DAIANE EMAIL - Catholic Predestination

[Father Joe]

Dear Fr. Joe,

About four years ago, I accidentally stumbled upon the Church’s
doctrine on Predestination. I say “accidentally” because I wasn’t
looking for it, and “stumbled” because I didn’t know we had one.

My initial reaction was that it scared the hell out of me. I was
confusing predestination with predetermination. After considerable
time and much study, my fears soon passed and I accepted
predestination as a de fide dogma as taught by the Catholic Church. I
understand that the main problem lies in the question whether God’s
eternal resolve of Predestination has been taken with or without
consideration of merits or in other words, how exactly does it work.
Although I am personally leaning toward the classic Thomists theory,
rather than the Molinists, that is not my question.

My question is why do most Catholics hardly talk about it and many
(like myself) didn’t even know the Church teaches it. In all my years
of Catholic schooling and later in Catholic Bible study, it never came
up. Now, when I read certain passages in Scripture, especially St.
Paul, it has a whole new meaning. I did ask my priest once and he
told me that it is a subject usually reserved for students of
theology.

Thank you, Father.
Daiane

[Father Joe]

Dear Daiane,

The Church does speak about predestination but usually under the
heading of divine providence. I suspect that part of the problem,
especially in the United States, is that when we think about
“predestination” what immediately comes to mind is a harsh caricature
of Calvinist thinking. The poor and the afflicted in this world are
judged as somehow meriting God’s disfavor and their status now points
to their desperate state in the world to come. There is a stress upon
predestination “to perdition”. Such poor souls might likely despair
altogether. We are quite familiar with the current flip side as it is
regularly taught by the wealthy ministers in mega-churches, television
preachers and traveling evangelists; it is the so-called prosperity
Gospel. Ministers say, “Look at me! I am rich! I am favored by
God! And you can be favored, too!” This usually means a hefty tithe
or donation, sometimes the money that struggling people need on which
to live. They are told if they give, God will give them abundance in
return. Instead of seeing such reward in eschatological terms, it is
interpreted as fortune and health and fame right now. Poor people buy
it, even though they get poorer and the ministers get rich. If their
giving does not result in abundance, they are told that they did not
have sufficient faith and that they need to sacrifice further.
Protestant fundamentalism relies heavily upon the Old Testament and
such sentiments flow from an ancient Jewish understanding. Before any
coherent view of an afterlife, the Jews of old interpreted property,
wealth and children as a sign of divine favor. Homelessness, poverty
and barrenness were viewed as disfavor. This view persisted into New
Testament times. A person’s affliction is generally interpreted as
punishment for his or her sin or even for a sin where the fault is
passed down generation by generation. Jesus tends to reject this view
although the doctrine of original sin has certain parallel points:
bondage to Satan, subject to sin and death, consequences for sin
passed down from Adam and Eve (alienation from God). St. Augustine
would speak about predestination “to glory”. This view anticipates
something much more positive. It is optimistic and hopes that a good
God will show great mercy to his children.

The mystery of divine providence is one which we face with deep
humility. We should not sin by presumption. There is a mystery as to
how predestination can contain within it human self-determination and
free will. We believe that divine providence cannot be circumvented.
In the end, God’s will be done. However, our choices are real. We
are told that nothing can obstruct God’s will and yet the Church also
speaks about the divine passive will. He allows human beings the
freedom to make choices. Sometimes we make wrong choices. This is
where evil comes into the picture.