(Note: It was Terry who informed me Duns Scotus is Latin for the "Scottish Dunce")
My reaction to Friar Abada's article (apart from the extrajudicial killings which I knew about from D&P Phillipino activists in Vancouver):
1. So a priest thinks activists and many urban poor do not pray. He's right .... or is he? I wonder why? But laborare est orare - to work is to pray (St Augustine).
2. Priests (including Bishops and Popes!) are human, God love them, and not perfect or always right. They are not above criticism (tinged with a large dose of charity because we seek to understand rather than be understood. Well, sometimes. When we preach do we not want the good news to be understood? When we act do we not want people to understand we act out of love for them and God?).
3. Fr Abada says that upon reflection (lectio divina?) "we" reaffirmed that the poor do have a deep spitituality. Hopefully the "we" included the priest and that he was humble enough to learn from the People of God. In this reflection were they not going from gospel to life and life to gospel using see, judge, act in support of the preferential option for the poor? (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church no 182)
4. This Compendium at no 131 also says:
" .... the primary commitment of each person towards others ...., must be for the promotion and integral development of the person." Sounds like that includes the concept of solidarity to me. Integral development includes an adequate level of material necessities.
5. And Scotus' "common consent and election of the community" sounds like those Catholic Social Teaching principles of subsidiarity and participation (Compendium nos 185 and 189).
I was impressed that the Scottish Dunce got it 400 years before Rousseau!
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
There is a good reason that the Church refers to Scotus and 'the subtle Doctor'.
Pat
Hi Andrew. Just to clarify things re Duns Scotus. John Duns Scotus means john Duns of Scotland not the Scottish dunce. Duns Scotus was regarded by his fellow scholars as not to bright on the theological theories and insights he proffered. In reality his theology was way ahead of his time and over the heads of those who mocked him, rather than try to understand him they called him stupid. After this if a school student was called stupid he was nicknamed a duns after Scotus' reputation, the name Duns with time became dunce.
Thanks, Terry, for clarifying the derivation of of the word "dunce".
Actually since we are being exact, Duns Scotus (nominative case) means Duns the Scot. Duns of Scotland would be Duns Scoti (genitive case of a first declension noun).
A subtle difference about the Subtle Doctor!
(I learned that as a six year old in boarding school. I can still remember my Latin teacher who used to bang me on the head with a Latin dictionary and a smile if I got the declension wrong. Not politically correct today but it did not do me any harm that I can tell. Not that I would have done it as a teacher myself!).
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
Actually since we are being exact, Duns Scotus (nominative case) means Duns the Scot. Duns of Scotland would be Duns Scoti (genitive case of a first declension noun).
A subtle difference about the Subtle Doctor!
(I learned that as a six year old in boarding school. I can still remember my Latin teacher who used to bang me on the head with a Latin dictionary and a smile if I got the declension wrong. Not politically correct today but it did not do me any harm that I can tell. Not that I would have done it as a teacher myself!).
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
In all fairness, Thomas Aquinas was called the dumb ox when he was younger. I think they both demonstrated a certain stubborn, deliberate, methodical, and somewhat slow response time. We know from their writings it was because the were working through problems in very great depth and detail. Augustine was asked to answer a question which he said he would do. The answer took the form of a book sent to the questioner 10 years later. Makes me wonder about our era where eloquence is sometimes mistaken for intelligence
.
Pax, Pat
To err is human and I am human! I am a dunce and a dumb ox (I wish).
Small point but "Scoti" is "of the Scot"; "of Scotland" would be "Scotae" because it is the genitive of "Scotia" (Scotland), a first declension noun.
Maybe my Latin master did not thump me hard enough with his dictionary!
Its weird but this realisation came to me in the middle of the night and I had to resist getting up to write this.
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
Small point but "Scoti" is "of the Scot"; "of Scotland" would be "Scotae" because it is the genitive of "Scotia" (Scotland), a first declension noun.
Maybe my Latin master did not thump me hard enough with his dictionary!
Its weird but this realisation came to me in the middle of the night and I had to resist getting up to write this.
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
I think your Latin master would be very proud!
Pat