(LifeSiteNews) — On this episode of Faith and Reason, plastic surgeon and Catholic Deacon Frederick Bartels joins John-Henry Westen and Deacon Keith Fournier once again to discuss his vocation to the diaconate after reverting to the Catholic faith, and Catholic teaching on the moral law, natural law, and objective truth in an age of moral relativism.
The panel also discussed the recent desecration of an altar in St. Peter’s Basilica and how this may be a metaphor for the crisis in the Church, Trump’s executive order ending the forced use of paper straws, and more.
Deacon Keith opened the episode by asking Deacon Fred what led to his feeling the call to be ordained a deacon after reverting back to the faith.
Deacon Fred highlighted how he had extensively studied the faith, namely Scripture, the apostolic traditions of the Church, the saints, and the Catechism.
“And this kind of built up in me this thirst for the truth and this realization that the teaching and belief of the Church is true. And that just spurred me forward,” the deacon said.
This thirst for the truth and his previous experience as a flight instructor and business owner made him realize he had a teaching mission.
“So I believe the Lord gave me a gift for teaching. And the diaconate, for me, was very important in that regard to teach the faithful. And that was always my mission from the very beginning to get involved in teaching the faithful,” he said.
Later in the episode, the panel discussed President Trump’s executive order ending the forced use of paper straws. Westen contrasted the executive order with how Pope Francis has railed against the use of plastics, particularly in his 2015 exhortation, Laudato Si’. The Pope has also aligned himself with the global push to end single-use plastic consumption by 2030 and other environmental initiatives.
Deacon Keith stressed that while the Church has always called the faithful to “be green” and be good stewards of the environment, the faithful are not called to worship creation.
“We do not want to fall prey to a false approach to being environmentally concerned that borders on a new form of pantheism, where we actually begin to worship creation rather than worship the Creator. So we need to get back to the good teaching,” the deacon said.
“Should we be concerned about misusing the Earth? Yes, we should,” he added. “But at the same time, our worship is given only to the Creator Himself, and He has given us a stewardship over the created order because it is good, and that is what the Genesis account tells us. I mean, we are not just a child of the universe, we’re a child of God. … We alone have been created in His image.”
Deacon Fred underscored that paper straws, like many proposed eco-friendly solutions, are actually worse for the environment.
“We get rid of the plastic straws, and the paper straws don’t work, but we still have plastic cups with plastic lids. And I’ve seen information that drinking coffee out of these cups is extremely harmful for people because you’re just ingesting a lot of toxins from the plastics,” he said.
“We really need to work out what the best solution is and not just jump to a supposed solution that is actually not a solution, and I think that’s been happening a lot.”
The panel then looked at the recent desecration of the high altar at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, in which a man kicked the candle sticks to the floor and stripped the altar cloth.
Westen suggested that the desecration is a metaphor for the crisis of faith we’re currently seeing in the Church.
“When I saw that desecration of the altar, that spoke to me so much of the description of the altar of God, of the truth of God by his own ministers. Judas is back in the Church and causing untold damage,” the host said.
Deacon Keith said he had the same thought when he saw the video of the desecration.
“It was a metaphor because it’s been going on whether somebody is actually jumping on the altar, tearing the linen cloth off and actually desecrating it physically, or what’s been happening with the deforming of liturgy, the disregard of the sacredness of the Church itself,” he said.
“But at the same time, we need to stay faithful to the Church and pray that the Lord either leads those clerics who are engaged in such horror to repentance and conversion, or removes them and replaces them with holy, faithful clergy who will offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the profound way in which it is intended, and a return to a recognition of the sanctuary as a holy place.”
For more discussion on the desecration of the altar at St. Peter’s Basilica, Trump’s crackdown on paper straws, and much more, tune in to this episode of Faith and Reason.
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