St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas
September 6, 2007
“Beyond emphasizing reason, neo-Thomist thought also stressed the existence of objective rights and wrongs (natural law), free-will (making one responsible for one’s actions), and the importance of personal moral virtue. Students of Aquinas were intensely involved in historical studies, as well as theology and philosophy, and were usually distinguished by their theological orthodoxy and the assortment of distinctions, definitions, and categories at their command…. p. 43-4

“Fulton Sheen’s, God and Intelligence, was major contribution to neo-Thomism.
The two great problems confronting modern philosophy, Sheen argued were the immanence, or essential nature of God in the universe, and the subjectivity of human thought, which Sheen branded as the “anti-intellectual assault” upon reason, logic, proof, and truth. ‘All religion hangs on the first and all science on the second.’ The answer to both problems, Sheen contended, was the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. ‘Thomistic Intellectualism is the remedy against anarchy of ideas, riot of philosophical systems and breakdown of spiritual forces.’

“Sadly, Sheen wrote, Thomism had been neglected by modern thinkers…. In place of reason had come ‘religious experience,’ instinct, intuition, and ‘felt contact.’ Over the past half-century ‘men have been learning to find God within rather than without.’ Modern systems, Sheen wrote, contained a threefold interpretation of religious experience. 1. According to the needs of the individual. 2. According to the spirit of the age. 3. According to the evolution of the world.
Along with many other orthodox Catholic thinkers, Sheen would wage war against these pillars of liberal religion and philosophy for the rest of his life.” p. 53-4

The above is taken from Thomas C. Reeves’ book, America’s ‘Bishop’, The Life and Times of Fulton J. Sheen, Encounter Books, San Francisco, 2001
Wanted: Catholic laity orthodox thinkers to write and speak out on the CINOP:

Second Lesson:
“Devoting himself to the perfect study, St. Thomas preoccupied himself with God. To be strengthened in teaching he first of all turned his thoughts to divine matters, for each day when he was about to mount his chair to lecture on or to occupy himself with other sundry affairs, he celebrated one Mass and heard another, or, if he did not celebrate, he would hear two Masses. In this and in prayer – for he was constant in that – he revealed with many tears the sweetness of his mind and devotion to God, from whom nothing is hidden. Thus with the sweetness of contemplation he tempered the scholastic disputations, which were never fruitless. In this way he united study and prayer, which many falsely believe to be incompatible and not to be united.

Third Lesson:
“No one could sufficiently tell how much Saint Thomas has been glorified by the praises of theologians, and how greatly his entire teaching has been acclaimed by sovereign Pontiffs. Upon the requests of almost all the bishops of the Catholic world Leo XIII declared Thomas Patron of Catholic Schools, hoping thereby to offset the contagion of so many philosophical systems which were straying from the truth, to promote the growth of knowledge, and to benefit all mankind.”
The above is taken from “The Little Office of St. Thomas Aquinas.”
George H. Kubeck, CINOPS BE GONE, Duplicate and or translate into Spanish.