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Question of the Day for Friday, November 30, 2007

Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life?

Q. Does the Church have a position on belief in extraterrestrial intelligent life or aliens from outer space? (I’m not referring here to angels or devils.) Can there be life forms elsewhere who, having passed rather than failed a test in their own “Garden of Eden,” then have no need for a Christ?

I doubt it, but others don’t. Short of the need for God, as Creator, to be present in some alternative intelligent universe, and mindful of the message that “Christ died once for all,” can you offer any insight?

T. C., Philadelphia, Pa.

A. The question you raise has long been a matter of great interest to me. I hope to write a full article on the subject for our magazine sometime soon.

Scripture seems to be silent on the matter of extraterrestrial life (especially extraterrestrial intelligent life, or ETI), unless we speculate, as some have done, that references to “sons of God” coming down from the sky may indicate some form of ETI  rather than angelic beings (see, for example, Genesis 6:1-4). Personally, I don’t find such an interpretation convincing.
Even so, the scriptural silence about ETI shouldn’t compel us to conclude that it doesn’t exist. Though the creation stories in Genesis, for example, don’t mention non-human intelligent species (apart from angelic ones), they are silent as well about other planets in our solar system. That doesn’t mean the planets don’t exist. Scripture is silent about many things that we know actually do exist.

As far as I can tell, the Church has taken no definitive position on the matter. Some Fathers and Doctors of the Church have explicitly condemned the related notion of a plurality of worlds, most often understood as the idea that there are entire multiple universes (“worlds”), existing either simultaneously or in a series. But that’s not at all the same thing as multiple inhabited planets within our one universe.
Today the debate continues, as it has for centuries — not only over the issue of whether ETI exists, but (as you note) over a significant related matter: If ETI exists out there, did other intelligent races suffer a Fall as the human race did? If we ever actually have a “close encounter” with ETI, that particular question would be of critical concern to earthlings!

To examine all the relevant issues would require much more space than we have here. For a comprehensive discussion, I recommend a thought-provoking volume by Marie I. George, a Catholic philosopher on the faculty of St. John’s University, New York. It’s called Christianity and Extraterrestrials? A Catholic Perspective (iUniverse, 2005). Also of interest is a book by the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno, S.J., Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (McGraw-Hill, 2000). See especially the chapter entitled “Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?”

I can’t say I agree with everything either one of these authors says. But they are useful for getting more deeply into the discussion. Some day I hope to write a book that will add my own thoughts to the debate.

Question of the Day for Thursday, November 29, 2007

Catholic vs. Christian?

Q. When did the Church and Catholics begin calling themselves “the Catholic Church” and “Catholics” as opposed to “Christian Church” or “Christians”? I suspect it was when other heretical Christian groups began to show up, which would mean the fifteenth century, since that’s when Lutheranism began. Also, when was it first designated as the “Roman Catholic Church”?
C. B., via email

A. TCA columnist Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D., recently answered a similar question in our magazine. Here is his reply.

The word “Catholic” is the English version of the Greek word catholikos, a combination of two Greek words meaning “throughout the whole.” The word occurs often in the Greek classics, with the sense of “universal.”

The first use of the phrase “Catholic Church” in surviving historical records comes from around the year A.D. 110. In his Letter to the Smyrnaeans (no. 8), St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote: “Let no one do anything touching the Church, apart from the bishop. . . . Where the bishop appears, there let the people be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” The usage of “Catholic” here seems to connote “one and only.”

The casual way in which Ignatius uses the phrase suggests it was familiar to those to whom he was writing. If that were true, then it must have been in circulation well before St. Ignatius used the term, which was in the generation immediately after the Apostles.

Certainly, by the beginning of the third century, the word “Catholic” as applied to the Church denoted that community which held sound doctrine, in contrast to heresy, and which was united in organization, in contrast to schismatic groups. The word also connoted wholeness in contrast to the partial. In the writings of St. Cyprian (mid-third century) we see the beginning of using “Catholic” and “Roman” interchangeably.

The word “catholic” does mean literally “universal,” but it means a great deal more. It connotes the fullness of the faith. Early heretical and schismatic groups distorted the faith by clinging to some part of the faith and blowing it out of all proportion. The Catholic Church alone proclaimed the fullness of God’s revelation. In fact, it was while addressing the issue of schism that St. Ignatius used the term “Catholic” to distinguish the Church from those who had broken away from her.

That is still true today. The word “Catholic” connotes wholeness. Simply to call the Catholic Church “Christian” (which indeed she is!) would not distinguish her from those many thousands of denominations who hold to a part of the Gospel, while neglecting or denying other and essential parts.

Apostolates Battling Pornography?

Q. Pornography has become a multibillion-dollar industry that seems to be affecting (and infecting) every segment of our society. There seems to be no way to bring to a halt this despicable sin. Do you know of any Catholic apostolate that is working to educate individuals about just how insidious this evil is?

N. G., Orlando, Fla.

A. Several organizations have bravely taken up the battle. The Catholic apostolate known as the Serenellians is wholly devoted to this mission (click here). The Catholic Support Group for Sexual Addictions Recovery includes pornography addiction among the disorders it addresses (click here). Unity Restored is a group of clinicians who actively integrate psychological counseling with Catholic faith to help those who struggle with addiction to pornography (click here).

The Family Life Center International, as part of its mission to strengthen Catholic families, also provides education and support in this battle (click here).

No doubt there are other apostolates as well that have taken up this worthy goal.

Question of the Day for Monday, November 26, 2007

Pro-Abortion Catholic Congressmen?

Q. I am seeking the names of 48 Catholic legislators who condemned Pope Benedict XVI for stating that Catholic politicians who are pro-abortion should be denied the Eucharist.

C. S., Waterloo, Wis.

A. I believe the incident you refer to involved 48 Catholic Congressmen who wrote about this topic to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, then archbishop of Washington, DC, on May 10, 2004. You can read online a copy of that letter’s text, including the names of those who signed it, at the website of Women for Faith and Family (click here).