Catholic Media: Fides Quarens Rem Publicam

Last updated on: February 20, 2022 at 10:06 am by Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC

Catholic Media: Fides Quarens Rem Publicam 2022-02-20T10:06:37-05:00 Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Man Reading a Bible (CC0 Rod Long on Unsplash)

I wrote a piece over on FrMatthewLC.com about how Catholic media needs to start with being Catholic, with faith:

Catholic media is part of the Church. It is often where those both inside and outside the Church get their information. This media tells what is happening in the Church and/or what the Catholic view about public events is. But so often, we have failed in that.

I think like the role of the theologian, the role of Catholic media has often been lost in recent times. In theology, we always return to Fides quaerens intellectum (Faith seeking understanding). This goes back to at least Augustine and whose formulation is usually attributed to St. Anselm. An important point of this definition is that faith is the starting point. Someone who does not believe can do comparative religion or even Biblical analysis, but they cannot do theology.

In Latin, Res Publica is a Latin phrase meaning approximately “public affair” so refers to what is newsworthy and the news itself. By extension, it refers to related fields like opinion and analysis. Thus, following Augustine’s / Anselm’s lead, I want to propose to all of us in Catholic media that we look at our job as Fides quarens rem publicam. We begin with faith in all the church teaches and we then look at the news to apply it. Catholic Media does not exist apart from Catholicism.

We need to avoid the extremes of both sides. We also need to look at ways to do theology and apply them to media.

Read the rest over there. I will be posting more and more over there and less here. So, bookmark it and subscribe over there.

National Catholic Reporter

Theological Opinion

Theology

Vatican II

Previous Post

January 24, 2022

21 of the Most Dynamic Signs at March For Life 2022

Next Post

February 22, 2022 The Church Cannot Change Teaching on Homosexuality (Hollerich Errs)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Autism Bioethics Book Review Business and Economics Catholic Social Teaching Culture Diocesan Life Disability Discipleship Euthanasia Family Life Genetics Global Politics History Immigration Inspiration Interview Liturgy Moral Theology My Life News Analysis Original Articles Prayer Privacy Pro-Life Science Sexual orientation or identity Social Media Sports Technology Theology Uncategorized US Politics Vatican

Select a Month March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz