[Apologetics] Re: Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on Evolution

[Art Kelly]

I appreciate your sending this, Jim.

I had seen the headline in a couple of places and
intended to take the time to read the article.

As you may know, Cardinal Schönborn was the editor of
the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He was
considered one of the top contenders for Pope.

I strongly agree with Cardinal Schonborn in this
matter. It appears that Pope Benedict XVI does too.

Art

--- jmurf80 at bellsouth.net wrote:

> Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on
> Evolution
> 
> By CORNELIA DEAN and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
> Published: July 9, 2005
> 
> An influential cardinal in the Roman Catholic
> Church, which has long been regarded as an ally of
> the theory of evolution, is now suggesting that
> belief in evolution as accepted by science today may
> be incompatible with Catholic faith.
> 
> Skip to next paragraph 
>  
> Patrick Hertzog/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images
> Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, pictured at the
> Vatican in 2003, said students should be taught that
> evolution is just one of many theories. 
>  
> Forum: Contemporary Education
> 
> Forum: Human Origins
> The cardinal, Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of
> Vienna, a theologian who is close to Pope Benedict
> XVI, staked out his position in an Op-Ed article in
> The New York Times on Thursday, writing, "Evolution
> in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but
> evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided,
> unplanned process of random variation and natural
> selection - is not."
> 
> In a telephone interview from a monastery in
> Austria, where he was on retreat, the cardinal said
> that his essay had not been approved by the Vatican,
> but that two or three weeks before Pope Benedict
> XVI's election in April, he spoke with the pope,
> then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, about the church's
> position on evolution. "I said I would like to have
> a more explicit statement about that, and he
> encouraged me to go on," said Cardinal Schönborn.
> 
> He said that he had been "angry" for years about
> writers and theologians, many Catholics, who he said
> had "misrepresented" the church's position as
> endorsing the idea of evolution as a random process.
> 
> 
> Opponents of Darwinian evolution said they were
> gratified by Cardinal Schönborn's essay. But
> scientists and science teachers reacted with
> confusion, dismay and even anger. Some said they
> feared the cardinal's sentiments would cause
> religious scientists to question their faiths.
> 
> Cardinal Schönborn, who is on the Vatican's
> Congregation for Catholic Education, said the office
> had no plans to issue new guidance to teachers in
> Catholic schools on evolution. But he said he
> believed students in Catholic schools, and all
> schools, should be taught that evolution is just one
> of many theories. Many Catholic schools teach
> Darwinian evolution, in which accidental mutation
> and natural selection of the fittest organisms drive
> the history of life, as part of their science
> curriculum.
> 
> Darwinian evolution is the foundation of modern
> biology. While researchers may debate details of how
> the mechanism of evolution plays out, there is no
> credible scientific challenge to the underlying
> theory.
> 
> American Catholics and conservative evangelical
> Christians have been a potent united front in
> opposing abortion, stem cell research and
> euthanasia, but had parted company on the death
> penalty and the teaching of evolution. Cardinal
> Schönborn's essay and comments are an indication
> that the church may now enter the debate over
> evolution more forcefully on the side of those who
> oppose the teaching of evolution alone. 
> 
> One of the strongest advocates of teaching
> alternatives to evolution is the Discovery Institute
> in Seattle, which promotes the idea, termed
> intelligent design, that the variety and complexity
> of life on earth cannot be explained except through
> the intervention of a designer of some sort. 
> 
> Mark Ryland, a vice president of the institute, said
> in an interview that he had urged the cardinal to
> write the essay. Both Mr. Ryland and Cardinal
> Schönborn said that an essay in May in The Times
> about the compatibility of religion and evolutionary
> theory by Lawrence M. Krauss, a physicist at Case
> Western Reserve University in Cleveland, suggested
> to them that it was time to clarify the church's
> position on evolution.
> 
> The cardinal's essay was submitted to The Times by a
> Virginia public relations firm, Creative Response
> Concepts, which also represents the Discovery
> Institute.
> 
> Mr. Ryland, who said he knew the cardinal through
> the International Theological Institute in Gaming,
> Austria, where he is chancellor and Mr. Ryland is on
> the board, said supporters of intelligent design
> were "very excited" that a church leader had taken a
> position opposing Darwinian evolution. "It clarified
> that in some sense the Catholics aren't fine with
> it," he said.
> 
> Bruce Chapman, the institute's president, said the
> cardinal's essay "helps blunt the claims" that the
> church "has spoken on Darwinian evolution in a way
> that's supportive."
> 
> But some biologists and others said they read the
> essay as abandoning longstanding church support for
> evolutionary biology. 
> 
> 
> 


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