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A Shepherd Tends His Flock
335 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2010
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January 16, 2019
I stepped out of my science and reason echo chamber and picked up a book that has been on my shelf for quite a while, A Shepherd Tends His Flock. Before Father John was promoted to his current position in the Green Bay Diocese, he was a priest at a number of smaller parishes in NE Wisconsin, where I grew up. He is an excellent speaker and very charismatic. I'm sure he has a bright future in the Diocese. I met him several years ago and he comes across as very sincere and good natured person.
There are no Catholic related topics left untouched in this book. In the nine sections within its 334 pages, he succinctly covers hundreds of topic in two or so pages each. Many non-Catholic topics are addressed also. He explains just about every major religion / fringe religion and points out how they differ from Catholicism (and how they got it wrong), and even the non-religious such as atheists (more on that later). He tackles current Catholic hot points such as the ordination of women, stem cell research, homosexuality, same sex marriage, divorce, cremation, abortion, euthanasia, contraceptives, and many, many other topics. Spoiler alert: the proper stance on all of the aforementioned talking points is NO, NO, NO.
I felt like I was right back in Catholic school while reading this. We addressed most of these topics in school, and the Church's current stance on them remains pretty much the same as in the 1970s it seems. While I agree with VERY little with what Father has to say, I must say that this is a well written book. He knows his stuff and uses a good amount of humor to keep from sounding to stuffy and overly reverent.
The section in which I disagreed most vehemently with Father was the six-page attempted take take down of atheism. Wow, he couldn't have missed the mark more on this. Much of this consisted of a history of non-belief, which was fine, but the in the last two pages he offers believers two approaches to prove God's existence to atheists. OK. The first approach is the explaining to atheists the need for "First Cause" - after all you can't get something from nothing and therefore something was responsible for the Big Bang. The second approach is examining the need for an "Intelligent Designer". Since the universe is ordered and follows a set of rules, someone must've made these rules, right? Intelligent design is easily refutable. There are many scientific publications available on the interwebs for free which effectively counter the arguments offered by creationists. The god of the gaps narrows after each scientific discovery.
The final paragraphs in the atheism section really pushed me over the edge. This just tops it off:
"They are committed. They write books, they teach in colleges, they file lawsuits, and often, they are vehement in their belief that God does not exist.
What fires this zeal? Most likely, it is hurt. In my experience, most vehement Atheists hold to their beliefs because of an instance of suffering or even in their lives by which they have been deeply wounded. This could have been the death of a loved one, a serious illness or disability, a rejection by their peers, or a life of loneliness that led to despair. Militant Atheism often becomes kind of a retaliation against God - a kind of getting back at the Lord for not keeping them or their loved ones from harm."
Seriously?! This is ludicrous and insulting! We've all gone through trials in our lives such as this. I can only speak for myself but the reason I am not a believer is because the more I learned about science the more I realized that there is no need for magic to explain ANYTHING in this world. That's it. Mad at a god? How can a person be mad at something that doesn't exist? There is no hidden agenda, no retaliation, no despair. There is no supernatural, no magic, only natural laws and that's it.
I would recommend this highly to any Catholic readers. It's a very well written an comprehensive guide to living a devout life in Catholicism.
There are no Catholic related topics left untouched in this book. In the nine sections within its 334 pages, he succinctly covers hundreds of topic in two or so pages each. Many non-Catholic topics are addressed also. He explains just about every major religion / fringe religion and points out how they differ from Catholicism (and how they got it wrong), and even the non-religious such as atheists (more on that later). He tackles current Catholic hot points such as the ordination of women, stem cell research, homosexuality, same sex marriage, divorce, cremation, abortion, euthanasia, contraceptives, and many, many other topics. Spoiler alert: the proper stance on all of the aforementioned talking points is NO, NO, NO.
I felt like I was right back in Catholic school while reading this. We addressed most of these topics in school, and the Church's current stance on them remains pretty much the same as in the 1970s it seems. While I agree with VERY little with what Father has to say, I must say that this is a well written book. He knows his stuff and uses a good amount of humor to keep from sounding to stuffy and overly reverent.
The section in which I disagreed most vehemently with Father was the six-page attempted take take down of atheism. Wow, he couldn't have missed the mark more on this. Much of this consisted of a history of non-belief, which was fine, but the in the last two pages he offers believers two approaches to prove God's existence to atheists. OK. The first approach is the explaining to atheists the need for "First Cause" - after all you can't get something from nothing and therefore something was responsible for the Big Bang. The second approach is examining the need for an "Intelligent Designer". Since the universe is ordered and follows a set of rules, someone must've made these rules, right? Intelligent design is easily refutable. There are many scientific publications available on the interwebs for free which effectively counter the arguments offered by creationists. The god of the gaps narrows after each scientific discovery.
The final paragraphs in the atheism section really pushed me over the edge. This just tops it off:
"They are committed. They write books, they teach in colleges, they file lawsuits, and often, they are vehement in their belief that God does not exist.
What fires this zeal? Most likely, it is hurt. In my experience, most vehement Atheists hold to their beliefs because of an instance of suffering or even in their lives by which they have been deeply wounded. This could have been the death of a loved one, a serious illness or disability, a rejection by their peers, or a life of loneliness that led to despair. Militant Atheism often becomes kind of a retaliation against God - a kind of getting back at the Lord for not keeping them or their loved ones from harm."
Seriously?! This is ludicrous and insulting! We've all gone through trials in our lives such as this. I can only speak for myself but the reason I am not a believer is because the more I learned about science the more I realized that there is no need for magic to explain ANYTHING in this world. That's it. Mad at a god? How can a person be mad at something that doesn't exist? There is no hidden agenda, no retaliation, no despair. There is no supernatural, no magic, only natural laws and that's it.
I would recommend this highly to any Catholic readers. It's a very well written an comprehensive guide to living a devout life in Catholicism.
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