New Chapter In My Life, or What I Hope to Learn From the Catholics

As I finish this blog entry up, I’m flying to Washington, D.C. to begin the next chapter of my life. (Okay, I’m now actually posting it a week later.) On Monday I will be starting a Ph.D. in theology at the Catholic University of America. This last year at BYU Studies has been fun and very good for me—mostly because I’ve been able to hang out with my family. With my parents in Russia all of us oldest kids have developed a very new and different dynamic, since we’ve all had to deal with each other as adults.

But, it is time to move on. I was accepted to two Ph.D. programs, one at CUA and one at Claremont. I visited both campuses and I must say I was very impressed by both. However, multiple factors made me decide on CUA. The LDS single’s scene, location, program, etc. all factored in. Oddly enough finances weren’t much of a play as the cost would be about equal for either. Ultimately, for me, it was the Spirit of the Lord that seemed to indicate that CUA was the place for me.

One of my good friends at Yale, Mary-Beth Willard, was Catholic. I can remember talking to her about various LDS things, especially the role of the LDS scholar and I voiced some concern to her (I don’t remember precisely what it was now) and she waved her hand almost dismissively. “Oh, you’ll have that figured out in a hundred years.” That comment was kind of the genesis of this blog entry. I got to thinking about the similarities and differences between Mormonism and Catholicism, strengths and weaknesses, places where we could learn from each other. So, as I embark on this new academic program, I would like to point out a few things that I would like to learn from the Catholics.

1. Self-Confidence. Far too often Mormons feel and act very defensive. I think there’s good reason for this, as we are under attack by many different groups and persecution is in our history. However, I feel like, for example, in LDS scholarship far too much time is spent on apologetics. One sense I get from the Catholics is that they are very self-assured. They are ancient. Their church has existed for almost 2 millennia and there is a weight about them that makes them firm in their faith. That firmness is something I would like to have for myself in my own faith.

2. Sense of Tradition. Maybe this is its own subheading under “Self-Confidence.” Certainly the Catholic sense of tradition comes from its very long history as well. In the LDS church, it seems we have our traditions as well, of course. But the Catholics tradition is so ancient that it draws people to it. People will say “I’m Catholic” even when they haven’t been to mass in years. (Hispanics say “we’ve always been Catholic, a phrase I find hilarious due to the way they probably became Catholic a few hundred years ago—swordpoint, in a lot of cases.) It’s become cultural for them. Finding a way to make the LDS religion have that sense of tradition would be fascinating. Maybe it’s impossible. But I still want to explore it.

3. Ownership of the Saints. When Catholics speak of St. Augustine or some other ancient Christian writer, they almost speak with a sense of ownership. Sure, the liberal Protestants I worked with at Yale talk about and understand Augustine and his writings. But Augustine is one of the Catholics. He’s one of their saints. You could pray to him. There is a real sense that Augustine is theirs, the way I sort of feel that, say, Brothers Brigham or Joseph are mine. While I suppose I can’t actually learn to feel ownership of these figures, I do want to learn to appreciate them in light of the reverence and familiarity it appears is displayed by members of the Catholic church.

4. Balancing Scholarship and Faith. At Yale there was a very strong sense of “pilgrimage” while doing scholarship. We weren’t there yet. There was much to learn, much yet to understand, and so any attempt to give a final word was almost laughed at. My systematic theology teacher specifically told us that our job would be to find new ways of explaining and relating God’s mysteries to others. While I don’t doubt that a sense of mystery or pilgrimage is present in Catholic theology, there is, as far as I can tell, a much greater sense of having at least arrived at least some part of the truth. This, of course, is very much in line with the LDS belief that we are the “only true and living church” (D&C 1:35). I find that I personally get in trouble, though, when I question beliefs, doctrine, statements, and especially the LDS culture. If we’re the only living church, why would you do that? Why would you want or need to question the statements by leaders, especially sometimes the ones we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators?

For me at least, it’s because, well, sometimes they’re wrong. Please please please for the love of all that is holy do not think that this means I don’t think they’re apostles. It simply means, that as men who are not Jesus, they are not perfect. Catholics have a very similar situation as the Pope is the successor of St. Peter and yet you may not always agree with him. I hope to learn how to thread that line between intellectual inquiry and a strict hierarchy. I could write an entire entry on this subject, so I'll stop now on this particular point.

Well, there are others I could probably mention. But I’m excited to start this program and these are some of the reasons I want to hang out with the Catholics. They have things we can learn from them. I hope I can help them to think a bit outside of the box as well. A meeting of the minds is never a bad thing.

SLAGG '08

SLAGG is a term my friend Steve invented. It stands for Squirrel Legion All Get toGether. "What on earth is that?" you may ask. Basically, I play World of WarCraft and I have so for a few years. The particular group of people I hang out with in the game (my “Guild”) is named the Squirrel Legion. I harbor suspicions the name comes from a night of drunken mischief since the other high-end content guilds on my server have names like Juggernaut, Ruination, Swarm, and Shadow Protectorate, all of which sound much more threatening than Squirrel Legion. We even have our own logo, complete with a cute little squirrel icon.



We usually have a get-together about once a year and this year Las Vegas was selected for a variety of reasons. So we all booked flights, rented cars, and otherwise prepared ourselves for nights of drunken video-game playing. And you know what? Get everybody else in the room drunk to various degrees and I’m still the worst person at Wii games. *sighs* Also, Todai’s sushi and seafood restaurant is now included in my definition of “heaven.”

I must say, I had a marvelous time. I really do enjoy the people I’ve met through this video game, though I know how weird that sounds. Also interesting to me were the topics of discussion. We mostly talked about World of WarCraft and other assorted video games, drinking, sex, and . . . Mormonism?!?! Well, maybe I should say the topic was religion in general, but only because my friend Ben and I got into an argument over pluralism for like 5 minutes. Incidentally Ben's dad got a Ph.D. in theology from the Catholic University of America, where I will start my Ph.D. in theology in a few weeks.

A most especially enjoyable part was driving up from Vegas to St. George, Utah. Two of the Squirrels live there and since they couldn’t make it down for various reasons we decided to head up, have a BBQ, play the Wrath of the Lich King Beta, and a few of us even stayed overnight. So thanks to Ian and Kelli for hosting us at their house. And it was especially nice to walk into a home with a Family Home Evening chart on the wall next to a framed copy of the Proclamation on the Family after spending a few nights in Vegas.

All in all, a great vacation. Here’s a pic of us all. Top Row: Ian (Troll Shaman Zulfreyk), John (Undead Rogue Talorin), Grady (Tauren Druid Grenthar), Cheryl (Troll Hunter Greymung), Mike (Troll Rogue Poozrfroope), Kelli (Blood Elf Priest Ellaina). Kneeling: Other Mike (Undead Warlock Parth), Me (Tauren Shaman Moonwatcher), Gene (ex-Orc Warlock Kwantum). The kids on the left and right of the picture are Corwin and Helen, Squirrels-In-Training and offspring of Ian and Kelli.