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:

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PSALM 37

Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right : for that shall bring a man peace at the last.

POPE LEO XIV

The right to freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, religious freedom, and even the right to life are being restricted in the name of other so-called new rights, with the result that the very framework of human rights is losing its vitality and creating space for force and oppression. This occurs when each right becomes self-referential, and especially when it becomes disconnected from reality, nature, and truth.

ST AUGUSTINE

The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.

SAINT PHILIP NERI

The greatness of our love of God must be tested by the desire we have of suffering for His love.

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.

MARK TWAIN

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.