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Q u i c k Q u e s t i o n s
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This Rock
Volume 16, Number 3
 March 2005 
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Parent’s Prerogative
Q: Should Catholics circumcise their sons?
A: The Church is neutral on the question of whether Christians should circumcise their sons. If, after due consideration, a Christian feels that circumcision is in the best interest of his son, he is acting within his parental rights.
Q: How does one become a canon lawyer? Is this profession reserved for men only?
A: Canon law is not limited to men; women may be canon lawyers as well. For more information about canon lawyers and the training necessary to become one, please see the article "What Canon Lawyers Are and Aren’t" by Edward Peters, a canon lawyer (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/enpeters/a_canonlawyersarearent.htm).
Q: Is water dowsing an acceptable means of locating water on one’s property?
A: Water dowsing (also known as water divination and water witching) is a method in which the practitioner uses a Y-shaped stick called a divining rod to hunt for underground water or minerals. If there is reason to believe that such a method could be explained naturally, then the method would be acceptable. The National Ground Water Association, though, dismisses the idea of water dowsing as "totally without scientific merit" and recommends instead "the use of proven hydrogeological and geophysical techniques for groundwater reconnaissance when its presence is not easily recognizable by drilling contractors" (www.ngwa.org/ngwainwashington/isswitch.html).
But if one still believed that there is a natural reason that the method works and wished to pursue the method, despite no scientific proof thus far, then true superstition would not be involved. For more on superstition see the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2111.
Q: Are there any guidelines from the Church regarding bringing children to Mass?
A: The Church gives us guidelines indirectly. The Code of Canon Law says, "Merely ecclesiastical laws bind those who have been baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, possess the efficient use of reason, and, unless the law expressly provides otherwise, have completed seven years of age" (CIC 11).
So there is no obligation on the child’s part to go until completion of his seventh year.
But, by their baptism, children also have certain rights: "Since they are called by baptism to lead a life in keeping with the teaching of the gospel, the Christian faithful have the right to a Christian education by which they are to be instructed properly to strive for the maturity of the human person and at the same time to know and live the mystery of salvation" (CIC 217).
"According to their own vocation, those who live in the marital state are bound by a special duty to work through marriage and the family to build up the people of God. Since they have given life to their children, parents have a most grave obligation and possess the right to educate them. Therefore, it is for Christian parents particularly to take care of the Christian education of their children according to the doctrine handed on by the Church" (CIC 226).
So it is the primary obligation of the parents to educate their children in the faith and prepare them for a eucharistic life, and it is the children’s right to receive this education. Obviously, before the Sunday obligation takes effect for the child, he already should be participating regularly in the eucharistic celebration to the extent that he is able. How this is accomplished in each family will vary.
From an early age—especially from the time they are baptized—it is appropriate that children be included in the eucharistic celebration. Yet not all children are ready or willing. In the meantime, the parents hopefully will be praying for and with their children and preparing them for regular Mass attendance.
Many parents with infants find it very difficult to bring them to Mass, especially if a toddler is also in tow. A single parent will find this especially difficult. But the goal is to get them coming as soon as they are able, and if they are not able yet, get them ready by familiarizing them with the church, maybe by going for short visits and gradually extending those visits. Going to church should be a privilege and something they want to do.
While children cannot fully understand all that goes on at Mass, they can participate in some ways. They can learn to genuflect and bow. They can place the envelope in the basket. They can sing, and the family can practice songs at home. If the Our Father is said regularly at home, then they will look forward to saying it. The same holds true for the sign of peace.
The Congregation for Divine Worship’s Directory for Masses with Children states: "By reason of the duty in conscience freely accepted at the baptism of their children, parents are bound to teach them gradually how to pray. This they do by praying with them each day and by introducing them to prayers said privately. If children, prepared in this way even from their early years, take part in the Mass with their family when they wish, they will easily begin to sing and to pray in the liturgical community and indeed will already have some initial idea of the eucharistic mystery. . . .Infants who as yet are unable or unwilling to take part in the Mass may be brought in at the end of Mass to be blessed together with the rest of the community. This may be done, for example, if parish helpers have been taking care of them in separate areas" (DMC 10, 16).
The goal is to help our children to participate fully in the eucharistic life. Choose a way to get them there that works best for your family.
Q: What is the GIRM, and where can I find it?
A: GIRM is an acronym that stands for the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. It is the document that lays out the rubrics for the liturgy of the Roman rite of the Catholic Church. The most recent edition was released in 2002 and may be found at the USCCB website: www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/revmissalisromanien.htm.
Q: What is the difference between the Torah and the Old Testament in the Catholic Bible?
A: Torah comes from the Hebrew word for "law" and refers to the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—also known as the Pentateuch. The word torah is used also to refer to the scroll of parchment on which the Pentateuch is written. The scroll is considered a sacred liturgical object in synagogues and is often richly decorated and given other marks of respect. In Orthodox Judaism, the Torah also can refer to the entirety of the law, both in written form (Scripture and other sacred writings) and in oral Tradition.
When we as Catholics refer to the Old Testament, we are referring to all forty-six books of the Bible written before Christ, including the first five that the Jews call the Torah.
Q: Is the Church opposed to the Myers-Briggs personality tests?
A: The Church is not opposed to the social sciences or to the truths that they uncover.
The Myers-Briggs/Keirsey personality tests fall under the discipline of the field of psychology. The value of such tests is best determined by that science.
Many dioceses and religious orders use such tests to help with personnel decisions, vocation discernment, and marriage counseling. Opinions vary as to how useful they are.
Q: A Protestant friend said that Augustine didn't believe in transubstantiation. Is this true?
A: Augustine wrote about the symbolic character of the Eucharist as a sign of unity, but this does not discount the Real Presence.
Augustine clearly believed in transubstantiation. Here are some things he wrote about the Eucharist:
"Christ was carried in his own hands when, referring to his own body, he said, ‘This is my body’ [Matt. 26:26]. For he carried that body in his hands" (Explanations of the Psalms 33:1:10 [A.D. 405]).
"I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s table. . . . That bread that you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ" (Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).
"What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction" (ibid., 272).
"Nobody eats this flesh without previously adoring it" (Explanation of the Psalms 99).
"He took flesh from the flesh of Mary . . . and gave us the same flesh to be eaten unto salvation. . . . We do sin by not adoring" (ibid).
Q: Is centering prayer an authentic Catholic spirituality?
A: Authentic Catholic spirituality has as its goal union with God. It fosters holiness in the individual.
There are many authentic spiritualities in the Church, but each, if it is truly authentic, possesses the following characteristics:
- It is Christ-centered and Trinitarian.
- It acknowledges the cross of Christ and suffering as a part of discipleship.
- It encourages an awareness of sin, a turning away from it, and a trust in God’s mercy.
- It encourages participation in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
- It encourages a disposition of obedience to Church teaching.
- It is Marian.
- It looks beyond this world to eternity.
Centering prayer is a spirituality that incorporates Eastern methods of meditation. Some advocates claim that using the method properly will lead to contemplation. This is why it often is confused with contemplation or contemplative prayer. But contemplative prayer is not something we do; it is something we receive not because of a method we follow but because of the life we lead.
Contemplative prayer is a gift from God, most often given to those who are faithful to prayer, steeped in God’s word, leading moral lives, participating in the sacraments, and obedient to Church teaching. God’s sovereignty can permit anyone to enter his divine sphere through contemplative prayer, but most often it is the Christian who has matured in his faith who receives this gift.
An outstanding book on prayer and the spiritual life is Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel—On Prayer.
Q: At ordination, why is obedience made to the bishop instead of the pope?
A: The ordained man understands that his obedience to the bishop is in concert with the bishop’s obedience to the Holy Father. The pope’s authority covers the whole Church, including bishops and priests. Practically speaking, though, each priest is accountable on a daily basis to his bishop (and religious superior if he belongs to a religious order). The pope cannot oversee the behavior and ministry of every priest in the Church. Each local ordinary (bishop), though accountable to the pope, has a certain freedom to minister in the way he determines is most effective given the unique needs of his diocese. His priests are expected to cooperate with him in this, so they promise to obey him.
Q: I know what exegesis means but I’m looking for the manner or way of spelling the opposite of exegesis. I’m not sure whether it is eisegesis or isegesis. Which one is it?
A: Exegesis is a critical analysis of a text, usually used to describe the task of objectively interpreting the Bible. Its opposite is eisegesis, which is the practice of interpreting text according to one’s preconceived ideas rather than according to the context of the text in question.
Q: Is the story of Jonah and the whale a myth?
A: Catholics are free to understand the story of Jonah and the whale as literal history or as didactic fiction. In Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Karl Keating writes:
"The Catholic Church is silent on the proper interpretation of many biblical passages, readers being allowed to accept one of several understandings. Take, as an example, Jonah’s escapade at sea, which readers often find disturbing. Ronald Knox said that ‘no defender of the sense of Scripture ever pretended, surely, that this was a natural event. If it happened, it was certainly a miracle; and not to my mind a more startling miracle than the raising of Lazarus, in which I take it Catholics are certainly bound to believe. Surely what puts one off the story of Jonah is the element of the grotesque that is present in it’ (Ronald Knox and Arnold Lunn, Difficulties, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 109).
"The most common interpretation nowadays, and one that is held by indubitably orthodox exegetes, is that the story of the prophet being swallowed and then disgorged by a ‘great fish’ is merely didactic fiction, a grand tale told to establish a religious point. Catholics are perfectly free to take this or a more literal view. . . .
"Strictly literal interpretations of what happened to Jonah actually come in two forms. One relies on the fact that people apparently have been swallowed by whales and lived to talk about it. In 1891 a seaman, James Bartley, from a ship named the Star of the East, was found missing after an eighty-foot sperm whale had been caught. He was presumed drowned. The next day, when the crew cut up the whale, Bartley was discovered alive inside. If Jonah’s three days in the whale were counted like Christ’s three days in the tomb, after the Semitic fashion—that is, parts of three distinct days, but perhaps only slightly more than twenty-four hours total—then it is possible that Jonah could have been coughed up by that great fish just as his story says. This would be a purely natural explanation of the episode.
"The other literal interpretation is that Jonah indeed underwent what the story, read as straight history, says he did but survived only because of a positive miracle, and several different sorts of miracles have been suggested, such as suspended animation on Jonah’s part or a fish with a remarkably large air supply and decidedly mild gastric juices" (Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Ignatius Press, 129–30).
Q: If Earth is the only inhabited planet, why is the universe so big?
A: We don’t know whether Earth is the only inhabited planet. It is possible that there is life elsewhere in the universe. Whether such life-forms have spiritual, rational souls subject to the need for salvation would be an entirely different question that the Church then would have to ponder.
Assuming that Earth is the only inhabited planet, one can speculate about why God chose to create a massive universe and populate only a single small planet. Perhaps the difference in size between the universe and our own planet is a symbol of the difference between God and his creation, between the infinite and the finite.
Q: Am I correct in believing that the precious blood should not be in a chalice that is used for a grape juice ceremony? Is there an official rule on this?
A: You are correct. "The chalice and paten in which wine and bread are offered, consecrated, and received, since they are intended solely and permanently for the celebration of the Eucharist, become ‘sacred vessels’" (Book of Blessings, 1360).
Eucharist here means the valid Eucharist, consecrated by one who has the power to consecrate the bread and wine. This certainly rules out its use with grape juice.
Q: What does it mean that Matthew 2:23 says, "He shall be called a Nazarene"?
A: Nazarene was a term of abuse, but an underlying meaning revealed Jesus’ relationship to God’s people.
"Nazareth, where the Annunciation took place (cf. Luke 1:26), was a tiny and insignificant Palestinian village. It was located in Galilee, the most northerly part of the country. The term Nazarene refers to Jesus’ geographic origin, but his critics used it as a term of abuse when he began his mission (cf. John 1:46). Even in the time of St. Paul, the Jews tried to humiliate the Christians by calling them Nazarenes (cf. Acts 24:5). Many prophets predicted that the Messiah would suffer poverty and contempt (cf. Is. 53:2ff; Jer. 11:19; Ps. 22), but the words ‘he shall be called a Nazarene’ are not to be found as such in any prophetic text. They are, rather, as St. Jerome points out, a summary of the prophets’ teaching in a short and expressive phrase.
"However, St. Jerome himself (cf. Comm. on Isaiah 11:1) says that the name Nazarene fulfills the prophesy of Isaiah 11:1: Christ is the ‘shoot’ (nezer, in Hebrew) of the entire race of Abraham and David" (The Navarre Bible: The Gospel of St. Matthew, Four Courts Press, 39–40).
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