Student Sayings: on St. Anselm...

I am so impressed with this year's essay's on St. Anselm's Proslogium (a.k.a. Faith Seeking Understanding).  Below are a few excerpts...

Sarah, Class of 2014
[This is in the middle of the essay]
     Anselm starts off with the simple idea that one can think of an all powerful being, that is most significant and nothing else can be conceived greater: "Therefore, if that, than which nothing greater can be conceived exists in the understanding alone, the very being, than which nothing greater can be conceived, is one, than which a great being can be conceived.  But obviously that is impossible."  This idea is easily recognizable as whoever has even read this sentence should conceive in his mind a single greatest being.  Whatever is thought of in the one dimensional reality of the mind is always greater in the present reality with its difference facets.  Therefore, a single greatest being thought of in the mind would have to exist in reality for it to be the greatest, as reality is greater than just the dimension of the mind. 
    Conversely, if this greatest being only existed in the mind, it could not be the greatest being because a greater being could be conceived.  If the being did not exist in reality, it would be failing to be a being of which nothing more significant can be thought of.   From this, it is concluded that a single most powerful being, God, must exist in reality, with no greater being able to be conceived above God.  Anselm embodies this by saying, "God cannot be conceived not to exist.  God is that, than which nothing greater can be conceived.  That which can be conceived not to exist is not God."  This quote demonstrates the converse of Anselm's conclusions reasonably; if a single greatest being is conceived not to exist, then it cannot be the greatest being.

Jack, Class of 2014
[This is in the middle of the essay]
      St. Anselm relies on the mind and thought to start his argument and then enters into creation.  He logically maneuvers the argument from the concept of "a being in which nothing greater can be conceived," from a concept into reality.  Since it can be conceived as a thought then in turn there needs to be a greatest being in reality.  Backtracking to the beginning, since there cannot be a thought greater than the greatest thought, essentially, there must be a greatest thought in which to cap all great thoughts.  Importantly, a great thought can only be greater if that which is thought is in reality.  Since there is a greatest being than which nothing greater can ever be conceived in thought, then there must be a greatest being in reality to truly be the greatest.  Between thinking a great thought and the thought being reality, there is a blurred and unclear connection if not read carefully.  Some think there is too much assuming between the lines of Chapter II and that nullifies the rest of the argument because if the reader cannot accept this beginning notion, then the rest of the text suffers.  The beginning of the Proslogium is critical for the rest of the dictation because if the reader can assume this notion of thought into reality then it leads the reader to other understandings of God.

Ned, Class of 2014
[This is in the middle of the essay]
      There are two distinct premises in Anselm's argument.  Firstly, it is a given that the definition of God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.  "And, indeed, we believe that thou art a being than which nothing greater can be conceived."  The second premise is that it is self-evident that it is greater for a thing to exist in the mind and in reality than in the mind alone.  "For suppose it exists in the understanding alone: then it can be conceived to exist in reality; which is greater."  Anselm then prepares a hypothetical that God exists only in the mind but not in reality.  If this is true, then a greater being than God could be thought (namely, a being that has all the qualities our thought of God has plus real existence).  It is self-evident that the prior statement is absurd for God is that which nothing greater can be conceived.  According to Anselm, it then logically follows that God has to exist in both the mind and reality.
     I think that one of the problems in understanding this argument is that the conception of the second premise is incorrect.  I certainly misinterpreted the concept at first.  During class discussion of the topic, I thought of a hypothetical that seemed to debunk the premise.  I thought that surely imaginary diseases are "better" because they are not actually affecting someone.  However this reasoning actually ruled against me because it is true that which is actually affecting someone is in a sense better [or greater] because it exists.  Things that have being are greater than those that are imaginary.



There are many other essays to quote.  Let this suffice for now.  The students are thinking through tough texts very well and carefully and their writing has been up to the challenge as well.



Keep up the great work, students!

Chicago Trip 2014 Pictures

We had a great trip to Chicago!  See the images below on the Picassa web album.

The slide show below contains images from the Capstone Seminar Pilgrimage to Chicago (Feb., 2014).  Captions describing each image can be viewed by clicking on the text icon in the lower left corner of every image.

The purpose of this annual Pilgrimage to Chicago is to engage in an integrated, Catholic experience in the big city – an amalgamation of culture, faith, politics, art, food, architecture, history etc.!

The students’ experiences include:

• traversing the Windy City during rush-hour;
• participating in an orchestral High Mass at St. John Cantius (Saint Agnes' "sister" parish in Chicago);
• hearing a lecture from Dr. Joseph Mordente entitled "Life in the Real World" - a talk on the competing philosophies of reality and the epidemic of relativism;
• eating deep-dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno where it was invented;
• chanting Vespers with Benedictine monks downtown;
• viewing the city from atop the John Hancock skyscraper;
• meeting with a priest who is a Judge at the Tribunal for the Archdiocese of Chicago;
• attending a lecture by renowned Jesuit, Fr. Kilgallen;
• visiting the famous Art Institute of Chicago;
• enjoying authentic Greek food in Chicago's Greektown;
• Riding the "L" subway of the Chicago Transit Authority.

The images below are a window into the life of the group's four day pilgrimage to the Windy City.

Habemus papam: Franciscum!

Audio links of Bishop Perry and Fr. Mankowski, S.J.

From the Capstone Pilgrimage to Chicago, 2013...

Capstone students with Bishop Perry at St. John Cantius.

Click on the links below to hear and download the two major talks the students heard while in Chicago.  Also, the link at the bottom allows you to contribute to the travel and other expenses of the Senior Capstone Seminar - your generosity is appreciated.

• His Excellency, Bishop Joseph Perry of the Archdiocese of Chicago
• Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J. of Loyola University, Chicago

Like what you see and hear about Capstone and Saint Agnes School?  Support the Senior Capstone Seminar (noting "Senior Capstone Seminar" in your entry).

St. Michael's Abbey

Just a short note to remind you that this Sunday, January 20, 2013, the parish will be celebrating the close of its 125^th Anniversary Year.  To commemorate this and the Feast of our dear Patroness, Fr. Moriarty has invited the Right Reverend Abbot Eugene J. Hayes, O.Praem., of St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado, CA, to deliver a lecture on the building of a Catholic Culture.  St. Michael’s is a community of Norbertine monks whose primary apostolate is educational and liturgical.  Their engagement of the whole person intellectually, physically, and spiritually has produced many a fine student and has nourished a very solid Catholic community in California.   Indeed, very similar to that of Saint Agnes.   Here is a short video of the Abbey (very inspiring!):

Capstone Pilgrimage to Chicago - January, 2013

The slide show below contains images from the Capstone Seminar Pilgrimage to Chicago (Jan., 2013).  Captions describing each image can be viewed by clicking on the text icon in the lower left corner of every image.

The purpose of this annual Pilgrimage to Chicago is to engage in an integrated, Catholic experience in the big city – an amalgamation of culture, faith, politics, art, food, architecture, history etc.!

The students’ experiences include:

• riding the Amtrak train to Chicago
• walking around Windy City during rush-hour
• eating deep-dish pizza at the restaurant where it was invented
• chanting Vespers with Benedictine monks downtown
• viewing the city from atop the John Hancock skyscraper
• meeting with His Excellency, Bishop Joseph N. Perry
• attending a lecture by renowned Jesuit, Fr. Paul Mankowski
• visiting the Chicago Institute of Art
• enjoying Greek food in Chicago's Greektown

The images below are a window into the life of the group's four day pilgrimage to the Windy City.

Why we need Great Books and the Liberal Arts...

From a recent post by Stratford Caldecott, G.K. Chesterton Fellow at St Benet’s Hall, Oxford, on education:

Evangelizing an anti-intellectual culture

The recent Census revealed that in England and Wales the number of professed Christians in 2011 fell to 33.2 million, or 59% of the overall population, from 37.3 million (72%) in 2001. People who said they had “no religion” rose by more than six million to 14.1 million, almost double what it was ten years earlier. We have of course been aware of the decline for some time, and it has provoked much discussion both of the root causes and of
possible responses. The call to a New Evangelization has focused our thoughts on what it is in our culture that is turning people away from faith and towards materialism. The obvious culprit is something often called “secularism”, and many of us have come to the conclusion that faith cut adrift from reason tends to perish – it turns into fundamentalism and appeals only to a minority of pathetic extremists. A faithless reason, a secular rationality that takes no account of the supernatural, is therefore regarded as our number one enemy.

Some go further, and say that we are now living not just in a post-Christian society, but in a post-secular one. We inhabit a political and technological order that does not require us to believe, or even to think, anything at all. It makes no assumptions except pragmatic ones. It cares not about what is true or false, but what will work. Not what is good or bad, but what a majority will accept. Not what is beautiful or ugly, but what price someone will pay for it. This is the kingdom of will and of desire, the “dictatorship of relativism”. Words like “true” and “good” may still be used when convenient, but they have been evacuated of content.

If this is true, the real problem in our culture is not just the rise of reason and the decline of faith; it is the decline of reason. The Enlightenment, the cult of universal reason, with all its high hopes, has failed. This has become a stupid culture, a culture without intelligence, a culture that does not respect reason. It is a culture that is based not on thought but on feeling and instinct, on gut reactions and base desires. It isn’t interested in ideas, or consistency, let alone truth. (And without an interest in truth, it won’t be interested in goodness or beauty either. The three live or die together.) 

Read the rest here.

Happy Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God!

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!

Student sayings...

Here are just a couple examples of the great books and lofty ideas that students have considered this past semester...

Mary, on St. Anselm's "Proslogium" (or "The Ontological Argument of God's Existence"):

One of the main points of Anselm's ontological argument is that Being sustains existence and that human thought is ordered to understanding what Being has created.  In Chapter V, he writes "God is whatever is better to be than not to be; and he, as the only self-existent being, creates all things from nothing" (70).  This is an important concept because, without this, Anselm's argument falls apart.  Existence comes before thought; one cannot think if he does not exist.  Anselm goes on to say, "Therefore, if that, than which nothing greater can be conceived, exists in the understanding alone, the very being, than which nothing greater can be conveived, is one, than which a greater can be conceived.  But obviously this is impossible."  From there, we can conclude that the fact that humans cannot conceive of a greater being than God proves that God must be the Supreme Being or Existence itself.  God sustains all things and has given man the ability to rationalize His universe.  It make sense that we could not think of anything greater than God because our existence is contingent on His.  Anselm's focus on God as Existence itself intrigued me.  The idea that we are sustained by God yet He is not sustained by anything because He is Existence itself fascinates me.

Ignacio, on Boethius' "The Consolation of Philosophy":

Throughout the second chapter of "The Consolation of Philosophy," the theme of fortune is studied, discussed and presented in expert detail.  As Boethius is conversing with Lady Philosophy, she attempts and ultimately succeeds in transforming his current perspective on life.  Lady Philosophy does so through a series of insightful and deeply revealing ideas about fortune, chance and the true Good - and how they plan an important role in our lives.
[...]
Lady Philosophy begins with an attack, a harsh criticism of Fortune and her nature by saying: "I know the many disguises of that monster and her endearing friendliness to those she tries to deceive - a kindness - until she leaves them without warning and overwhelms them with unbearable pain" (Boethius, 31).  With this clear and bold statement, Lady Philosophy strips the deceitful and false facade of Fortune - revealing the true nature of her fraud and treachery.  Already this sets the tone, and as one reflects on her smooth and noble language, Boethius begins to reconsider his perspective on life.  If Fortune includes a false and negative connotation, then she stops looking like something attractive and desirable. 
[...]
Lady Philosophy continues to educate and soothe Boethius with her wise remarks.  From the topic of Fortune she advances to discuss the role of material or worldly possessions, and links this with Fortune in a brilliant and logical manner.  Lady Philosophy basically comes to state that worldly possessions are temporal, therefore they can never truly be owned in the true and complete sense.  In fact, the owner of these things (wealth, honor and recognition), is Fortune herself, so, as she is in charge, she can choose to stop sending us or granting us gifts at anytime, leaving us with feelings of depletion and hopelessness as we desire those riches.  Boethius writes: "Now it pleases me to pull back my hand," perfectly describing the domination Fortune has upon human victims who grow attached to worldly possessions.

Discussing Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy"

We had a great first conversation today about Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy.

Boethius lived in the 6th century and was falsely imprisoned and executed for treason.  While in prison and without any books, he wrote this brilliant work.  The Consolation is an imaginary dialogue between Boethius and Lady Philosophy - a work which intertwines clever prose with beautiful poetry.

Today's discussion of the Book I focused on a number of interesting aspects, but one in particular caught everyone's attention:

• The reader meets Boethius writing melancholy poetry in jail, wallowing in his misery and pitying himself.  Immediately upon arriving at his side, Lady Philosophy chases away the Muses of poetry who have inspired Boethius sulk in his misery - albeit with beautiful poetry.  We then had an interesting conversation about our culture today and how much of pop culture art wallows in depression, misery and destruction.  This is starkly contrasted with how Lady Philosophy calls the Muses of poetry out and chases them away, for they are not leading Boethius to what is true, good and beautiful. 
• Pictured here is an image of Lady Philosophy who leads men toward virtue, truth and goodness.

Celebrating the 'Top 50' award

Living out the "Regula" of St. Benedict...

http://youtu.be/ZSZQceNbZLA

2012 Rosary Procession

It was great to see so many Saint Agnes faces at the 2012 Rosary Procession!  The procession began at the Capitol and ended at the Cathedral with a prayer service lead by Bishop Piche.  Saint Agnes students, parents, faculty and staff were on hand to pray with the clergy for the Marriage Amendment.

Here I am with Faustina, my daughter, and Joseph, a seminarian from Uganda.  We have "adopted" Joseph during his time at the St. Paul Seminary.

 

Book VII, The Confessions of Saint Augustine

Oct. 5, 2012

Students are grappling with the big, existential and philosophical questions.

The Problem of Evil

Book VII of The Confessions of Saint Augustine is absolutely fascinating!

Augustine's considerations of the problem of evil have immense ramifications for man.

Questions students are considering and discussing:
1.    Did God create evil?
2.    Is Satan/Lucifer evil?  Was he created as evil?
3.    Is evil a substance?
4.    Is God material or pure spirit?  Why?
5.    Are created things evil or good or a combination?  Why/how?
6.    Can human persons choose to do or love evil things?  Why/why not/how?
7.    From what does evil come or originate (according to Augustine)?
       a.    What do you think of Augustine’s answer?
8.    How does human freedom and God's providence fit into Augustine's consideration of evil?

A Fantastic Fall

Welcome back! Saint Agnes kicks off 2012-13 school year with a bang...

Welcome back to you, students, parents and friends of Saint Agnes School and the Capstone Seminar! Saint Agnes is blessed to report that enrollment continues to rise (up 5% from last year) and we were recently named by the Cardinal Newman Society as one of the "Top 50" Catholic High Schools in the nation! The Capstone Seminar is also stronger! We have more students in the course this year and students have started the year off with excellent conversations. This semester we will read: "On the Reading of Old Books" - C.S. Lewis (NOW DONE) De Incarnatione (On the Incarnation) - St. Athanasius (NOW DONE) The Confessions of Saint Augustine (Currently reading) The Rule of Saint Benedict The Consolation of Philosophy - Boethius Proslogium / Fides Quaerens Intellectum (Faith Seeking Understanding) - St. Anselm "Treatise on Law" (from the Summa) - St. Thomas Aquinas Please check back for more updates soon! -Capstone Faculty Mr. Blonigen Mr. DeJak Mr. Adkins

Capstone Summer Dinner

Saint Agnes School's annual Red & White Benefit Dinner offered an evening of edification whereby Capstone teachers Mr. John DeJak, Mr. Fred Blonigen and Mr. Michael Adkins prepared and served an Austrian themed meal. Dr. DeJak prepared the entire dinner from scratch, revealing his culinary prowess. We were graced with the presence of Fr. Mark Moriarty, new Pastor and Superintendent of Saint Agnes! Fr. Moriarty was doing some last-minute moving and we had an extra plate of veal for him. He began his tenure as Pastor of the Church of Saint Agnes on Sunday, July 1st. We are very excited and blessed to have him. Many thanks to all who attended!

Graduation 2012 (Pt. II)

Fr. Robert J. Araujo, S.J., the fine gentleman we met in Chicago who gave our Capstone students a superb primer on the Natural Law, delivered the commencement address at Saint Agnes School on Friday, June 1st. He is a regular contributor to "The Mirror of Justice" a Catholic legal blog. In a recent post, he wrote the following of his address at Saint Agnes:

Commencement and the Road not Taken On Friday night I had the honor to be the graduation speaker at a coeducational Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I had many weeks to think about what I ought to say to the young men and women, most of whom will be attending college later this summer. As I prepared my words, I thought it prudent to relate the lives of these young and energetic people to those who have preceded them in faith and wisdom. Although the students have accomplished much, they really are just beginning to learn about life, its meaning, and who and what they are. The same questions are suited for law students as they graduate. The same can issues apply to the rest of us as well. As I mentioned in the address, these questions form a part of who the human person is, for they never go away. For those who might be interested in the full address, here it is: Download Graduation Address at St Agnes. A blessed Trinity Sunday to one and all. RJA sj

Download the commencement address here.

Graduation 2012

Below, senior and Valedictorian of the Class of 2012, Rose, sits in glory after finishing her Capstone oral exam. (We let the students sit in the dean's chair during orals!) This fall, Rose will head off to Creighton University to major in Biology/Pre-Medicine. She has made the faculty of Saint Agnes School very proud. Above (left) students process into the Church of Saint Agnes for the Baccalaureate Mass. At right, seniors listen to Fr. Ubel's final K-12 school homily.