John Marshall Harlan II

Every single emerging adult thinks about religion. Whether one is a devout Christian or an atheist, his or her religious beliefs and opinions are contemplated as an emerging adult. The emerging adult period of life is used as an experimental time for people to develop their core beliefs. It is at this time that people form their sexual identity, political views, and of course religion (amongst many other things). In Christian Smith’s work Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual…

The Catholic Church’s teaching on human freedom undergirds John Paul II’s explication of faith and reason in Fides et Ratio. In a simple yet nuanced depiction, the Church defines freedom as “the power, rooted in reason and will… to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility” (1731). However, it also declares that “the more one does what is good, the freer one becomes” (1733). Such a statement stands in stark contrast to the secular perception of freedom, which divorces it from all…

actually dismissed this feeling. At the age of seventeen I met my future husband John in 1994. His family was nothing like mine. They were devoted Catholics and went to church every weekend and every religious/saint holiday. As we began to date John asked me if I would attend church with him. I only attended church if it was for a wedding or a funeral. I remember like it was yesterday the first time I went to church with John. I had a nervous, uncomfortable feeling inside my stomach. But, once…

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51) When the sacrament of the Eucharist was first introduced, it was used by Jesus to present the disciples with the idea of God’s creation and how it manifested. The Catholic Church is calling for individuals to re-evaluate the Sacrament of Eucharist, as it is the foot hold to ecological conversion, which is …. During the…

Before Romero In many ways, El Salvador was no different than many of its South American neighbors during the 1970 's and 1980 's. The oppressive government that existed in El Salvador had much in common with the violent regimes running Argentina, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and others. Death squads, supported if not organized by the ruling governments, murdered with no fear of reprisal those they saw as enemies of the status quo. However, it was the global setting, not simply a continental…

Before Martin Luther posted his 95th thesis on a church door in Worms, Germany so as to publicly air his grievances against the Church, another prominent figure also criticized the abuses of the Church. This man was no clergyman or ruler; he was a prominent literary figure of his time. This man was Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in part, deals greatly with the abuses and scandalous behaviors of authority figures in the Catholic Church. Before Luther and before changes were made,…

theirs.” We discussed a revised faculty retreat experience, the implementation of prayer circles, and increased opportunities for non-religion teachers to plan and participate in liturgies as possible solutions to this problem. As noted by Pope John Paul II, our roles as witnesses to the faith are…

executions and crucifixion both have the same purpose and are performed for some of the same reasons. The Church would like us, as Christians, to speak out against the execution processes because we are all guilty of sin. Many people, like Pope John Paul II, already have started the movement of stopping executions from happening in today 's era. Jesus went through tremendous amounts of agony so we would not have to go through the same pain, but many people do not know or forget this and punish…

Papal Infallibility Those outside the Church generally misunderstand the Catholic teaching on papal infallibility. In particular, fundamentalist Christians often confuse the charisma of papal infallibility as something that affects the pope’s status. They imagine Catholics believing the pope to be sinless or unable to sin. Secularists and irreligious people believe papal infallibility to be a fairly new concept. They also speculate it was invented as a means to defend the church against the…

community and implies that our lives should revolve around the Eucharist. That every aspect of the Catholic life should be governed by the Eucharist. These wise words spoken by Pope John Paul II simply means to be closer and be with Jesus today who ascended into heaven year ago we must take the Eucharist. Pope John Paul II is stating that be in the presence of Christ, the Eucharist is the way. From the above quote we are able to understand to be with Jesus the Eucharist is the only way to…