Friday, July 6th

Hi everyone.

Today's isn't going to be extremely exciting.

This morning we learned about the notion of love and its historical roots in the thought of JP II. There was some interesting Thomistic and Aristotelian lines of thinking about the 4 kinds of love that I hadn't heard before, as well as a very different way of going about it then C.S. Lewis does. It was by Fr. Kubczek and it was excellent as always. I will be ordering his book on the philosophical anthropology of JP II quite soon.

After that was coffee break followed by a second lecture by Prof. Hittinger on Catholic Social Doctrine. Again, it was very profound. He has a book on this stuff that I, again, will be getting. It just blew my socks off...literally. The persecutions the Church went through in the 18th and 19th century, well, I don't think Catholics know about them and about how many Catholics have actually been martyred. He likened it to the Holocaust in that it was the same course of action, a systematic and intentional extinction of Catholics. It is amazing what the Church has been through in regards to this. Also, he talks about the political nature of the Sacred Heart (it is quite fascinating) Marian apparitions, and how every encyclical a Pope has put out on the rosary has been social in nature. Quite amazing.

He also talked about the history of the idae of subsidiaridy. We talked about it in group discussion alongside the notion of private use and private property. Fascinating discussions ensued to say the least. I discussed it over with him at dinner and asked him what he thought about the state of Canadian Health Care in regards to this and he said, really, it does defy the principles. He said that yes, Health Care is a public good, but that, for reasons of better access and for incentives in order to become better at its service, some public goods are held in private. Examples are food and education. These are both public goods for everyone to have access too. But just because it is a public good does not necessitate that it ought to be held by a public agency. Imagine if the State was in charge of food and distribution! And education is provided by the state, but it is also provided privately too, though more so in the States then in Canada. So, fundamentally, you cannot use the argument that because it is a public good that it must be held in public for there are many clear examples against this.

Dinner and lunch were excellent today where, again, many awesome conversations ensued. Sometimes they're not that intellectual either, we just sit back and relax. There has been beer every day because it is so amazingly cheap here. It comes out to be about $2.50 for a half liter of beer here. We have gone out for drinks many times already over the week and it has been a great and relaxing way to end the days!

Now I am going to spend the rest of my evening tonight relaxing with a good book. We are going for a boat trip down a river in between a bunch of mountains tomorrow which should be quite nice and am looking forward to it. I will get someone else to bring their camera though, I don't trust mine.

So, all in all it has been a great opening week. Lots of great education mixed in with great conversations and a lot of fun. It has definitely confirmed my yearning for further education, this has been where I have been thriving and just enjoying it so much.

I hope all is well with everyone else!

God bless!

Harrison