At top universities, institutes of Catholic thought focus on science and religion
A multi-million dollar grant will support a new three-year plan for creating a national network of independent institutes of Catholic thought at US universities.
By
(RNS) — Secular universities across the country are home to independent institutes of Catholic thought that focus on the theology, arts, politics and history of Catholicism, part of a push to make the religion’s intellectual tradition a vital aspect of academic life.
Michael Le Chevallier, acting executive director of the Lumen Christi Institute — a nonprofit dedicated to spreading the Catholic intellectual tradition at universities across the country — believes these institutes help Catholic students realize that their studies and their faith are far more integrated than they may think.
Many Catholic students attend non-Catholic universities, and as they explore their calling, Le Chevallier says, they should feel better equipped to ask themselves: “How does this career fit within my vocation as a lay Catholic person?”
Additional reading
Pope John Paul II and Me: ‘Truth Cannot Contradict Truth?’
Evolution: The elephant in the room, for both Christianity and Islam
Did Noah Take Kangaroos with Him in the Ark?
A History of Warfare of Science with theology in Christendom
John William Draper another scholar banned in his time
This Day in History, on Feb 17, Giordano Bruno Burnt Alive, at the Stake in Rome
Exorcism: Is the Bible to Blame?
Categories: Catholic Church, Catholicism, Catholics, Collection of articles, Religion & Science
Today, the Catholic Church has reversed its attitude about discussing exorcism almost completely. In 1991, church authorities allowed an exorcism to be televised for the ABC show “20/20.” Father Richard P. McBrien, who appeared on “Nightline” to question the wisdom of this decision, told The Catholic Courier that exorcism was being presented this way to advance a political agenda, not to save souls. He stated:
“The real objective of that project, I submit, was to help bring back that old-time religion, when everyone, women especially, knew their place, when Catholics obeyed without question every directive from on high, and when there was never any question that the Catholic Church was the one true church with all the answers to all the important questions we have about life, both here and hereafter.”
As a religious studies scholar who writes about exorcism from a historical perspective, I believe the church’s changing stance on exorcism has little to do with our culture’s understanding of mental illness or other scientific advances and more to do with competing visions of the church as described by McBrien.
https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-churchs-views-on-exorcism-have-changed-a-religious-studies-scholar-explains-why-182212