The Hungry Ghost Festival: Some Catholic Thoughts

I have actually been thinking about this for some time and the hungry ghost festival presents certain interesting theological questions.

The ghosts/spirits are believed to be released on the 7th month to roam the earth, something like a "free pass." These ghosts are "hungry" in the sense that they do appreciate human beings entertaining them and giving them food etc.

From a Catholic theological perspective, there do exist "hungry ghosts". They are the Holy Souls in purgatory. They are ultimately hungry for God's love, longing and fainting for the courts of the Lord as the psalmist would say. We help them of course through offering prayers and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for them to satiate their hunger. And within Catholic tradition, these souls in purgatory do get to appear to human beings in the forms of apparitions to certain select individuals. A book entitled "hungry souls" by Dr Gerard Van den Aardweg provides fascinating material of this phenomenon. There is even a Church in Italy with a "purgatory museum" storing artifacts which have been touched by these souls a visible reminders of their visit. A bit spooky but within the boundaries of Catholic teaching.

As such, in inter-religious dialogue, this can be a good starting point to share with those who practice traditional chinese religion.

However, from a Catholic theological perspective, all we can say is that God has not revealed to us that there is a special month where souls are released from purgatory to roam the earth to beg for prayers. That would be in the category of natural human religiosity.

In anycase, we have all souls day, a day dedicated to pray for these hungry souls. There seems to me no harm per se for Catholics coming out of a Chinese religion background to intensify prayers and offer masses during the month of August should they so chose. Of course the elements not in keeping with Catholic teaching have to be slowly weaned away.

Catholics sometimes report that they feel "oppressed" during this season. Some of a more traditional/charismatic bent advocate spiritual combat. What then should one do?

For one thing Catholic teaching is clear that there is only one "King of hell", i.e. Satan. He tempts human beings all the time and will use whatever historical circumstances to bring that about. Since the hungry ghost festival is in the category of natural human religiosity, truth is often mixed with error. Hence it is very possible that satan and his minions makes use of this period of time the "hungry ghost festival" to burrow into human religious practices and cause spiritual disturbances.

Then again, God could also permit the holy souls in purgatory to be "more active" in seeking the prayers of the living during this month. If that's the case, he seems to be drawing good out of natural human religiosity.

In any case, while we can't be absolutely certain, we can draw some guidelines.

The bottom line for Catholics is Mass, the rosary and other approved devotions directed to the Holy Souls in purgatory or minor exocrisms designed to drive away infestations. According to Dr Gerard van den Aardweg, souls in purgatory when they do appear to human beings, will sadly beg for prayers, help and compassion. Damned souls/demons do not.

A Catholic knows that any attempt at placating a soul with food, entertainment, joss paper etc is while done with good intentions, is ultimately not helpful.

Worst still if Catholics attempt at placating demons via the usual hungry ghost practices.

That's one category of intelligent beings we absolutely don't negotiate with.

Body Shop and Natural Family Planning

You’re beautiful whatever your quirks… It’s about making the best of yourself without having to try to hard but sometimes you may need a helping hand… we unearth nature’s ingredients the secrets of timeless regimes and we bring your products bursting with effectiveness… we do this while respecting the planet, the communities who depend on it and standing up for causes that are important to the world we live in because we believe that is only one way to be beautiful, nature’s way.”
Nope this is not the latest commercial by the Couple to Couple League or the Australian Council of Natural Family Planning but by BodyShop the second largest cosmetic franchise in the world. Yet this text could have easily been transposed into an advertisement promoting Natural Family Planning. Indeed, if Dame Anita Roddick’s successors were to declare to the world that they have designed a product that is suitable for sophisticated first world women and poor third world women in whatever stage of their lives, and in whatever physical condition to understand and responsibly manage and monitor their reproductive health which is simultaneously natural, drug free, low cost, environmentally friendly, effective in both postponing and achieving pregnancy, helps in marital communication and a more enjoyable sex life , and actually acts as a protective factor against divorce, they might actually win a Nobel Peace Prize.
Considering the contemporary wave of enthusiasm for natural, organic and sustainable products, it would seem that the Church will do well to promote Natural Family Planning as an environmentally friendly lifestyle choice. After all, most people would react to a reminder to lead a healthy lifestyle with a grudging nod of the head. And on the other hand, most who promote healthy lifestyles do make allowance for an occasional indulgence in food dripping with trans-fat. Yet Church’s teaching has always been that the use of Natural Family Planning is not merely a healthier lifestyle choice, i.e. the difference between eating processed or natural foods, but the only morally legitimate choice for couples intending to space their families and that only for serious reasons. It considers the use of the contraceptive pill and any and all forms of contraceptives not simply as a physical evil akin to ingesting a high dosage of cholesterol into your body but a moral evil, which done with full knowledge and consent of the will constitutes mortal sin which can cut one of eternally from union with their Creator.

Can this teaching be rationally defended? I think so and in my next post, I will share how…

Studies at John Paul II Institute

Whew! Its been a month already since i arrived in Melbourne and I am really enjoying my studies at John Paul II institute.

Classes are usually about no more than 10 people thus giving a sense of community and opportunity for free flowing discussion. We are a mixture of clergy and laity from different walks of life united however with a basic conviction and love for the Catholic church and a desire to engage the culture at large in a rigorous and thorough manner. You might be surprised but there are quite a number of Asians studying at JP2!

There are two singaporeans (myself and Gregory who's dad Thomas is active in Marriage encounter and who was a former exco member of Family Life Society). Gregory brought his wife Elizabeth and his five month old son Nathan along to melbourne. he is studying for a graduate diploma and shared that studying theology was what he always wanted to do.


Another two fulltime students are Simone and Jasmine. Simone is from Australia and she is often seen in the chapel praying before the lessons. She studied theology at graduate level and is now pursuing a masters.

Jasmine is from HongKong and she is here because she was inspired by another Hongkonger Peter Ho who is doing his PhD examining the understanding of the virtue of chastity in scripture.

Among the clergy there are Korean, Thai, Mauritian and Vietnamese priests. The Vietnamese priest Fr John Baptiste Nguyen is having a bit of a struggle with English and i try to help him by sharing my notes. He is determined though to succesfully complete his studies in bioethcis as he has been given a scholarship and will not want to disappoint his Bishop and his benefactor back home. I really admire and respect his determination. One thing i notice is a total lack of clericalism on the part of the clergyman. After all we are fellow students who are engaging the same material and i think that's healthy.
We also have a sprinkling of other students who are doing courses part time and for audit. They are mostly australian. There is a Canadian student Peter Baklinski who is doing his PhD examining the vexed question of portraying the human body in art. He graciously invited me to his place for dinner. His wife and three kids came with him all the way from Canada and we had interesting conversations about beauty art and philosophy. He is also an accomplished pianist and has actually produced a CD of piano pieces inspired by the Theology of the Body. You can actually visit his website and have a look. They are quite good, i bought an MP3 version of it myself =)

http://www.resonanceofthegift.com/resonance_of_the_gift/Welcome.html

The lecturers are really top notch in their field. In terms of teaching method, Dr Adam Cooper is the best and is a really good teacher, able to breakdown complicated concepts into understandable portions. Aristotle and Plato are easier to understand with him around. Dr Tracey Rowland the Dean has very important things to say as well and is very generous and helpful in freely lending her collection of books an articles to students who may want to use them for reference. Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filipini teaches the NFP module and is the associate dean and head of the Bioethics Department. He is a quiet superhero really. He has been going for dialysis for many years and thus, his reflection and teaching on bioethics has a very personal bite to it.

Bishop Peter Elliot who teaches the Marriage in the Catholic Tradition module and who is the Institute's director is humorous and wise and happily weaves in apologetics when he talks about the history of the Christian understanding of marriage.

So yes am enjoying the company very much. It does get a bit lonely at night though when i am back home but i guess that's part of the experience of living overseas.

 

I've got a couple of blog posts i intend to write, a series of reflections on what i have learnt so far and its relevance for contemporary culture. I've got the titles for them, "Aristotle's classification of knowledge and the modern confusion of the practical and theoretical", "Plato's cave - thoughts for a modern day apostle", "Duns scotus: On the right way to worship and not getting yourself into metaphysical trouble" "Contraception: it's been around...we've just got better at it. "Marriage abortion and infaticide: The revenge of the Romans", "Speciesm, if man is a naked ape, then plants are capable of screaming"

 

Just need to get down to writing them. Stay tuned!

My First Days In Melbourne

As some of you know, I will be commencing studies at the John Paul II Institute beginning 15th Feb 2010. I will be there until Nov 2010. Am really looking forward to this.

Just like to introduce you to two people whom i am sharing the same accomodation with.

The first is my landlady Shirley Low. She's a Singaporean who has been staying in Melbourne for close to six years already. A mandarian and teochew speaking evangelical christian who accepted Christ a number of years ago she loves gospel music (in chinese of course) and plays it when she is at home and in the car. When i asked her about her conversion story, she simply said that there was a time when she really needed help and she prayed to Jesus and soon realised that He truly was the true and Living God.

                                                                                                                       Shirley reading the Bible

The second is "auntie susan" as we call her who is renting a place (like me) from Shirley while looking to buy a new house. She was originally from Cambodia and arrived in Australia in 1983. An australian citizen, i found out today that she was one of the vietnamese boat people who packed into boats by the 100s, drifting into open sea and hoping to be rescued, in the hope of escaping communist oppression and for a better life. In her case, she fled cambodia for vietnam in 1975 when the Khemer Rouge took over her country and had to flee again in the early 1980s when life under communist rule prove unbearable. In a matter of fact way, she told me that escaping from Vietnam was a gamble. If you win, you get rescued by boats and may be able to fin asylum in a friendly country. If not, you get drowned when you boat capsizes. What was not an option (at least for her) was continued stay in Vietnam. She is grateful to Australia for accepting her and proudly recounts how her two children are now successful in life. Her son is a professor at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) while her daughter has her own business. She too became an evangelical Christian but only a couple of months ago.

So i have a landlady and a fellow tenent who prefers to speak Mandarin and Teochew. Devout Christians both, i am very happy to be here and will surely be developing my faith, and chinese langaguage skills while i am here!