Carla Mae's Blog

How to Approach the "Other" In the Jewish Kabbalah, specifically the Zohar, there is a powerful image that we might find very useful when we encounter someone who is not our faith tradition, not our gender, not our race, or not of our political opinion. When we meet such a person, the first thing that we encounter is the "garment." This is a metaphor for all the externals concerning that person. In interfaith work, it is the appearance of the person, the way he or she prays, the way these folks celebrate weddings, or funerals. It includes the way they shape their beliefs, and teach their moral taboos. Beneath the garment is the "body." Now bodies come in different stages of development. There are the new bodies of infants, adolescent bodies, and the bodies of elders. The body is a metaphor for all the meanings and values that support the garment. The meanings and values are what the person holds dear, and these meanings and values change as th...

On the "Evil" of Falling in Love as a Comitted Celibate, as Expressed by an Archbishop: Ah, ...I do not agree with the archbishop...it is not bad for a priest to fall in love with a woman...it is the Spirit's way, often of opening him up to God. What is bad is that we do not discuss this within priestly formation, and so the priest is torn when it happens to him. Celibate love must be white hot, for blue heat will not do. The loving celibate must know how to love more, not less. The love must be so intense that neither his own or the other person's life style is to be disturbed. But loving...we are made for it...it must not be feared. It must instead cauterize our celibate souls.

On Taking About God Today as Triune: to an Inquirer The tension between fear and love for God will plague us until Jesus' message is accepted more widely. It is not only part of the history of the Catholic Church, but of many other traditions. What we don't understand, we fear. Jesus asks total trust of us. It would seem that is the only intelligent choice...either we trust him because of who he is, or we don't. What is important to keep in mind is the fact of the Holy Spirit continuing to work with us like a tender Mother, opening us ever more to a fuller truth. It isn't so much that we were "wrong" as that we are learning under God's guidance.   Your explanation to the dear man who couldn't believe in God was not far off at all. All of our images are incomplete, because we do not have full knowledge of the Mystery, so not to sweat about it. The Mystery of God is so immense and so rich that in explaining it, we simply do the best we can trying ...

The Eclipse and Recovery of Beauty: A Lonergan Approach. By John D. Dadosky. Buffalo, NY: University of Toronto Press, 2014. 255 pages. $65.00. It is a rare treat to read a book with a title that so clearly captures the very purpose of the book. This book with this title does just that. For those whose eyes glaze over at the mention of Bernard Lonergan, John Dadosky is not one of those writers who further muddies the waters by the use of Lonergan language and a convoluted style. Dodosky explains things. Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, he is clear. Straight out from the Preface he tells us why he is writing “…to propose an intellectual framework for recovering beauty in the West.” (xi) Dadosky bases his research in Thomas Aquinas and Lonergan, convinced that others who have worked with the aesthetics of Thomas have not made the turn to the subject, perhaps fearing a Kantian influence. Calling himself a meta- physician , Dadosky sets out to “…clarify and arti...

When you go to a theology conference, you can have remarkable side experiences. Such it was when Carla Mae Streeter, OP attended the College Theology Society 60 th Annual Convention May 29-June, 1, 2014, held at Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, PA. The Conference theme was “God Has Begun a Great Work in Us” The Embodiment of Love in Contemporary Consecreated Life.” Carla Mae was a respondent to a paper in Sacramental Theology given by Aquinas adjunct professor, Dr. Joseph Marcos. A Benedictine Arch-abbey, St. Vincent’s is the first of the United States’ Benedictine foundations. But surprisingly, Latrobe is also the home of the famous beloved children’s television star, Mister Rogers. The Mister Rogers archives are housed at the beautiful Mister Rogers Center on campus, an ecologically constructed building that is a marvel to see. The arch-abbey has also given land to Latrobe for an efficient set of wetlands adjoining the college campus. Drawing water from the abandoned coa...

                                           History and Method in Sacramental Theology                                                          Joseph Martos                                           College Theological Society Annual Convention          ...

Natural Law in Jeans and Sun Glasses: A Social Justice Reflection and Update on Current Issues before the Missouri Legislature Carla Mae Streeter, OP Aquinas Institute of Theology St. Louis The natural law tradition is far from archaic. To the astute observer it is like a basso continuo playing behind the clash of the headlines. Subtle and contextual, it continues to bring order out of contemporary chaos, despite the efforts of those who would declare it obsolete. Where is the evidence for this? Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., philosophy professor of Fordham University, has some valuable insights to share with us. He reminds us that Aristotle’s approach to nature was very empirical, and when the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas built his synthesis on this approach, he offered human culture a solid foundation that can ground our rational discourse even to this day. What is this foundation and how might we use it? We might describe this foundation as four pillars...