RED-C Presents: Recent Episodes
RED-C Apostolate
Think of RED-C Presents as an ”audio journal” of the RED-C (Religious Education for the Domestic Church) Apostolate. It will offer listeners some regular content like additional audio from RED-C Roundup interviews or resources for participants in Victory Sports, our youth-sports initiative. There will also be one-time features such as remote broadcast replays and short-run serial productions like podcasts to accompany our book studies or family retreats. We hope you enjoy the varied ”presents” that will be ”presented” on RED-C Presents! As always, we pray that you are blessed by your interactions with the RED-C Apostolate!
Welcome to the final installment of Eucharist 101! If you’ve made it this far, you’re now part of a small, but growing number of individuals who know the truth about the Sacrament of the Eucharist!
It’s true.
Sadly, as we’ve mentioned throughout the course, some polls estimate that about 69% of Catholics have never been successfully catechized in even the very basic, 101-level facts about the Eucharist.
And that’s what today’s video is about.
We switched it up a little bit, so today you won’t hear from Evan and Deacon Robin. Instead you’ll hear from RED-C Radio host Deacon Mike Bouvais and special guest Deacon Dan Lupo, who is a member of the leadership team for the Eucharistic Revival in the Diocese of Austin, Texas.
Catholics in the United States are in the middle of a Eucharistic Revival effort spearheaded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It started back in 2022 and will conclude in 2024 with a nationwide event in Philadelphia called a Eucharistic Congress.
The goal of this Eucharistic Revival? To do what we’ve attempted to do here: Spark a revival in belief, reverence, and love for Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, especiallyamongst those Catholics who have never been properly taught what the Eucharist is and what it means, and those Christians and non-believers to whom the Eucharist is a foreign idea.
RED-C had Deacon Dan Lupo on our local Texas radio show back in 2022 at the very beginning of the Revival to discuss what it is, how various dioceses are approaching efforts to raise awareness about the Eucharist, and how we as believers can get involved to spark a new era in the Church in the United States and worldwide.
Listen, learn, get involved, and spread the knowledge you’ve gained in this miniseries with your friends, your family, and anyone God puts in your path.
It’s been a pleasure to have you along on this journey, we hope it has served you well. If you have questions or comments about today's video or the course in general, we'd love to hear them! Click Here and leave your name, email address, and question/comment in the form below and we will do our best to respond in a timely manner.
Please keep us in your prayers and know that we're praying for you!
RED-C Apostolate is Religious Education for the Domestic Church. Our mission is to help families integrate Catholic teaching into the context of their daily lives, which we accomplish by providing local Catholic radio programming to families in Central Texas and the Brazos Valley, as well as educational opportunities to families and individuals nationwide through events, retreats, podcasts, and online courses.
If you learned something from this video or miniseries, please consider sharing it with someone who could use some hope through Jesus Christ! Click Here to share.
It’s a strange time we live in that most people—even professed Christians—don’t really believe in miracles.
The majority of civilizations throughout history have believed in miracles. But for some reason, people in the 21st century seem to think they’re too advanced—too enlightened—to believe in miracles.
But if miracles do happen… wouldn’t that change everything?
Miracles do happen and we can 100% verifiably prove it to you!
And not just some amazing phenomenon that happened hundreds of years ago that a Bishop in an obscure country looked at and declared was a miracle, either.
Today we'll be discussing Eucharistic Miracles, one of which happened as recently as 2006, another which has been unexplainably preserved for more than 1,000 years, and several of which have undergone extensive scientific testing by organizations as esteemed as the World Health Organization to prove the validity of the miraculous claims!
But before we get too excited, we must ask an important question: Why does God perform miracles?
Some reasons we know, but others we may never know.
One reason God does perform miracles is to spark faith in us, His beloved children. We can often wrestle with the idea of there being an invisible God until we see some sort of proof.
Another reason God may choose to perform a miracle is to show that someone, something, or some message He has sent to us is actually from Him,and not an imposter.
For example: When Jesus was preaching, healing the sick, and casting out demons among the Jews, some of those who observed his miracles accused him of working for the Devil. To that, Jesus said, “No house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:25-26)
In other words: Look at the miracles I am performing and see the good that is evident in them. God would not allow a false prophet to perform good miracles in His name.
And that is why we highlight Eucharistic miracles in today’s video.
Time and again throughout history, with no exception in our own times, people have called the validity of the Eucharist into question.
“Did Jesus really mean “Eat my flesh and drink my blood?” Or was it merely a metaphor?”
“Is Jesus truly present in the Eucharist as the Church teaches, or is it just a symbol?”
The miracles we present in today’s video are just a few out of the hundreds of documented and verified Eucharistic miracles throughout Church history, not to mention the countless miracles experienced by the faithful throughout the centuries.
As you watch today's video and begin to research Eucharistic miracles on your own, ask yourself this question: "Why would God perform miracles like these through the Eucharist, if not to show that He is TRULY present in the sacrament as the Church teaches?"
For a larger list of documented Eucharistic and other miracles, Click Here to view Blessed Carlo Acutis’ work, the largest such collection and study of miracles in existence today.
We're so glad to have you on this journey with us! If you have questions or comments about today's video, we'd love to hear them! Click Here to fill out and submit the form, and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
Please keep us in your prayers and know that we're praying for you!RED-C Apostolate is Religious Education for the Domestic Church. Our mission is to help families integrate Catholic teaching into the context of their daily lives, which we accomplish by providing local Catholic radio programming to families in Central Texas and the Brazos Valley, as well as educational opportunities to families and individuals nationwide through events, retreats, podcasts, and online courses.
If you learned something from this video or miniseries, please consider sharing it with someone who could use some hope through Jesus Christ! Click Here to share.
Possibly the single most important thing we can do as believers is question our faith.
Woah, what?!
It’s true! Questioning is vital. But we cannot simplyquestion—we must seek answers!
God is Truth—this is one of His transcendental qualities (God is not just true, He IS Truth itself, and apart from Him truth does not exist). Whatever questions we may have about God, about the teachings of the Church, about worship—about anything—because God is true, there is always an answer if we dig deep enough.
What an amazing aspect of our Faith!
Today we're going to dive into a number of common questions people have when it comes to the Eucharist—many of which are age-old questions people just like you and I have been asking for centuries!
Here's what we'll cover today:
1) Jesus died once, for all, so why do Catholics believe in re-sacrificing him at each Mass? (Or DO they?)
2) Why do Catholics call the Eucharist the "Source and summit of the Christian life"?
3) Why do the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention the Eucharist in the Last Supper Discourse, but the Gospel of John does not? Isn’t this evidence that the Eucharist isn’t as important as Catholics seem to believe?
4) Isn’t eating the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ cannibalism?
5) How many times in a day can I receive the Eucharist?
These are just a few of the many questions both friends and enemies of Jesus Christ have had about the Eucharist over the centuries. If you have a question that we don’t answer in the video, please write to us and we’ll do our best to connect you to the wisdom of the Catholic Church.
Whether we answer your questions here or not, just know that many more questions will come up and that’s a good thing! Just always remember that whatever your question, if you ask the right people or search in the right places, God and His Church will always have an answer, because GOD IS TRUTH!
We're so glad to have you on this journey with us! If you have questions or comments about today's video, we'd love to hear them! Click Here to fill out and submit the form, and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
Please keep us in your prayers and know that we're praying for you!
RED-C Apostolate is Religious Education for the Domestic Church. Our mission is to help families integrate Catholic teaching into the context of their daily lives, which we accomplish by providing local Catholic radio programming to families in Central Texas and the Brazos Valley, as well as educational opportunities to families and individuals nationwide through events, retreats, podcasts, and online courses.
If you learned something from this video or miniseries, please consider sharing it with someone who could use some hope through Jesus Christ! Click Here to share.
If some of the previous episodes of Eucharist 101 haven't been controversial enough, today's discussion is on a topic over which wars have been fought and disputes have raged for centuries!
Throughout this miniseries, we've learned what the Eucharist is, what a Sacrament is, we've seen that it is Biblical, and we've learned some spiritual words used to explain the deeper theology of what Jesus said at the Last Supper.
If you are Christian, but not Catholic, you may recognize some of the definitions and teachings we've discussed, and they might sound familiar—similar to the type of "communion" or "Lord's supper" that you may have experienced in your own church, apart from anything to do with Catholicism.
But today, we're here to explore why it is that Catholics are so adamant that they are the "One, holy, universal, and Apostolic Church," and why they believe a valid Eucharist can only be found inside of Catholicism.
How can Catholics make this claim? Apostolic Succession.
What is Apostolic Succession? It refers to meticulously kept historical records showing that after Jesus died, the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, set about taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. However, when the Apostles started getting martyred one-by-one, they realized the necessity of appointing successors to carry on the work they were doing and serve God's people with the same powers given them by Jesus at the Last Supper.
Apostolic Succession, therefore, is a term referring to the bishops and popes who trace back in an unbroken historical line to the 12 Apostles and the priests they ordain to serve the Body of Christ.
What does this mean? For our purposes, it is just one part of the body of evidence showing that Catholic priests are ordained into the succession of the Apostles and thereby continue to this day to be the only ministers given power by Jesus himself to consecrate the bread and wine into the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
In other words, the Eucharist is uniquely Catholic!
We're so glad to have you on this journey with us! If you have questions or comments about today's video, we'd love to hear them! Click Here to fill out and submit the form, and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
Please keep us in your prayers and know that we're praying for you!
RED-C Apostolate is Religious Education for the Domestic Church. Our mission is to help families integrate Catholic teaching into the context of their daily lives, which we accomplish by providing local Catholic radio programming to families in Central Texas and the Brazos Valley, as well as educational opportunities to families and individuals nationwide through events, retreats, podcasts, and online courses.
If you learned something from this video or miniseries, please consider sharing it with someone who could use some hope through Jesus Christ! Click Here to share.
How would you feel if someone you really wanted to be friends with said, "Fine, I'll be your friend, but I want you to always be who I think you are now, and I never want to learn anything about who you really are that could change my perspective."
What a ridiculous thing to say!
No, when we love someone, we desire to get to know them—their past, their hopes, their dreams, the things that make them happy, the things that make them feel fulfilled.
Have you ever tried to get to know Jesus in this way?
That's what today's episode is all about! We're diving deep into the theology of the Eucharist, getting to know Jesus more and more through the very Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
- Do you know why Jesus used bread and wine as the physical sign of the Eucharist, instead of something else?
- Have you ever wondered if eating Jesus' body and blood is cannibalism?
- Did you know that Jesus is totally present in the Eucharist: body, blood, soul, and divinity (his essence as God)?
- If you want to see a miracle happen, did you know you just have to go to Mass and see the priest consecrate the Eucharist?
You'll hear from the Gospels, the Catechism, and even St. Thomas Aquinas in ways you never have before as your hosts attempt to shine a light on the Church's teachings about the Eucharist and explore how this message fits in perfectly with the Eucharistic Revival taking place in America right now!
We're so glad to have you on this journey with us! If you have questions or comments about today's video, we'd love to hear them! Click Here to fill out and submit the form, and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
Please keep us in your prayers and know that we're praying for you!
RED-C Apostolate is Religious Education for the Domestic Church. Our mission is to help families integrate Catholic teaching into the context of their daily lives, which we accomplish by providing local Catholic radio programming to families in Central Texas and the Brazos Valley, as well as educational opportunities to families and individuals nationwide through events, retreats, podcasts, and online courses.
If you learned something from this video or miniseries, please consider sharing it with someone who could use some hope through Jesus Christ! Click Here to share.
Already on day two, it's time for the make-or-break question—possibly the greatest dispute between Catholics and all other Christians for the past 500+ years: Is the Eucharist Biblical? Or a false teaching that has been handed down and persists within the Catholic Church?
In today's video, we'll make the case that Biblical figures prior to Jesus, as well as Jesus himself and his Apostles, very clearly point towards the Eucharist as being the "Source and summit of the Christian life." (CCC, 1324)
Starting with the Old Testament, we'll explore how God revealed through the prophets that the Eucharist would become a soul-saving Sacrament and how different traditions within the Jewish faith prefigured how Catholics celebrate and understand the Eucharist today.
Moving into the New Testament, you'll hear the words of Jesus in the four Gospels—perhaps in a new way—as well as those of St. Paul as they both explicitly talk about the Eucharist and the various duties we have as a result of being given the Sacrament.
“They set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread." — Luke 24:33-35
“For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." — 1 Corinthians 11:23-25
“The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist..." — CCC, 1335
The Eucharist IS Biblical and as we'll discover in episode 4, some of the earliest writings we have from the first Christians, outside of the Gospels, have to do with Mass and the Eucharist.
If you watch this video and realize you've heard other people give rebuttals or alternate interpretations of these passages, we hope you hear them in a different way today. But if not, please hold out a little longer! On day 5 we'll go into more detail and answer some of the more common rebuttals to these verses on the Eucharist, as well as tackle other common questions and challenges from our culture in regards to the Sacrament.
We're so glad to have you on this journey with us! If you have questions or comments about today's video, we'd love to hear them! Click Here to fill out and submit the form, and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
Please keep us in your prayers and know that we're praying for you!
RED-C Apostolate is Religious Education for the Domestic Church. Our mission is to help families integrate Catholic teaching into the context of their daily lives, which we accomplish by providing local Catholic radio programming to families in Central Texas and the Brazos Valley, as well as educational opportunities to families and individuals nationwide through events, retreats, podcasts, and online courses.
If you learned something from this video or miniseries, please consider sharing it with someone who could use some hope through Jesus Christ! Click Here to share.
It was a heavy moment when our Savior spoke up at dinner, catching the attention of the Apostles.
He knew he was about to die.
He knew he would be betrayed by one of his friends.
He knew he would be abandoned by the Apostles and left alone to the judgements and tortures of the Sanhedrin and the Romans.
So what did Jesus do?
He took bread and broke it—and likewise took the chalice—and gave us the Sacrament of his body, blood, soul, and divinity (his being as God), which many have risked life and limb to receive and protect, and of which St. Pope Pius X said, "Holy Communion (Eucharist) is the shortest and safest way to heaven."
If you're a lifelong Catholic, perhaps you understand this on a deep level. But if you're a new Catholic, one of our Christian brothers and sisters, or someone starting to question if God could be real, you may wonder, "What's the big deal?" Isn't it just a piece of bread? Isn't it just a symbol?
We'll dive into these questions and many more throughout this seven-part miniseries, but today we're starting with the basics, answering the questions: "What is the Eucharist?" and "What is a sacrament?", finishing with how the Eucharist and all the sacraments convey God’s grace and love into our lives and how to seek that out on a daily basis.
This is a 101-level course, so we start off with the basics. But don't worry, as we walk this journey together over the next six days, we will dive deeper and deeper into the mystery of the Sacrament and provide you with resources to enhance your journey into Eucharistic teachings.
We're so glad to have you on this journey with us! If you have questions or comments about today's video, we'd love to hear them! Click Here to fill out and submit the form, and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
Please keep us in your prayers and know that we're praying for you!
RED-C Apostolate is Religious Education for the Domestic Church. Our mission is to help families integrate Catholic teaching into the context of their daily lives, which we accomplish by providing local Catholic radio programming to families in Central Texas and the Brazos Valley, as well as educational opportunities to families and individuals nationwide through events, retreats, podcasts, and online courses.
If you learned something from this video or miniseries, please consider sharing it with someone who could use some hope in Jesus Christ! Click Here to share.
This episode of "The Deacon and the Doc” looks at one of the most important issues of our time as American Catholics—religious freedom—through the lens of the Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, from the Second Vatican Council. The document itself has been a subject of scrutiny and criticism since its publication in 1965. The Deacon and the Doc try to clear away the misconceptions surrounding it and to put it in its proper historical context, including the role of President John F. Kennedy, the United States' first Catholic executive, in defining the contours of American religious liberty. Issues of church-state relations come into play as well as we consider the state of religious freedom today.Deacon Mike Beauvais and Dr. Thaddeus Romansky are your hosts. Shows will bounce around between considering the legacy of Vatican II, encouraging the Eucharistic Revival, and offering windows into the discussions at our faith formation classes. Each episode is about 20 minutes. Your hosts will always have something to talk about, sometimes to disagree about, but always to be faithful about.
Please note, this episode was recorded prior to the death of Pope Benedict XVI.
On this episode, your hosts look at Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's gracious and insightful letter to participants in an October 2022 conference at Franciscan University convened to study and discuss the thought of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. The Deacon and the Doc especially tried to use this letter to get a sense of the late pope's sense of Vatican II's legacy and of the Church's life in the current moment.
We began the show reviewing the facts of the laicization of Frank Pavone, averring that this incident has a long backstory and has less to do with abortion politics than it does with the integrity of the Catholic Church qua the Catholic Church. To that end, we looked at Chapter III from the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, promulgated by the Second Vatican Council in 1964. It is absolutely vital to understand that the hierarchical nature of the Church is divinely ordained. For a priest or bishop to flaunt that structure is a scandal and it leads to division and disunity, which is the goal of the Evil One. Furthermore, it should be added that a priest only derives his teaching authority from his bishop. It is by sharing in his bishop’s teaching power that gives the teachings of a priest any weight. Separated from his bishop, a priest’s statements are merely his opinions. The Deacon and the Doc ended by stating how damaging it is when bishops fail in their duties to preach and teach and defend the faith. The Doc went so far as to suggest that most of the problems in the Church today can be tied to failures of episcopal witness or episcopal authority and that renewal of the apostolic college will need to be a project for this entire century.
Relevant Articles:
"Zurek Letter Explained Pavone Laicization Plan" - The Pillar
"New Disciplinary Action Looming for Father Pavone?" - Catholic Culture (12/2014)
"Priest for Life? A Frank Pavone Explainer" - The Pillar
On this episode of The Deacon and the Doc we reflected on the incredible life of Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger in 1927. We began with sharing when and where we got the news of his death, then how we first learned of him as an intellectual figure. We looked back at his role as as a peritus at the Second Vatican Council and then his work, alongside Pope John Paul II, in securing the legacy of the council and what he eventually termed the "reform of the reform." Dcn. Mike emphasized Pope Benedict's heroic efforts to maintain the unity of truth and love in the face of the modern world's efforts to separate and distort them. We concluded by marveling at the sheer range and brilliance of the late Holy Father's intellectual deposit, including his friend Cardinal Christoph Schönburn's assessment, who puts "the works of Pope Benedict next to the works of Saint Augustine."
Sacrosanctum Concillium (SC), the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, was the first document produced by the Second Vatican Council; promulgated on December 4, 1963. It is also the first document that Fr. Blake Britton analyzes in his book, Reclaiming Vatican II. The Deacon and Doc discussed how Fr. Britton's framework of worship, reconciliation, and divinization, bring out the power and majesty of SC and of the Mass. They also included responses from some seminar participants to the chapter as well as some critiques of Britton's method.
Dr. Larry Chapp blogs at Gaudium et Spes 22 and has emerged in the last several years as a vigorous apologist for Vatican II. He recently published an essay at Our Sunday Visitor doing just that. The Deacon and the Doc read it, digested it, and had quite a spirited discussion over it—complete with moments of civil disagreement. The episode is a bit longer than usual, but we hope you stick around for the whole thing!
The RED-C Apostolate offered in-person seminars during the fall of 2022 to study the teachings and legacy of the Second Vatican Council. Fr. Blake Britton's book, Reclaiming Vatican II, formed the basis for the groups that met in Bryan-College Station. The Deacon and the Doc surveyed some of the participants' reactions to its initial chapters in this episode.
In the months leading up to Second Vatican Council, the French Jesuit, Fr. Henri de Lubac, kept a journal documenting his role as a peritus (theological expert) in the initial deliberations and discussions. De Lubac continued his private commentary during the council itself. The Deacon and the Doc availed themselves of excerpts from De Lubac's journal, which are on offer at Catholic Culture, accompanied by excellent commentary by the site's founder, Dr. Jeff Mirus. The Deacon and the Doc are grateful to Cardinal De Lubac (may he rest in peace) for letting us see "how the sausage was made" at the council. Why? Because it only increases one's faith in the action of the Holy Spirit and gives one hope in the midst of any current confusion or controversy.
RED-C Catholic Radio was honored to bring to our listeners this LIVE broadcast of St. Mary's Catholic Center's Magnify event with special guest speaker, Fr. Mike Schmitz. This event took place on Thursday, October 27th, 2022 in Rudder Auditorium on the campus of Texas A&M University to an audience of 2000 attendees.
In this episode of "The Deacon and the Doc" offer impressions on their first class sessions over Fr. Blake Britton's book, Reclaiming Vatican II, and they spend some time reviewing a video for the National Eucharistic Revival from the Diocese of Austin called "This Wonderful Sacrament.” This video is especially good at helping us see how the liturgy unifies us as the People of God around our bishop, around the pope and the Church universal, and most importantly, unites us with the Trinity through the Eucharistic sacrifice of Jesus. Especially, listen in for our discussion about the significant words of the Eucharistic Prayer and what it is making sacramentally present.
We are publishing this most recent installment of The Deacon and the Doc on the sixtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. Our subject is the brief pontificate of Pope John Paul I, who was beatified on September 4, 2022. Known as the "Smiling Pope," Albino Luciani made cementing and extending the correct implementation of the council a cornerstone of his pontificate. We delve into what his hopes were on that front as well as provide some fascinating insight on the approved miracle that triggered his beatification.
On this episode of the Deacon and the Doc, we consider the importance of adoration in helping us be more humble and docile in our relationship with Jesus. We also consider how participation in the devotion of Eucharistic adoration can actually bring us to greater faith in our Eucharistic Lord.
If you're an American Catholic, you've probably heard about the infamous 2019 Pew Research Study, which purported that 70% of Catholics don't believe in the Real Presence. Well, the Deacon and the Doc have always maintained that said poll doesn't pass the smell test. Listen in as we point out some of the flaws with the study itself, dissect its questions, and offer some countervailing conclusions. We also point to arguably a more robust study, which presented quite different findings. You can learn about that survey here.
The Deacon and the Doc preview the book, Reclaiming Vatican II, which will serve as the basis for two of our upcoming fall faith formation classes in the Brazos Valley. You can sign up to attend here: redcradio.org/vc260.
Changes in the liturgy, the abuse scandals, the collapse of religious orders, a decline in Mass attendance, just to name a few have all combined to create renewed doubt about and criticism of the Second Vatican Council in recent years. Did the implementation of the council damage the Church or were the documents themselves to blame? The book's interpretative lens of "paracouncil," borrowed from Henri de Lubac in his notes on the council, offers a helpful mechanism for fleshing out how the implementation went awry. And what might lie behind those disturbing events listed above. But could a liturgical revival of ad orientem worship, for example, ever really take hold? And how might that happen?
Listen to all of our RED-C podcasts at redcradio.org/podcast.
The Deacon and the Doc are back for another season of conversations, not only about the teachings and legacy of the Second Vatican Council, but the ongoing Eucharistic Revival in the United States.
It's with some of Vatican II's legacy that we start off this season. Only three years after the close of the council, Pope St. Paul VI issued his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. Its promulgation triggered waves of dissent within the Church and dismissal by observers from outside. Well, it's back in the news again. The Deacon and the Doc tackle the recent hub-bub and…questionable tweets!…coming out of the Pontifical Academy for Life. The encyclical's magisterial status is being questioned and, therefore, the permanence of its teachings. Dcn. Mike Beauvais breaks it down for you. Along the way, the Deacon & the Doc zero in on the absurdity of debating theological questions (especially!) over the medium of Twitter.
If you live in the Bryan-College Station area or in Central Texas, go now to redcradio.org/vc260 and sign up for at least one of our numerous in-person classes this fall to learn more about Vatican II. Read its documents or dive deeper by reading the book Reclaiming Vatican II.
The Deacon and the Doc concluded their discussion of Gaudium et Spes(GS) as well as the closing address of Pope St. Paul VI and the afterword to the Word on Fire Vatican II Collection by Dr. Matthew Levering. In many ways, GS encapsulates Pope Paul’s quote: "This council hands over to posterity not only the image of the Church but also the patrimony of her doctrine and of her commandments, the “deposit” received from Christ and meditated upon through centuries, lived and expressed now and clarified in so many of its parts, settled and arranged in its integrity."
Throughout the document, the council fathers largely succeed for the Church at explaining how the “patrimony of her doctrine” remains a “deposit” of faith that is “lived and expressed now.” Many of the challenges presented by the modern world—some completely unanticipated by earlier eras—are, nevertheless, cogently evaluated in GS precisely because they can be measured against an unchanging Christian anthropology and judged in light of the Incarnation.
The Deacon and the Doc continued our discussion of Gaudium et Spes (GS). Its predictive quality in describing the world we live in today continued to impress us.
Deacon Mike thinks that Part Two of GS really shines as the council fathers began to speak with clarity and charity about how the Church and her constant teaching is the necessary ingredient for a civilizing humanity. The Doc couldn’t stop praising what the document had to say about the essential role of the family. It’s clear from our experience that if the family is broken so will society be. Gaudium et Spes provides us with the philosophical and theological grounding to backup that empirical knowledge.
The Deacon and the Doc dove right into talking about our initial impressions of Gaudium et Spes (GS). We agreed with many of our participants who called the constitution prescient in its analysis of modern society’s situation.
That situation arose due to the West’s gradual abandonment of Catholic Christianity as it acquired new technological, cultural, and political forms. Nevertheless, those same societies suffered from environmental degradation, spiritual malaise, sensual overload, and ideological extremism. All of these maladies were, in the clear-eyed analysis of GS, due to humanity’s rejection of Christ as the standard by which individual human beings and human societies evaluate themselves.
The Deacon and the Doc continued to analyze Sacrosanctum Concillium. This episode covers the second part of the constitution, which explained how the other sacraments, the sacramentals, the divine office, sacred music, and sacred art are all part of the Church's liturgy, the public work it established and maintains for the salvation of souls.
The Deacon and the Doc discussed the first half of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concillium. It is primarily concerned with the Mass and lays down norms for its revision. However, the beginning of the text is beautiful meditation on the nature and purpose of liturgy.
This time the Deacon and the Doc spent a lot of time on the evangelical counsels and how those religious who live them out choose a radical devotion to Our Lord, as JP2 states above, and constitute a powerful witness for our eternal destiny. As Lumen Gentium §44 makes clear, a person, “by the profession of the evangelical counsels…is more intimately consecrated to divine service.” But these signs of the counsels will also attract all the Church’s members to realize “the presence of heavenly goods already possessed here below.” And no creature did that better than the Blessed Virgin Mary, “the pre-eminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent exemplar in faith and charity.” (LG §53)
For more on the Blessed Virgin Mary as discussed in Lumen Gentium, give a listen to Trey Cashion and the Doc delving enthusiastically into Chapter 8 here on The Mystery of Parenthood from last week.
We hope the podcast continues to edify you. We’ll see you in class for our discussion of Sacrosanctum Concilium, chapters 1-3! Thank you for answering the call and being a part of our Vatican II document study.
In this episode, the Deacon and the Doc focus on Chapters Four and Five of Lumen Gentium. Chapter Four puts the laity front and center. Far from merely praying, paying, and obeying, the laity (as in the ancient Church), “is at the same time a witness and a living instrument of the mission of the Church itself.” (LG §33) Furthermore, as living instruments they, along with the whole Church, are expected to answer Pope Francis’s summons quoted above. By so doing, every baptized Catholic gives Christ to the world; becomes a bearer of the lumen to the gentes.
We hope the podcast continues to edify you. We’ll see you in class for our discussion of Lumen Gentium, chapters 6–8! Thank you for answering the call and being a part of our Vatican II document study.
RED-C Catholic Radio live broadcast of the 2022 Diaconate Ordination for the Diocese of Austin on the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19th, from St. William's Parish in Round Rock, Texas.
In this episode, the Deacon and the Doc spend a good deal of time looking closely at Lumen Gentium §12. This section offers us a beautiful explanation of every Catholic’s participation in the common priesthood of Christ. That participation makes it possible for us to live lives of sacrifce. The Deacon explained in turn why we must offer our suffering and sins as sacrifices on the altar in the Mass. That is the heart of our full and active participation.
Dcn. Mike Beauvais and Dr. Thaddeus Romansky reviewed class discussions about the opening address of Pope St. John XXIII to the Second Vatican Council and the first three chapters of Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. Divine revelation is much more than the Bible. In fact, it is God who revealed Himself through his creation, salvation history, foremost through his son Jesus Christ (the Word of God), and then the preaching and teaching of His Church, and finally Scripture. There is a unity of God's words and deeds (DV 2) fulfilled most clearly in Our Lord. And Scripture provides a mysterious union between divine inspiration and human authorship. Please listen to and share this podcast.