Religious Education and Creation

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gnajar2

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I will be teaching an 8th grade religious education class in my parish this fall, and unfortunately, I have received conflicting information from staff and parents as to what is church doctrine on the topic of Creation. I am in need of clear parameters supported by canon law, or church doctrine, within which I can address the topic of Creation and its relationship, if any, to Evolution. I have read some of your responses regarding reading materials on the topic of evolution and I will get those and read them. I guess what is most important to me is not so much what latitude a Catholic has in the area of creation and science, but rather what is Catholic doctrine. I think that kids so many times receive conflicting information and incorrect doctrine that they don’t know what to believe in the area of creation, and this seems to me to be foundational to our faith. How do we get to Christ and the ultimate sacrifice he made, if we are not firmly clear on our origin? At the very least I want them leaving my classroom with correct church doctrine. Also, please advise specifically what canon law or church doctrine states ( if anything) regarding:
  1. Genesis - I have read a lot of responses on this and I guess my question here is, are Catholics prohibited from Believing in the literal intrepretation of creation as presented in scripture?
  2. Adam and Eve. - what is church doctrine. if any? Can Catholics consider Adam and Eve as merely symbolic creatures?
  3. Atheistic Evolution - what is the specific church doctrine, if any?
  4. Theistic evolution - what is church doctrine, if any? Can Catholics believe in this?
Also, I have received information that the whole topic of creation was definitively answered once and for all by Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical, Arcanum, issued February 10, 1880. Does this encyclical in fact make the issue of creation vs. evolution moot and does it establish as church doctrine once and for all that God directly created Adam and Eve and affirm the literal interpretation of the Genesis account of creation?

I look forward to your response.

Gil Najar
 
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gnajar2:
I will be teaching an 8th grade religious education class in my parish this fall, and unfortunately, I have received conflicting information from staff and parents as to what is church doctrine on the topic of Creation. I am in need of clear parameters supported by canon law, or church doctrine, within which I can address the topic of Creation and its relationship, if any, to Evolution. I have read some of your responses regarding reading materials on the topic of evolution and I will get those and read them. I guess what is most important to me is not so much what latitude a Catholic has in the area of creation and science, but rather what is Catholic doctrine. I think that kids so many times receive conflicting information and incorrect doctrine that they don’t know what to believe in the area of creation, and this seems to me to be foundational to our faith. How do we get to Christ and the ultimate sacrifice he made, if we are not firmly clear on our origin? At the very least I want them leaving my classroom with correct church doctrine. Also, please advise specifically what canon law or church doctrine states ( if anything) regarding:
  1. Genesis - I have read a lot of responses on this and I guess my question here is, are Catholics prohibited from Believing in the literal intrepretation of creation as presented in scripture?
  2. Adam and Eve. - what is church doctrine. if any? Can Catholics consider Adam and Eve as merely symbolic creatures?
  3. Atheistic Evolution - what is the specific church doctrine, if any?
  4. Theistic evolution - what is church doctrine, if any? Can Catholics believe in this?
Also, I have received information that the whole topic of creation was definitively answered once and for all by Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical, Arcanum, issued February 10, 1880. Does this encyclical in fact make the issue of creation vs. evolution moot and does it establish as church doctrine once and for all that God directly created Adam and Eve and affirm the literal interpretation of the Genesis account of creation?

I look forward to your response.

Gil Najar
Catholics can believe the literal interpretation of Genisis. As far as the Theisitc Evolution goes, Catholics can believe that, too. But, they must believe that God created Man and woman in that way for a reason in His Image and Likeness.
 
<< 1. Genesis - I have read a lot of responses on this and I guess my question here is, are Catholics prohibited from Believing in the literal intrepretation of creation as presented in scripture? >>

They are not prohibited from interpreting the six days of creation as six literal days, the world literally has “waters above and below” the firmament (dome), the tempter was literally a talking snake, the original sin was literally eating a fruit, and the Garden of Eden was literally on this earth sometime in the recent past (less than 10,000 years if you interpret the Genesis geneologies literally with just a few gaps).

The question is whether that should be taught in the light of modern science since the evidence is quite strong for the evolution of life (including ourselves a few million years ago) over a 4.5 billion year old earth. The relevant sections in the CCC Catechism appear to be paragraphs 279-324, especially 283 following which seem to allow some kind of theistic evolution ("…many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man…").

<< 2. Adam and Eve. - what is church doctrine. if any? Can Catholics consider Adam and Eve as merely symbolic creatures? >>

Does not appear that is acceptable. See all the references to Adam and Eve as real historical literal human people in paragraphs 385-421 on the Fall.

<< 3. Atheistic Evolution - what is the specific church doctrine, if any? >>

Well duh, atheism is obviously opposed to Catholicism. But if you mean “naturalistic” evolution, then I would say that can be acceptable if you distinguish between methodological naturalism in science as opposed to metaphysical or philosophical naturalism. In the theistic evolution view, God would be directly responsible for the creation of the universe (the Big Bang), but the rest evolved including us homo sapiens. God would intervene at the creation of the soul of the first human parents and can intervene for any other miracle, but those miracles are not testable or falsifiable by science.

<< 4. Theistic evolution - what is church doctrine, if any? Can Catholics believe in this? >>

You can, and there are definitely theological problems that need answering, but the scientific evidence appears quite strong for macroevolution – my summary of the Theobald 29+ Evidences article.

Phil P
 
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gnajar2:
I will be teaching an 8th grade religious education class in my parish this fall
Not answering your question because it already has been answered pretty well, but I just wanted to wish you the best of luck. I taught 8th grade this past year and it was definitely the most challenging, yet rewarding years of CCD I’ve ever taught.
 
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