Overview

There are many great web sites which teach about Catholicism. I don't claim to be on a par with them. This web site is intended to provide some answers and references for questions that have often been directed to me. I hope it will be helpful. Enjoy!

Monasticism

A common question I have been asked is, What is the difference between a monk and a priest?

The short answer is that they're two different things. Broadly, a monk is like the male version of a nun. It is an instance of consecrated life in the Catholic Church. Consecrated life, broadly speaking, is a response to Jesus' call to the rich young man, "If you would be perfect, sell all you and give to the poor, and then come and follow me." Those who would respond to this vocation make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and then serve as eschatalogical signs (living and visible reminders of the world to come).

Priesthood has the obvious similarity with monasticism that it involves promises of celibacy. Priesthood is essentially linked with ministry, however. In particular, it is essentially linked with ministering the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.

The confusing part is that monks can also be priests (like I am), but this need not be the case. There are priests who are not monks and monks who are not priests.

For more on monasticism, check out the Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Monasticism. For more on priesthood, there is a nice online brochure from the Diocese of Melbourne about who a priest is and what he does. For a more thorough treatment, Pope John Paul II wrote a powerful document, Pastores Dabo Vobis.

Science and Religion

There is an unfortunate misconception that religion and science are like oil and water. Exacerbating this claim, it is often said that the Catholic Church has even been antithetical to science. This wild hypothesis is then proven anecdotally (not scientifically) using the celebrated case of Galileo, often only partially supplying the facts of that case. (A counter-anecdote is the father of genetics, Gregor Mendel, who was also an Ausgustinian monk; another is the founder of the Big Bang Theory, Georges LeMaitre, who was also a Catholic priest.)

Over time, I hope to flesh out some areas of this subject on this web page, in hopes of facilitating a better understanding between scientists and Christians. In the mean time, I recommend an excellent reference. Dr. Peter Hodgson, professor in Physics at the Corpus Christi Unversity in Oxford has an excellent series on Science and Belief. There is an hour-long audio overview which supports the claim that not only is Christianity not antithetical to science, it is necessary for the development of modern science. Dr. Hodgson also considers some particular areas of science and some consequences of this claim in a series of lectures--references and transcripts can be found online.

While modern society emphasizes the perfection of the products of work, Christianity has always emphasized the perfection of the worker by work. For a nice treatment of this, take a look at Prof. Jesus Izaguirre's "The Christian Idea of Work"

Links

Here are some other great Catholic sites:

• The Vatican
• The Liturgy of the Hours