From the first post:

Fr. Peter gives an introduction to his theological series on Bl. John Duns Scotus in the context of a remedy for the modern crisis of faith, philosophy and culture in the world and in the Church.

Scotus on Wikipedia, New Advent

Duns Scotus’s Oxford by Gerard M. Hopkin’s

Google of Dunston, England

The post Fr. Peter – Golden Thread #1 – Introduction to Bl. John Duns Scotus first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Watch this video by Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, FI, STD as he gives a short biography of Mother Mary of Agreda and how her Marian theology, which is so often portrayed as being opposed to Vatican II, is actually very much in line with it, anticipating the Council by 300 years.

Fr. Peter highlights a new book on this subject, Venerable Mother Agreda and the Mariology of Vatican II by Enrique Llamas, OCD, STD of the International Pontifical Marian Academy, which has been published by the Academy of the Immaculate. A heated discussion on this topic is being carried on at Mark Shea’s blog under the post “… skeptical that … ‘Mary suffered no birth pains'”. A comment by Sandra Miesel of Crisis Magazine about halfway down the comment stack started it off.

PDF samples of our new book are available online: the Table of Contents and Foreward (pp i-xii)

English translations of Mother Mary of Agreda’s works can be purchased from Tan Books.

Ave Maria!

The post Video – Golden Thread #2 – Ven. Maria of Agreda and Vatican II first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner continues his series The Golden Thread on the theology of John Duns Scotus. Here he gives a broad introductory view of the difference between religion and secularity. He explains how Scotus affirms the capacity to perform secular acts, which are morally neutral, and thus simple pleasures are not a sin. Most people would then say, “let’s live our whole life this way.” But Scotus also says such a life cannot lead to happiness. He then discusses why God enables us to do secular acts and how this sheds new light on the famous moral tests in the Bible, Adam and Eve in the Garden and The Rich Young Man in the New Testament. He addresses, concupiscence, original sin, the difference between the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil vs. the Tree of Life, between contentment and happiness, between living to do God’s will vs. striving for new experiences and between human autonomy vs. obligation and so the true meaning of freedom.

Ave Maria!

The post Video – Fr. Peter – The Golden Thread #3: Why a Worldly Life does not Lead to Happiness? first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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Using the ever-present highway signs, “Buckle-up, Its The Law,” Fr. Peter Fehlner, F.I. springs into the subject of obligation and freedom according to the teaching of Bl. John Duns Scotus. These signs demonstrate the paradox that the more independent we get from God, the more arbitrary law becomes, the more buckling-up we must do and so the very freedom we seek is lost and along with it our very personhood. Freedom, in the sense of autonomy from God, is not what makes us true persons, but rather love, and love is never more pure than when loving God. And loving God involves being thankful to God for creating us and redeeming us on the Cross. Using the old version of “thank you,” which is, “much obliged,” he makes the connection between love and obligation and thus between obligation and being a true person.

He covers law, obligation, freedom, secularity, communes, license, conscience, synderisis, pragmatism, the difference between contentment and happiness. Whew! all in less than ten minutes. So buckle-up! You’ll need it with this one…

Ave Maria!

The post Video – Fr. Peter – The Golden Thread #4: Obligation, Freedom and Being a true Person first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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Update: Notes and Explanations have been added. See the viewing page.

Using Christmas and the adoration of the magi and shepherds as a starting point, Fr. Peter outlines the key to Christian thinking according to John Duns Scotus, that is, contemplation of Truth. This is opposed to the modern mentality that says ‘I can’t believe unless I can analyze it.’ It is Mary who makes it possible for finite creatures like us to see the infinite God, for in the person of Jesus, Truth is made flesh. And in adoring our Lord, Mary and St. Joseph teach us to think like Christians and so enable us to be happy.

Ave Maria!

The post Video – Fr. Peter – The Golden Thread #5: Scotus and the Key to Christian Thought first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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The Franciscans of the Immaculate are happy to announce in conjunction with the Day With Mary apostolate of England that we will be commemorating the 700th anniversary of the death of Bl. John Duns Scotus (1308) with a symposium entitled:

International Centenary Symposium on the Mariology of Bl. John Duns Scotus.

It will be held at:

Grey College, University of Durham, England
9th – 11th September 2008

Speakers include some of the most famous names in Scotistic Mariology: Fr. Stefano Manelli, Founder of the FI, Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, FI, Fr. Johannes Schneider, OFM, Fr. Alessandro Apollonio, FI, Timothy Noone of CUA, Fr. Timothy Finigan, of The Hermeneutic of Continuity, Fr. Joaquin Ferrer-Arrelano, Co-founder of Navarre University and many more.

Events will include a pilgrimage to Duns with Mass in the Parish Church celebrated by His Eminence Keith Patrick Cardinal O’Brien

Here is a poster that you can view and also print off to advertise at your parish:
Poster of Scotus Symposium

Here are some handy maps:
Locations in England and Scotland
Directions to Grey College
Site Plan of Grey College

Forms for those from the USA:
Booking Form for USA
Travel & Information Sheet USA

For those from England:
Booking Form for UK
Travel & Information Sheet for UK

More details will be forth coming.

Ave Maria!

The post Fi News – Scotus Symposium England Scotland 2008 first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #080903 ( 07min) Play – Fr. Peter stops by on the way from La Crosse, WI to Durham, England for the Scotus Symposium and gives a homily on this Memorial of St Gregory the Great. Listen as Fr. Peter describes the great deeds of this saint who helped build Christian Europe, including England, from the ruins of the Roman Empire.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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The post Sep 03 – Homily – Fr Peter: St Gregory the Great first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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Next week will be the Symposium on the Mariology of Bd. John Duns Scotus in Durham, England at Grey College, Tuesday, September 9th through the 12th. The symposium commemorates the 700th Anniversary of the death of Scotus, the Marian Doctor. We have Fra Roderic on location with AirMaria equipment. So we may be live streaming the conference if we can get a sufficient Internet connection. If we do, it will start each day at 9:00am Greenwich Time and go till 7pm [4am – 2pm Eastern USA Time] except Wednesday when we will quit the conference room at 10:30 [5:30 EDT] to go to Duns, Scotland to see the birth place of Scotus. There we will have a Mass celebrated in the Parish Church by His Eminence Keith Patrick Cardinal O?Brien, Archbishop of Edinburgh. We will not know if we can stream until Monday. So stayed tuned. Either way, we will put the recorded conferences on AirMaria in the following weeks.

Ave Maria!

The post Fi-News: Scotus Symposium Next Week first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria! Below is an Article from Zenit News. One correction: Cologne is not the place of his birth, but rather of his death.

Faith-Reason Harmony Praised in Duns Scotus

Pope Recalls Franciscan Theologian on 7th Centennial of Death

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 22, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is proposing the Franciscan theologian Blessed John Duns Scotus as a model for believers and nonbelievers alike, due to his search for harmony between faith and reason.

Scotus, who died in 1308, was the subject of a papal letter sent in October to Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, where the theologian was born. The Holy Father’s statement was sent on the occasion of a conference on the theologian held in November. The Latin-language letter was made public Saturday.

The Pontiff referred to Scotus, currently in the process of canonization, as the “subtle doctor” who, “associating piety with scientific investigation, with his refined and deeply penetrating ingenuity into the secrets of natural and revealed truth, became a light and example for the entire Christian people.”

“Firm in the Catholic faith, he labored to understand, explain and defend the truths of faith in the light of human reason,” the Pope continued. “He labored especially to demonstrate the consonance of natural and supernatural truths, which emanate from the same source.”

Benedict XVI emphasized both the theologian’s fidelity and submission to the magisterium and his love for the Virgin Mary — he was one of those who defended the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Holy Father also noted Blessed Scotus’ concept of theology as “more like contemplation than speculation.”

Scotus, he said, was a “great preacher of God as love,” a truth that “should be delved into and taught especially in our times.”

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