Father George Rutler Contrasts Grammars


The Reverend Father George Rutler at Crisis Magazine wrote:

An obligation attaches to the grammar that speaks heart to heart, however, and that duty consists in a simultaneous use of the brain. Sentiment detached from thought will lead down wayward paths. This “heart to heart” language—the cor ad cor of Saint Francis de Sales, which Bl. (now Saint) John Henry Cardinal Newman made his motto—is always clear. Newman described the process of attaining certitude in his “Grammar of Assent.” Few minds could match his, just as few could equal his wordcraft, and no one could be confused about what he thought or how he said it.
That is not a mere coincidence. It’s thankworthy that Pope Francis will canonize Newman. Let it be a reminder to all that, no matter how nouns and adjectives and adverbs are employed, messy thinking is a Grammar of Dissent.
Fr Rutler's essay invites us to investigate Newman's essay:

Comments

Popular Posts

Life At The Altar Rail: 22 Behaviours Categorized

You Know You're In A Progressive Catholic Parish When... .

Review: Saint Gregory's Prayer Book

You know you're a REAL altar server when... .

Zigzagging Toward The Catholic Renaissance

Instituted Acolytes & The Exercise of the Subdiaconal Ministry

JAMES 4: 13-17

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain”; whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

PSALM 54

Behold, God is my helper : the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.

ST THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX

Let us not grow tired of prayer: confidence works miracles.

THOMAS SOWELL

It is amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them. Using this kind of reasoning, you can believe or not believe anything about anything, without having to bother to deal with facts or logic.

MARCUS AURELIUS

There is but one thing of real value - to cultivate truth and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men.