Let wives be subject to their husbands; An examination of authority in Christian Marriage

In late July, I mentioned that Christendom College has placed audio podcasts online, especially for my specific interest in their Annual Summer Institute. My wife and I just finished listening to Mary Stanford speak about the differences of women and men associated with Ephesians 5:

21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
24 As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28 Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,
30 because we are members of his body.
31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32 This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church;
33 however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Simply stated, Mary's presentation is the best I have heard on this subject. She not only covered the redeeming qualities that Jesus brought in to marriage, but she also clearly addressed the common misconceptions associated with this particular part of St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians. She does this through her obvious thorough study of the subject and gains additional insight from Edith Stein and Pope John Paul II's Familiaris Consortio, just to mention a few resources. I highly recommend this presentation.

I have placed a link to the podcast below as described on the Christendom College website. I would also encourage you to see my earlier post so that you can download all of Christendom College's podcasts. Accessing the podcasts via iTunes means gaining access to all of the latest content, including the 19th annual Summer Institute held on July 12th, 2008.

Authority in Marriage
Christendom College’s 18th Annual Summer Institute on Marriage and the Family was held at its Front Royal, Virginia campus on July 21.

Acclaimed professor of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, Mary Stanford discussed authority in marriage. She said that our modern culture has a misconception of what marriage is.

Christendom on iTunes U

Today I received a delightful email from our friends at Christendom College. In the message from their Public Relations & Marketing office, they notified me that the Summer Institute talks I so highly spoke of are going to be available on their website next month... for FREE! No doubt these talks are worth parting with some cash, but knowing that they're going to be available for download soon gives me something to look forward to.

On top of that good news, I was informed that the last two Summer Institutes are also available right now along with many other talks and their choir's CDs. What a treat! Thankfully since they're also available through their website and through iTunes, I won't have to camp out in front of my computer like those who camp out for popular movies and the iPhone. As soon as content is released, it will automatically download for my listening pleasure.

Allow me to share in my joy by sharing with you the link to Christendom on iTunes U. For anybody without iTunes (it's a free download if you'd like it), Christendom has an older web-based podcast site which is still accessible. From there, you can download the audio straight to your computer or listen to it streaming over the internet. All good stuff!

I close by tipping my hat to the many fine men and women of Christendom college that have produced this content and made it available to all of us. Your efforts are greatly appreciated in this household! And thank you Niall for noticing my enthusiasm for Christendom College and taking the time from your day to share with me this information.

Laity Called to Change the World at Christendom College’s Summer Institute

Here is some news from Christendom College which is relevant to the purpose of this blog. Since I was unable to be there in person, I'm happy to see that I can obtain copies of the talks given by the invited speakers. I would encourage many of you to do the same if the descriptions below are of interest to you.

Laity Called to Change the World at Christendom College’s Summer Institute
“Now is the time for a dramatic infusion of strategically placed competent pro-life people of faith in government,” said Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) at Christendom College’s 19th annual Summer Institute held July 12 at the college’s Front Royal, Va., campus.

Focusing on the role of the laity in the Catholic Church the institute welcomed attendees from across the country to hear not only from Smith, but film producer Steve McEveety, medical doctor John Bruchalski, Rev. Thomas Dubay, journalist Colleen Carroll Campbell, and Christendom College president Dr. Timothy O’Donnell.

In his talk entitled Bearing Witness to the Truth in the Political Sphere, Smith spoke of the human rights that governments and international organizations attempt to enumerate and declare.

“Such fundamental rights do not come from the U.N. or from sovereign governments,” he said. “If they did then governments and international organizations would not only have the power but the legitimate authority to rescind what had previously been conferred. If our fundamental rights are truly rights and not mere privileges, then they must be derived from a source that precedes and transcends any earthly political power, indeed they must come from God.”

The congressman declared that what the U.S. government needs is “an army of Thomas Mores.” Now is the time for a dramatic infusion of strategically placed competent pro-life people of faith in government, he said.

He believes that congress has a duty to protect everyone at risk not just the planned, the privileged, and the perfect. Unborn children have inherent worth, value, and dignity, given to them by God, not by politicians. The unborn are not disposable commodities or junk, they are children, he said.

“I believe that anyone who is willing to learn with due diligence can master the art of policy making. It’s not rocket science. The ministry of politics begs and it beckons. And if enough people answer the call, the world will be made much safer for the family, including its smallest and most vulnerable members unborn children,” he said.

“This [Christendom College] is truly a remarkable place that is having such an impact on so many lives—men and women who will then go out into the world and bring the great news of Christ and His justice to the world,” he concluded.

Steve McEveety, executive producer of films such as We Were Soldiers and Braveheart, spoke candidly about his work on The Passion of the Christ in an address entitled Faith in Film.

“The devil masqueraded himself quite well for me in my life, always with beauty and good things—like he usually tempts you—but that wasn’t working on this,” McEveety said. “So strange things would happen, which I won’t get into, but I’ll tell you a few great things that counteracted those strange things that happened.”

He shared one remarkable story of a crewmember that was struck by lightening twice and survived unscathed. This crewmember, which McEveety referred to as “lightening boy,” was the first child baptized by John Paul II. It was also this crewmember that eventually led to their ability to screen the film for John Paul II, who famously said that the film “is ­­­as it was.”

McEveety closed his address by announcing that he has begun pre-production work on a film based on the book Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness by Christendom College’s Founding President Dr. Warren Carroll.

Presidential speechwriter and journalist Colleen Carroll Campbell filled the attendees with hope with her talk Catholic Journalism and the New Faithful. Carroll presented many statistics and personal testimonies, revealing that the new faithful of this generation have the potential to reshape American Christianity in the next century.

“The new faithful,” Carroll said, “belong to the new generation raised in the wake of the sexual revolution and ­­no-fault divorce. While this generation was never urged to seek Jesus or avoid sin or carry the cross, they were simply told to be nice to each other, believe what suited them, and never commit the cardinal sin of intolerance.”

This lack of formation, according to Carroll, left many young adults adrift confused and estranged from the Church, but this childhood without God has often lead these young adults to an intense spiritual search that culminated in conversion.

“This generation is turning back to traditional sacramental forms of worship. Eucharistic devotion, praying of the rosary, the liturgy of the hours, and the Latin Mass have become more popular. There is a counter-sexual revolution going on as well in the world of fashion and courtship mores,” she said.

“As one seminarian put it,” she said, “‘we’re rebelling against the rebellion. We want tradition.’”

Carroll noted that despite the fact that the new faithful are a minority in their generation, their zeal for cultural engagement and their commitment to proclaiming the faith suggests that their impact may far exceed their numbers.

“These young believers may be the early adopters of a larger trend with the potential to renew the Church and transform the culture in the years to come,” she concluded.

“I thank you so much for this invitation,” Dr. John Bruchalski said at the beginning of his talk, The Healing Presence of Christ in the Practice of Medicine. “I congratulate [Christendom College] on 30 years here. Dr. Carroll—I can’t thank him enough for what he has done to start this place.”

In his talk Bruchalski read a letter he had been given from a father to a son that demanded that he abort his third child for financial reasons. The letter was harsh and cruel and revealed the would-be-grandfather’s blindness to the life of the unborn child. He also related a recent story of the illegally signing of a waiver for a 16-year-old Guatemalan girl to have an abortion by the Richmond Diocese Catholic Charities.

“This is my life as an OB/GYN in America today,” Bruchalski said. “I don’t really have a funny story to tell because it is indeed not very funny.”

He described the confusion that he experienced as a layman before he had a re-conversion. He would distribute Communion at Mass and then distribute the contraceptives at work. His education had told him that this was the right thing to do. He thought he could change the Church.

He said that the current moral confusion has resulted in a crisis in medicine today. “Medicine has done tremendously good things,” he said, “but science can only bring progress – it cannot bring redemption. And yet, in our life we are faced with this paradox, great health care, but God forbid we take the holistic approach—addressing the body, soul, and spirit of the patient.”

In closing, Brulchalski admonished the audience to do three things: to trust in Jesus, to acknowledge the fact that we are the Body of Christ, and to be ready to suffer.

Christendom College president Dr. Timothy O’Donnell spoke of the lay charism and Catholic education.

“There can be no intelligent understanding of the role of the laity in the Church’s apostolate without a precise understanding of the Church herself,” he began. “All members are called to contribute to Her growth. The laity is called to exercise their apostolate as a leaven in the world.”

O’Donnell reminded listeners that they are involved in a war. The Church on earth is the Church Militant or the Church Fighting against what he called “the grand alliance”: the world, the flesh, and the devil.

He expressed the need for laity to not be fearless in the witnessing of the Faith, even though it seems like the battle against the culture of death is being lost on all fronts.

“The world has always awaited and proclaimed the death of the Church, but death could not hold Christ our Divine Head and it certainty will not be able to hold the divinized members working in the world as lay members of the Church Militant. For certainly, if we apply the words of that great soldier, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and pray as if everything depended on God and act as if everything depended on ourselves, the Divine Mercy will certainly not be found wanting,” he concluded.

Mass was concelebrated by renowned theologian Rev. Thomas Dubay who delivered a homily on man’s universal call to holiness. Dubay told a story of a group of prisoners who began a prayer group that sought to live as contemplatives amongst prison life.

“Each one of us is called to a profound intimacy with the Trinity,” he said. “If these men, in their circumstances, which are very painful, even in a modern prison, can get to heroic virtue and a profound intimacy with the Trinity, you and I have no excuse whatsoever of failing to reach heroic virtue and deep intimacy with the Trinity.”

All of the above talks can be ordered by contacting National Media Services at 540-635-4181. Next summer’s institute is planned for June 26-27, 2009, and will focus on St. Paul: His Spiritual and Scriptural Contributions to the Church. Invited speakers include Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. Tim Gray, and Archbishop Charles Chaput. Look to [the Christendom College] website for more information in the future.

Free Congress Foundation Praises Christendom College as Excellent American College

OK, so our two children (two at the present time) are still young and probably not thinking about college. That doesn't mean that my wife and I aren't thinking about it. One can't help to think about college options when considering Catholic Homeschooling because some may not be as receptive of a home schooled child.

We've spent some time looking at the good Catholic colleges around the nation. Naturally, we haven't seen these places in person (yet), but we can look around online and gain an initial impression based what on what we see. "The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College: What to Look For and Where to Find It" has been helpful in locating the cream of the crop and thus focusing our efforts. The guide has recommended the "top 21 Catholic colleges and universities which most faithfully live their Catholic identity and provide a quality undergraduate education."

Of all the recommended picks, Christendom College has stuck out to us. It's not all that large and it's fairly new (founded in 1977). Their proximity to Seton Home School (a large Catholic homeschool organization) has drawn many homeschooled students to enroll, and Christendom is more than happy to accept them.

What's most impressive about the college is how firm they are in providing an authentic Catholic environment that isn't "watered down" in any way to make it seem more appealing. It appears that the students are drawn, in addition to the academics, to the college's fidelity to the Magisterium in much the same way that vocations to the religious life seem to be more plentiful in the religious orders that adhere more strictly to wearing religious habits and a deep spiritual life.

Christendom has really impressed us for many others reasons. For example, we recently read the news that Pope Benedict XVI warmly welcomed Christendom College during a Wednesday Papal Audience at the Vatican on March 5, 2008 and blessed a marble cornerstone for the planned addition to Christendom's Christ the King Chapel. Secondly, Francis Cardinal Arinze is also noted as being a good friend of the college.

Positive associations aside, their website points out that daily Mass is encouraged by all the students and faculty... no classes are scheduled during that time of day to assist everybody from having any time conflicts. Furthermore, the dorm rooms do not have internet access. That may seem like a negative to many, but it's not when you consider the amount of time people spend on the internet (rather than on their studies), not to mention the possible access to harmful content (i.e., pornography, illegal MP3 downloads, etc.).

In addition to their academic programs, they are also active during the summer months. For example, they have wonderful speakers come to give power-packed presentations at the "Summer Institute". I personally would have loved to have attended this year's Summer Institute titled "The Role of the Laity in the Catholic Church" (links to news release of the event). They had a wonderful lineup of speakers to address this important topic. More on this at a later time.

In addressing this post's subject line, allow me to close with some recent news regarding an evaluation of Christendom College.

Front Royal, VA (JULY 7, 2008) - Christendom College is “a conservative thorn in the side of our nation’s capital and nestled in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley” according to the Free Congress Foundation’s (FCF) report What Makes an Excellent American College: “Liberal” Ideas Every Conservative Should Love, released July 3.

The report is a response to frequent requests for “a recommendation for good institutions of higher learning,” the FCF stated. Schools included in the report had to meet a demanding 11-point criterion developed by the FCF.

“Too many universities have either forgotten that human beings have souls or intentionally have set about wrecking them,” the report laments. Yet, “islands of sanity do exist.”

Christendom College “has its fair share of high-powered speakers, and the school ensures that their presentations are compatible with the mission of the school” and “one would be hard pressed to find a more faith-filled and politically active student body in the United States,” the report states.

“With 84 core credits required for graduation this school has perhaps the most demanding core curriculum of any college in the United States,” the report continues. “Christendom is committed to maintaining a wholesome, entertaining, genuinely Catholic environment for her students in unison with rigorous academic standards.”

“We are pleased that the Free Congress Foundation has included us in their short list of excellent American colleges,” says Director of Admissions Tom McFadden. “We strive to be the premier Roman Catholic college in the United States and based on the fact that we are having our best recruiting year ever, many high school aged students must be viewing us that way too.”

Other schools listed in the report include Hillsdale College, Thomas Aquinas College, Grove City College, and the Catholic University of America.

To read the full report visit http://www.freecongress.org/commentaries/2008/080703.aspx.

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Contact: Christendom College
http://www.christendom.edu/ VA, US
Niall O'Donnell - Asst. Director of PR, 540-636-2900
Keywords: Christendom College Free Congress Foundtion Excellent American College