Send questions to: DRE@saintcolumbachurch.org and place “Q’s Pews” in the subject line. All questions are answered and kept confidential. If your question is used in the column, it will remain anonymous. James Gregory, DRE
“Fide quaerens Intellectum”
“Always be prepared to make a defense … for the hope that is in you … with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15)
“Q’s from the Pews”
What is Freedom of Choice?
This is a badge of honor for Americans, but what does it mean in the Catholic context? Cardinal Dulles said: “We are born with a freedom that is frail and limited.” JPII notes that our “passions psychological or physical” (Veritatis Splendor, VS) lead to apparent “freedom of choice” between competing passions. “Thus we are not free as we are ruled by one or more of these passions ” (VS). Choices between passions are not free acts, but controlled by competing passions. St. Paul echoes this: “I (sin because) I do not do want I want, but the evil I do not want to do” (Rom 7:15).
True freedom exists when one orients the passions to a goal greater than their limited ends. This view of freedom enhances human dignity by “freeing us from subservience to our feelings” resulting in a “free choice of the good, effectively and assiduously marshaling the appropriate means” to achieve the good (Gaudium et Spes 17, Veritatis Splendor 21). Grace reveals truth & the ultimate good (GOD) to us so we can orient ourselves toward the good. It gives us a “law written in our hearts” (Jer 31). “Grace heals our tendency to pursue immediate apparent good (passions) rather than the ultimate good” (Cardinal Dulles). All this is an action of the Holy Spirit. Freedom is “not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought” (Lord Acton).
Catholic Challenge for November
During this month of “The Holy Souls,” each day take some time to pray for the faithful departed.
Totally Catholic Trivia
Official Papal documents are titled by the first two words of the document in Latin. So JPI’s Sollicitudo Rei Socialias is The social concern of the Church.
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