Religion and Science: Different Paths to Reality

Posted on November 14, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

Scientific discoveries haven’t threatened my faith.

I don’t see how they could, since I think that reality and truth exist. And that they’re real.

In other words, I think I’m not a figment of your imagination and that we live in the same universe. We see it from different angles, since no two people occupy exactly the same slice of space-time. Our metaphorical points of view may not match, either.

Here’s what started me thinking about science, religion, and making sense:

“…science and religion, with their distinctive approaches to understanding reality, can enter into an intense dialogue fruitful for both….”
(“Laudato si’,” 62; Pope Francis (2015))

That’s from the encyclical’s second chapter. It’s part of the Pope’s explanation for why he’s talking about religion in something he hopes everyone will read.

I read that bit during my weekly hour in Sauk Centre’s Eucharistic Adoration chapel.

It reminded me that it’s been a while since I talked about science and religion. And why I think using our God-given brains doesn’t offend a dyspeptic deity.

That bit from “Laudato si'” reminded me. Not the chapel.

Pronoun trouble, as Daffy Duck remarked, and that’s another topic.1

Truth, Beauty and Knowing God

Thinking that paying attention to God’s creation won’t interfere with worshiping God isn’t new.

“…God, the Creator and Ruler of all things, is also the Author of the Scriptures — and that therefore nothing can be proved either by physical science or archaeology which can really contradict the Scriptures. … Even if the difficulty is after all not cleared up and the discrepancy seems to remain, the contest must not be abandoned; truth cannot contradict truth….”
(“Providentissimus Deus,” Pope Leo XIII (November 18, 1893) [emphasis mine])

“Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air…. They all answer you, ‘Here we are, look; we’re beautiful.’…
“…So in this way they arrived at a knowledge of the god who made things, through the things which he made.”
(Sermon 241, St. Augustine of Hippo (ca. 411))

Neither is thinking that we live in a “very good” universe, and that God is even better.

“Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods,
let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these;
for the original source of beauty fashioned them.
“Or if they were struck by their might and energy,
let them realize from these things how much more powerful is the one who made them.
“For from the greatness and the beauty of created things
their original author, by analogy, is seen.
(Wisdom 13:3–5)

“God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day.”
(Genesis 1:31)

The notion that science and religion can’t get along goes back to the 19th century.

Maybe the 17th or 18th. Except then it’d have been natural philosophy and religion. “Science” wasn’t a word until William Whewell’s day.2

Denouncing or Distorting Science: What’s the Harm?

I could be a Christian and believe that what we’ve learned over the last four centuries is a Satanic lie. Or at least wrong. And something that threatens my relationship with God.

I’d have a harder time keeping that attitude while being a Christian and a Catholic.

“…if methodical investigation within every branch of learning is carried out in a genuinely scientific manner and in accord with moral norms, it never truly conflicts with faith, for earthly matters and the concerns of faith derive from the same God. … we cannot but deplore certain habits of mind, which are sometimes found too among Christians, which do not sufficiently attend to the rightful independence of science and which, from the arguments and controversies they spark, lead many minds to conclude that faith and science are mutually opposed.…”
(“Gaudium et Spes,” Pope Bl. Paul VI (December 7, 1965) [emphasis mine])

Non Sequitur’s Church of Danae is, happily, imaginary: a comic strip’s caricature.

Problem is, folks do occasionally promote weird ideas.

A problem, as I see it, is that Piltdown Man and Archaeoraptor look like evidence that science is bogus to folks who maybe don’t like newfangled ideas.

And incidents like the Scopes Trial and late-1980s televangelist meltdowns look like evidence that faith and folly are synonyms to folks with more au courant tastes.3

What gets lost in the shouting is that truth matters in science and faith. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 31, 159)

“Religion and natural science are fighting a joint battle in an incessant, never relaxing crusade against skepticism and against dogmatism, against disbelief and against superstition, and the rallying cry in this crusade has always been, and always will be: ‘On to God!’“
(“Religion and Natural Science,” Translated and published in “Max Planck: Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers” (1968); via Wikiquote [emphasis mine])

Truth, God and Priorities

This universe is a nice place.

But wouldn’t it be more — spiritual? — to close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears and hum real loud: ignoring the beauties and wonders around me?

Maybe, by some standards. Not mine. I’m a Catholic.

My faith is a willing and conscious decision to embrace God’s truth. All of God’s truth, including what we can see in this universe. Studying God’s work makes sense, since I think God creates everything. (Genesis 1:1–31; Catechism, 142-155, 325-349)

Taking this universe, and what we’ve been learning about it, and making that my life’s be-all and end-all? That would be a very bad idea and I shouldn’t do it.

Putting anything or anyone other than God, including this universe, at the top of my priorities would be a bad idea. That’s where God belongs. (Catechism, 2110, 2112-2113)

Again, I think all truth points toward God. Showing an interest in God’s creation and taking God seriously isn’t a problem. (Catechism, 27, 31-35, 41, 74, 282-289, 293-294, 1723, 2294, 2500)

If I’m doing it right, paying attention to God’s creation points me toward God.

Faith, Reason and Metaphorical Wings


(From NASA/ESA, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)

Then there’s the notion that faith fizzles if one thinks too much.

“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Exodus 33:18; Palms 27:8–9; 63:2–3; John 14:8; 1 John 3:2)….”
(“Fides et Ratio,” Pope Saint John Paul II (September 14, 1998) [emphasis mine])

And that’s another topic, for another day.

More of my take on paying attention and making sense:

1 Science, Daffy Duck and me:

2 Natural philosophers, William Whewell and the Enlightenment

3 Hoaxes, scandals and seeking truth anyway:

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Armistice, Veterans, Poppy and Remembrance Day

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

From Lx 121, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.

November 11 is Veterans Day.

It’s also called Armistice Day, Poppy Day and Remembrance Day.

The Armistice Day moniker made sense in 1919, a year after Ferdinand Foch signed the Armistice of Compiègne. A year without appalling body counts was reason to celebrate.

So was the Treaty of Versailles, at least for folks who blamed Germany for the war.1

I’ll be talking about that, among other things.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

A little over a century back now, Europe’s leaders crafted an intricate web of interlocking treaties. It was a foolproof plan for peace. On paper. Then someone killed an archduke. (January 6, 2019)

The winning side decided that the war had been Germany’s fault.

Their Treaty of Versailles included massive reparation payments.

Post-war peace, prosperity and progress gave Western Civilization flappers, Art Deco, talkies and nude tabletop dancing. Some countries even let women vote.

But the early 1920s weren’t good years in Germany. In 1923, the country’s government decided to help industries destroyed in the war instead of paying off their Versailles debt.

That’s the year when one gold German Mark was worth a trillion paper Marks. One trillion. A one with twelve zeroes after it: 1,000,000,000,000.

Then France and Belgium marched troops into German’s industrialized Ruhr valley. Maybe their leaders thought hampering German rebuilding efforts would expedite Versailles payments.

American banker Charles G. Dawes had an alternative. The Dawes Plan was ready in 1924. It encouraged American speculators to invest in German enterprises.

That helped German employers make their payroll and pay taxes, which went partly to pay off the Versailles debt.

Reparations from Germany gave other European governments money they could use to return what they’d borrowed from my country’s government.

Germany’s government overhauled their monetary system. Obsolete German Marks became collector’s items, and pleasure palaces like the Haus Vaterland flourished.

No wonder some Germans called 1924-1929 the Goldene Zwanziger Jahre or Glückliche Zwanziger Jahre: Golden Twenties or Happy Twenties.

At the time, seeing the 1914-1919 conflict as “The War That Will End War” made sense.2 Almost.

Prohibition, Propriety and Good Intentions

'The Descent of the Modernists,' E. J. Pace. (1922)The Roaring Twenties must have been frustrating to America’s pious protectors.

Prohibition led to speakeasies, not revival meetings. Dance clubs flourished.

Flapper fashions threatened the very fabric of society. And, perhaps, offended those who wouldn’t look good in them.

Some earnest American Christians sought to stem the tide of modernism, science and similar sinful snares.

I don’t doubt their sincerity.3 But I think they unintentionally promoted the notion that a person could either be well-informed and reasonable: or a Christian.

Crashes, Dust and Passing the Buck

Charles Forbell's 'Club Life in America: the Stockbrokers' Cartoon from Judge Magazine. (November 1929)The law of averages, and financial regulations, finally caught up with Clarence Hatry in 1929. Seems that selling bogus stocks was illegal in England.

He got caught in September. The London Exchange suspended all shares of the Hatry group: worth around £24 million.

What happened next wasn’t all Hatry’s fault. Investors and speculators had gotten accustomed to optimism and good times. A little too accustomed, in some cases.

Suspending £24 million may not have caused the 1929 London Stock Exchange embarrassment. But it sure didn’t help.

The London Exchange trouble arguably triggered Wall Street’s Black Monday and Tuesday, October 28 and 29, 1929.

I’ve read that the stock market crashes caused the Great Depression. Or maybe the global depression really started earlier and caused the crashes. Maybe something else caused the 1929 bubble-and-burst thing. There’s still lively debate on the topic.

The Dust Bowl, a severe drought in south-central North America, didn’t help. At all.

Meanwhile, Germany’s government was still trying to pay off Versailles reparations. Passing costs along to German taxpayers, who had their own problems.

Assorted political parties in the Reichstag, Germany’s analog to America’s Congress, did their best to keep rival parties from looking good. A financial expert tried to make Germany’s government work.

An American, Owen Young, had an improved version of the Dawes Plan ready. It might have helped Germans, Americans and pretty much everyone else. But after the Wall Street crash, the money wasn’t there and international trade dropped. A lot.

Then someone set fire to the Reichstag building.

After which German politicos passed a law that let them stay in office while letting someone else make potentially-unpopular decisions.4

I figure it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Events and Principles


(From U.S. Defense Visual Information Center, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(Rotterdam, 1940.)

The German and Soviet governments signed a non-aggression pact on August 23, 1939: divvying up Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. I’ve yet to see the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact called a triumph of diplomacy over violence.

Maybe because German troops invaded Poland a week later, on September 1, 1939.

The official German explanation was that they were responding to unprovoked attacks on a radio station, the Hochlinden customs house, a railway pass and other German targets.

Soviet troops marched into Poland on September 17, and “The War That Will End War” went from a slow simmer to full boil.

Time magazine had suggested that we call it “World War II” in the June 12, 1939, issue. The term apparently caught on.

Time called the current conflicts “World War II” in its September 11, 1939, edition.

Interesting coincidence, that.

Stuff happened on other September 11ths, too:5

  • 1786: Annapolis Convention opens
  • 1792: Hope Diamond disappears
  • 1939: Time magazine coins “World War II” (again)
  • 2001: September 11 attacks

Maybe there’s a conspiracy theory lurking in those events. Or maybe that’s too weird even for a dedicated conspiracy theorist.

War and Preferences


(From Nagasaki City Office, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(Memorial service outside Urukami Roman Catholic Cathedral. (November 23, 1945))

By September, 1945, the war was over. A remarkable number of us hadn’t been killed.

Even more remarkable, quite a few of the surviving national leaders decided that maybe whipping up support for the next round of slaughter wasn’t a good idea.

Some of them had been working on a viable alternative to an ancient cycle. I’ve talked about that before, and probably will again. (December 24, 2018; April 15, 2018)

World War II officially ended on September 2, 1945.

America’s Armistice Day became Veterans Day in 1947. Unofficially.

Congress made it official in 1954.

There’s been at least one war somewhere pretty much constantly since then. Sometimes American troops have been involved.

I’d prefer living in a world where everyone thought discussing problems and solving them was a good idea.

Or at least that we could deal with violently anti-social folks without killing them, along with those who listened to them. Or who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On the other hand, I’d make a terrible pacifist.

Valuing Human Life


(From HGiovanni Sagristani, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(El Pastor restaurant on Stoney Street in London, after customers repelled an attacker.)

I think human life is precious. Sacred. All human life. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2258, 2319)

Each of us has equal dignity. No matter where we live or how we act. (Catechism, 360, 1700–1706, 1932–1933, 1935)

That’s one reason I think nude tabletop dancing isn’t a good idea. Even if the customers enjoy getting clobbered by champagne bottles. And that’s another topic.

Maybe seeing human life as precious and being a non-pacifist seems inconsistent. It’s not.

It is, however, a tad complicated.

As a Catholic, I’m obliged to value my own life. And a hypothetical attacker’s.

Both our lives are precious. But defending myself is okay. Even if that results in my hypothetical attacker’s death. Provided that my intent was defending myself, not killing my attacker. (Catechism, 2258, 2263–2269; “Summa Theologica,” Thomas Aquinas, II-II,64,7)

The same principle applies to groups of people.

Avoiding war is a good idea. But sometimes the only other option is letting innocent folks get killed. (Catechism, 1909, 2263–2267, 2307–2317)

So I figure that observing Veterans Day makes sense. Folks who served their, and my, country deserve recognition.

I’ve talked about this sort of thing before, too:

1 A war, an observance and a treaty:

2 A “golden” decade:

3 Good intentions:

4 ‘Pop’ went the bubble:

5 High, or low, points of a very complicated story:

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Not Feeling “Information Overload” or “Loss of Identity”

Posted on November 6, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

I read about “loss of identity” and “information overload” the other day.

“…The social dimensions of global change include the effects of technological innovations on employment, social exclusion, … and the loss of identity….
“…Furthermore, when media and the digital world become omnipresent, … the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload….”
(“Laudato si’,” 46-47; Pope Francis (2015))

“Information overload” is well on its way to becoming a cliche. Or cliché, for folks who like their English with a dash of diacritics, and that’s another topic.

I keep seeing warnings against “information overload,” the Internet’s “hive mind,” and suchlike threats. But I don’t feel overloaded, informationally or otherwise, even after being online for hours.

That gives me the task of deciding whether I react to “information overload” — and how I react, if I choose to do so.

Noise, Distractions and Me

When the Pope says or writes something that doesn’t line up with my opinions, my knee-jerk response is not to assume that I’m right, so the Pope must be wrong.

In this case, though, I don’t feel like I’m experiencing an information overload.

Maybe that’s because I like having a pretty good Internet connection. And because I grew up before Internet technology got out of the prototype stage.

I have fond memories of card catalogs and treks through library and archive stacks.

But I don’t yearn for the days when it might take weeks or months to track down an assertion’s source. From my viewpoint, I’ve finally got an interface that’s almost fast enough to feel comfortable.

That said, I think Pope Francis has a point: “…the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload….”

Online “noise and distractions” are very real.

I’ve gone chasing after elusive images or ideas often enough to understand the perilous allure of cat memes, Craigslist bargains and NFL scores.

Nuggets of Wisdom, Mountains of Gibberish

I’d probably be more concerned, if I didn’t know that we’ve been through this sort of thing before.

When Plato wrote “Phaedrus,” about two dozen centuries back, writing and reading was threatening the very foundations of society.

“…they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves….”
(Socrates, in Plato’s “Phaedrus;” Translated by Benjamin Jowett, via Gutenberg.org)

I think Plato’s Socrates had a point.

“…this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth….”
(Socrates, in Plato’s “Phaedrus;” Translated by Benjamin Jowett, via Gutenberg.org)

I’d probably be much better at memorizing poems and speeches, if I hadn’t learned to read.

On the other hand, we know who Socrates was and what he said largely because folks like Plato wrote about him. Ironic, that.

Maybe getting more than “the semblance of truth” takes a little extra effort these days.

But on the whole, I’m glad that humanity’s store of wisdom has been expanded and is being preserved in written form. And that much of it is being digitized.

Jay Simons' 'Map of the Internet 2.0.' Granted, the Internet’s virtual landscape includes mountains of gibberish.

But there’s nothing stopping me from looking for — and finding — nuggets of wisdom.

And, occasionally, rich veins of knowledge.

I don’t remember the gibberish-to-wisdom ratio being much different in my youth, and that’s almost another topic.

Losing My Identity?

Fearing loss of identity goes back at least to the mid-50s.

The earliest instance I remember is in “Donald’s Diary,” a Disney cartoon released in 1954.

My parents didn’t have a television set then, so I probably saw it on “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” reruns. Which I enjoyed on their black-and-white set.

I’ve recognized fear of losing one’s identity as a real perception, but didn’t understand it. Not until I lived in Minnesota’s Twin Cities and San Francisco. Sharing a sidewalk with rush-hour pedestrians isn’t among my fonder memories.

But even after I learned what crowds of pedestrian commuters look like, I had trouble imagining what losing my identity would feel like. I’ve always been “me,” not someone else, and distinct from other individuals around me.

I’m not even sure I’d be able to successfully blend into a crowd. I talked about that under Brilliant, Talented and On Medication on this blog’s About Me page.

But, getting back to information overload, loss of identity and Pope Francis: part of being Catholic is remembering that it’s not all about me.

So I’ll keep trying to understand those concerns. And do what I can to improve the Internet’s knowledge/gibberish ratio. Maybe even polish a nugget or two of wisdom.

More, or less, of the same thing:

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November 3: The End of Civilization as We Know It (Again)

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

This isn’t the first time I’ve voted during a pandemic, but it’s the first time I’ve had reason for extra caution. That’s why I voted by mail this year.

The election results will please or disappoint me. Or, more likely, do a bit of both.

And Now, the News in Brief

Tropical storm/hurricane Zeta hit the Gulf Coast. It was 2020’s 28th named storm.

Tropical storm Eta is on its way. Hurricane season doesn’t end until November 30.

The COVID-19 pandemic may or may not be over next year.

As if that wasn’t enough, presidential campaigns are about to end with election day. Followed by — barring a miracle — America’s traditional post-election brouhaha.

Someone will, eventually, get stuck with being America’s president.

America and Elected Officials

Who wins the election matters.

Elected officials have some effect on folks who voted, or didn’t vote, for them.

But the United States of America is much more than the sum of its local, county, state and federal governments.

(Local, parish or borough, and so forth, for Alaska and Louisiana. And that’s another topic.)

Mere Anarchy and Echo Chambers

Internet friends, real people.Experts, anonymous and otherwise, keep warning about the dangers of social media.

Apparently we’re living in echo chambers, exposed to nothing but opinions matching our own.

I must be doing something wrong.

Folks with opinions that aren’t even close to mine routinely contribute to my social media feeds.

I’ve read warnings against the fascist who’s been campaigning. And dire warnings of what shall transpire, if the Antichrist gets elected.

No matter who wins, some folks I rub elbows with online will be disappointed. Previous experience tells me that I’ll be tripping over sentiments like the ones Yeats expressed:

“…Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world….
…The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity….”
(“The Second Coming,” W. B. Yeats (1919))

Whoever gets the Oval Office job, I figure it’ll be the end of civilization as we know it.

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

It’s a Changing World

The last real-world equivalent of your standard post-apocalyptic movie scenario was the Late Bronze Age Collapse. That was a tad over three millennia back now.

The Black Death, maybe, although we didn’t end up with abandoned cities. Depopulated villages, yes. Cities, no. And that’s yet another topic.

I’ve noticed that change happens.

The world I grew up in didn’t have the Internet. Folks I knew didn’t have telephones.

Space travel was science fiction until my teens, and nobody had landed on Earth’s moon until after I graduated from high school.

“She’s smart as a man” was supposed to be a compliment in my good old days. Which aren’t, happily, coming back.

I think some of the recent half-century’s changes have been for the better. Some haven’t.

I’m pretty sure the next half-century will be the same. Except for how it’s different.

Prayers

Prayer is a good idea. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2566–2567)

I’ve added the following “Prayer for Our Country” to my daily routine.

I figured the prayers were appropriate before the election, and will be after the votes are counted.

Maybe it’s an obvious point, but I’ll make it anyway. The prayers as written are for groups. I changed pronouns like “we” and “our” to “I” and “my” where appropriate.

“Prayer for Our Country

“Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present our country to You. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage.

“Grant us peace, and may all citizens respect one another. May the Holy Spirit give our President wisdom to lead our country in ways that are pleasing to You.

“Enlighten our Congress and civic leaders and instill in them knowledge and understanding to enact laws that protect the sanctity of life — from the unborn to the elderly;and promote the good of all people.

“Make all of us aware of our responsibility as citizens to uphold the principles of life, liberty justice and equality.

“Send Your Holy Spirit upon our beloved country. Make us people of faith in time of uncertainty. Make us people of hope in times of trouble. Make us people of compassion with those who are less fortunate. Make us people of peace in our homes, our communities, our country and our world. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

(From a handout at Parishes on the Prairie Area Catholic Community; Our Lady of the Angels, Sauk Centre, Minnesota.)

Short Prayers

The handout had five prayers, so it should have been “prayers.” But that’s nitpicking.

“Prayer for Our Country — continued

“O Jesus! Divine Savior! Be merciful, be merciful to us and to the whole world. Amen.”

“Powerful God! Holy God! Immortal God! Have compassion on us and upon the whole world. Amen.”

“Grace and Mercy, my Jesus, during the present danger! Shield us with Thy Precious Blood. Amen.”

“Eternal Father, show us mercy in the name of the Precious Blood of Thy only Son; show us mercy we implore Thee. Amen.”

(From a handout at Parishes on the Prairie Area Catholic Community; Our Lady of the Angels, Sauk Centre, Minnesota.)

“It May Be the End of Civilization as We Know It”


(Dik Browne’s “Hagar the Horrible” (February 25, 1973))

I’ll indulge in the occasional nostalgic thought.

But my memory is too good for me to yearn for the “good old days” of my youth. And I know too much history to imagine that any of our golden ages would hold up to close inspection. That’s yet again another topic, for another day.

I think today’s America is a pretty good place to live. Even during election years.

And I’m sure we can do better. I’ve talked about that before:

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Halloween, COVID-19, Wolfgang’s Axe and Apple Bobbing

Posted on October 31, 2020 by Brian H. Gill


(“It’s the best I could do on short notice.” (“Cinderella’s Halloween”) 😉 )

Halloween will be different this year.

Mostly because we’re still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. I don’t know what it’ll look like here in Sauk Centre.

Safer Trick-or-Treating

On the ‘up’ side, common-sense advice is available. Like this excerpt from a CDC page.

  • Make trick-or-treating safer
    • Avoid direct contact with trick-or-treaters.
    • Give out treats outdoors, if possible.
    • Set up a station with individually bagged treats for kids to take.
    • Wash hands before handling treats.
    • Wear a mask.
  • Wear a mask
    • Make your cloth mask part of your costume.
    • A costume mask is not a substitute for a cloth mask.
    • Do NOT wear a costume mask over a cloth mask. It can make breathing more difficult.
    • Masks should NOT be worn by children under the age of 2 or anyone who has trouble breathing
  • (Souce: Trick or Treating and Other Halloween Activities; CDC/National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Viral Diseases)

How many folks know where to find the common-sense advice is another topic.

All Hallow’s Etymology and Equinoctial Attitudes

I’m not sure how many folks know that “Halloween” means “All Hallow’s Eve” or “All Saint’s Eve” — or care where the word comes from.

I’m also not sure why some Christians get conniptions about this autumn equinox celebration and its pagan roots.

I wouldn’t expect to convince a tightly-wound zealot that kids wearing costumes and collecting candy doesn’t lead to Satanic cults. I’ll grant that some adult costumes are disturbing. And that’s yet another topic.

October 31 is also the feast day of St. Wolfgang of Regensburg, AKA The Almoner.1

Wolfgang’s Axe

There’s a story about him and an axe, which has nothing to do with Halloween or Carrie Nation.

Seems that towards the end of his life, Wolfgang of Regensburg decided to become a hermit. Probably due to a political situation.

He’d picked a quiet area, but apparently didn’t know exactly where to put his hermit’s cell. So he prayed, threw an axe, and built his cell where the axe landed.

Time passed. Wolfgang of Regensburg died on October 31, 994. A church near his hermit’s cell became a pilgrimage site. Pilgrimage traffic probably accounts for a town, St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut, that’s been there since at least 1183.

There’s an axe on display in the town that’s billed as being St. Wolfgang’s.2

Apple Bobbing: My View

I’ve read that apple bobbing, a game associated with Halloween, is a divination game.3

That could be a problem. Not because it’s a game. The “divination” part. That’s a bad idea on any day of the year. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2116)

On the other hand, I participated in apple bobbing as a child and youth; and didn’t get a whiff of the ‘divination’ angle.

Maybe I wasn’t paying attention. Or maybe the ‘divination’ thing has faded from our heritage. At least where apple bobbing is involved. And that’s yet again another topic. Topics.

Then there’s holly, mistletoe and Zagmuk; and that’s still more topics:

1 A holiday, celebrations and a Saint:

2 A town and a Catholic perspective:

3 An old game:

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