to an eternity of bliss in Heaven. At this time the defects introduced into the Universe by God in his anger at the first people would be repaired. This was made possible by the ‘redemption’. God colluded in the murder of his son Jesus by the Romans. Jesus thus became a human sacrifice to appease God for the original human sin. Catechism of the Catholic Church

Political theology - WikipediaIt is clear to me now that all these features of Catholicism, and many more, were political techniques designed to control the minds of the faithful in a way advantageous to the priestly elite. Political theology - Wikipedia

I feel that this indoctrination made it very clear to me that the only way to save myself was by an act of ‘supererogation’, ie going over the top in the service of God. At the same time my teachers and mentors seemed to believe that I had a vocation. Supererogation - Wikipedia

I began my Novitiate in the in the Dominican Priory in Camberwell, Victoria in early 1963. The transition to monastic life was a bit of a shock, but I wore it and rather enjoyed the new perspectives on Catholicism that opened up to me. There was much emphasis on the world of Aristotle and the Order made much of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an early member, who holds a special position, enshrined in Canon Law, as a doctor of the Church. Thomas Aquinas - Wikipedia, Aristotle - Wikipedia, Code of Canon Law 252: The formatin of clerics

I had done well in science and mathematics at school. The Order allowed me access to scientific books and journals, some purchased with money from my parents. I took delight in passing on this knowledge to my fellow students, but found it very hard to accept that my teachers thought that the ancient Greek philosophers were closer to the truth than modern scientists.

Theology is the study of God, and the first step in classical theology is to prove the existence of God. Aquinas proves that God exists by showing that the world is not self sufficient. Since the world exists nevertheless, something must be sustaining it, and this something we customarily call God. So far, so good. Aquinas 13: Does God exist

One of the books to catch my attention in my third year in the Order (although our reading was carefully censored) was written by a Jesuit Bernard Lonergan. Lonergan wrote Insight to bring Thomistic ideas into twentieth century English. In the process, he showed me the weakness in Aquinas' proofs for the separation of God and the World. Lonergan

Model-dependent realism - WikipediaThese proofs are what we would now call model dependent. Aquinas used ancient models, derived from Aristotle and Plato to show that the world could not explain itself. But what if these models did not truly represent God and the world? What if the Universe can explain itself? Then the Universe and God could be the same thing. Model-dependent realism - Wikipedia

I already knew enough quantum mechanics to be aware that the Universe as we know it is much more infinite than anything the ancients ever dreamed up. If size and detail counted, the Universe could easily be divine. Quantum mechanics - Wikipedia

This was the period of aggiornmento in the Church, leading up to the Second Vatican Council. It seemed to me that the notion that the Universe was divine could play an enormous part in bringing the Church up to date. Theology would no longer be based on ancient misunderstandings of the relationship between the world and its creator. It could become a real science, and we could accept that all human experience is experience of God. I wrote an essay How universal is the Universe expressing this view. How Universal is the Universe? Aggiornamento - Wikipedia

This led to a long period in intense discussion with the Master of Studies (now deceased) who tried to point out to me the error of my ways, while I, naive and stubborn, tried to point out the error of his.

Although intellectually satisfying (and, I believe to this day, a sound position), this idea was political death within the Church. The whole raison d'etre of the Catholic Church is that it is the sole credible channel between humanity and the invisible and mysterious God, absolutely other than the world, which is has dreamt up to justify its existence. Catholic Catechism: Church

My teachers claimed that theology was a science, but in the medieval sense of deduction from a set of assumed axioms or principles, what we would now call [formalism or] mathematics. To me, schooled in scientific method through Karl Popper, science was imaginative conjecture open to refutation. In the absolutist Catholic climate, however, conjecture is forbidden and unquestioning faith demanded and essential for membership in the priestly elite. I was found to be in breech of some of the 24 Philosophical Theses mandated by Pope Pius X. Formalism (mathematics) - Wikipedia, Popper: Conjectures and Refutations, The 24 Theses of Pope Pius X, Edouard Hugon O.P.

During this period it also became clear that taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience had done nothing to dampen my animal spirits and I fell in love with some of my brethren. This added another dimension to the tension within me, since 'special friendships' were forbidden. Herbert Thurston

In the end the Provincial of the Order applied to the Pope for dispensati0n of my vows and I was free to leave (with a new suit). That was more than forty years ago. Much water has flowed under many bridges since then, but now that the Church has completely discredited itself in the ethical sphere, I have overcome my respect for it and am prepared to suggest radical theological reform.

I was something of a wreck when I left the Order (1968 ) and my parents (now 95 years old and fading) have since then continuously regretted allowing me to enter the Order. They too, however, were under the power of the Church and required to believe that one of the best things that could happen to their child was to become a servant of the Church, and were in no position to stop me.

In more recent years I have tried to reassure them that what happened was for the best. In a foolproof Universe such as ours evils tend to generate their own corrections, and the way the Church treated me has generated a well read, motivated and experienced individual who might eventually contribute some small step toward the scientific reformation of theology. Evolution - Wikipedia

I now feel that the Church blighted the first thirty or forty years of my life and through me induced a lot of pain in other people who had to deal with a rather damaged individual. Now that my youngest has grown up and left home, I have time to document the defects of the Church as I see them, and perhaps lay the foundations for real reformation.

In the past I have not been optimistic about theological reform. A century seems a short time in religion. However, as Newton realized, the rate of change is proportional to the force acting, and the worldwide revelations of the criminal behaviour of the Church may bring forces to bear upon it sufficient to significantly speed up reform. Newtons Laws of Motion - Wikipedia

2. A conclusion: the error in the Church

My experiences, coupled with the experiences of all the victims of the Church who have appeared before this and similar inquiries, have convinced me is that the Church is in serious error.

The error in the Church can be exposed in three simple statements:

1. The Catholic Church is a corporate organization (the ‘Mystical Body of Christ’) whose formal structure is constituted by Canon Law and the Bible. Pius XII: Mystici corporis Christi, Vatican Archive Code of Canon Law

2. This structure frequently puts human beings in humanly impossible situations.

3. Therefore, from a scientific point of view, the Catholic Church is inconsistent with human reality and so in error.

This argument is based on the notion that human institutions must fit humanity and not vice versa. The Church might claim that since we are all sinners (by its definition) its beliefs and methods are appropriate. The evidence before this commission suggests, on the contrary, that the Church does not fit humanity as we understand it, and so is not a fit and proper organization to be allowed to function in our civil society until this error is corrected. Paul: 3:23

In other words the hypothesis upon which the Church is built is inconsistent with human reality and is therefore wrong and must be corrected. Hypothesis - Wikipedia

One cannot correct something without knowing the right answer. Here the field of possible answers is very narrow: either the world is divine or it is not. Either the Catholic Church is right about God and the human condition or it is wrong. Sic et non - Wikipedia

The Catholic Church is built on the hypothesis that God is absolutely other than the world, and therefore invisible and mysterious. The disadvantage of this hypothesis, from a scientific point of view, is that we cannot see God and therefore cannot know anything about it. The Church overcomes this objection by claiming that it is privy to special revelation from and of God through the Bible. Pius X: 24 Theses, Catholic Catechism 65

This position has the political advantage, from the Church’s point of view, that it is free to make up whatever fictions it likes about God in the knowledge that there is no way to check. Fiction - Wikipedia

Such events as the Church does bring in support of its position are singular events in the past for which there is no contemporary evidence. Some of this ‘evidence’ (cited in the theological discipline of ‘apologetics’) is the disobedience of the first people (The Fall); the ‘immaculate’ conception of Mary; Jesus' ‘virgin’ birth; the miracles of Jesus; his ‘resurrection’ from death; the ‘ascension’ of Jesus; the ‘assumption’ of Mary; the fact that the Church has lasted so long and attracted to many people, and so on. Anthony Maas: Virgin Birth of Christ

All the evidence for these events and their interpretation is to be found in documents created within the Church itself, that is the New Testament and commentaries thereon, so that its arguments are circular and carry little weight.

The flimsiness of the evidence for Catholic dogma is emphasized by the extravagance of the claims based upon it: that the Church is our sole channel for communication with God; that we do not really die; that the Universe damaged by Original Sin will be restored to its pristine condition on the Day of Judgement, and so on. Pope Benedict XII, Joseph Hontheim: Heaven

Over its two thousand year of existence, the Church has collected enormous wealth and political power. As we can now see, this power has corrupted it by enabling it to create its own reality and dismiss evidence to the contrary. Through its history it has used torture (the Inquisition), military violence (the Crusades) and beautifully crafted ‘spin doctoring’ to defend itself. In present times its most powerful sanction is to deprive people who work for it a living of they do not fit in. This is what happened to me. Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia

3. A new evidence based theology

Since the theological foundation of the Church has no evident support, we must choose the other theological option, that the Universe is divine. This hypothesis removes the Church and its false doctrines from its role as mediator between God and humanity and opens us to true experience of God. Given that the Universe is divine, we live inside God. Our lives and experiences are are parts of God's life and experience. Theology can become an evidence based science like all the others. Experience is evidence.

Modern liberal civilization has generally widened the experiences upon which it is based. The long history of theology, beginning for many of us with the Greeks and the Hebrews more than 2000 years ago, shows us this process at work.

The Gods of the Iliad and the Hebrew Bible were very human, in a love/hate relationship with their people, sometimes promoting love, sometimes making war. Iliad - Wikipedia, Miles: God: A biography

Although these Gods are the subject of epic literature, their actions appear to be largely arbitrary and capricious, and give us little help in the understanding and development of human affairs. Presumably they reflect the contermporary state of violence and lawlessness. If anything they are depressing, suggesting that life is subject to arbitrary fate about which we can do nothing. The will of arbitrary Gods prevails. Moirai - Wikipedia

A more scientific attitude to God began to emerge about 500 bce around the Mediterranean. Parmenides Elea asked a fundamental scientific question: how can we have certain knowledge of a moving world? He concluded (assuming that certain knowledge is possible) that there must be a complete eternal core of being lying behind the things that we see. John Palmer - Parmenides

This idea was taken up by Plato who invented a world of perfect ideas and modelled this world as a pale shadow of this eternal formal world. Parmenides and Plato established the tradition of placing the source of reality outside the visible world, a position essential to the Catholic Church. Richard Kraut - Plato

Plato’s student Aristotle brought the forms down to Earth and explained the changes in the world as the the change of form of some matter, as when engineers remodels a bronze sword into a ploughshare. Christopher Shields: Aristotle

Aristotle saw the world in terms of potential and actuality. Some things can be but are not. These are potential beings. Others can be and are, they are actual. Motion, said Aristotle, is the transition from potential to actual. He assumed as an axiom that no potential could make itself actual without the intervention of another actuality. Potentiality and actuality - Wikipedia

Since nothing can move itself, Aristotle postulated a first unmoved mover that was the source of all the motion in the world. This mover was part of the world, however, in contrast to the Platonic and subsequent Catholic positions which appear to make the world a puppet of an outside agent, God. Unmoved mover - Wikipedia

The early years of Christian doctrinal development relied principally on Platonic thought. The Aristotelean tradition entered Christian Europe in the thirteenth century, drawing texts from Muslim teachers. Aristotle’s work was exploited by Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas to produce a new synthesis of Christian theology. This synthesis wavered for a time but eventually became official. The teaching of Aquinas is enshrined in Canon Law. Transmission of the Classics - Wikipedia

The important change, I think, was that Aristotle gave the world a fixed nature of its own which could be the subject of science, whereas Plato (and the Catholic Church today) sees the world as a puppet of forces outside itself.

Aquinas begins his Summa Theologiae with five proofs for the existence of God, which are in effect proofs that God is other than the Universe we experience. The first is built on Aristotle’s proof for the unmoved mover: nothing can move itself, so there must be a first unmoved mover, which we are accustomed to call God. Although Aquinas used Aristotle’s argument, his conclusion that God is other than the world is orthodox and contrary to Aristotle, who saw the world as eternal and self sufficient.

Although they have become essential components of Catholic doctrine these proofs and the doctrines descended for them do not appear to reflect reality. There is nothing in modern science to suggest that the Universe as we know it is not capable of explaining its own structure and motion. Our Universe is also infinitely larger and more complex than anything imagined by medieval theologians. Universe - Wikipedia

It is true that we are in the same position as ancient theologians when we come to the question: why is there something rather than nothing? We can no more explain the existence of the Universe than the Catholics can explain the existence of God, but there can be no doubt that we do exist.

From a scientific point of view, the worst consequence of the Church's sequestration of God has been the death of theology, the most all embracing and important of the sciences. While all the other sciences have followed a general trajectory toward broader and deeper understanding of the human milieu, the last significant developments in theology occurred in the Middle Ages. This happened at about the same time as the Church became a military and political power. It began freezing acceptable belief and torturing and burning people with alternative hypotheses as a lesson to the others.

4. Why is child sexual abuse so common in the Church?

The Catholic Church is a very large, ancient and conservative organization which has managed to avoid most of the civilizing influences that have taken us from the the barbaric days of the Roman Empire to our present ideals of democratic and evidence based society.

Most of the defects of the Church may be attributed to this extreme old age and conservatism. Its attitude is summed up in the doxology: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world with out end, Amen. Adrian Fortescue: Doxology

The Roman Catholic Church is a child of the Roman Empire and exists today as a cross between a nation state and a multinational corporation with branches almost everywhere. Its constitution, The Code of Canon Law gives absolute power to the Papacy, modelled on the Roman Emperors.: There is neither appeal nor recourse against a decision or decree of the Roman Pontiff (Canon 333 para 3). Vatican Archive, Canon Law Society of America. Code of Canon Law 333

The Roman Empire was based on military power, rape and pillage, and contributed very little to human heritage that was not stolen from more enlightened communities. Julius Caesar was typical: when he was not buying political influence in Rome, he was out pillaging to raise the funds to pay his army and buy more power. Being a smart fellow, he also wrote his own history. Among others, he killed about a million Gauls and enslaved a million more. Speaking of the fate of Gaul, the Oxford Classical Dictionary tells us that Roman requisitions of food and punitive devastations completed a human, economic and ecological disaster probably unequalled until the conquest of the Americas. Hornblower & Spawforth Roman Empire - Wikipedia, Hornblower & Spawforth (eds); Oxford Classical Dictionary

The Roman Empire is well documented and gives us deep insight into the empires that have existed before and since.

Julius wanted to be God but his contemporaries murdered him too soon. Augustus (63 bc - 14 ad) did better. He became both God and Emperor, and laid the administrative and ideological foundation for the Empire that dominated the Mediterranean region for centuries. Augustus - Wikipedia

The Church grew in this milieu, spreading along the Roman roads and gradually infiltrating the intelligentsia and the public service. By 324 Christianity was the official religion of the Empire. The Roman Catholic Church continues to dominate the Western world long after the Roman Empire fell prey to Huns and their ilk in the fourth and fifth centuries. Decline of the Roman Empire - Wikipedia

In its own history, the New Testament of the Bible, the Church traces its ancestry to Jesus of Nazareth. Everything is based on the claim that Jesus was God, an Imperial Lord with total power on earth. The Pope plays the role handed by Jesus to the Apostle Peter:

Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So now I say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:17-19).

Thus was born the most valuable intellectual and political property on the planet. The Roman Catholic Church has convinced billions of people over the ages that it is God's one and only agent on earth, with full power to decide what activities lead to heaven in the afterlife and what lead to hell. First Vatican Council

From an historical point of view, the levels of child sexual, intellectual and physical abuse being revealed in the Church appear to be quite mild compared not only to the past but to many contemporary monarchies and dictatorships. From the point of view of a Roman Emperor or modern dictator, much of what we see as criminal behaviour toward women and children was a matter of settled custom and seen as completely normal. UN Women, UNICEF: Child protection

The notion of child sexual abuse has only begin to crystallize since the 1960s. As Brett Kahr points out

The research of the several hundred historians and mental health professionals, affiliated to the Institute for Psychohistory, has unearthed a wealth of primary archival and archaeological data which suggests that in previous centuries the physical, sexual and emotional abuse of infants and young children proliferated in all cultures. . . . It may shock readers to realise that the frequently used term 'child abuse' only began to appear in the medical literature during the early Sixties; before this time, professionals had no concept other than 'stern discipline' to conceptualise the routine abuse of children.

The history of childhood can best be described as nightmarish. Once we can bear to read the clinical, medical, historical and archaeological reports of ancient child abuse, we will find ourselves in a much better position to recognise the various forms of cruelty that threaten children today.(Brettt Kahr: Child Abuse has an ancient history, The Independent, Monday May 2 1994) Brett Kahr

In my childhood, much of the abuse we suffered seemed normal. I presume that over its long history child abuse within the Church reflected the levels of abuse outside the Church. The true crimes of the Church are first that it failed to keep up with the evolutions of attitudes to child abuse in civilized communities, and second, that when the criminal law begins to take notice of child abuse it is proactive in hiding the crimes of its personnel from the law. ABC: Four Corners

5. The role of the Papacy

In the later middle ages, the need to finance its political and military ambitions had a strong corrupting effect on the Church which began to sell its spiritual services. This problem came to a head in the time of Martin Luther (1483 - 1546). By Luther's time, the Church was blatantly selling spiritual goods for cash. Protestant Reformation - Wikipedia

The Catholic Church responded to Luther and his followers with the Council of Trent which eliminated a certain amount of corruption but maintained the absolute truth of Catholic doctrine. While the Church was consolidating its doctrines, however, human curiosity was also breaking out, as it had done in the Book of Genesis, with the birth of science.

The conflict between experience and authority came to a head in the Galileo Affair. The Church felt that it must retain the geocentric model of the solar system in order to preserve the text in the Book of Joshua that tells us that the Sun stood still over Gideon. Galileo, on the other hand, had irrefutable observational evidence (the phases of Venus) that the Earth orbited the sun outside the orbit of Venus.

Nevertheless the political power won, and Galileo was required to 'abjure and detest' his views and was confined to house arrest for the rest of his life. Galileo lost his battle, but evidence began to gradually overtake authority as a source of trustworthy information. Science and technology have exploded in the last few hundred years, while Catholic theology has stagnated essentially unchanged. This is how the Catholic authorities would like it to be. Although there is a Pontifical Academy of Science, theology is not considered a sciene by the Academy. Galileo Galilei: Recantation, 22 June 1633

The root of the problem is the denial of reality which appears to be common to all those wealthy and powerful elites which are accustomed to use their power to maintain their status. Power corrupts by blinding the powerful to reality. Reality-based community - Wikipedia

We see it now in Australia. We have a predominantly right wing Catholic government which has set out to do everything it can to serve the rich and penalize the poor. Not only that, but senior members of the Government, from the Prime Minister down, continue to deny well established scientific observations like global warming. Tom Allard and Peter Martin, Peter Hannam and David Wroe, Rosemary Lyster

As it has become wealthier, the Church has been able to capture the hearts and minds of more people through inexpensive (and often good) education, social welfare and its persuasive influence on governments, universities, philanthropists and leaders of public opinion.

It remains nevertheless a militant organization whose stated objective is to control the mind of every person on Earth. The Church wrote its mandate in Mark's Gospel and parallel passages: Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:16). Mark, Code of Canon Law 211: The obligations and rights of the Christian faithful,

Now, however, as the ethical failings and criminal behaviour of the Church are becoming clear for all to see, the chances of bringing it to heel are increasing. The only clear solution is for theology to become a real science based on reality rather than the dreams of political elites. We must accept the very obvious hypothesis that the Universe is our creator and saviour, and that the more truly we understand it and act on this understanding, the better our lives can become.

The Church would like us to believe that it is not responsible for the misbehaviour of its workers. George Pell’s analogy of the relationship between a trucking company and its drivers who rape hitchhikers makes the position very clear. Pell is one of the senior administrators of the Church and since he has bot been admonished since this statement, we must assume that his position is endorsed by the whole Catholic hierarchy. Thomas Oriti

The code of Canon Law clearly establishes the pope as an absolute monarch, legislator, executor and judge:

Can. 331 The bishop of the Roman Church, in whom continues the office given by the Lord uniquely to Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to be transmitted to his successors, is the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on earth. By virtue of his office he possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely. Codex Iuris Canonici 331: De Romano Pontifice

The Church also claims that the Pope is infallible: The First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ contains the definition:

We teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of Pastor and Doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals: and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church.
But if anyone -- which may God avert -- presume to contradict this Our definition; let him be anathema. Infallibility - First Vatican Council

The definition of infallibility is relatively recent in the history of the Church and was made by the First Vatican Council in 1870 as a response to the danger the Church felt from rationalism, liberalism and materialism, all seen as attacking the absolutist position of the Church. Francis Aveling: Rationalism, Hermann Gruber: Liberalism, Constantine Gutberlet: Materialism

Given this enormous power we must consider the Pope as responsible for the crimes of the Church. He is not just a harmless old potentate. People believe what he says.

Ultimately reality rules although it may take time to assert itself. The existence and development of the world from an initial singularity establishes without doubt that the world is creative, and all attempts to suppress creativity ultimately lead to revolution of some sort of another. Big Bang - Wikipedia

Creative politics has long realized that the anti-creative forces of religion must be bypassed if we are to have peace and prosperity, so that most successful modern constitutions draw a clear line between religion and politics, where we mean by religion the ancient religions. Separation of Church and State - Wikipedia

Just as theology can be a real science if it is based on the notion that the Universe is itself divine, religion can be a real benefit to humanity if it is liberated from ancient politics. So the most succinct modern expression of true religion is probably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations

This Royal Commission is effectively documenting some of the symptoms of the political and scientific errors of the Catholic Church. Similar errors are to be found in all the ancient authoritarian organizations that surround us.

I think it is clear from what I have written that the Catholic Church in its present form must be deprived of its sovereign status and made subject to the laws of nature and humanity. When we listen to George Pell, and recognize that he is speaking from a position of high power to the Church, it is clear that the Church is totally unable to accept that it has criminal responsibility for its actions, not just in allowing its workers to continue breaking the law but in actively covering up their misdeeds by doing everything possible to keep the matter out of the hands of the police and continuing to suppress its victims through vexatious legal process.

6. Hope

We might base our hope for the future of the Roman Catholic Church on English constitutional History. Over the course of centuries we have seen the absolute power of monarch gradually limited by the rule of democratically formulated and evidence based law, evidence based justice, and the rights of humanity. The Church has managed to avoid most of these modern tendencies, but the time has come to bring it to heel for our own good and as an example to all those other people in the world who are subject to the murderous and inhuman whims of religious authorities. History of the Constitution of the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

Religions use faith and charity to beget hope. Faith, from a mathematical point of view is adherence to a set of algorithms for life. The algorithms are formal. Charity adds the dynamic aspect: it is one thing to profess noble beliefs, it is another to put them into practice. Hope arises when we see that our activities to maintain our lives are actually working and feel that we have cracked the secret code to life.

I have held the catholic (as opposed to Catholic) ideas outlined above and at naturaltheology.net for nearly fifty years. Until now have been my own little secret, because I have lived in a world with two contradictory sources of truth, theology and science. These sources have very little in common, and treat one another as foreign bodies. Scientists are inclined to laugh at theologians and theologians at scientists, and anybody who tries to reconcile them is likely to be excluded as threatening to both. As a single individual, I certainly cannot overcome the Church which is a huge and secretive organization built on the slogan 'trust us'.

Unfortunately for the Church, it has proven untrustworthy and is now open to attack by the thousands of people like me who have suffered from it. The source of this loss of trust is growing community awareness of the criminal behaviours entrenched in the Church. We are ready now to see science embrace theology, the last bastion of ancient political monarchy.

Galileo marks a dividing line between the age of authority and the age of evidence. Since Galileo's time, the evidence based approach to life has been gaining strength and yielding exciting advances in all fields as we come to know the complexity of our environment more clearly.

As we know, the Universe is expanding. This expansion is not just in the measure of space-time but also in the size of the message space occupied by the Universal network. We know, for instance, that numerically speaking, a hydrogen atom has a larger vocabulary than any human language, each line in its infinite spectrum being equivalent to a word. Metric expansion of space - Wikipedia

Human space is also expanding, first in numbers, and secondly in the depth and complexity of the communication between people, and in the depth and detail of our understanding of the physical foundations of the Universe. This expanding knowledge makes all forms of engineering, including medial and social engineering, possible.

Einstein recognized that the most reliable of the sciences and one least likely to revision is thermodynamics. Almost everyone has heard of the second law of thermodynamics: entropy always increases (or at least does not decrease). Further, this fact is generally taken to be a bad thing leading, among other things to the heat death of the Universe. This is to misunderstand entropy. Another name for it is bandwidth, and under this guise the age of the internet has taught us to see it good thing. Thermodynamics - Wikipedia, Entropy in thermodynamics and information theory - Wikipedia

The fundamental problem with the Church is that it wishes stop the increase in entropy. It thinks that its relatively tiny 'deposit of faith' is sufficient for the whole of humanity for all time. John Paull II: Fidei depositum

We may see entropy as the most fundamental variable in our models of the Universe because it is a simple count of discrete entities. Unlike mass, for instance, which is measured in kilograms, the unit of entropy is the unit. Entropy is the dual of information. If we imagine entropy to represent a space of many objects and information being our knowledge of a point in that space, the information carried by the point is equal to the entropy of the space. One has only to look around to see the enormous complexity of the space that we live in. Each of us is a point in such a space and carries information equal to the entropy of our environment. Entropy (information theory) - Wikipedia

The Catholic Church, on the other hand, true to its monarchical roots, deplores the increase in entropy. This stance is explained by the cybernetic principle of requisite variety or entropy. This principle tells us that an effective controller must have greater entropy than the system to be controlled. Since in a monarchy the monarch wants to keep control, the entropy of the population must be reduced to less than that of the monarch by all the usual means of repression. The Catholic Church has the perfect secret police. God sees everything. Its God is also omnipotent, and so capable of killing those it dislikes by casting them out of the life of God. Ashby: Cybernetics

Our civil societies progress by increasing their entropy. They do this in two ways. The first, by collecting evidence, which by brings us into contact with the vast entropy of the Universe. The second is by developing and implementing statements of human rights, in mathematical terms, human symmetries.

The entropy of any system is maximized when all of its states are equiprobable. In human terms, equiprobability can be translated into freedom rising from the equality or symmetry described in the previous paragraph. Further, thermodynamics teaches us that systems are most stable when their entropy is at a maximum, so that human equality and stable society are closely related. Clearly if the Church is to be a good citizen, it must become evidence based and egalitarian.

If the Church became evidence based it should then be able to focus its intellectual powers on the world as it is, rather than the rather sick and violent 'history of salvation' it has invented for itself. It should then be able to contribute to the development of humanity rather than hindering it. In information terms, the change need is simply one bit, rewriting the sentence God is not the Universe, with the sentence God is the Universe.

The change is small but the consequences are immense. Theology will become a relevant science again and the demand for theologians will boom, just as the demand for environmental scientists boomed when states began to bring in environmental laws.

We must obey God if we are to survive. To obey it we must know it. The Catholic way leaves us totally in the dark, subservient to absolute and unimpeachable authorities. The scientific way opens our eyes to our divine milieu and shows us how to live with it in peace and harmony.

I have thought about all this for a long time, and have begun to try to put it all together in a website at http://www.naturatheology.net.

Yours sincerely,

[page 14]

Saturday 30 August 2014

Cancer all but over, and now the new career starts, propagating a new theology. As in all construction projects, the first step is demolition. In the brownfields at least partially destroying whatever is there because it is [seen to be] obsolete. In the greenfields, clearing out the original inhabitants of the kand to make room for the new. Wooden houses imply dead forest creatures through violence ond loss of habitat.

The future of the Church,. The Catholic Church is a dinosaur among us, holding back human development by its bonds to the past. We all know that in the bad old days life was nasty, brutish and short. Many of the ancient skeletons we dig up hoe evidence of short life, disease and violence, This way of life is what we demolish on the way to civilization.

Of course the existing inhabitants of any world marked for destruction will fight back if they can. We see the Catholic Church worldwide and in Australia fighting a rearguard action against the idea that child abuse is a crime rather than business as usual. It was business as usual once but it is not any longer. Entropy is growing is the same as saying (in a conserved space) that the temperature, that is violence, [that is anergy associated with a single act,] is decreasing

Abbot and Pell between them epitomize all that is wrong with the the Catholic Church, the Church is an absoute monarchy built on air. I speak not of the immense body of loving and charitable people who are members of the Church, but of the monarchical political elite which governs the Church for their own power, glory and self esteem. Just look at the clothes, the buildings, the art, the music, the

[page 15]

incense etc all public relations without a skerric of scientific [evidential] backing.

Productivity = technological progress in the religion and every other business. Imagine the chaos in agriculture if all farmers had different and contrary views about farming, Instead we have a broad consensus which is differentiated locally into individual farms and individual farmers' approach to performing their work most productively.

I was deluded by the Church. Neither my labour nor my education did me any good: the former because I earnt no money; the latter because I was taught rubbish.

Maybe the G20 could organize a MMA bout between Putin and Abbott to see who really is the top country, and we would all benefit if they killed one another, The traditionalists would love trial by battle.

Being messianic is part of the marketing plan but the substance lies in producing soundly engineered technological solutions to pressing problems like water supply and world peace.

TOLERANCE / SYMMETRY: a bearing has almost zero tolerance in some degrees of freedom but almost infinite tolerance in other degrees, eg shaft rotation. [this is the relationship between fixed points and motions, which are duals of one another, the entropy of the fixed points being equal to the entropy of the movement space.]

Book: A new theology

We are simply changing the meaning of the word 'God'.

Thought control becomes necessary when doctrines are arbitrary and there is no particular reason for holding them other than the subculture demands it and you are to be thrown out if you do not comply.

[page 16]

On the whole reformers appear to look back to a golden age and to base their reform on how they imagine things were in those wonderful ancient times. Reality does not conform to this fantasy.

We laugh at all these little inquiries that come to foregone conclusions that tend to agree with some of the government's very crazy misunderstanding of reality. To them the threat of global warming is not real because they live in another fantasy world like the world of the Roman Catholic Church where everything is in God's hands and that everything that happens happens for the best in some mysterious way that we cannot understand. An irresponsible attitude. We are responsible for what we do and it is becoming clear that the load we are placing on planetary flows of resources is stressing the system upon which we depend for our lives, toward collapse. This is a theological statement, that is a statement about the whole system in which we are embedded, that is about God = system in which we are embedded.

Systems / layers / protocols / languages [all represented by ordered sets]

the error is in the root: the Universe is / is not divine.

Exploring the dark side of the Roman Catholic Church from the point of view of a divine Universe. It just does not fit in, it is a fantasy that does not fit, a failed hypothesis.

The last thing the Catholic Church can tolerate is religious liberty.

The mystery and the unknowability of God are a political opening for the divine right of monarchs camp

[page 17]

to invent Gods that support the divine right of monarchy. To be expected, but a position that must eventually fail in the face of the divine right of everybody and every thing.

Copyright:

You may copy this material freely provided only that you quote fairly and provide a link (or reference) to your source.

---

Further reading

Books

Click on the "Amazon" link below each book entry to see details of a book (and possibly buy it!)

Ashby, W Ross, An Introduction to Cybernetics, Methuen 1964 'This book is intended to provide [an introduction to cybernetics]. It starts from common-place and well understood concepts, and proceeds step by step to show how these concepts can be made exact, and how they can be developed until they lead into such subjects as feedback, stability, regulation, ultrastability, information, coding, noise and other cybernetic topics'  Amazon   back

Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth (editors), The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford University Press 1996 Jacket: 'The ultimate reference work on the classical world. . . . Over 6 200 entries illuminate every facet of life in ancient times to provide a gold-mine of factual information and a host of fascinating thematic entries. Most entries give plentiful and detailed references to ancient sources and all but the shortest of entries have extensive cross-references and are followed by full bibliographies.'  Amazon   back

Kreyszig, Erwin, Introductory Functional Analysis with Applications, John Wiley and Sons 1989 Amazon: 'Kreyszig's "Introductory Functional Analysis with Applications", provides a great introduction to topics in real and functional analysis. This book is part of the Wiley Classics Library and is extremely well written, with plenty of examples to illustrate important concepts. It can provide you with a solid base in these subjects, before one takes on the likes of Rudin and Royden. I had purchased a copy of this book, when I was taking a graduate course on real analysis and can only strongly recommend it to anyone else.' Krishnan S. Kartik   Amazon   back

Lonergan, Bernard J F, Insight : A Study of Human Understanding (Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan : Volume 3), University of Toronto Press 1992 '... Bernard Lonergan's masterwork. Its aim is nothing less than insight into insight itself, an understanding of understanding'  Amazon   back

Miles, Jack, God : A Biography, Vintage Books 1996 Jacket: 'Jack Miles's remarkable work examines the hero of the Old Testament ... from his first appearance as Creator to his last as Ancient of Days. ... We see God torn by conflicting urges. To his own sorrow, he is by turns destructive and creative, vain and modest, subtle and naive, ruthless and tender, lawful and lawless, powerful yet powerless, omniscient and blind.'  Amazon   back

Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilisation in China (Volume 3) Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth, Cambridge UP 1959 Book description: 'After two volumes mainly introductory, Dr Needham now embarks upon his systematic study of the development of the natural sciences in China. The Sciences of the Earth follow: geography and cartography, geology, seismology and mineralogy. Dr Needham distinguishes parallel traditions of scientific cartography and religious cosmography in East and West, discussing orbocentric wheel-maps, the origins of the rectangular grid system, sailing charts and relief maps, Chinese survey methods, and the impact of Renaissance cartography on the East. Finally-and here Dr Needham's work has no Western predecessors-there are full accounts of the Chinese contribution to geology and mineralogy.'  Amazon   back

Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilisation in China (Volume 3) Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth, Cambridge UP 1959   Amazon   back

Popper, Karl Raimund, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, Routledge and Kegan Paul 1972 Preface: 'The way in which knowledge progresses, and expecially our scientific knowledge, is by unjustified (and unjustifiable) anticipations, by guesses, by tentative solutions to our problems, by conjectures. These conjectures are controlled by criticism; that is, by attempted refutations, which include severely critical tests.' [p viii]   Amazon   back

Popper, Karl Raimund, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, 1992 Jacket: 'A striking picture of the logical character of scientific discovery is presented here ... Science is presented as ... the attempt to find a coherent theory of the world composed of bold conjectures and disciplines by penetrating criticism.'  Amazon   back

Links

ABC: Four Corners, In the Name of the Law, 'They were sexually abused by the clergy and then found themselves targeted by the Church's lawyers. Why did it happen and who was responsible for the strategy? This week on Four Corners, reporter Quentin McDermott reveals the systematic way the Catholic Church sought to conceal the sexual abuse of children, using lawyers to minimise the potential financial impact to the organisation.' back

Adrian Fortescue, Catholic Ecyclopedia: Doxology, 'In general this word means a short verse praising God and beginning, as a rule, with the Greek word Doxa. The custom of ending a rite or a hymn with such a formula comes from the Synagogue (cf. the Prayer of Manasses: tibi est gloria in sæcula sæculorum. Amen).' back

Aggiornamento - Wikipedia, Aggiornamento - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Aggiornamento (Italian pronunciation: . . . "A bringing up to date", was one of the key words used during the Second Vatican Council both by bishops and the clergy attending the sessions, and by the media and Vaticanologists covering it. It was used to mean a spirit of change and open-mindedness. It was the name given to the pontifical program of John XXIII in a speech he gave on January 25, 1959.' back

Anthony Maas, Catholic Encyclopedia: Virgin Birth of Christ, 'The virginity of our Blessed Lady was defined under anathema in the third canon of the Lateran Council held in the time of Pope Martin I, A.D. 649. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, as recited in the Mass, expresses belief in Christ "incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary"; the Apostles' Creed professes that Jesus Christ "was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary"; the older form of the same creed uses the expression: "born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary".' back

Aquinas 13, Summa: I 2 3: Whether God exists?, I answer that the existence of God can be proved in five ways. The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. . . . The second way is from the nature of the efficient cause. . . . The third way is taken from possibility and necessity . . . The fourth way is taken from the gradation to be found in things. . . . The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. back

Aquinas 608, Summa II I q3 a 8: Whether man's happiness consists in the vision of the divine essence, 'I answer that, Final and perfect happiness can consist in nothing else than the vision of the Divine Essence. To make this clear, two points must be observed. First, that man is not perfectly happy, so long as something remains for him to desire and seek: ... If therefore the human intellect, knowing the essence of some created effect, knows no more of God than "that He is"; the perfection of that intellect does not yet reach simply the First Cause, but there remains in it the natural desire to seek the cause. Wherefore it is not yet perfectly happy. Consequently, for perfect happiness the intellect needs to reach the very Essence of the First Cause. And thus it will have its perfection through union with God as with that object, in which alone man's happiness consists, as stated above (this question articles 1, 7; q 2, a 8). back

Aristotle - Wikipedia, Aristotle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Aristotle (Ancient Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics.' back

Augustus - Wikipedia, Augustus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Augustus (Latin: Imperator Caesar Divi F. Augustus, 23 September 63 BC – 19 August 14 AD) was the founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor, ruling from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD' back

Australian Government, Royal Commission into Institutional Resonses to Child Sexual Abuse, 'NOW THEREFORE We do, by these Our Letters Patent issued in Our name by Our Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia on the advice of the Federal Executive Council and under the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Royal Commissions Act 1902 and every other enabling power, appoint you to be a Commission of inquiry, and require and authorise you, to inquire into institutional responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse and related matters, and in particular, without limiting the scope of your inquiry, the following matters: . . . ' back

Big Bang - Wikipedia, Big Bang - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in its present continuously expanding state. According to the most recent measurements and observations, this original state existed approximately 13.7 billion years ago, which is considered the age of the Universe and the time the Big Bang occurred' back

Blackfriars Priory School, Blackfriars - Cathlic School for boys n Adelaide, South Australia, 'Our Mission Is founded on our stewardship of God’s creation to reach its full potential. Blackfriars Priory School is a Catholic Dominican school for boys which promotes the spiritual, intellectual, physical and social development of each member of the school community. It aims, in co-operation with parents, to engage students in an educational experience within the context of a Christian community which is fulfilling and rewarding.' back

Brett Kahr, Letter: Child abuse has an ancient history, 'The research of the several hundred historians and mental health professionals, affiliated to the Institute for Psychohistory, has unearthed a wealth of primary archival and archaeological data which suggests that in previous centuries the physical, sexual and emotional abuse of infants and young children proliferated in all cultures.' back

Broken Rites Australia, The church inflicted this "chaplain" on disadvantaged victims, 'For years, the Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese knew that Father Peter Searson was touching and sexually harassing boys, girls and women, including while he was working as a "chaplain" in the blind and deaf communities. Despite this, the church allowed Searson to continue working in parishes, thus putting more victims at risk.' back

Catechism of the Catholic Church, IV Hell: 1035-1036, '1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire." The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs. 1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."' back

Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, What is a Vocation?, 'If you are looking for a simple definition of a vocation, the literal meaning of the word is a "call." But a vocation is more than an ordinary call. A vocation is a call from God, and anyone who has felt God's call knows that the process is anything but simple. While most people think of a vocation as what they are called to do in life, it is important to understand that the first and most important call from God is a call to be - the universal call to holiness.' back

Catholic Catechism 65, God has said everything in his word, '65 "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son."26 Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one. St. John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1:1-2: In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no more to say. . . because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.' back

Catholic Catechism: Church, Catholic Church, '778 The Church is both the means and the goal of God's plan: prefigured in creation, prepared for in the Old Covenant, founded by the words and actions of Jesus Christ, fulfilled by his redeeming cross and his Resurrection, the Church has been manifested as the mystery of salvation by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. She will be perfected in the glory of heaven as the assembly of all the redeemed of the earth (Rev 14:4). back

Catholic Catechism: Seal, The sacrament of penance and reconciliation, '1467 Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents' lives.72 This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the "sacramental seal," because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains "sealed" by the sacrament.' back

Christopher Shields, Aristotle (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Thu Sep 25, 2008 Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: . . . A prodigious researcher and writer, Aristotle left a great body of work, perhaps numbering as many as two-hundred treatises, from which approximately thirty-one survive.[1] His extant writings span a wide range of disciplines, from logic, metaphysics and philosophy of mind, through ethics, political theory, aesthetics and rhetoric, and into such primarily non-philosophical fields as empirical biology, where he excelled at detailed plant and animal observation and taxonomy. In all these areas, Aristotle's theories have provided illumination, met with resistance, sparked debate, and generally stimulated the sustained interest of an abiding readership. back

Code of Canon Law 211, The Obligations and Rights of all the Christian Faithful, 'Can. 211 All the Christian faithful have the duty and right to work so that the divine message of salvation more and more reaches all people in every age and in every land.' back

Code of Canon Law 233, The formation of clerics, 'Can. 232 The Church has the duty and the proper and exclusive right to form those who are designated for the sacred ministries. Can. 233 §1. The duty of fostering vocations rests with the entire Christian community so that the needs of the sacred ministry in the universal Church are provided for sufficiently. This duty especially binds Christian families, educators, and, in a special way, priests, particularly pastors. Diocesan bishops, who most especially are to be concerned for promoting vocations, are to teach the people entrusted to them of the importance of the sacred ministry and of the need for ministers in the Church and are to encourage and support endeavors to foster vocations, especially by means of projects established for that purpose. §2. Moreover, priests, and especially diocesan bishops, are to have concern that men of a more mature age who consider themselves called to the sacred ministries are prudently assisted in word and deed and duly prepared.' back

Code of Canon Law 252, The formation of clerics, 'Can. 252 §1. Theological instruction is to be imparted in the light of faith and under the leadership of the magisterium in such a way that the students understand the entire Catholic doctrine grounded in divine revelation, gain nourishment for their own spiritual life, and are able properly to announce and safeguard it in the exercise of the ministry. §2. Students are to be instructed in sacred scripture with special diligence in such a way that they acquire a comprehensive view of the whole of sacred scripture. §3. There are to be classes in dogmatic theology, always grounded in the written word of God together with sacred tradition; through these, students are to learn to penetrate more intimately the mysteries of salvation, especially with St. Thomas as a teacher. There are also to be classes in moral and pastoral theology, canon law, liturgy, ecclesiastical history, and other auxiliary and special disciplines, according to the norm of the prescripts of the program of priestly formation.' back

Code of Canon Law 331, The Roman Pontiff, 'Can. 331 The bishop of the Roman Church, in whom continues the office given by the Lord uniquely to Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to be transmitted to his successors, is the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on earth. By virtue of his office he possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely.' back

Code of Canon Law 333, The Roman Pontiff, 'Can. 333 §1. By virtue of his office, the Roman Pontiff not only possesses power offer the universal Church but also obtains the primacy of ordinary power offer all particular churches and groups of them. Moreover, this primacy strengthens and protects the proper, ordinary, and immediate power which bishops possess in the particular churches entrusted to their care. §2. In fulfilling the office of supreme pastor of the Church, the Roman Pontiff is always joined in communion with the other bishops and with the universal Church. He nevertheless has the right, according to the needs of the Church, to determine the manner, whether personal or collegial, of exercising this office. §3. No appeal or recourse is permitted against a sentence or decree of the Roman Pontiff.' back

Codex Iuris Canonici 331, De Romano Pontifice, 'Can. 331 — Ecclesiae Romanae Episcopus, in quo permanet munus a Domino singulariter Petro, primo Apostolorum, concessum et successoribus eius transmittendum, Collegii Episcoporum est caput, Vicarius Christi atque universae Ecclesiae his in terris Pastor; qui ideo vi muneris sui suprema, plena, immediata et universali in Ecclesia gaudet ordinaria potestate, quam semper libere exercere valet.' back

Constantine Gutberlet, Cathoilc Encyclopedia: Materialism, 'As the word itself signifies, Materialism is a philosophical system which regards matter as the only reality in the world, which undertakes to explain every event in the universe as resulting from the conditions and activity of matter, and which thus denies the existence of God and the soul.' back

Council of Trent - Wikipedia, Council of Trent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum) was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. . . . The council issued condemnations on what it defined as Protestant heresies and defined Church teachings in the areas of Scripture and Tradition, Original Sin, Justification, Sacraments, the Eucharist in Holy Mass and the veneration of saints. It issued numerous reform decrees.' back

David Marr, George Brandis's religious liberty is really about the right to define marriage, '“For St Augustine, an individual’s relationship with God is paramount, and the focus is on the eternal city of God, rather than the city of man. And, since only in the city of god is mankind perfectible, the attempt of the secular authority – the governors of the city of man – to impose a specious perfection upon citizens is a profound wrong.” . . . “The governing ethical principle which underlies our modern understanding of human rights – the moral equality of every human person – is a notion which had its origins in the gospel of Jesus, as developed and explained by the early Christian fathers, theologians and canon lawyers. If that be so, those who actually attack Christianity in the name of some personal view of human rights commit an egregious travesty.” back

Decline of the Roman Empire - Wikipedia, Decline of the Roman Empire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The causes and mechanisms of the decline of the Roman Empire are a historical theme that was introduced by historian Edward Gibbon, in his widely read 1776 work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He started an ongoing historiographical discussion about what caused the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the reduced power of the remaining Eastern Empire, in the 4th–5th centuries.' back

Edouard Hugon O.P., Les Vingt-Quatre Theses Thomiste, 'Thesis 1: Potency and act. These notions are the most univerdsal in philosophe end they are based on eprience and common sense. back

Entropy (information theory) - Wikipedia, Entropy (information theory) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In information theory, entropy is a measure of the uncertainty associated with a random variable. In this context, the term usually refers to the Shannon entropy, which quantifies the expected value of the information contained in a message, usually in units such as bits. In this context, a 'message' means a specific realization of the random variable. Equivalently, the Shannon entropy is a measure of the average information content one is missing when one does not know the value of the random variable. The concept was introduced by Claude E. Shannon in his 1948 paper "A Mathematical Theory of Communication".' back

Entropy in thermodynamics and information theory - Wikipedia, Entropy in thermodynamics and information theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'There are close parallels between the mathematical expressions for the thermodynamic entropy, usually denoted by S, of a physical system in the statistical thermodynamics established by Ludwig Boltzmann and J. Willard Gibbs in the 1870s, and the information-theoretic entropy, usually expressed as H, of Claude Shannon and Ralph Hartley developed in the 1940s. Shannon, although not initially aware of this similarity, commented on it upon publicizing information theory in A Mathematical Theory of Communication. This article explores what links there are between the two concepts, and how far they can be regarded as connected.' back

Evolution - Wikipedia, Evolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, '. . . Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace were the first to formulate a scientific argument for the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. Evolution by natural selection is a process that is inferred from three facts about populations: 1) more offspring are produced than can possibly survive, 2) traits vary among individuals, leading to different rates of survival and reproduction, and 3) trait differences are heritable. . . . ' back

Fiction - Wikipedia, Fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Fiction is the form of any work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not real, but rather, imaginary and theoretical—that is, invented by the author. Although the term fiction refers in particular to novels and short stories, it may also refer to the theatre, including opera and ballet, film, television, poetry and song. Fiction contrasts with non-fiction, which deals exclusively with factual (or, at least, assumed factual) events, descriptions, observations, etc.' back

First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, 'Dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith Pius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, with the approval of the Sacred Council, for an everlasting record. 1. The Son of God, redeemer of the human race, our lord Jesus Christ, promised, when about to return to his heavenly Father, that he would be with this Church militant upon earth all days even to the end of the world [3]. Hence never at any time has he ceased to stand by his beloved bride, assisting her when she teaches, blessing her in her labors and bringing her help when she is in danger.' back

Formalism (mathematics) - Wikipedia, Formalism (mathematics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In foundations of mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of logic, formalism is a theory that holds that statements of mathematics and logic can be thought of as statements about the consequences of certain string manipulation rules. For example, Euclidean geometry can be seen as a game whose play consists in moving around certain strings of symbols called axioms according to a set of rules called "rules of inference" to generate new strings. In playing this game one can "prove" that the Pythagorean theorem is valid because the string representing the Pythagorean theorem can be constructed using only the stated rules.' back

Francis Aveling, Catholic Encyclopedia: Rationalism, 'Rationalism, in the broader, popular meaning of the term, is used to designate any mode of thought in which human reason holds the place of supreme criterion of truth; in this sense, it is especially applied to such modes of thought as contrasted with faith. Thus Atheism, Materialism, Naturalism, Pantheism, Scepticism, etc., fall under the head of rationalistic systems.' back

Galileo Galilei, Recantation of Galileo (June 22, 1633), 'Therefore, desiring to remove from the minds of your Eminences, and of all faithful Christians, this vehement suspicion, justly conceived against me, with sincere heart and unfeigned faith I abjure, curse, and detest the aforesaid errors and heresies, and generally every other error, heresy, and sect whatsoever contrary to the said Holy Church, and I swear that in the future I will never again say or assert, verbally or in writing, anything that might furnish occasion for a similar suspicion regarding me;' back

Herbert Thurston, Cathlic Encyclopeia: Celibacy of the Clergy, 'Celibacy is the renunciation of marriage implicitly or explicitly made, for the more perfect observance of chastity, by all those who receive the Sacrament of Orders in any of the higher grades.' back

Hermann Gruber, Catholic Encyclopedia: Liberalism, 'Since the end of the eighteenth century, however, the word has been applied more and more to certain tendencies in the intellectual, religious, political, and economical life, which implied a partial or total emancipation of man from the supernatural, moral, and Divine order. Usually, the principles of 1789, that is of the French Revolution, are considered as the Magna Charta of this new form of Liberalism.' back

History of the Constitution of the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, History of the Constitution of the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The History of the Constitution of the United Kingdom is a story that begins before the creation of the United Kingdom itself and continues to the present day. The UK constitution is not in a single, written document, but is drawn from legislation, treaties, judicial precedents, convention, and numerous other sources.' back

Hypothesis - Wikipedia, Hypothesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be explained with the available scientific theories. Even though the words "hypothesis" and "theory" are often used synonymously, a scientific hypothesis is not the same as a scientific theory. A working hypothesis is a provisionally accepted hypothesis proposed for further research.' back

Iliad - Wikipedia, Iliad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Iliad (sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilion or Song of Ilium) is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.' back

Infallibility - First Vatican Council, The Latin Text of Denzinger: Enchiridion Symbolorum, Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum, Denzinger 3074: 'Romanum Pontificem, cum ex cathedra loquitur, id est, cum omnium Christianorum pastoris et doctoris munere fungens pro suprema sua Apostolica auctoritate doctrinam de fide vel moribus ab universa Ecclesia tenendam definit, per assistentiam divinam ipsi in beato Petro promissam, ea infallibilitate pollere, qua divinus Redemptor Ecclesiam suam in definienda doctrina de fide vel moribus instructam esse voluit; ideoque eiusmodi Romani Pontificis definitiones ex sese, non autem ex consensu Ecclesiae, irreformabiles esse. Si quis autem huic Nostrae definitioni contradicere, quod Deus avertat: anathema sit.' back

Infallibility - First Vatican Council, The English Text of Definition of Infallibility, 'we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman Pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the Church, irreformable.' back

J J Farraher, New Catholic Encyclopedia on Masturbation, 'Morality. It has been the constant and clear teaching of the Church from principles found in Holy Scripture that masturbation is a serious sin that will keep one from heaven (e.g., 1 Cor. 6:10). As is also clear from the teaching of the Church as well as from reason, this refers to fully deliberate acts of masturbation. In assigning a reason for such a serious prohibition, the Church teaches that the sexual function is meant by God to serve primarily for the begetting of children. Therefore, any deliberate activation of it outside the proper state of marriage is seriously inordinate and sinful. Within marriage such stimulation is lawful only when it serves in some way to prepare for or to complete a natural act of marital intercourse.' back

John McHugh, Catholic Encyclopedia: General Judgement (Last Judgement), '1043 Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, "new heavens and a new earth." It will be the definitive realization of God's plan to bring under a single head "all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth." 1044 In this new universe, the heavenly Jerusalem, God will have his dwelling among men.634 "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."' back

John Palmer - Parmenides, Parmenides (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Fri Feb 8, 2008 'Parmenides of Elea, active in the earlier part of the 5th c. BCE., authored a difficult metaphysical poem that has earned him a reputation as early Greek philosophy's most profound and challenging thinker. His philosophical stance has typically been understood as at once extremely paradoxical and yet crucial for the broader development of Greek natural philosophy and metaphysics. He has been seen as a metaphysical monist (of one stripe or another) who so challenged the naïve cosmological theories of his predecessors that his major successors among the Presocratics were all driven to develop more sophisticated physical theories in response to his arguments.' back

John Paul II, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, '27. Every Catholic University, without ceasing to be a University, has a relationship to the Church that is essential to its institutional identity. As such, it participates most directly in the life of the local Church in which it is situated; at the same time, because it is an academic institution and therefore a part of the international community of scholarship and inquiry, each institution participates in and contributes to the life and the mission of the universal Church, assuming consequently a special bond with the Holy See by reason of the service to unity which it is called to render to the whole Church. One consequence of its essential relationship to the Church is that the institutional fidelity of the University to the Christian message includes a recognition of and adherence to the teaching authority of the Church in matters of faith and morals. Catholic members of the university community are also called to a personal fidelity to the Church with all that this implies. Non-Catholic members are required to respect the Catholic character of the University, while the University in turn respects their religious liberty. back

John Paull II, Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum, 'GUARDING THE DEPOSIT OF FAITH IS THE MISSION WHICH THE LORD ENTRUSTED TO HIS CHURCH, and which she fulfills in every age. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, which was opened 30 years ago by my predecessor Pope John XXIII, of happy memory, had as its intention and purpose to highlight the Church's apostolic and pastoral mission, and by making the truth of the Gospel shine forth to lead all people to seek and receive Christ's love which surpasses all knowledge (cf. Eph 3:19). The principal task entrusted to the Council by Pope John XXIII was to guard and present better the precious deposit of Christian doctrine in order to make it more accessible to the Christian faithful and to all people of good will.' back

Joseph Hontheim, Catholic Encyclopedia: Heaven, 'In general, however, theologians deem more appropriate that there should be a special and glorious abode, in which the blessed have their peculiar home and where they usually abide, even though they be free to go about in this world. For the surroundings in the midst of which the blessed have their dwelling must be in accordance with their happy state; and the internal union of charity which joins them in affection must find its outward expression in community of habitation. At the end of the world, the earth together with the celestial bodies will be gloriously transformed into a part of the dwelling-place of the blessed (Revelation 21).' back

Joseph Wuest, Redemptorists: Catholic Encyclopedia, 'The Redemptorists are essentially and by their specific vocation a missionary society. . . . Their labours consist principally in missions, retreats, and similar exercises. . . . On missions proper the rule obliges them to hear all the confessions themselves.' back

Mark, Mark 16:15, 'New International Version (©1984) He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.' back

Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia, Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Medieval Inquisition is a series of Inquisitions (Catholic Church bodies charged with suppressing heresy) from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184-1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). It was in response to large popular movements throughout Europe considered apostate or heretical to Christianity, in particular Catharism and Waldensians in southern France and northern Italy. These were the first inquisition movements of many that would follow.' back

Metric expansion of space - Wikipedia, Metric expansion of space - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The metric expansion of space is the increase of the distance between two distant parts of the universe with time. It is an intrinsic expansion whereby the scale of space itself changes. This is different from other examples of expansions and explosions in that, as far as observations can ascertain, it is a property of the entirety of the universe rather than a phenomenon that can be contained and observed from the outside.' back

Model-dependent realism - Wikipedia, Model-dependent realism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Model-dependent realism is a view of scientific inquiry that focuses on the role of models of phenomena.[1] It claims reality should be interpreted based upon these models, and where several models overlap in describing a particular subject, multiple, equally valid, realities exist. It claims that it is meaningless to talk about the "true reality" of a model as we can never be absolutely certain of anything. The only meaningful thing is the usefulness of the model.[2] The term "model-dependent realism" was coined by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow in their 2010 book, The Grand Design.' back

Moirai - Wikipedia, Moirai - Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia, 'In Greek mythology, the Moirai . . .—often known in English as the Fates—were the white-robed incarnations of destiny . . . Their number became fixed at three: Clotho (spinner), Lachesis (allotter) and Atropos (unturnable). They controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from birth to death. They were independent, at the helm of necessity, directed fate, and watched that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws might take its course without obstruction.' back

Newtons Laws of Motion - Wikipedia, Newton's Laws of Motion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics, directly relating the forces acting on a body to the motion of the body. They were first compiled by Sir Isaac Newton in his work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published on July 5, 1687.' back

Old Time Gospel Ministry, How long is eternity?, '3. Imagine a globe of solid iron the size of the Earth. Every ten thousand years a sparrow comes along and, just once, brushes the surface with its wing. Once the globe of iron has been totally worn away by this action, only the first second of eternity has passed. — Source Unknown' back

Original sin - Wikipedia, Original sin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Original sin, sometimes called ancestral sin, is, according to a doctrine proposed in Christian theology, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred to as a "sin nature," to something as drastic as total depravity or automatic guilt by all humans through collective guilt. Those who uphold this doctrine look to the teaching of Paul the Apostle in Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:22 for its scriptural base, and see it as perhaps implied in an Old Testament passage Psalm 51:5.' back

Paul, Romans 3:23, '21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.' back

Peter Hannam and David Wroe, Record sparks hot debate on Abbot's climate plicty, 'The Bureau of Meteorology on Friday confirmed that last year was the hottest nationwide in more than a century of standardised records, with mean temperatures 1.2 degrees above the 1961-90 average. . . . The report sparked a heated political exchange, with Labor accusing Prime Minister Tony Abbott of remaining stuck in the belief that global warming was ''absolute crap'' - a remark he infamously made in 2009.' back

Pius X: 24 Theses, 24 Theses: Thesis 3:, Quapropter in absoluta ipsius esse ratione unus subsistit Deus, unus est simplicissimus, cetera cuncta quae ipsum esse participant, naturam habent qua esse coarctatur, ac tamquam distinctis realiter principiis, essentia et esse constant. This is why God alone subsists in the absolute realm of being itself and God alone is absolutely simple; all the other thing which participate in being have a nature which constrains being, and comprise essence and existence as really distinct principles back

Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, 'Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction. . . . that grave errors with regard to this doctrine are being spread among those outside the true Church, and that among the faithful, also, inaccurate or thoroughly false ideas are being disseminated which turn minds aside from the straight path of truth. 9. For while there still survives a false rationalism, which ridicules anything that transcends and defies the power of human genius, and which is accompanied by a cognate error, the so-called popular naturalism, which sees and wills to see in the Church nothing but a juridical and social union, there is on the other hand a false mysticism creeping in, which, in its attempt to eliminate the immovable frontier that separates creatures from their Creator, falsifies the Sacred Scriptures.' . . . Given at Rome, at St. Peter's on the twenty-ninth day of June, the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year 1943, the fifth of Our Pontificate.' back

Political theology - Wikipedia, Political theology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Political theology is a branch of both political philosophy and theology that investigates the ways in which theological concepts or ways of thinking underlie political, social, economic and cultural discourses. Though the relationship between Christianity and politics has been debated since the time of Jesus, political theology as an academic discipline arose in the latter part of the 20th century, partially as a response to the work of both Carl Schmitt and the Frankfurt School. The journal Political Theology currently examines this interface of religious faith and politics.' back

Pope Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (On the Beatific Vision of God, 'Apostolic Constitution issued in 1336 By this Constitution which is to remain in force for ever, we, with apostolic authority, define the following: According to the general disposition of God, the souls of all the saints who departed from this world before the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and also of the holy apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins and other faithful who died after receiving the holy baptism of Christ . . . already before they take up their bodies again and before the general judgment, have been, are and will be with Christ in heaven, in the heavenly kingdom and paradise, joined to the company of the holy angels. . . . And after such intuitive and face-to-face vision and enjoyment has or will have begun for these souls, the same vision and enjoyment has continued and will continue without any interruption and without end until the last Judgment and from then on forever.' back

Potentiality and actuality - Wikipedia, Potentiality and actuality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In philosophy, Potentiality and Actualit are principles of a dichotomy which Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics and De Anima (which is about the human psyche). The concept of potentiality, in this context, generally refers to any "possibility" that a thing can be said to have. Aristotle did not consider all possibilities the same, and emphasized the importance of those that become real of their own accord when conditions are right and nothing stops them.[3] Actuality, in contrast to potentiality, is the motion, change or activity that represents an exercise or fulfillment of a possibility, when a possibility becomes real in the fullest sense. back

Protestant Reformation - Wikipedia, Protestant Reformation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to ("protested") the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led to the creation of new national Protestant churches. The Reformation was precipitated by earlier events within Europe, such as the Black Death and the Western Schism, which eroded people's faith in the Roman Catholic Church. This, as well as many other factors, contributed to the growth of lay criticism in the church and the creation of Protestantism.' back

Quantum mechanics - Wikipedia, Quantum mechanics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a theory of physics providing a mathematical description of the interaction of matter and energy.' back

Reality-based community - Wikipedia, Reality-based community - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The source of the term is a quotation in an October 17, 2004, New York Times Magazine article by writer Ron Suskind, quoting an unnamed aide to George W. Bush: The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.' back

Recording Angel - Wikipedia, Recording Angel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Recording angel is, in Judaic, Christian and Islamic angelology, one or more angels assigned by God with the task of recording the events, actions, and/or prayers of each individual human. In the Book of Malachi 3:16, the prophet describes Heaven as having conferring angels, and "The LORD took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the LORD and thought on his name." In Judaic thought, Gabriel is the principal recording angel, as shown in Ezekiel 9:3-4, where he is "the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his side" who put the mark of Passover on Jewish houses in Egypt.' back

Richard Kraut - Plato, Plato (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Sat Mar 20, 2004; substantive revision Thu Sep 17, 2009 'Plato (429–347 B.C.E.) is, by any reckoning, one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of philosophy. . . . Few other authors in the history of philosophy approximate him in depth and range: perhaps only Aristotle (who studied with him), Aquinas, and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank.' back

Richard Nolan, Catholic Encyclopedia: The Seal of Confession, 'Canon 21 of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), binding on the whole Church, lays down the obligation of secrecy in the following words: "Let the priest absolutely beware that he does not by word or sign or by any manner whatever in any way betray the sinner: but if he should happen to need wiser counsel let him cautiously seek the same without any mention of person. For whoever shall dare to reveal a sin disclosed to him in the tribunal of penance we decree that he shall be not only deposed from the priestly office but that he shall also be sent into the confinement of a monastery to do perpetual penance"' Denzinger 814 back

Roman Empire - Wikipedia, Roman Empire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Roman expansion began in the days of the Republic, but reached its zenith under Emperor Trajan. At this territorial peak, the Roman Empire controlled approximately 5,900,000 km? (2,300,000 sq mi) of land surface. Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, Roman influence upon the language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law and government of nations around the world lasts to this day.' back

Rosemary Lyster, Renewable Energy Target review confirms influence of coal and climate sceptics, 'The legislation which established the Renewable Energy Target states that the independent Climate Change Authority, now facing abolition, must review the operation of the Act. Yet this statutory task was given to a “panel of experts” chaired by Dick Warburton, a well-known sceptic of human-induced climate change.' back

Royal Commission into Insitutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - Wikipedia, Royal Commission into Insitutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is a Royal Commission established by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 (Cth) to inquire into and report upon responses by institutions to instances and allegations of child abuse in Australia. The establishment of the commission followed revelations of child abusers being moved from place to place instead of their abuse and crimes being reported. There were also revelations that adults failed to try to stop further acts of child abuse. The commission will examine the history of abuse in educational institutions, religious groups, sporting organisations, state institutions and youth organisations.' back

Separation of Church and State - Wikipedia, Separation of Church and State - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The separation of church and state is a metaphorical description for the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state. It may refer to creating a secular state, with or without explicit reference to such separation, or to changing an existing relationship of church involvement in a state (disestablishment).' back

Sic et non - Wikipedia, Sic et non - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Sic et Non, an early scholastic text whose title translates from Medieval Latin as "Yes and No", was written by Pierre Abélard. In the work, Abélard juxtaposes apparently contradictory quotations from the Church Fathers on many of the traditional topics of Christian theology. In the Prologue, Abélard outlines rules for reconciling these contradictions, the most important of which is noting the multiple significations of a single word. However, Abélard does not himself apply these rules in the body of the Sic et non, which has led scholars to conclude that the work was meant as an exercise book for students in applying dialectic (logic) to theology.' back

Supererogation - Wikipedia, Supererogation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, "works of supererogation" (also called "acts of supererogation") are those performed beyond what God requires. For example, in 1 Corinthians 7, Saint Paul says that while everyone is free to marry, it is better to refrain from marriage and remain celibate to better serve God. The Roman Catholic Church holds that the counsels of perfection are supererogatory acts, which specific Christians may engage in above their moral duties.' back

Tenison Woods College, Tenison Woods College, 'Tenison Woods College was formed in 2001 following the merging of St Paul’s School (primary) and Tenison College (secondary). Both of these schools had proud reputations, with an excellent record of student achievement and care for individuals. The College is named in honour of the pioneering Priest, Scientist, Orator, Researcher, Father Julian Tenison Woods, whose shared vision with Mother Mary MacKillop laid the foundations for Catholic education system in this state and across the nation.' back

Thermodynamics - Wikipedia, Thermodynamics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Thermodynamics is a branch of physics concerned with heat and temperature and their relation to energy and work. It defines macroscopic variables, such as internal energy, entropy, and pressure, that partly describe a body of matter or radiation. It states that the behavior of those variables is subject to general constraints, that are common to all materials, not the peculiar properties of particular materials.' back

Thomas Aquinas - Wikipedia, Thomas Aquinas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P., also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino; (Aquino, 1225 – Fossanova, 7 March 1274) was an Italian priest of the Catholic Church in the Dominican Order, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus (the Angelic Doctor) and Doctor Communis or Doctor Universalis (the Common or Universal Doctor).[1] He is frequently referred to as Thomas because "Aquinas" refers to his residence rather than his surname. He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived as a reaction against, or as an agreement with his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law and political theory. back

Thomas Oriti, Royal Commission: Child abuse victim support group outraged over Cardinal George Pell's testimony, 'Support groups for child sexual abuse victims have expressed their outrage after Cardinal George Pell's testimony at the royal commission in Melbourne last night. . . . Saying it would not be appropriate for legal culpability to be "foisted" on church leaders, he drew an analogy between the Catholic Church and a trucking company, citing a hypothetical example of a case involving a woman who was molested by a truck driver.' back

Tom Allard and Peter Martin, Budget hits lowest earners hardest, says Treasury, 'The federal government delivered its May budget fully aware its spending cuts would hit poorer households much harder than wealthier ones, a Fairfax Media freedom of information request has revealed. Treasury numbers released to Fairfax Media back private modelling showing the cuts were sharply inequitable, a contention repeatedly played down by the government.' back

Transmission of the Classics - Wikipedia, Transmission of the Classics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The introduction of Greek philosophy and science into the culture of the Latin West in the Middle Ages was an event that transformed the intellectual life of Western Europe.[1] It consisted of the discovery of many original works, such as those written by Aristotle in the classical period. Greek manuscripts have been maintained in the Greek speaking world in Constantinople, Armenia, Syria, and Alexandria. Interest and availability of Greek text was scarce in the Latin West until with increase traffic to the East, including the Latin Empire during the time of the Crusade, the Sack of Constantinople during the 4th Crusade, and finally the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire caused many of the original Greek manuscripts to make their way into Western Europe, and thus fueled the Renaissance.' back

UN Women, Facts and Figures: Enging Violence against Women, 'According to a 2013 global review of available data, 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence. However, some national violence studies show that up to 70 per cent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime from an intimate partner.' back

UNICEF, Child protection from violence, exploittion and abuse, 'Violence, exploitation and abuse occur in the homes, families, schools, care and justice systems, workplaces and communities across all contexts, including as a result of conflict and natural disasters. Many children are exposed to various forms of violence, exploitation and abuse, including sexual abuse and exploitation, armed violence, trafficking, child labour, gender-based violence, bullying (see UNICEF, Too often in silence, 2010), cyber-bullying, gang violence, female genital mutilation/cutting, child marriage, physically and emotionally violent child discipline, and other harmful practices.' back

United Nations, Official UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights Home Page, 'The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) (French) (Spanish) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.'' back

Universe - Wikipedia, Universe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Universe is all of spacetime and everything that exists therein, including all planets, stars, galaxies, the contents of intergalactic space, the smallest subatomic particles, and all matter and energy. Similar terms include the cosmos, the world, reality, and nature. The observable universe is about 46 billion light years in radius. back

Unmoved mover - Wikipedia, Unmoved mover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The unmoved mover (ού κινούμενον κινεῖ oú kinoúmenon kineῖ) is a philosophical concept described by Aristotle as a primary cause or "mover" of all the motion in the universe. As is implicit in the name, the "unmoved mover" is not moved by any prior action. In Book 12 (Greek "Λ") of his Metaphysics, Aristotle describes the unmoved mover as being perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and contemplating only the perfect contemplation: itself contemplating. He equates this concept also with the Active Intellect. This Aristotelian concept had its roots in cosmological speculations of the earliest Greek "Pre-Socratic" philosophers and became highly influential and widely drawn upon in medieval philosophy and theology. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, elaborated on the Unmoved Mover in the quinque viae.' back

Vatican Archive, Code of Canon Law, 'The Holy See reserves all rights to itself. No one is permitted without the knowledge of the Holy See to reprint this code or to translate it into another language. In keeping with n. 3 of the Norms issued by the Cardinal Secretary of State on January 28, 1983, this translation has been approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Latin text is printed with permission of the Holy See and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Nihil obstat Most Rev. Anthony M. Pilla, President National Conference of Catholic Bishops Imprimatur Most Rev. William E. Lori, S.T.D., V.G. Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington This translation, foreword, and index © copyright 1998 by Canon Law Society of America.' back

William Fanning, Catholic Encyclopedia: Baptism, 'That Christ instituted the Sacrament of Baptism is unquestionable. Rationalists, like Harnack (Dogmengeschichte, I, 68), dispute it, only by arbitrarily ruling out the texts which prove it. Christ not only commands His Disciples (Matthew 28:19) to baptize and gives them the form to be used, but He also declares explicitly the absolute necessity of baptism (John 3): "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he can not enter into the Kingdom of God." Moreover, from the general doctrine of the Church on the sacraments, we know that the efficacy attached to them is derivable only from the institution of the Redeemer.' back