Catholics and the Theory of Evolution

“Evolution is the creation myth of our age. By telling us our origins it shapes our view of what we are.  It influences not just our thoughts but also our actions in a way which goes far beyond its official function as a biological theory” (Dangers to the Faith: Recognizing Catholicism 21st Century Opponents by Al Kresta)

I posted the other day how a person I know attacked Catholics for what he believed was our position against evolution. A reader asked me what is the exact beliefs of Catholic concerning evolution, so I thought it would be wise to examine how Catholicism and the theory of Charles Darwin fit together.

First, we as Catholics know that the universe was created out of nothingness (cf. Dei Filius, can. 2-4; Lateran Council IV). Some scientists claim that the universe was randomly created in what they call the Big Bang. Most people don't realize that the theory of the Big Bang was first conceived by a Belgian priest named Father Georges-Henri Lemaître although he did not give it the name "Big Bang".  Yet this is one theory of the origin of the universe that has its own drawbacks in light of scientific discoveries (or lack thereof)

At Vatican I, the Church infallibly stated that everyone must "confess the world and all things which are contained in it, both spiritual and material, as regards their whole substance, have been produced by God from nothing" (Canons on God the Creator of All Things, canon 5). So, we do not believe the world was created in a random order without God's role.

The Church does not have a position on whether or not the stars and planets were created at the same time as the universe. However, when they were created they were also done so under the guidance of God. "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host [stars, nebulae, planets] by the breath of his mouth" (Ps. 33:6). The Church has also infallibly stated that the universe is finite - it did not always exist. God alone is the only one that has always existed.

With biological evolution, the Church does not have a firm position on the matter, but again, the creation of all creatures is again attributed to God. No animal or plant life form developed without God's active guidance. He is the Creator.

Concerning human evolution, the Church is much more clear on its position. We must believe as an absolute truth that the human soul has never evolved and is never passed on from our parents. Our soul is unique to us, and the soul has never evolved. Also, it is an absolute truth that we have descended from one person - Adam, from whom Original Sin has been passed down to us. This must be believed.

Pope Pius XII wrote, "The Church does not forbid that...research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter." (Encyclical Humani Generis)

Whatever is true regarding the origins of man is true only because God has willed it to be so. God is our Master and Our Creator. The world has come into being through Him, and that is the firm truth. We can learn about God from the created world.

In Encyclical Pascendi, Pope St. Pius X in 1907 condemned Modernism, which is based on Evolution. He called it the "synthesis of all heresies". St. Pius X also condemned the idea that the Faith must be subject to current views of Science and History.

Ludwig Ott in Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma stated the following points concerning science. These are all infallibly defined and consequently are true and must be believed by Catholics.

• All that exists outside God was, in its whole substance, produced out of nothing by God.
• God was moved by His Goodness to create the world.
• The world was created for the Glorification of God.
• The Three Divine Persons are one single, common Principle of the Creation.
• God created the world free from exterior compulsion and inner necessity.
• God has created a good world.
• The world had a beginning in time.
• God alone created the world.
• God keeps all created things in existence.
• God, through His Providence, protects and guides all that He has created.

"The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers" (CCC 283).

Overall, the Church permits belief in special creation (the literal belief from the Book of Genesis) or in developmental creation, where God created us but we did evolve with the exceptions already mentioned above. The Church condemns belief in atheistic evolution, which claims God had no role in our creation. Atheistic evolution is a lie.

We above all can learn of God through the created world (Romans 1:20-23). If evolution is true, it is only true because God has willed it to be the method He used in the creation of the world.

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Words of Inspiration: May 7, 2006

Blessed Mother Teresa:

"Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier."

Padre Pio:

"Oh Mary, sweet Mother of priests, mediatrix and administratrix of all graces, from the bottom of my heart I beg and implore you to thank Jesus, the fruit of thy womb, today, tomorrow and forever. "

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Prayers Are Needed for Fr. McKenna

I've posted about Fr. McKenna [See this post for updates] before and his medical situation. I've asked for your prayers, and while he remains in high hopes, his condition has not improved. I received this email:

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for Father Mc Kenna. His attitude is great but he has not improved. He is allowed no visitors save the clergy and his immediate family. He has lost vision in his eye due to the radiation and the doctors are not encouraged at this point. He continues to send messages to all who pray for him that he appreciates their prayers and wishes for us to keep it up.

Bernadette

I am asking us to form a prayer group for Fr. McKenna. Please, if you can, say one Hail Mary each day for him. The Hail Mary is powerful as it is through Mary that we can reach the Heart of Jesus. Please just pray one Hail Mary a day for his health, and I know God will hear our prayers.

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St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes

Optional Memorial (1969 Calendar): February 11

Greater Double (1954 Calendar): February 11

 Writing concerning the Feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes, Dom Gueranger writes:

My bow shall appear in the clouds and I will remember My covenant with you. The lessons at Matins on February 11, 1854 (Thursday in Sexagesima week) recalled these words, and the world soon learned that on this very day Mary had appeared, more fair than the sign of hope which typified her at the time of the deluge.

 

During the year 1858, our Blessed Lady appeared eighteen times from February 11, 1858, to July 16, 1858, to Bernadette Soubirous, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a destitute day labourer of Lourdes in France. Through this humble child, the Mother of God announced to the world her sublime title of the Immaculate Conception and a special message of penance and love.

On March 25, 1858, the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette and said, "I am the Immaculate Conception." This occurred shortly after the declaration of Our Lady as Immaculate, and Church authorities were astonished that an uneducated child would know what it meant when it was not yet even readily taught. St. Bernadette died at the age of 35 on April 16, 1879. Her body remains incorrupt today.

The Church has officially approved these apparitions as authentic. A feastday in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes was approved by Pope Leo XIII and first granted to the Diocese of Tarbes in the year 1890. And Pope St. Pius X in 1907 extended the feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes to the entire Church to be celebrated on February 11th of each year.

Since the apparitions, countless people have journeyed to Lourdes, France to be healed in the waters of the Grotto where Mary appeared. Many of them have been healed. The process for healing to be declared a miracle is very intense but dozens of people have already been formally declared healed because of the miraculous water at Lourdes.

In February 2019, the 70th official healing was declared by the authorities. The French bishop Jacques Benoit-Gonnin of the Beauvais diocese declared that the 79-year-old nun, Sr. Bernadette Moriau, who was disabled for over 40 years, was miraculously healed by the waters of Lourdes.

In a video published on the diocese’s website, Sister Moriau declared that as she returned home after a pilgrimage to Lourdes, she heard a voice telling her to remove her leg braces. Immediately after that, she was able to walk on her own again. After a careful examination by physicians and experts, no earthly cause could explain her recovery. And similar stories have occurred for the other 69 approved miracles.

February 11 is therefore also World Day for the Sick.

Traditional Matins Reading:

In the fourth year after the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the blessed Virgin vouchsafed to appear on several occasions to a poor but pious and innocent child named Bernadette, in a rocky cavern overlooking the grotto of Massabielle on the banks of the Gave near the town of Lourdes in the diocese of Tarbes in France. She showed herself as a young and gracious figure, robed in white, with a white veil and blue girdle, and golden roses on her bare feet. At the first apparition on February 11, 1858, she taught the child to make the sign of the Cross correctly and devoutly, and, taking a chaplet from her own arm, encouraged her by example to say her rosary. This was repeated at subsequent apparitions. On the second day, Bernadette, who feared an illusion of the devil, in all simplicity cast holy water at the apparition, who smiled more graciously than before. At the third apparition Bernadette was invited to repeat her visits to the grotto for fifteen days, during which the blessed Virgin conversed with her, exhorted her to pray for sinners, kiss the ground and do penance, and finally commanded her to tell the priests that a chapel was to be built in the place and processions held. She was also bidden drink and wash in the water, and a spring, until then invisible, gushed out of the ground. On the feast of the Annunciation, the child earnestly begged the Lady who had so often visited her to reveal her name, and the blessed Virgin, joining her hands and raising her eyes to heaven, said: 'I am the Immaculate Conception.’

Rumours of favours received at the holy grotto spread rapidly, and the crowds of devout visitors increased daily, so that the Bishop of Tarbes, who had been impressed by the candour of Bernadette, found it advisable to hold a judicial enquiry into the facts. In the course of the fourth year he gave sentence, recognizing the supernatural character of the apparition, and permitting devotions to our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception to be held in the grotto. A chapel was soon built, and since then every year has witnessed innumerable pilgrimages from France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and all parts of Europe and America. The name of Our Lady of Lourdes has become famous all over the world, and cures are obtained everywhere by use of the water. Lourdes has been enriched by a grateful world with splendidly decorated churches, where countless banners bear witness to the favours received and to the desire of peoples and cities to adorn the house of the blessed Virgin, who is honoured there as in her own palace. The days are filled with prayers, hymns and solemn ceremonies, and the nights are sanctified by the pious supplications of countless people who walk in procession carrying torches, and singing the praises of the blessed Virgin Mary.

All men know how, in spite of the coldness of the world, these pilgrimages have revived faith, restored the observance of the Christian religion, and increased devotion to the Immaculate Virgin. The Faithful are led by their priests in this marvellous development of faith and devotion. The Bishops make frequent visits to the holy spot, lead pilgrimages, and take part in the ceremonies, and the Cardinals of Holy Church are often seen in the humble quality of pilgrims. The Roman Pontiffs have shown their devotion to our Lady of Lourdes, and have bestowed remarkable favours on her sanctuary. Pius IX. enriched it with indulgences, gave it the privilege of an Archconfraternity and the title of minor basilica, and delegated the Apostolic Nuncio in France to crown in his name the statue of the Mother of God. Leo XIII. also granted many favours, including the jubilee of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Apparition. He encouraged pilgrimages, and ordained that the consecration of the Rosary Church should be performed in his name. Moreover, he crowned all these favours by conceding, at the request of many bishops, the celebration of a solemn feast under the title of the Apparition of Our Lady Immaculate, with a proper Office and Mass. Finally, Pius X., out of devotion to the Mother of God, granted the petition of many prelates that this feast should be extended to the Universal Church.

Prayer:

O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin didst prepare a worthy dwelling for Thy Son: we humbly beseech Thee, that we, who celebrate the Apparition of this same Blessed Virgin, may obtain health of soul and body. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

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We Need to Pray for the Salvation of Souls

This past week it has been even more obvious to me that we as a society need to pray. It isn't just a hobby or a Sunday obligation. We need to pray each and everyday because the truth is that our world is sick. The world is suffering from hatred, prejudice, ignorance, and it doesn't realize that we are only falling into greater sin. I turned on the television this week and saw the suffering in the Sudan. All of this is caused by prejudice and hatred. And then I read a news article calling for greater abortion access in the Sudan claiming that would help the women. These people are worried about living, not about access to abortions! If we as a society would only open our hearts then we could save so many lives. By allowing the sin of abortion to enter the Sudan, we will only be distancing ourselves further from God.

And, it's apparently obvious this is what people are doing. Look around - people are tolerating sin. Some people are leaving the truth of the Church for false religions. What's even sadder is seeing too many people falling victim into believing the greatest lie - the lie of atheism. It just hurts me so much that people are starting to forget Our Lord, who died for us on the Cross. He must be first! His sacred Hands, Feet, and Head were disfigured in the greatest expression of human life - God died for us. And still people refuse to accept the truth that we must live for Jesus. Not only did He create us and save us, but the entire world to come revolves around worshipping Christ. Christ must be the foundation of every society! Jesus Christ must reign above all of us, and every single one of our actions in the course of the day must bring glory to His name. The number of people around me that actually show their love for Christ each day can be counted on my right hand. Perhaps it's just my perspective and most keep their emotions inside. But, I know that there are many good people, and I know that by the grace of God, many of the ones in the slavery of sin can be brought into grace by our works and prayers. We need to pray for an end to abortion, violence, terrorism, and the condoning of any type of sin.

But, more than just praying, we must actually act! Earlier this week I heard someone talking about the Immaculate Conception refering to Christ. I had to tell her that the Immaculate Conception doesn't refer to Christ; it refers to Mary. But, what I do know, is that I will continue speaking and writing about Christ and His Church to dispel sin and lies for years to come. I hope many of you will also continue because we are making a difference! Many of my fellow Catholic bloggers are touching the lives of those in sin, and I thank you all for serving God as you do.

I received a very hopeful email yesterday from a former-Lutheran that said my writings helped bring her to the Sacrament of Confession. I couldn't help but to thank God for using me to bring this person to the truth. God is love - I just wish more people would realize this.

Image Source: Unknown, Believed to be in the Public Domain

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Fatima Novena: Day Two

Today is the second day of the Novena to Our Lady of Fatima. It will last from today through May 13th - the Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima. For more information concerning the approved apparitions of Mary in Fatima in 1917, please see my post on Our Lady of Fatima.

Novena Prayer:

Most Holy Virgin, who has deigned to come to Fatima to reveal to the three little shepherds the treasures of graces hidden in the recitation of the Rosary, inspire our hearts with a sincere love of this devotion, so that by meditating on the mysteries of our redemption that are recalled in it, we may gather the fruits and obtain the conversion of sinners, the conversion of Russia, and this favor that I so earnestly seek.... (State your request here...) which I ask of you in this novena, for the greater glory of God, for your own honor, and for the good of all people. Amen

(Say the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be three times each)

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain

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Novena for Vocations: Final Day

Today K has posted the final day of the Novena to St. John Vianney for greater vocations to the priesthood. Several other Catholics have joined in this novena for me, and I thank you all earnestly for your cooperation.

Image Source: Ordination Class of 1928, Believed to be in the Public Domain

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Words of Inspiration: May 4, 2006

"May Mary be the star which shines on your path, and May she show you the safe way to reach the Heavenly Father. May she be like an anchor to which you must be more closely attached in time of trial."

Image Source: Assumption of Mary by Veronese

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Beginning the Fatima Novena

Today is the beginning of the Novena to Our Lady of Fatima. It will last from today through May 13th - the Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima. For more information concerning the approved apparations of Mary in Fatima in 1917, please see Our Lady of Fatima Post.

Novena Prayer:

Most Holy Virgin, who has deigned to come to Fatima to reveal to the three little shepherds the treasures of graces hidden in the recitation of the Rosary, inspire our hearts with a sincere love of this devotion, so that by meditating on the mysteries of our redemption that are recalled in it, we may gather the fruits and obtain the conversion of sinners, the conversion of Russia, and this favor that I so earnestly seek... (State your request here...) which I ask of you in this novena, for the greater glory of God, for your own honor, and for the good of all people. Amen

(Say the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be three times each)

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain

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Sts. Philip and James, Apostles

Double of the II Class (1954 Calendar): May 1
1st Class Feast (1962 Calendar): May 11
Feast (1969 Calendar): May 3

Back when the Feasts of the Apostles were kept as Holy Days of Obligation, this day was a Holy Day of Obligation on May 1st. It was kept as such in Rome longer than in other places, but some localities kept the day as well. 

With the advent of the 1955 Calendar, Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of “St. Joseph the Worker” on May 1 (moving the feast of “Saints Philip and James” from May 1, where it had been since the sixth century, to May 11; and suppressing the Patronage of St. Joseph that, since Pope Pius IX’s decree of September 10, 1847, had been celebrated on the second Wednesday after the Octave of Easter).

For more on the lives of all the Apostles, pick up a copy of "The Twelve: Lives and Legends of the Apostles" on paperback or as part of the online course on the Apostles, which includes a Certificate of Completion.

St. Philip

St. Philip was one of the first disciples that Jesus called. Jesus said, "Follow Me" and Philip didn't ask questions. He knew the Lord and He followed. St. Philip didn't just use nice words, but rather, he acted and followed Jesus. Action is what is important.

"The next day Jesus was about to leave for Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him: 'Follow Me'. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him: 'We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote, Jesus the Son of Joseph of Nazareth'. And Nathanael said to him: 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him: 'Come and see'" (John 1:43). St. Philip suffered martyred in c. 80 AD at Hierapolis, Phrygia.

Patron: Hatters; Luxembourg; pastry chefs; Uruguay.

Traditional Breviary Reading:

Philip was born in Bethsaida, and was one of the twelve Apostles that were first called by Christ our Lord. It was from Philip that Nathanael learned that the Messias who was promised in the Law had come; and by him also he was led to our Lord. We have a clear proof of the familiarity wherewith Philip was treated by Christ, in the fact that the Gentiles addressed themselves to this Apostle when they wished to see the Saviour. Again when our Lord was about to feed the multitude in the desert, he spoke to Philip, and said: ‘Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?' After having received the Holy Ghost, he went into Scythia, which was the country allotted to him, wherein to preach the Gospel; and converted almost the entire people to the Christian faith. Having finally reached Hierapolis in Phrygia, he was crucified there for the name of Christ, and then stoned to death on the Kalends of May (May I). The Christians buried his body in the same place; but it was afterwards taken to Rome, and, together with the body of the Apostle St James, was placed in the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles.

St. James the Lesser

He is called "the Lesser" simply to distinguish him from the other St. James. The other St. James is called "St. James the Greater" only because he was called by our Lord before this St. James. St. James the Lesser was a brother of the St. Jude the Apostle, and he would later write the Epistles of St. James, part of the New Testament. After the dispersion of the apostles, St. James was made the bishop of Jerusalem. St. James loved Jesus so much that he gave up his life. Because he refused to deny Christ's divinity, the Jews cast him down from a temple and clubbed him to death in c. 62 AD.

Traditional Matins Reading:

James, the brother of our Lord, was called the Just. From his childhood he never drank wine or strong drink; he abstained from flesh meat: he never cut his hair, or used oil to anoint his limbs, or took a bath. He was the only one permitted to enter the Holy of holies. His garments were of linen. So assiduous was he in prayer, that the skin of his knees was as hard as that of a camel. After Christ’s Ascension, the Apostles made him bishop of Jerusalem; and it was to him that the Prince of the Apostles sent the news of his having been delivered out of prison by an angel. A dispute having arisen in the Council of Jerusalem concerning the Mosaic Law and circumcision, James sided with Peter, and in a speech which he made to the brethren, proved the vocation of the Gentiles, and said that the absent brethren were to be told not to impose the yoke of the Mosaic Law upon the Gentiles. It is of him that the Apostle speaks in his Epistle to the Galatians, when he says: Bat other of the Apostles I saw none, saving James, the brother of the Lord.

Such was James's holy life, that people used to strive with each other to touch the hem of his garment. At the age of ninety-six years—of which he had spent thirty governing the Church of Jerusalem in the most saintly manner—as he was one day preaching, with great courage, Christ the Son of God, he was attacked by stones being thrown at him; after which he was taken to the highest part of the Temple, and cast headlong down. His legs were broken by the fall; and as he was lying half dead upon the ground, he raised up his hands towards heaven, and thus prayed for his executioners: ' Forgive them, O Lord! for they know not what they do.’ Whilst thus praying, he received a blow on the head with a fuller’s club, and gave up his soul to his God, in the seventh year of Nero's reign. He was buried near the Temple, from which he had been thrown down. He wrote a Letter, which is one of the seven Catholic Epistles.

Patron: Apothecaries, druggists, dying people, fullers, hatmakers, hatters, milliners, pharmacists, Uruguay.

Prayer:

O God, Who dost gladden us by the yearly festival day of Thine Apostles Philip and James: grant, we beseech Thee, that we who rejoice in their merits, may be taught by their example. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

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