His hope is to make a small contribution to that development. He believes that the Church has yet to produce a proper theology of "lay secularity" and, consequently, a robust vision of spirituality that is suited to those whose primary path to perfection is to be found in engaging in temporal, secular affairs. While he loves to continue his work on general topics of spiritual theology, especially inasmuch as they relate to priestly formation, Tom has dedicated much of his energy more recently to theological reflection on the vocation and mission of the lay faithful to be "secular saints" whose essential labor is to consecrate the world itself to God by faithfully living out their personal vocations in the world. His dissertation was on the Teresian Carmelite reform and the construction of ascetical identity in the writings of St. His Masters studies focused on the Orthodox theology of salvation known as theosis, and his doctoral studies concentrated on the socio-historical contexts within which late medieval mysticism flourished in Spain. Mary's University and a PhD in Religion at Florida State University. He has worked for twenty years in adult catechesis, retreat ministry and teaching theology in various contexts trying to make present for others the "Word made fresh." Tom received a Masters in Systematic Theology from Mount St. Tom Neal presently serves as Academic Dean and Professor of Spiritual Theology at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana and has a particular passion for exposing the unlimited potential of theology to offer the faithful a deeper sharing in the mind and heart of Jesus Christ.
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.ĭr. The Catechism says, “Truthfulness keeps to the just mean between what ought to be expressed and what ought to be kept secret: it entails honesty and discretion.” In an age of gossip, calumny, detraction, promise-breaking and truth-dumping, we Christians, as prophets of the Truth-made-flesh, can evangelize first by revering the sacredness of human communication in the way we practice honesty, discretion, and hold confidences.Īnd in honor of St. It is Christ in us who receives another’s secret in confidence, and we are to be his trustworthy ministers. The same, I’d say, holds for all the baptized who have become the ears, eyes, and heart of Christ. It is stripping ourselves of all false excuses and shams and pretenses and revealing ourselves as we really are.”Īnd why do we feel such reckless freedom to strip naked before God in that sacrament? The absolute seal of confidentiality, as it is Christ who receives my secrets, not the priest. Don’t throw it to the swine to be trampled.” I couldn’t help but thinking that day of Fulton Sheen’s words: “What is Confession? Nudity.
A confessor once said to me, “If you demand others to respect confidentiality, you have to hold yourself first to the highest standard.” He added, “When someone opens their trust and reveals to you a secret to be kept, you become a sanctuary with a tabernacle in which they reserve their pearl of great price. Yet I myself have failed innumerable times over the years in keeping to this law. If I let it slip from my tongue, I am its prisoner.” Or as Schopenhauer once put it, “If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner.
My father used to say, “With almost no exceptions, assume that anything you say to anyone will be known to all at some point.” In other words, realize that people who truly hold confidences are few, and so entrust your sacred secrets to only those rare people who have proven themselves worthy.
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