Building a Civilization of Life and Love, One Mind at a Time

Posted on November 15, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Address upon receiving the Gaudium et Spes Award, States Dinner, August 5 2025; Columbia Magazine (October 2025)
Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, receiving the Gaudium et Spes Award, States Dinner, (August 5 2025)

I’m not comfortable with the way today’s America works, but I think this is a good time to be an American and a Catholic. That’s because part of my job is easier now, than it would have been in my youth.

Granted, experiencing “increasing opposition” from The Establishment1 isn’t comfortable. But honestly: why would I want their approval?

Vatican II and Making Sense

Cover of Columbia Magazine October 2025, detail.
Columbia Magazine cover. (October 2025)

“Time for
‘Another Wake-Up Call‘”
Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See,
Address upon receiving the Gaudium et Spes Award,
States Dinner, August 5 2025;
Columbia Magazine
(October 2025)

“Recently, I was somewhat surprised to read in a Catholic magazine that Vatican II is old history for most Catholics today — something like the Council of Trent. But I’m sure at least some of you recall what a wake-up call Vatican II was for many of us who grew up at a time when it was all too easy to get the idea that the role of the laity was to ‘pray, pay and obey.‘ Then, all of a sudden, we found out that, whatever else we’re doing in our lives, we’re also supposed to be transforming the whole political, economic and cultural arena in a Christian spirit! The temporal sphere is so much the responsibility of the laity, they said, that no one else can do the job….

…

“…Now, some of you are probably thinking that if we had paid more attention in catechism class, we would have known that’s always been the mission of the laity. That’s the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples…

…

“…The mission was the same, but the challenges were new. And most of us, frankly, weren’t quite ready for those challenges. We weren’t ready for what Fulton Sheen called ‘the end of Christendom’ — not the end of Christianity, not the end of the Church, but the end of a society where economic, political and social life was permeated to a great extent by Christian principles. So, it really was time for the laity to wake up….

…

“…Building the civilization of life and love is first and foremost a matter of reaching hearts and minds. And that work will never end.…”
[emphasis mine]

Lothar Wolleh's photo of the Second Vatican Council - interior of St. Peter's Basilica.
Lothar Wolleh’s photo: St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Second Vatican Council met each year, from 1962 to 1965. I wasn’t a Catholic at the time, so the Second Vatican Council didn’t make all that much of an impression on me.

Now and then I ran across slapstick in the news with the catchphrase “in the spirit of Vatican Two”. And sometimes I’d read something slightly more substantial about what the documents actually said. Very slightly.

By the time I became a Catholic, decades later, a few folks said they were the only real Catholics left. Mainly because they didn’t like what they’d heard about Vatican II, and that if the Pope wasn’t denouncing it, he wasn’t really Catholic.

You can’t argue with logic like that.

Me? I became a Catholic because I think Jesus hadn’t been lying to the Apostles. And I finally realized who currently holds the authority Jesus gave Peter. (Matthew 16:13–19; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 882-889)

Besides, I’ve read some of the Vatican II documents. They make sense. So does “Humanae Vitae”, written after Vatican II by Pope St. Paul VI. And that’s another topic.2

As for taking Jesus seriously, I agree with Simon Peter:

“Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?’
Simon Peter answered him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.'”
(John 6:67–69)

“…The End of Christendom … Not a Gloomy Picture….”

Bible epic movie posters: 'David and Bathsheba' (1951), 'Esther and the King (1960), 'Samson and Delilah (1949), 'Sins of Jezebel' (1953), 'Solomon and Sheba' (1959), 'The Prodigal' (1955)
Bible epics: Samson and Delilah (1949), ‘David and Bathsheba’ (1951), ‘Sins of Jezebel’ (1953), ‘Solomon and Sheba’ (1959), ‘The Prodigal’ (1955), ‘Esther and the King (1960).

I’ve tried tracking down that Archbishop Fulton Sheen quote. What I’ve found agrees that he said it in 1974: at a conference, on a television show, or maybe both. This is the closest I’ve found to an extended version of the quote, giving some context:

“In 1974, Archbishop Fulton Sheen said in a conference, ‘We are at the end of Christendom. Not of Christianity, not of the Church, but of Christendom. Now what is meant by Christendom? Christendom is economic, political, social life as inspired by Christian principles. That is ending — we’ve seen it die.’ But he went on to say, ‘These are great and wonderful days in which to be alive. … It is not a gloomy picture — it is a picture of the Church in the midst of increasing opposition from the world. And therefore live your lives in the full consciousness of this hour of testing, and rally close to the heart of Christ.”
(“From Christendom to Apostolic Mission Quotes” , From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age by University of Mary; via GoodReads) [emphasis mine]

Branford Clarke's illustration for 'The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy,' Bishop Alma White; Pillar of Fire Church, Zaraphath, New Jersey. (1925) via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.
From “The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy” Pillar of Fire Church. (1925)

I’m about 56 years younger than Archbishop Sheen, but I remember what passed for “Christendom” in America.

Although living in today’s world doesn’t consistently feel good, I emphatically and sincerely do NOT yearn for ‘the good old days’.

It wasn’t just Bible Epics preaching the Gospel According to Cecil B. DeMille.3

It was the impression that Christians were, or should be, upwardly-mobile folks with English-sounding names who went to the right church — who, intentionally or not, helped launch the Sixties counter-culture.

I will admit to a bias. I’m one of ‘those crazy kids’ who thought that buying stuff I don’t need with money I don’t have to impress people I don’t like made no sense. At all.

An Assumption and “The Apotheosis of Washington”

Detail of 'The Apotheosis of Washington,' United States Capitol rotunda; Constantino Brumidi. (1865)
Detail, Constantino Brumidi’s “The Apotheosis of Washington”, U.S. Capitol rotunda. (1865)
John James Barralet's 'Apotheosis of Washington,' based on work by Gilbert Stuart. (1800-1802)
John James Barralet’s “Apotheosis of Washington,” based on a work by Gilbert Stuart. (1800-1802)

“Train the young in the way they should go;
even when old, they will not swerve from it.”
(Proverbs 22:6)

One of my daughters suggested that the current mess came partly from misplaced trust.

I think she’s got a point.

Folks who believed that America was a “Christian” country might have felt that delegating responsibility for teaching their kids about our faith made sense. Particularly if they hadn’t learned all that much about it themselves.

Why more didn’t balk at goofy conflations of American folklore and Christian belief like “The Apotheosis of Washington”:4 that, I don’t know. I do think that there was, at best, an appalling lack of quality control when it came to passing on the faith.

“…Great and Wonderful Days in Which to be Alive….”

Grant Hamilton's cartoon comment on William Jennings Bryan's 1896 'Cross of Gold' speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Grant Hamilton’s view of William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (1896)

“We are at the end of Christendom. Not of Christianity, not of the Church, but of Christendom. … These are great and wonderful days in which to be alive. … It is not a gloomy picture — it is a picture of the Church in the midst of increasing opposition from the world.…”
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1974)) [emphasis mine]

I’m not sure about the extent to which Christian principles actually inspired “economic, political, [and] social life” in the generations before 1974.

Christian-sounding slogans, yes; husbands and fathers joining the ‘right’ church in their quest for career success, yes. But actually putting ideas like “love your neighbor” into practice? Well, maybe. What I remember is a society with seriously disordered priorities.

So yes, I think this is a good time to be alive.

This is certainly not a comfortable era, for anyone.

But the more that I don’t have to explain why being a Christian doesn’t necessarily mean being a particular sort of American, the better I like it.

Goals, and the Best News Humanity’s Ever Had

Udo Keppler's 'False Alarm on the Fourth' cartoon for Puck. Uncle Sam tells Lady Peace: 'It's all right. There's no fighting. The noise you hear is just my family celebrating!' (1902)
“A False Alarm on the Fourth”
Udo Keppler, Puck. (1902)
“Uncle Sam — It’s all right! There’s no fighting!
The noise you hear is just my family celebrating!”

On the other hand, being an American doesn’t, or shouldn’t, get in the way of being a Christian and a Catholic. And I shouldn’t put off ‘love of country’ until the country I live in is perfect.

“… ‘Our true native land is heaven, where the kingdom of God is in full bloom,’ the supreme chaplain (Archbishop Lori) affirmed. Nonetheless, he added, ‘We must love our country as it is, not as we may wish it to be … This doesn’t mean we should be complacent or settle for the status quo. It only means we can’t defer love of country until everything is shipshape’….”
(“125 Years of Patriotic Service” , Columbia staff, Columbia Magazine (April 2025)) [emphasis mine]

Now I’d better get back to what I should be doing.

I’m one of the Catholic laity: folks who are Catholic, but not priests, deacons, or members of a religious order. Part of my job is “transforming the whole political, economic and cultural arena in a Christian spirit”.

Okay, so what does that mean? What should a transformed society look like?

For starters, it would be a society where all people matter, and each person matters: every person, no matter how young, old, sick, or healthy the person is. (Catechism, 2258-2317)

That’s a pretty tall order. I’m working on learning to act that way, myself. It’s not easy.

Backing up a bit, another part of my job as a Catholic is sharing the best news humanity’s ever had, with anyone willing to listen.

God loves us, and wants to adopt us. All of us. (Matthew 5:44–5; John 1:12–14, 3:17; Romans 8:14–17; ; Ephesians 1:3–5; Peter 2:3–4; Catechism, 1-3, 27-30, 52, 1825, 1996)

That’s very good news indeed, because we “…all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ….” (Catechism, 389, 405, 407-412, 1701-1707, 1811, 1949)

I’ve said that before, and expect that I will again.

Justice, Charity, Respect: Sounds Good to Me

Adimono's 'Sun City'. see https://www.deviantart.com/adam-varga/art/Sun-City-212633594 (June 11, 2011)
Adimono’s “Sun City”. (2011)

It’s probably obvious, but the status quo isn’t acceptable. Even stalwart defenders of today’s Establishment seem aware that we need change.

We can’t go back to some imagined ‘good old days’. Even if we could, I’d argue against repeating mistakes that landed us in today’s pickle barrel.

That leaves us one direction: forward, building a society that’s better than what we’ve got. I’m convinced that this is possible. Easy, no. Possible, yes.

As for what that society would look like, some of the basics —

Justice and acts of charity, along with respecting humanity’s “transcendent dignity”, are all good ideas. So is building a society where justice, charity and respect are the norm. Here’s where it gets difficult. It starts in me, with an ongoing “inner conversion”. (Catechism, 1886-1889, 1928-1942, 2419-2442)

Like I said, not at all easy. But I think the effort is worthwhile.

More of the same, with a (very) little more detail:

1 Their quirks and preferences change, but every era has them:

2 A little background, personal and otherwise:

3 Two influential Americans:

4 Excessive enthusiasm, putting it mildly, for a remarkable American:

Posted in Being a Citizen, Being Catholic, Journal | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

My Second Aurora, and a Space Weather Alert

Posted on November 12, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
G4 (Severe) Storm Levels Reached! / Current Space Weather Conditions on NOAA Scales / Space Weather Prediction Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / published: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 01:40 UTC / G4 (Severe) storm levels reached on 12 November at 0120 UTC (8:20pm EST)! Geomagnetic storm conditions are anticipated to continue into the night. Stay informed at spaceweather.gov for the latest. The included aurora images are of the aurora shining over northeastern Colorado. (November 12, 2025)
G4 conditions alert from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. (November 12, 2025)

I have now seen aurora two times.

The first was when my folks and I were living at 818 in Moorhead, Minnesota. I remember standing in the front yard, looking straight up, seeing pale greenish patches shifting. It looked a bit like drifting fog or blowing snow would, looking at a car’s headlights; but with no headlights.

That’s as lyrically descriptive as I’ll try today.

Then, yesterday evening (Tuesday, November 11, 2025), our third-oldest daughter came to my desk and told me that I should see the aurora. So did our son, as I was heading for the front door.

Earlier, while our oldest daughter and I were doing our usual chat, she texted ‘aura alert! brb’. Later, we discussed the difficulty of seeing aurora with eyes that detect colors quite well in daylight: but are distinctly sub-par at night.

Anyway, I lurched out the front door, hung onto one of the porch’s pillars, raised the other arm to block street lights, and enjoyed watching a wavering patch of indistinct red light. Mostly it was in the west-northwest.

My son told me there was more overhead. I believe him, but getting myself down to ground level would have been more work than — well, basically, I enjoyed what I could see and was thankful for that.

I’m told that our son-in-law got some photos. He’s got a device that’s good in low light levels, and a very steady hand. I’ll probably see those, next time we get together.

That “SEVERE Geomagnetic Storm ALERT” from the Space Weather Prediction Center is the sort of thing that’d have been science fiction in my youth.

These days, for folks like me, it’s mainly a ‘heads up’, letting me know there’s a chance to see a light show.

For others, who take care of today’s continent-spanning power grids and those parts of our infrastructure which orbit Earth, it signals that it’s time to use procedures developed for such circumstances.

There’s more to say about aurora, physics, science, being human, and God. But I’ve talked about that before:

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Veterans Day and Patriotism

Posted on November 11, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
Flag of the United States of America.

Veterans Day and ideas about patriotism overlap, so I’ll start with an admission.

On the whole, I like being an American.

That’s partly because I think that “America” includes much more than this country’s national government.

A little over a year ago, someone expressed the idea rather well:

“…Just a thought … As we were reached the pad … there’s that American flag … on the side of the rocket itself, and we know that that represents unity, and resilience, and unified efforts for the common good. And that’s what Suni and I have witnessed this last month: each of you displaying what this nation’s forefathers envisioned: a people committed to God, family and country, a people who use their gifts and talents for the common good, and are passionate, and tough. And we all know that when the going gets tough … the tough get going … Let’s get going….”
(Barry “Butch” E. Wilmore, astronaut, a little over four minutes before launch of the Starliner Calypso, from NASA video coverage (June 5, 2024))

I also am profoundly glad that so many folks over the last two and a half centuries have decided that serving in this country’s armed forces was a good idea. The rest of us owe you our thanks, if nothing else.

There. I’ve said it.

Now I’ll take a look at why I think “patriotism” can be okay.

Love of Country, Yes; Worship of Country, No

Brian H. Gill's 'Drop It' poster. (1960s, low-rez image 2011)
Adapted from a poster I made while in high school

Am I a “patriot”?

In at least one sense, I am not. In my youth, I ran into this definition:

Patriot:
Someone who willingly lays down your life for his country.

Bear in mind that I was growing up during the Sixties.

The Indochina involvement was running full-steam-ahead, and a loud segment of the past-draft-age population were having fits. Partly, it seemed, because so many folks my age had started thinking, instead of supporting freedom by mindlessly doing what we were told to do.

Although I wasn’t by a long shot the craziest of ‘those crazy kids’, I was among those who were trying to make sense out of what was happening.

Maybe, a century or so from now, historians can sort out what looked like madness then. I’ve decided that the task would require access to information I don’t have, and very likely won’t get.

I have, however, decided that “patriotism” can be reasonable. That’s mainly because I now realize that “patriotism” is not “nationalism”.

“…While nationalism implies contempt or even hatred for other nations or cultures, patriotism is an appropriate particular — but not exclusive — love of and service to one’s country and people, as remote from cosmopolitanism as it is from cultural nationalism. Each culture aspires to the universal through the best it has to offer. Cultures are also called to purify themselves of their share in the legacy of sin, embodied in certain prejudices, customs and practices, to enrich themselves with the input of the faith and to «enrich the universal Church itself with new expressions and values» (Redemptoris Missio, 52 and Slavorum Apostoli, 21)….”
(“Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture” , Pontifical Council for Culture (May 23, 1999)) [emphasis mine]

Since I’m a Catholic, keeping my priorities straight is an obligation.

So although loving my country is a good idea, letting that love slop over into something else is a bad idea and I shouldn’t do it.

2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, ‘You cannot serve God and mammon.'(Matthew 6:24)Many martyrs died for not adoring ‘the Beast’ (Cf. Revelation 13-14). refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.(Cf. Gal 5:20; Eph 5:5)
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) [emphasis mine]

Another point: caring about my family, and my country, is a good idea. So is caring about folks who aren’t close kin, or aren’t Americans.

Love of neighbors should include actually doing something: not just having warm feelings.

Respecting legitimate authority matters. Within reason.

“2199 The fourth commandment is addressed expressly to children in their relationship to their father and mother, because this relationship is the most universal. It likewise concerns the ties of kinship between members of the extended family. It requires honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors. Finally, it extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who administer or govern it. This commandment includes and presupposes the duties of parents, instructors, teachers, leaders, magistrates, those who govern, all who exercise authority over others or over a community of persons.”

“2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. the love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) [emphasis mine]

Freedom, Responsibility, and Other Inconveniences

Walt Kelly's Pogo. (March 30, 1953) Howland Owl, Mole MacCarony, and The Cowbirds; in a discussion of owl migration. Mole MacCarony, in reference to an ignited 'Captain Wimby's Bird Atlas', says 'There's nothing quite so lovely as a brightly burning book'.
“There’s nothing quite so lovely as a
brightly burning book”.
The Hon:Mole MacCarony in Pogo. (March 30, 1953)

I am not “political” in the sense that I’ll deify Party A and demonize Party B, or claim that God agrees with me and if you don’t — well, you get the idea.

But I can’t ignore politics. Much as I’d like to.

Or, rather, I can’t ignore the ethical messes spattered across public life.

I don’t talk about those issues much, partly because I’m literally trying to keep my blood pressure down.

But now and then I do try explaining why I think human lives matter — no matter whose life it is — and discussing other ethical angles of contemporary living.

Sometimes that means making statements that sound “political”. I don’t like it, but paying attention to public life — including the “political” parts — comes with the territory.

That’s because ethics matter.

A word of explanation before I share more quotes. In Catholic-speak, “ethical” and “moral” mean roughly the same thing. “Moral” behavior isn’t limited to the handful of zipper issues that news media loves to cover.

“2245 The Church, because of her commission and competence, is not to be confused in any way with the political community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person. ‘The Church respects and encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the citizen.'(Gaudium et Spes 76 § 3.)

“2246 It is a part of the Church’s mission ‘to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. the means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.’ (Gaudium et Spes 76 § 5.)”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) [emphasis mine]

Remembering “the Good of the Whole Human Family”

Some of this will sound “political”, but as I said: ethics matter. Even if they seem to support some political slogans.

“75. …Citizens must cultivate a generous and loyal spirit of patriotism, but without being narrow-minded. This means that they will always direct their attention to the good of the whole human family, united by the different ties which bind together races, people and nations….

“…76. It is very important, especially where a pluralistic society prevails, that there be a correct notion of the relationship between the political community and the Church, and a clear distinction between the tasks which Christians undertake, individually or as a group, on their own responsibility as citizens guided by the dictates of a Christian conscience, and the activities which, in union with their pastors, they carry out in the name of the Church.

“The Church, by reason of her role and competence, is not identified in any way with the political community nor bound to any political system. She is at once a sign and a safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person.

“The Church and the political community in their own fields are autonomous and independent from each other. Yet both, under different titles, are devoted to the personal and social vocation of the same men. The more that both foster sounder cooperation between themselves with due consideration for the circumstances of time and place, the more effective will their service be exercised for the good of all. For man’s horizons are not limited only to the temporal order; while living in the context of human history, he preserves intact his eternal vocation. … By preaching the truths of the Gospel, and bringing to bear on all fields of human endeavor the light of her doctrine and of a Christian witness, [the Church] respects and fosters the political freedom and responsibility of citizens….”
(“Gaudium et Spes” , Pope St. Paul VI (December 7, 1965) [emphasis mine]

“Agents of Security and Freedom of Peoples”

It’s been a long time since I saw someone write ‘I thought Jesus was a pacifist’, but my guess is that similar notions are still oozing through social media.

Although I don’t like war — it breaks things and kills people — I’d make a lousy pacifist.

Even during the Sixties, I realized that sometimes keeping people safe means doing more than uttering stern reproofs.

This is not a new idea.

“2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. ‘The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor. … The one is intended, the other is not.’ (“Summa Theologica”, , STh II-II,64,7, St. Thomas Aquinas) [emphasis mine]

“…79. …Those too who devote themselves to the military service of their country should regard themselves as the agents of security and freedom of peoples. As long as they fulfill this role properly, they are making a genuine contribution to the establishment of peace.”
(“Gaudium et Spes” , Pope St. Paul VI (December 7, 1965) [emphasis mine]

I’ve talked about America, legitimate defense, and acting as if ethics matter, before:

Posted in Discursive Detours, Journal | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

So? Let Her!

Posted on November 8, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
“Making a Cross from Four Palm Fronds” with my wife and me. (2011)

My wife grew up in a very “Catholic” family.

That doesn’t mean what you might think it does: old-fashioned clothes, candles everywhere, too many children, and the girls brought up to be doormats.

Okay, granted: my wife is the second of seven kids. But I can’t think of one of the other six who’s redundant.

Then there’s the matter of how my in-laws brought up their children. Take, for example, the time someone from the high school called my father-in-law with an grave concern regarding my wife’s younger sister.

The conversation went like this:

Concerned educator: “Do you know that your daughter wants to take SHOP?!“

My father-in-law: “So? Let her!”

And so, she took shop class. A bit later, one of my brothers-in-law took home ec. Partly, I suspect, because so many girls were taking the class. But, as my wife pointed out, he enjoys food preparation and is good at it.

Time passed. My wife’s older sister became a doctor. My wife earned a degree in computer science. I didn’t, but that’s when I met her. Her other siblings ended up doing things that fit their goals and abilities.

Like I said: a very Catholic family.

My sister-in-law the doctor came closest to following a family tradition. My wife’s mother’s mother’s mother was a midwife: who never lost a baby or a mother.

Another of my wife’s ancestors was accused of practicing witchcraft. Why, I don’t know, and the charges didn’t stick.

My guess is that the alleged “witch” was too good at helping neighbors stay healthy.1 That, over the last few centuries, could have triggered panicked responses.

My wife’s knack for acquiring knowledge of health, nutrition, and helpful herbal products suggests to me that healing has been a family tradition of sorts.

Health, Medicine, Being Catholic, and Using My Brain

Detail of Collection of standard 13th-century medical texts with inhabited initials showing medical scenes. 'Medical miscellany ', Oversize LJS 24, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania
Detail from a standard 13th century medical text.

Considering what’s happened in the last half-millennium, I’d better talk about being Catholic, science, medicine, and using my brain.

Very briefly: being healthy is okay, being sick is okay; getting well, and helping others get well, is a good idea. Scientific research is okay, too: and ethics matter, same as with everything else we do. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1410, 1500-1510, 2292-2296)

Some things aren’t okay, like divination and trying to get random spirits to do us favors. That’s a really bad idea and we shouldn’t do it, which is where rules about using “traditional cures” come from. (Catechism, 2115-2117)

Folks who paid attention to how our bodies and the rest of the world work, using that knowledge to help us stay well, might have been called herbalists, healers — or, when Europeans and Euro-Americans were going bonkers, starting around 1500 — witches. These days, we call them “doctors”.

And I am very glad that my native culture has started accepting the idea that women can use healing arts and not be a threat to civilization.

Peter Paul Rubens: 'Hl. Therese von Avila' / 'Teresa of Ávila', oil on oak wood. (ca. 1615)
Peter Paul Rubens’ “Teresa of Ávila”. (ca. 1615)

One of these days I may talk about doctors of the church like Saints Hildegard of Bingen, Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Ávila, and Augustine of Hippo; but not today.

That kind of “doctor” isn’t the medical kind, although St. Hildegard of Bingen contributed, in the 12th century, to what we call medical science:

“…Hildegard’s medicinal and scientific writings, although thematically complementary to her ideas about nature expressed in her visionary works, are different in focus and scope. Neither claim to be rooted in her visionary experience and its divine authority. Rather, they spring from her experience helping in and then leading the monastery’s herbal garden and infirmary, as well as the theoretical information she likely gained through her wide-ranging reading in the monastery’s library….”
(Hildegard of Bingen, Scientific and medicinal writings, Wikipedia)

An image from my brain scans in 2018 (Brian H. Gill)
“Another Trip to the Emergency Room” (May 15, 2021) > Imaging Tech: X-Rays and the Fabulous Foot-O-Scope

The notion that religious people don’t like either modern or traditional medicine, and that religion and science get along like mongoose and cobra, is fairly new.

I’ve talked about this before:

1 This was several generations back. My wife says the ancestor was accused of being a witch, but I remembered the story as involving a warlock. It’s not a high-priority bit of family lore, and so isn’t something I’m inclined to investigate. Either way, the charges didn’t stick.

Posted in Being Catholic, Family Stories, Series | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

A New Page

Posted on November 6, 2025 by Brian H. Gill

I’ve posted a few stories, and now you’ll find links to them on Stories, on the menu bar between Science AND Religion and Webcam: Sauk Centre, MN.

Posted in Being a Writer, Creativity, Series, Stories | Tagged | Leave a comment