On March 6, 2007, the Dumb Ox series hosted a talk, entitled "The Practice of Fasting: Can Catholicism Learn from Islam?" The speaker was Elissa McCormack, a M.A. Theology student at DSPT, who spoke about the practice of fasting both in Catholicism and Islam based on research that she had done for Sr. Marianne Farina's "Understanding Islam" class.
Her thesis is that with the changes in the practices of fasting and abstinence from meat that occurred after Vatican II, there also came a certain amount of confusion over what the new teaching of the Church was. She pointed out that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was calling the faithful to continue to abstain from meat on all Fridays, but was allowing Catholics to have the option to instead substitute acts of charity or piety for this practice. The problem is that most Catholics understood that the requirements for abstaining from meat and fasting were being taken away, but they did not, and still do not today, understand that something else was put into place. Additionally, everyday Catholics are not being taught about the history of fasting in the Catholic Church, and its important connection to the themes of penance, self-discipline, prayer, and works of charity or almsgiving.
The practice of fasting during the month of Ramadan in Islam can be contrasted with how fasting is practiced in the Catholic Church today. First, the practice in Islam is much more rigorous: abstaining from eating, drinking, smoking, sexual activity, and even sinful thoughts from dawn to sunset each day. This can be contrasted with the Catholic instructions on fasting which allow one large meal and two small meals during the day, which looks to most people not like fasting, but breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Fasting during Ramadan is also connected closely to taqwa, or God-consciousness, and Ramadan is considered to be a time when closeness to God is most possible.
Elissa claimed that Catholics should look to the example of Islam both to understand more about the connection between fasting and spiritual life and to have an example of the possibility of practicing a more rigorous form of fasting. The lively discussion following her talk began by questioning what it is about Islam that makes this practice so much more understood by the average Muslim compared to Catholicism. The issue that was finally raised, however, is that of the role of teaching in the Catholic Church: Who, ultimately, is responsible for instructing Catholics in their religion? Parents? Priests? Teachers? The only thing that was lacking from the discussion was the presence of the Dominican brothers so that we might have understood the role of teaching in the Church from the perspective of those who will be taking a major role in it.
The Dumb Ox is an amateur theology forum sponsored by the students of DSPT. The name is based on the description of St. Thomas Aquinas that is attributed to St. Albert the Great. He said, "You call him a Dumb Ox. I tell you that the Dumb Ox will bellow so loud that his bellowing will fill the world." The next Dumb Ox event will be held on Tuesday, March 20 at 7:30pm at DSPT.
