We go to Monica now in New Orleans, Louisiana listening on Catholic
Community Radio. Did you get hit there in New Orleans with all this rain Monica? I
actually live in Lafitte, Louisiana, but I always say New Orleans because most
people are familiar with New Orleans, but it's just about 20 minutes away.
We did not get hit, thank God. Are you on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain? We are
on the west bank. Oh yeah. Yes. I only know about that because I'm a big fan of
Walker Percy do you know who Walker Percy is? No? Oh, a great Catholic
novelist, who--no no, this is years ago, he lived down there on Lake Pontchartrain.
Well I'm glad you didn't get swept away, what's your
question for Brandon Vogt? I'm trying to share the faith by being a Catechist, and I was really
dumbfounded when I found out that some Catholics believe that, well, I guess
we're allowed to believe, the way they talked about it, that we're allowed to
believe in evolution. I believed and I was taught from kindergarten to eighth
grade in Catholic school that we came from Adam and Eve and that was the story.
And now I'm learning, through going to classes, that oh no, we came from
apes and only difference is God put a soul in one of them and there was the
first man. And I was completely floored and I said I'm not teaching my
Catechism student that way. So I'm just wondering, what is the way? That's a great
question and a loaded one, a controversial one. Let me say a few
things: first of all, I think you were told correctly that the Church doesn't
have an official position or an official teaching on biological
evolution, on whether various life forms developed over time. Even concerning
human evolution, the Church magisterially, meaning officially, is neutral
with a very important exception: that even if man's body developed from
previous biological forms, man's soul was a special creation by God. So the soul
didn't develop out of natural causes; the soul's immaterial and was placed there by
God. So the Church has a wide umbrella. You can embrace evolution if you think
the evidence points that way; you can reject it if you think the
evidence points that way. But even within the umbrella of evolution there are all
sorts of different Catholics who hold different views. There are many forms of
evolution, and so it's important to get into the particulars of what somebody
particularly believes about it before you either accept it or toss it away. Let
me give you a couple of resources, though, that I found very helpful on this
question. The first one is probably the one you want to start with, it's Pope
Pius XII's encyclical "Humanae Generis," which talks about the origins of man, and
in there I think it's it's sort of the foundational Catholic teaching on these
questions. So you want to start there, it's a fairly simple and short
read, it shouldn't take you too long. So start with that document so you can get
the foundation. Then from there, if you're looking for some good books, let me
recommend two: one is a book by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, and I think it's
called "Chance or Nothing," or "Creation or Nothing,"
something to that effect; but he wrote a great book on evolution and the
origins of man, so pick up Cardinal Schönborn's book. And then finally, Pope
Benedict XVI has a book that's sort of a collection of essays called "In
the Beginning." I believe he wrote it before he was Pope, and it was sort of
based on a symposium held at the Vatican about the question of evolution, and then
Joseph Ratzinger collected his thoughts. So pick up that book called "In the
Beginning," and I think these three resources will give you a much clearer
picture about what the Church does and does not teach about evolution. Does that
help you, Monica? Yeah, I have one more little question if you don't mind. Which--
okay, so I get, you know, different people's opinion, but
and I also saw this YouTube video from Ian Catholic, and it was, you know,
speaking on the matter, and he was saying, well, if you kind of discredit the whole
thing about Adam and Eve, you whole--totally miss the Original Sin
with, you know, that the serpent, and it might not have been an apple and I
understand that, but you kind of miss that whole story of Original Sin. Yeah,
again, I'd point you to Pope Pius XII's encyclical "Humanae Generis," because
he takes up the question of the historical importance of Adam and Eve.
Also there's a really really good tract, or article, on Adam, Eve and evolution on
Catholic Answers' website. So go to Catholic.com, search for either
"evolution" or "Adam and Eve," and you'll find a pretty lengthy but very clear and
clarifying article on these questions, especially on the historicity of Adam
and Eve, so I'd point you there. Okay Monica? Okay, God bless you, thank you. You too, thanks very very
much.
you