On my good days, I find that I am often generous with my species. I let the driver in the Hummer merge into my lane with a wave, pick up litter, open doors for stragglers, and give loose change to beggars. On my bad days, I too easily curse (quietly) at the rude and the clueless, keep my hands in my pockets, my head down, and my shoulders hunched. My gait becomes slightly simian. That I can swing with graceful agility from one orientation to the other (often without anyone actually knowing) used to disturb me. I suppose I grew up believing I had to be one kind of person or the other. Not anymore. Perhaps I'm finally reconciled to the fact that I am human; that is, a creature with a consciousness, a being of sometimes-exhausting contradictions, a repository of living memories, an almost-virtuous and curious animal. I've landed, finally, in gray territory, which is where, as it turns out, I always hoped I would. The personal essays in this thesis explore this fluid nature of my (our) creatureliness. As a Catholic priest and a writer, my intention was to use the sacraments of the Catholic Church (Baptism, Eucharist, Confession, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick) as points of departure, and to allow each sacrament to provide me a lens and a perch through which (and from which) I might see our species anew. Aware that these seven sacraments mark the life--from birth to death--of a Catholic, I saw them as a useful and invisible thread that would give these essays thematic cohesion. Recognizing that this exploration was going to be more spelunking than mountain climbing, this sacramental thread became a rope with which I could jump down into some fascinating dark places without getting lost or stranded. In the end, these seven essays attempt to get at a few questions that have haunted me for years: Why have I not given up on my species yet? Why do I still believe in the innate goodness of human creatures? From where do I draw the strength to go spelunking into the darkest warrens of the human heart? These essays eschew the easy answers. They rather delight instead in dark places, illuminated, for a second, by one shaky candle.

This dissertation is an attempt to draw a connecting link between Marcel Jousse's theory of MIMISM as found in his book The Oral Style and the symbols used when celebrating four of the sacraments celebrating in the Roman Catholic Church. These symbols are water used in the sacrament of baptism, the bread and the wine as used in the celebration of the Eucharist, and the oil which is used in the sacraments of Confirmation and the Anointing of the Sick. Jousse was the first anthropologist to discover that all action or gestes as he called it, is constantly being replayed and re-enacted by man. The second chapter in this thesis will give a comprehensive summary of this theory of MIMISM. Since man is constantly attempting to get closer to God whom he falls short of when he sins, this practice of the sacraments is a means of getting man back in touch with God and the symbols used in this procedure is what actually makes it real. After a chapter on symbolism and the role that symbols play in the celebration of sacraments, the next chapter deals with the rites, rituals and religion in society. It is the symbols together with the rights, that in effect bridge the relationship between God and man. The final chapter then looks into the symbols themselves, which are oil, water and the Eucharist and fits the entire subject into perspective. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1994.

The CIC/83, the living law (ius vigens) of the Latin Catholic Church, contains 110 canons on marriage in cc. 1055 – 1165. [The 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches contains a similar section, cc. 776 – 866]. The sacred canons, in general, are a compilation of theological statements that are presented in juridical terms. The canons on marriage, like those of the other sacraments, commence with a theological statement defining the essence of the sacrament. The first canon, c. 1055, states that (§1) the marriage covenant, for the baptized, has been raised to the dignity of a sacrament by Christ the Lord and that (§2) a valid marriage contract cannot exist between baptized persons without being a sacrament. A requirement of c. 1099 is that one must not be in error (error iuris) concerning the unity, indissolubility, or the sacramental dignity of marriage. Additionally, c. 1101, §2 states that when by a positive act of the will one excludes marriage itself or an essential element or an essential property, that marriage is invalid. The expectation of cc. 1099 and 1101, therefore, is that sacramentality be included at the time of exchange of consent. From the time of the scholastics, contract and sacrament have been identified as one for the baptized, hearkening to a time when civil legislation attempted to subvert the authority and oversight of the Church regarding (sacramental) marriage. At the Second Vatican Council, the constitution Gaudium et spes reinterpreted marriage as a covenantal relationship between man and woman. A covenant and a contract are not identical terms. More importantly, marriage was again seen as a covenant, and as a covenant, for the baptized, it Father Glen J. Pothier 2 is sacramental. Sacrosanctum Concilium, which set forth principles for the reform of the sacramental and liturgical life of the Latin Church, stated that sacraments presuppose faith. The International Theological Commission identified that there are members of the baptized faithful, Catholic or non- Catholic, who are unbelievers, who may have been baptized as children but have had no further faith elucidation, or, as members of non-Catholic ecclesial communities, do not believe in the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, or, in particular, that marriage is a sacrament. Such persons would not, then, understand that sacramentality must be exchanged on the day of marriage. Rotal jurisprudence has reflected this change. In addition to the presumption that sacraments require faith, another presumption exists when the Church expects that the baptized marry according to the mind of the Church (the mens Ecclesiae), that is, facere quod facit Ecclesia, ([by] doing what the Church does). But in a society that is weakened by divorce, secularism, and a lack of understanding of what the Catholic Church understands by the sacrament of marriage, this presumption needs to be reexamined. Through research on the historical development of theological and canonical principles, and by means of independent studies of large groups of baptized Catholics and non-Catholics, it becomes increasingly clear that the theologico-juridico principles of c. 1055 and the sacramentality of marriage must be revisited. / Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / D. Th. (Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics)

The CIC/83, the living law (ius vigens) of the Latin Catholic Church, contains 110 canons on marriage in cc. 1055 – 1165. [The 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches contains a similar section, cc. 776 – 866]. The sacred canons, in general, are a compilation of theological statements that are presented in juridical terms. The canons on marriage, like those of the other sacraments, commence with a theological statement defining the essence of the sacrament. The first canon, c. 1055, states that (§1) the marriage covenant, for the baptized, has been raised to the dignity of a sacrament by Christ the Lord and that (§2) a valid marriage contract cannot exist between baptized persons without being a sacrament. A requirement of c. 1099 is that one must not be in error (error iuris) concerning the unity, indissolubility, or the sacramental dignity of marriage. Additionally, c. 1101, §2 states that when by a positive act of the will one excludes marriage itself or an essential element or an essential property, that marriage is invalid. The expectation of cc. 1099 and 1101, therefore, is that sacramentality be included at the time of exchange of consent. From the time of the scholastics, contract and sacrament have been identified as one for the baptized, hearkening to a time when civil legislation attempted to subvert the authority and oversight of the Church regarding (sacramental) marriage. At the Second Vatican Council, the constitution Gaudium et spes reinterpreted marriage as a covenantal relationship between man and woman. A covenant and a contract are not identical terms. More importantly, marriage was again seen as a covenant, and as a covenant, for the baptized, it Father Glen J. Pothier 2 is sacramental. Sacrosanctum Concilium, which set forth principles for the reform of the sacramental and liturgical life of the Latin Church, stated that sacraments presuppose faith. The International Theological Commission identified that there are members of the baptized faithful, Catholic or non- Catholic, who are unbelievers, who may have been baptized as children but have had no further faith elucidation, or, as members of non-Catholic ecclesial communities, do not believe in the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, or, in particular, that marriage is a sacrament. Such persons would not, then, understand that sacramentality must be exchanged on the day of marriage. Rotal jurisprudence has reflected this change. In addition to the presumption that sacraments require faith, another presumption exists when the Church expects that the baptized marry according to the mind of the Church (the mens Ecclesiae), that is, facere quod facit Ecclesia, ([by] doing what the Church does). But in a society that is weakened by divorce, secularism, and a lack of understanding of what the Catholic Church understands by the sacrament of marriage, this presumption needs to be reexamined. Through research on the historical development of theological and canonical principles, and by means of independent studies of large groups of baptized Catholics and non-Catholics, it becomes increasingly clear that the theologico-juridico principles of c. 1055 and the sacramentality of marriage must be revisited. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics)