Archbishop Chaput in First Things

In my view, there are many things to criticize in Archbishop Chaput's First Things article entitled The Pope and Other Religions. However, I am not sure the point that most interested me has much to do with the remarks made by the pope and criticized by Chaput. In any case, here's my observation. Archbishop Chaput says

To borrow a thought from C. S. Lewis, if Jesus were just one among many, he’d also be a liar, because he emphatically claimed that, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). A loving God may accept the worship of any sincere and charitable heart—but salvation comes only through his only son, Jesus Christ.

Of course he is alluding to Lewis's trilemma (Jesus is "lunatic, liar, or Lord"), an old bit of apologetics. Much as admire C. S. Lewis, it's one of his lesser contributions to Christianity. And it is odd to see a noted archbishop relying on apologetics in attempting to correct the pope.

The problem that both Lewis and the archbishop have, and what interests me, is that the current scholarly consensus is that Jesus is not being quoted in the following (thanks to ChatGPT for the list):

1. John 6:35 - “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

2. John 8:12 - “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

3. John 10:7 - “I am the gate for the sheep.”

4. John 10:11 - “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

5. John 11:25 - “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”

6. John 14:6 - “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

7. John 15:1 - “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”

Certainly for Catholics, these words are no less authoritative in being attributed to John (or some other source other than Jesus) than they did before modern scholarship made its current claims. Jesus can still be thought of as "the way the truth and the life" not because Jesus made this claim on his own behalf, but because John, a divinely inspired evangelist wrote them. Still, I can't believe I am the only one who finds it odd when someone as highly placed as Archbishop Chaput writes as if, in red-letter Bibles, the red letters indicate actual words of Jesus. 

Just in general, I was put off by Archbishop Chaput attempting to rebut a very informal comment by the pope with sterile statements of dogma and lists of church councils. 

What did Pope Francis really say about other religions?

Certain people are having a tizzy because of what Pope Francis allegedly said in an interview in the plane on the way home from his recent trip. (Has that ever happened before?!)  The writer who actually gets what he said was David French, in this NYT article:  Opinion | Pope Francis Is Turning Certainty on Its Head - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

It should be noted that David French is not a Catholic, but an evangelical Christian.  Who has lately been "excommunicated" or "read out of meeting" by his co-believers over not being MAGA. 

Update: the formatting is messed up somehow. When I go into edit it is fine. But when I close and save, I go back into the post and it is still messed up. Will keep trying. You have to scroll down a ways for the comments. Sorry about that.

In case you are paywalled out of the article I will excerpt part of it.  The italicized sections are from French's article:

If You Pray Daily, Come Worship with Us This Weekend

The title of this article should be on a Big Sign in Front of Catholic Parishes.  

About twice as many Catholics pray daily as go to Mass weekly.  Every parish should be very happy to have twice as many people in the pews each weekend, especially people who have a relationship with God through daily prayer.  

People are being invited because of a desirable characteristic, their daily prayerfulness. Implied is a strong attitudinal and behavioral consistency between daily prayer and weekly worship. Those who pray daily should look forward to prayer with others on the weekend. And those who gather on weekends should be especially happy to welcome those who pray daily.

No questions should be raised about whether or not the person is Catholic, been baptized, confirmed or raised as Catholic, or registered in the parish. Nor about the person's age, gender, marital status, race, politics, etc. Nothing about welcoming back the disaffiliated, or asking people why they have not been attending.  

The Good News is that the parish is emphasizing the positive behavior of daily prayer when welcoming people to join for worship. No questions asked about how much daily prayer for how long, etc. Keep it simple; people who see themselves as praying daily are welcome at our weekend worship.

The sign should include a link to the:

 Parish Website Welcoming Page.

Miracles

This is my homily for today, the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.  Todays' readings are here.

Jesuitical Podcast on Young Priests

 I sometimes listen to the Jesuitical Podcast on the America Media site.  The presenters are Zac Davis and Ashley Mckinnless.  They are informative, but with a light touch. Their latest podcast is titled "In defense of young diocesan priests" and several other topics are also discussed: Podcast: In defense of young diocesan priests | America Magazine 

They critique a general perception that younger priests are more conservative and rigid in their pastoral ministry. That has been a topic lately in several articles, including one in the New York Times.

"Joining them to discuss the countercultural decision to join the diocesan priesthood is the Rev. Wade Bass, a young priest who serves as pastoral administrator at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church in Allen, Tex., a suburb of Dallas."

Practicing the faith in space

There is an interesting article on the NCR site on how a couple of Texas congregations are supporting their members on the space station: How a Texas congregation is supporting its members on the space station | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)

"About 10 miles from Johnson Space Center, a Houston-area church takes a moment during Wednesday Bible studies and Sunday evening services to pray for two members who cannot be there."

"In fact, there’s no way on Earth for NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Tracy Dyson to show up at Providence Baptist Church. They’re in space, orbiting the planet. More specifically, these two members are working on the International Space Station together."

"Like many astronauts before them, they brought along their faith when they launched into space."