D.D. 05/02/06

This Easter was especially special for me, both because I got to visit with my grandparents and have a traditional Easter dinner, which for years while I was at college I didn't get to do. But more than that it was special because I joined the Catholic Church. At midnight Mass on Easter, I went to my first confession, received my conditional baptism, and received first communion. So many sacraments in one day -- it was truly wonderful.

After years of allowing Objectivism to dominate my intellectual and moral development, I eventually found a serious kink in its armor. I do still admire the Randian philosophy's adament opposition to Immanuel Kant, but its most serious flaw is found in its acceptance of free will but naturalist metaphysic. It's inconsitency is found on the subject of free will. In short, I have come to a philosophical conclusion that free will can not exist within a naturalist genesis. This is not a conflict for most left-wing philosophies, which simply reject free will in different forms. If we accept that free will is truly free - we must accept that there is a super-nature above nature. Which leads me to theism.

I naturally fell into the lap of the great teacher, St. Thomas Aquinas. Thomism is THE definitive philosophy. It rejects that notion that knowledge is unknowable, accepts free will consistently, and most importantly serves as the foundation of all Western thought. Aquinas has still yet to be adequately answered on his prime mover theory, because of its implications for free will. When you begin to breathe Aquinas, you can not help but begin to love the Catholic Church.

Despite its problems, I truly believe the Catholic Church is the Holy Church founded by Christ and protected by the saints and Our Blessed Mother for all these many years. No other Christian church can seriously claim to have been founded by Christ - so in the way of staking claims, Catholicism should be synonymous with Christianity. And that is a truly beautiful thing. I look forward to growing in faith, using this blog to post my thoughts on the writings of the saints, and proclaiming Christ before men. God bless.