Brief Intro to the Natural Law

By: Alexander Greco

Pope Innocent VI speaking of the extraordinary theological and philosophical insight of St. Thomas Aquinas, stated:

His teaching above that of others, the canons alone excepted, enjoys such an elegance of phraseology, a method of statement, a truth of proposition, that those who hold to it are never found swerving from the path of truth, and he who dare assail it will always be suspected of error.

Among the many teachings of St. Thomas which have been almost completely perverted in modern times is his understanding and defense of the natural law. It is the case today that not only is there a large variety of natural law theories, but there also appears to be many claimants who insist upon the label of Thomist when their particular expression of natural law theory is anything but Thomistic.

The Corrupt Theology of "The Seamless Garment"

The Corrupt Theology of the “Seamless Garment”

By Matthew J Bellisario 2010

I will begin this article by saying that it addresses a highly controversial topic, and I apologize in advance if I offend anyone. But I feel that what I have to say is of the utmost importance for Catholics today. If anyone disagrees with my conclusion, I would welcome a live or a formal written debate on the subject. With this being said, I will start my critique of the “Seamless Garment.”

With the advent of the “Enlightenment” the world began to turn a blind eye to objective truth. Instead of embracing objective truth, the false subjective philosophies of Hume, Hegel, Descartes ,Kant, and many others began to be embraced by the world and later by many in the Church.

Welcome to the Coalition for Thomism

Welcome to the Coalition for Thomism blog page. Since the dawn of the 1960s, there has been a great lack of focus on traditional Thomistic theology and philosophy throughout the Catholic Church. There have been many theologians that have conveniently used the label of “Thomist” to further their theological errors, yet retain little if any adherence to Thomistic principles. Instead many theologians in the Church have adopted modern philosophical principles which have ultimately sewn confusion among the faithful. As a result we now have theologians rejecting the foundational principles of the Natural Law which the Church has always held in high esteem to help determine proper moral theology. 

Instead we now have “New Natural Law” theorists and “New Theologians” that reject core Thomistic principles. This tends to lead to erroneous theological errors such as the misunderstanding of human dignity, the misunderstanding of social justice issues such as the rash and misguided pursuit of the abolishment of the state’s right to exact Capital Punishment. Numerous other errors stem from the loss of these foundational Thomistic principles, among them the propensity for ambiguity, which allows more than one conclusion to be drawn in areas of theology where there should be no room for multiple conclusions, or the overemphasis of lesser principles and truths over foundational principles and truths. This problem of ambiguity can be seen in many Catholic writings over the past 50 years or so. 

Following the lead of the Popes, Pius IX through Pope Pius XII, this coalition strives to bring forth the renewal of traditional Thomistic philosophical and theological thought to the minds of Catholics so that we may dispel the confusion and ambiguity that plague the minds of the Catholic faithful today. In order to do this we will strive to bring forth discussions of crucial issues affecting the Church today, as well as promote the best traditional Thomistic sources available.