But my daughter's godfather kindly gave me some Theology of the Body Cd's to listen to when my daughter was baptized in June. I am really getting into them now. And, I'm realizing there is a lot here to delve into and a lot that I do not know.
And, I just learned a new a word. Phenomenological. I have never, ever heard this word in my life. My education is in the technical realm, so I missed out on all the good philosophy. Phenomenology is a 20th Century school of thought using the subjective experiences of a person to understand reality. I'm still trying to grasp exactly what this means, but it is starting to make more sense. (kind of). JP2 was a phenomenologist. So was Edith Stein. (Whose feast day is my birthday.) So maybe phenomenology explains why the new Catechism is so darn different from The Baltimore Catechism. (Which I know and love, the right brain side of me just connects with the simple logical easy question/answer format.) Maybe, phenomenology also explains why my husband finds the new Catechism boring to read. (Sorry, honey...) We decided to stop reading it at dinner time, as it is "too much" for the kids. I'll be reading it alone by myself before bed, and hubby will be reading the Baltimore Catechism, with everyone, after dinner.
I consider this a new challenge... deepening my understanding of phenomenology... and Theology of the Body. I just purchased "Man and Woman He created them: A Theology of the Body", and along with my 30 audio Cd's from the Theology of the Body conference, I'm bound to learn some good stuff.
Catholic Mom,
ReplyDeletePhenomenology is modern. And yes, this is why the New Catechism is different from the old. It is why the New Church is different from the True Church. It's a hard pill to swallow, but the Catholic faithful have been a big ole' philosophical experiment. Basically phenomenology says that things in an of themselves have no meaning. They do not exist. Things only exist because we experience them. In other words, God only exists because we experience Him in some way. This is why the New Church embraces all religions as good and as containing truth. This is completely opposed to what the True Church has always taught--until Vatican II. Vatican II was a horrible, destructive force for faithful Catholics. You are on the right path---keep reading about phenomenology and all the mentors of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Before Vatican II, all their mentors were condemned by the Church. In the case of JPII, one of his mentors was a man named Antonio Rosmini. 40 of his writings were condemned by Pope Leo XIII. (To clarify this, Martin Luther had 41 of his writings condemned.) Pope Benedict XVI beautified Rosmini, declaring that he was misunderstood. Study phenomenology hard. It leads straight to syncretism, pantheism, and eventually atheism. This is where the Vatican II Church is heading....