On Being Catholic
March 30, 2013, 3:07 pm
By GARY GUTTING
An old friend and mentor of mine, Ernan McMullin, was a philosopher of science widely respected in his discipline. He was also a Catholic priest. I dont know how many times fellow philosophers at professional meetings drew me aside and asked, Does Ernan really believe that stuff? (He did.) Amid all the serious and generally respectful coverage of the papal resignation and the election of a new pope, I often detect an undertone of this same puzzlement. Can reflective and honest intellectuals actually believe that stuff?
Here I sketch my reasons for answering yes. What I offer is neither apologetics aimed at converting others nor merely personal testimony. Without claiming to speak for others, I try to articulate a position that I expect many fellow Catholics will find congenial and that non-Catholics (even those who reject all religion) may recognize as an intellectually respectable stance. Easter is the traditional time for Christians to reaffirm their faith. I want to show that we can do this without renouncing reason.
Toward the end of James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, rejects the Roman Catholic faith he was raised in. A friend suggests that he might, then, become a Protestant. Stephen replies, I said that I had lost the faith . . . but not that I had lost self-respect. Factoring out the insult to Protestants, I would like to appropriate this Joycean mot to explain my own continuing attachment to the Catholic Church.
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I read self-respect as respect for what are (to borrow the title of the philosopher Charles Taylors great book) the sources of the self. These are the sources nurturing the values that define an individuals life. For me, there are two such sources. One is the Enlightenment, where Im particularly inspired by Voltaire, Hume and the founders of the American republic. The other is the Catholic Church, in which I was baptized as an infant, raised by Catholic parents, and educated for 8 years of elementary school by Ursuline nuns and for 12 more years by Jesuits. For me to deny either of these sources would be to deny something central to my moral being.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/30/on-being-catholic/
goldent
(1,582 posts)and I have not really thought too much of the RCC as a source of my self, but it is without doubt.
I think about my association with the RCC and I realize that all my life I have lived in places with imperfect governments, worked in imperfect organizations, and was a part of an imperfect family. But it never occurred me to leave, because of the imperfection. I guess the RCC suits me
And BTW, that quote I said that I had lost the faith . . . but not that I had lost self-respect was SO cold. I've got to work that idea into some sports joke next time some trash-talking is needed
rug
(82,333 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)That's us!