The Final Cause of Catholic Phoenix

The final cause, though disparaged by Bacon in the natural sciences, is highly explanatory. It is the causa causarum—the cause of causes—and it renders the others causes intelligible. Why does the hammer have a certain shape? Why is it made from certain materials and not others? Why does the carpenter swing it toward the wood? So that the nail might be driven, the house constructed, and the city made inhabitable.

Why does an assemblage of Catholic friends post their thoughts and rumblings for others to read? Why should Catholic Phoenix exist? What’s the goal here? Well, as the carpenter example illustrates, a number of different purposes are served in a single action. Here is a non-exhaustive list of reasons why Catholic Phoenix exists:

1. To glorify God. The ultimate cause of everything is God Almighty. Yet human communities are able to ignore Him altogether, either because people have never learned about Him or because they have grown forgetful. To talk about God and the Church He has called together on earth is one way to work toward that for which we pray: sanctificetur nomen tuum.
2. To praise Jesus Christ. The masthead of the site bears the motto Nunc et in Aeternum. That phrase is actually the response to another Latin line: Laudetur Iesus Christus. “May Jesus Christ be praised, now and forever”: Catholic Phoenix is committed to fostering that sentiment in the minds and hearts of our readers.
3. To articulate the Church’s message. Catholics believe that their is a hierarchy of ecclesiastical authority, established and sustained by God, that stretches back through history to Christ’s apostles and that will endure until the end of time. Modern Americans tend to have a short historical memory and an aversion to the idea of authority. It sometimes helps, then, to hear certain things from the laity rather than the clergy. Catholic Phoenix aims to make the fullness of the Gospel as it is taught within the Church heard in this postmodern world.
4. To exercise rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The American people have the right to a “free exercise” of religion, and they are protected from undue abridgments of “the freedom of speech.” There are some in this country who think that religion has no place in public life, that religious belief and any actions motivated or sustained by religious belief are dangerous to the American republic, and that religious conviction is opposed to rational discourse. They wouldn’t mind if religion were exercised less freely or if religious believers’ right to speak out were a bit more abridged. We at Catholic Phoenix disagree. We oppose any form of aggressive secularism that insists that the religious remain silent and unseen in America. So here we are: blogging and exercising that right to speak.
5. To put the Catholic community of Phoenix in touch with one another. Catholic life in Phoenix is rich and getting richer. If Catholic Phoenix can make some people aware of a Catholic resource or event that they might have otherwise missed, its purpose is served. But there’s also a great deal of talent, insight, humor, and courage in the Catholic community of Phoenix. We want those qualities to shine both in the contributions and in the comments, and we want people of like mind and of similar interests to find each other.
6. To enjoy the art of writing and the pleasures of civilized discussion. The contributors are volunteers: they write not for the money, but for the love of communicating Catholic insight in readable English prose. Catholic Phoenix is a venue for Catholic writers to exert their craft and to share their work with the world. It’s also where that work can generate conversation in the comment boxes. The thrill of lively debate has not been unknown here; in fact, it is welcomed with pleasure.
7. To have a little fun. According to one ancient authority corroborated by a more recent one, the glory of God (which tops this list) is man fully alive. And the life of man is not made up of serious labors and weighty cogitations exclusively. We need to cut loose some of the time. So if you run across a piece more lighthearted than the rest, don’t let it scandalize you. A good joke can also glorify the Great Creator, and it certainly fulfills one function of Catholic Phoenix.