Fathers, Doctors of the Church

MADISON  A group of Catholics at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization here recently got to meet two famous figures of the early Church: St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas — not personally but on a theological, historical and academic level. These enthusiastic faithful learned, among many facts, that Albert, a university professor, had mastered several academic disciplines, while Thomas, also an academic, wrote “Summa Theologica,” a massive compendium of the Church’s theological teachings.

Father Pawel Tomczyk, diocesan director of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and Youth Ministry and chaplain at William Paterson University, Wayne, had introduced Albert and Thomas to the students of this summer’s Pope Benedict XVI Institute, with the title “Sages and Saints, Fathers and Mothers: Pope Benedict on the Doctors of the Church.” Held at St. Paul’s, the Institute featured eight local speakers, including Father Tomczyk, who shared their pastoral and theological insights about many of the Church’s early thinkers, during a series of daytime and evening presentations from June 11 to 13.

During the Institute, a diverse program of speakers — priests, religious, laity, academics, pastoral ministers and St. Paul’s staff — examined Pope Benedict’s thoughts about the early thinkers of the Church — Fathers of the Church, such as Clement, and Doctors, such as Teresa of Avila — who have appeared in his writings. The Fathers of the Church — bishops and, later, priests and deacons — have been recognized for “their leadership in the early Church…in defending, expounding, and developing Catholic doctrines.” The title of Doctor of the Church has been bestowed on certain saints, whose writings and preaching have “contributed significantly to the formulation of Christian teaching in at least one area,” according to www.Catholic.com.

Having completed its fifth year, the Institute featured Father Paul Manning, diocesan vicar for evangelization and St. Paul’s executive director, who spoke about Clement, Ignatius, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus; Msgr. Raymond Kupke, adjunct professor of Church history at Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange, diocesan archivist and pastor of St. Anthony Parish, Hawthorne, who talked about the Fathers and Doctors; Father James Platania, a diocesan priest and assistant professor of biblical studies at Immaculate Conception, who spoke on the women thinkers; and Father Douglas Milewski, associate professor of theology at Immaculate Conception, who discussed Augustine. Other presenters were: Sister of Christian Charity Ann Marie Paul, director of the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women, who talked about Hildegard, Catherine, Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux; Brian Honsberger, diocesan assistant director of evangelization at St. Paul’s, who spoke about Athanasius, Ambrose and John Chrysostom; and Gregory Floyd, a teaching follow of core curriculum at Seton Hall University, South Orange, and a member of St. Paul’s Young Adults, who talked about Gregory of Nazianen, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory the Great.

“It’s hard not to study the Doctors and Fathers of the Church and not be more Catholic. We can’t understand Scripture without understanding the rich and beautiful traditions of the Church. Pope Benedict wrote about the living stream from the side of Jesus [at the Crucifixion] — the blood and water that flowed from his side, which we usually identify with Baptism and the Eucharist. But that living stream, he said, is all the Sacraments, the traditions of the Church and the revelation that comes through the Church. That living stream is the Church herself,” said Father Manning at the end of the daytime session of the Institute on June 13, which also included Honsberger’s afternoon talks. “Hopefully, these three days have helped us join in the conversation [about our faith], when it began [in the early Church].”

On June 13 in a classroom at St. Paul’s, Father Tomczyk, also an adjunct professor of moral theology at Seton Hall, got the audience acquainted with Albert the Great, a German Dominican, bishop and a Doctor of the Church, who was born around 1200. He served as a professor at the University of Paris and earned doctorates in several disciplines. He also proved to be a successful diplomat and a recruiter for the 8th Crusade under Pope Urban IV. Pope Benedict wrote that Albert has a lot to teach Catholics about “the friendship between science and faith.” Albert died in 1280, Father Tomczyk said.

“God reveals himself through Creation. We can learn about Him by appreciating the beauty of the world. It’s a wonderful way of praying,” Father Tomczyk said. “If we go one way or the other [favoring faith or reason exclusively], we risk not seeing the truth. We see the truth through both ways,” he said.

Later, Father Tomczyk spoke about St. Thomas Aquinas, an Italian Dominican priest and also a Doctor of the Church, who was born in 1225 and was a student of Albert’s. Thomas also served as a theology professor at the University of Paris and became a prolific writer, including writing of “Summa Theologica,” which Pope Benedict has praised. Thomas died in 1274, Father Tomczyk said.

Pope Benedict called Thomas a “model for Catholics.” Thomas used reason to argue the existence of God and promoted an understanding that God’s graces work in conjunction with our flawed human nature to fulfill his desire that “we become fully ourselves in Him in our own ways,” Father Tomczyk said.

Funding the institute came from an anonymous husband and wife, who approached Father Manning in 2014. They sought to help establish a program to promote the teachings of Pope Benedict. They “felt that his teachings are brilliant and under-appreciated and that the local Church needed to find a way to promote them and make them more accessible,” Father Manning said.

In the past, St. Paul’s would invite one or two guest speakers, usually from outside the Diocese, to present at the three-day Institute. But this year, organizers decided to invite eight speakers to make it easier to share the duties of covering close to 30 thinkers that Benedict has mentioned in his writings. This year, St. Paul’s also added evening sessions to give people who work days an opportunity to deepen their faith as well from the insights of many of the presenters, said Honsberger, who helped organize the Institute.

After the daytime sessions on June 13, Debbie White of Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Parish, Cedar Knolls, praised the Pope Benedict XVI Institute sessions, saying, “I learned a lot of information, which inspires me to seek further knowledge about the Catholic faith. To know that a lot of this knowledge and truth from the Church comes down through the centuries is comforting.”