Paradoxes of Catholicism / Robert Hugh Benson

Troubled by nagging inconsistencies in the Faith or problems in Church history? Heres help. Of the great 20th-century converts to Catholicism, few brought more Protestants with him than Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson. Son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, his conversion caused an uproar in England -- even before his ordination to the Catholic priesthood. His promotion to monsignor by St Pius X enhanced his prominence. This masterpiece of apologetics was written to answer attacks on alleged inconsistencies of the Faith. His great insight: that at the core of Catholic teaching are profound paradoxes, in which all seeming self-contradictions, and most apparent difficulties concerning Church history, are resolved. Seen in this light, the very charges made against Catholicism turn out to be our credentials in disguise. Highlights:

The supreme paradox of Catholicism that is the key to all the rest How living the Faith can help us to understand its mysteries -- with our own experience making things more clear! How the Peace of God differs from the harmony of men. Why equating the two leads to errors about the Church's mission and history How claims made against Our Lord help to resolve and explain similar charges made against His Church Why the fallen Catholic is an infinitely more degraded member of humanity than the fallen Pagan or Protestant The simple intellectual error that lies at the root of nearly every heresy Why the Church seems at once too worldly and too otherworldly to her critics Why one half the world considers the Church too hard on sin, and the other half too easy The paradoxes of the Gospels and the paradoxes of the Church: one and the same Why the Church has the right to all that that the earth can give in the way of wealth and splendour -- but is always ready to forfeit her claim The 7 profound paradoxes expressed by Our Lords last wordsConvincing answers from Msgr. Benson

If the Church is Divine, why have her members included outrageous sinners (including popes) and blaspheming apostates? Christ warned his followers they could not serve both God and Mammon. How can this be reconciled with a Church that amassed so much material wealth and splendour? How can the Church claim to uphold a stricter standard of morality while dispensing absolution so freely in Confession? How can Christ say I and my Father are one -- and yet also say, My Father is greater than I? Isn't the Church, in both doctrine and discipline, more like the old Pharisaical tyranny abolished by Christ? And doesn't Protestant Biblical theology better represent the spirit of liberty and simplicity he lived and preached? How can Jesus pronounce his blessing on the peacemakers, yet also proclaim that He came to bring not peace but the sword? Why does Jesus say Blessed are those who mourn, yet bid his disciples to rejoice and be exceeding glad? How can the infinite Source of Life be subject to death? Isn't the Church's historic intransigence toward heretics a violation of Christs injunction to love thy enemies? If Christ preached meekness and gentleness, why has the Church applauded militancy in spreading and defending the Faith?

Robert Hugh Benson (18 November 1871 – 19 October 1914) was the youngest son of Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, and younger brother of Edward Frederic Benson. Benson was educated at Eton College, and then studied Classics and Theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1890 to 1893. In 1895, he was ordained a priest in the Church of England by his father, Edward White Benson, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury. After the death of his father in 1896 he was sent on a trip to the Middle East to recover his own health. While there, he began to question the status of the Church of England and to consider the claims of the Roman Catholic Church. His own piety began to tend toward the High Church variety, and he started exploring religious life in various Anglican communities, eventually obtaining permission to join the Community of the Resurrection. Benson made his profession as a member of the community in 1901, at which time he had no thoughts of leaving the Church of England. But as he continued his studies and began writing, he became more and more uneasy with his own doctrinal position, and on 11 September 1903 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1904 and sent to Cambridge. He continued his writing career along with the usual elements of priestly ministry. He was named a monsignor in 1911.