The Collar

I am reading a really interesting book on the training of priests called The Collar. Here are some quotes from it.

He writes about Father McNally who teaches Christian History. This is from his handout.
CRITICAL THINKING VERSUS NEGATIVE THINKING: AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION.


"iMAGINATION IS the most essential and necessary ability/skill of a person who hopes to lead a holy/whole life. By imagination is meanth the freely graced ability to use all of our God given abilities to assist us in forming healthy conscioences and well balanced IMAGES of the concrete world to be come critical thinkers. CRITICAL thinking is very often confused with NEGATIVE thinking, though the two are ABSOLUTE OPPOSITES.

A negative thinker is someone who does not think or refuses to think and thus never asks the question "Why?" Negative thinking is opposed to constructive treatment and sees reality as fixed and final. A negative thinker denies the shadows, and thus even so-called positive thinkers with their Pollyannish insistence on seeing only the good, are really only negative thinkers in disguies. A critical thinker always asks why and accepts reality and (therefore history) as being messy."

and

"Theology should be done on you knees."

and this story about Reinhold Nebuhr
He entered a lecture hall and said, "God" - then turned around and left

When he returned 5 minutes later he announced, "Whatever you thought of when I said "God" was not God."

Spiritual formation - whether Catholic priest or Protestant clergy or lay person is paradoxical and a struggle.