The marriage of Joseph and Mary

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Babylonis


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By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, remembering Zion;
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Review of How the Universe Operates
by Dr Chris Decaen

This is a remarkable little book arguing for a new way to look at the causes involved in the natural world.  I say “new“ but in fact, it is also old, as it draws on the wisdom in the perennial philosophy of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.  However, it is not an archaic attempt at bringing back the geocentric universe and the four elements.  Rather, it combines the enduring principles of Thomistic philosophy with the insights and observations of contemporary science.  Specifically, it proposes that we return to the ancient idea of an interstellar and intermolecular quasi-substance, what used to be called “aether,” in order to make better sense of some ideas in modern science and to revive the relevance of instrumental, agent, causality something largely neglected by the attention to force as an abstract quantity.  Baker does a nice job, pressing this idea, and even takes it in directions not quite imagined by Aquinas or Aristotle.  I’m not convinced by everything he says, but the fundamentals seem deeply right.  The argument of the book should be taken seriously.
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Christopher A Decaen B.A., M.A. Philosophy, Ph. D., Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula CA.

Review of How the Universe Operates
by Dr Don Boland

Michael Baker’s book ‘How the Universe Operates’ is not a long book.  But it is packed with interesting and even fascinating ideas about the nature of the physical universe and our knowledge of how it operates…

There is much… in the Natural Philosophy/Science that has come down to us from the ancient Greeks, which is still full of deep insights that unfortunately the modern mind decided ought to be thrown out...

The author… has a good grasp of how precious was what we discarded in the rush to have fresh water for our modern scientific endeavours.  It is good to have clean water... Pity about the fledgling baby.

What is most interesting about the book is how the author endeavours, and, in my opinion, succeeds to a significant degree, to put the “unclean” baby, which is how the Aristotelian philosophy of nature is still regarded, into fresh water… our view of modern science.

[W]ith my limited knowledge of modern physics (which is more a mathematical physics than what Aristotle regarded as physics) I would not venture as far as he does with such exotic notions as aether, light and gravity.  But these are concepts that even the most expert of modern scientists struggle with, let alone with having to accommodate quite sophisticated Aristotelian notions of them.

There is one part of the book, where the author discusses the ancient belief that the earth was the centre of the whole physical universe, and provides an insight that I have not found elsewhere.  That alone I consider makes the book worth buying if only to share that insight.

I believe that both the reader who has had a good education in modern science, even though unacquainted with ancient natural philosophy, and one who has some such acquaintance, will find much instruction and even enjoyment in reading this book.

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Donald G Boland Ll. B., Ph. D., is a former lecturer at Sydney’s Aquinas Academy now retired.  He is the author of a number of books on the philosophy of Aristotle and St Thomas Aquinas including Thomas of the Creator.  He resides in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.

PROTESTANT ASSERTION OF 'APOCRYPHA'

This is a Catholic answer to an article asserting the Protestant position on the excision of certain books of the Jewish canon from the Old Testament on the grounds that they are 'apocryphal', i.e., of doubtful authenticity.  more

ATHEISM'S CHIEF CHARACTERISTIC

Atheism's chief characteristic may be seen in any news broadcast.  It is fear.  more

IN DEFENCE OF POPE FRANCIS

Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.  Those who seek to condemn Pope Francis shouldn't rely on Vatican II.  This paper is an ironic defence of the Pope by a theologian who shall remain nameless against recent charges of heresy grounded, inter alia, on the documents of Vatican II.  more


LAUNCH OF BOOK 'HOW THE UNIVERSE OPERATES'

How the Universe Operates was launched by UK publishers Austin Macauley on December 8th 2023.  A link to the publisher’s website is  here. The book is featured on Amazon here.  It may be purchased either in Kindle or paperback editions at good booksellers or via amazon.com or amazon.com.au


THE EXTENT OF THE HARM OF VATICAN II

In 1993 the late Fr Paul Mankowski published an incisive criticism of the dissent to Humanae Vitae.  That dissent did not arise spontaneously.  It was precipitated by the scandal committed by the bishops of Vatican II in dissenting from the Church's teaching which Council had concluded less than three years prior.  more

THE MODERNISM OF POPE BENEDICT

Here is a commentary on the late Pope Benedict's last Address to priests of the Diocese of Rome.  more

PRINCIPLES & DISTINCTIONS -  FR GREGORY HESSE

This is an extract from one of the many audiotapes of the late Fr Gregory Hesse S.T.D., S.J.D.  more

GENERATION OF NATURAL THINGS

A passing comment of St Thomas in his Summa Contra Gentiles seems to confirm a view expressed in the booksize paper How the Universe Operates on our website.  more

BETWEEN TWO INTELLECTS

For our edification St Thomas exposed in his writings just how dependent we are on God at every moment of our earthly existence. more

TWENTY YEAR REPORT

Today marks the 120th anniversary of the death of Pope Leo XIII and the twentieth anniversary of this website.  It is appropriate for us to provide a report on those years of operation. Regrettably things have not got better but worse not only for the Catholic faithful but for society generally.  Despite the chaos that marks the current governance of God's Holy Church as a result of the abdication of Catholic in favour of Modernist principle on the part of Pope and bishops, the Holy Spirit is still running the show.  We take the opportunity to renew our faith in Him and His providence confident that His permission of the evils will result in the much greater good that He will elicit from them when the time is appropriate.  more

SOME THOUGHTS ON 'HEAVEN'

The meaning of 'heaven' is hidden in our English translation of its usage in the original texts which are rendered in Latin by St Jerome.  It seems to have two different meanings.  more

THE DARKNESS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

The thinkers who followed, some 50 to 100 years after the event, the revolt of German and English Catholics against God and His Holy Church, sought to defend its inchoate atheism.  Today we are suffering the appalling effects of the irrationality in which they engaged.  That those effects are worse than they might have been we owe to the systematic abrogation of their responsibilities by the bishops of the Catholic Church.  more

ABBÉ LEMAÎTRE, THE BIG BANG, AND SO ON

Did the priest responsible for the 'big bang' thesis reflect the teachings of God's Holy Church when he offered his suggestion on the beginnings of the universe?  more

THE CONDEMNATION OF GALILEO

We publish here a further extract from historian Henry Sire’s Phoenix from the Ashes (Kettering OH, Angelico Press, 2015, pp. 93-100) to aid the Catholic faithful in their defence of the faith against the Protestant and atheistic impositions.

Galileo was a man whom, in today’s argot, we would describe as possessed of attitude, i.e., truculence or pig-headedness.    He was a good scientist but had a higher opinion of himself and his views than reality allowed.   He was also dishonest.  Had it not been discovered, long after the events that saw him marginalised by the Catholic Church, that his opinion was close to the truth uncovered by Sir Isaac Newton 55 years later, and that his condemnation could conveniently be used as a stick with which to beat the Church, his intemperateness might have attracted the obloquy it deserved.   Sire identifies the issues in this way:  “A clash between impudent folly and pompous autocracy has… been misrepresented as a conflict between science and religion”.   more

Dr Chris Decaen of Thomas Aquinas College has a splendid article on the topic on the College's website here:

https://www.thomasaquinas.edu/news/dr-chris-decaen-lecture-galileo-church

Review of Phoenix from the Ashes

Phoenix from the Ashes - The Making, Unmaking, and Restoration of Catholic Tradition by H J A Sire [Kettering, Ohio, Angelico Press http://angelicopress.com/sire-phoenix-from-the-ashes , 2015] is as admirable as it is timely. Here is a review of this important book.  more



THE PROBLEM WITH VATICAN II

This is a book length pdf file comprised of various papers published on superflumina on the vexed topic of the Second Vatican Council.  The reader can download it freely.  He can navigate via the Index to any of its chapters.  He can have his computer read the text aloud while he labours at some task in the house, or as he drives the car.  It is hoped to produce it in several additional ebook formats in due course.This is a revised and shortened version of the original publication.  more




 THE POMPOUS ATHEIST

This ebook addresses the endemic modern problem of atheism—belief in no-God.  Atheists assert that they are above superstition, the ‘superstition’ of religious belief, but it is not true.  Not only are they believers, they are believers without the slightest evidence of that in which they believe.  They are the real exponents of ‘religious liberty’ for they insist on the freedom to believe there is no God.  Their every action involves acceptance of causation.  But, obsessed with an idea, they choose to deny causations’s reality when it comes to their own essence and existence.  In this series of essays we have endeavoured to make it plain just how stupid is the atheistic thesis.
 
It is reasonable to believe in God, no matter how confused one’s belief may be.  The fundamental issues are these: 1. I did not bring myself into existence; 2.  I do not keep myself in existence; 3.  in this world of reality I am one of the privileged beings for not only do I know singular things, like brute animals, but I know their very natures;  4. nothing exists without an adequate cause—and that includes me!  Moreover, 5. the one who caused me must be living and intellectual, as I am living and intellectual—but an immensely greater being.
 
It is hoped that the presentation of these essays will assist the reader in resisting the temptation to embrace the atheistic virus.  more


PROFESSOR SOLOMON'S LESSONS IN PHILOSOPHY

See the complete set of lessons here