Non Habes Quod Requiritur

NON HABES QUOD REQUIRITUR
YOU DON’T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES

On Sunday, January 27, 2019, my wife wanted to attend service at the Protestant Evangelical Church in the southern part of our city. I actually am quite happy that we did attend for the message from the pulpit was appropriate and timely. My notes (with some side commentary) are provided below. The chosen Scripture passage was Hebrews 4:11-16:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+4%3A11-16&version=RSVCE

INTRODUCTION

The message of the culture is not the message of the Gospel. It is a false message to say that you can do anything you put your mind to do for you are not God. You are not omnipotent and you cannot do it by your own power. In Genesis 41:16, when asked to interpret his dream, “Joseph answered Pharaoh, ‘It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.’”

In another respect God uses marriage to bring us to the end of ourselves because by our own effort without His help we cannot make the marriage relationship work, hence the modern divorce rate.

The message in the Epistle to the Hebrews is that Jesus as our High Priest is superior to all. And St. Paul emphasizes in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God…”

COME WHOLEHEARTEDLY TO THE FAMILY OF GOD (HEBREWS 4:11)

In Hebrews 4:11, we “strive to enter that rest.” Rest is peace with God. But the use of the word strive seems contradictory.

All are born in sin. David said in Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. (This Psalm was written in repentance for the adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah her husband which David had committed). God required everything from David and in like manner God requires everything from us in order to receive everything from Him. We live by Faith in Christ, NOT in self. Therefore, we must strive – be diligent and come wholeheartedly into God’s family. 2nd Corinthians 13:5 states, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” Seek out Godly counsel. Don’t bank on the supposition that you prayed a prayer. You must live the life. Examine yourself.

It is here that I am going to diverge from my notes and give a more correct explanation of what the preacher was trying to say. He denied the salvific effect of baptism, treating it as a mere ordinance of the confirmation of one’s pre-existing salvation and not as a Sacrament. I think that he was trying to say that just because you’re baptized doesn’t mean you get an automatic ticket into Heaven. That’s true by itself. I agree with that. Baptism isn’t a free ticket where I can do whatever sin I want but I remain saved just because I was baptized. So I think this is more a matter of semantics. Let me explain and tie this into what the preacher went on to say.

Jesus in Mark 16:16 says, “He who believes AND is baptized will be saved…” And 1st Peter 3:21 states, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, NOW SAVES YOU, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ….” However, James 2:17, 19 & 24 state, “So FAITH BY ITSELF, if it has no works, IS DEAD….Even the demons believe—and shudder…You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

Therefore, to be saved: (1) one must believe, AND (2) one must be baptized AND (3) one must put one’s faith and baptism into action by good works in obedience to glory of God. Salvation isn't just an event. It is a process of living.

Thus, those three Scripture passages directly support what the preacher did say, that (for example) the Jews being God’s Chosen people was insufficient for their salvation. Obedience is the authentic mark of a follower of Christ – a willingness to die to self. That’s the second part of Hebrews 4:11, “….that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

COME EXPECTANTLY TO THE WORD OF GOD (HEBREWS 4:12-13)

God loves me and I must love Him. We must come back to God’s Word to let it shape us. “For the word of God is living and active…” This is the basic nature of God’s Word. 2nd Peter 1:20-21 states, “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

God never has to make His rules better. His Word is living and God-breathed. In the same way, Genesis 2:7 says, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being…” Just as man became a living being by being God-breathed, so too the Word of God.

The Word of God is active. The Greek word used here is ενεργός which goes into our English word energy. The Word is at work.

The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. Ephesians 6:17 says, “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Thus, the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit. The written Word of God can be no less powerful than the words that Jesus Himself used to forgive sin and raise the dead.

2nd Timothy 3:14-15 states, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” The Word of God teaches us and makes us wise unto salvation.

2nd 3:1-17 states, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” The Word of God equips us for every good work.

The Word of God pierces to the innermost being and cuts us surgically.

Should we read God’s Word daily? YES! We all need to be daily cut in order to be continuously conformed to God’s image. The sword of the Spirit is life-changing.

Matthew 4:4 states, “But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This must start at childhood, for Deuteronomy 4:9 states, “Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children…” The Word of God is more important than food, clothing, housing, work, etc. You don’t have what it takes without following what the Bible says.

The preacher explained that he does expository – verse by verse – preaching in order to feed the people of God, and he cited Hebrews 5:11-14 which states:

“About this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.”

And Revelation 20:12 states, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done.” At this point the preacher speculated that one of the books to be opened would be the Bible. The Navarre Study Bible has a note on this. That note describes only the two sets of books mentioned in Rev 20:12, and states in part the following:

“The author [of Revelation] then turns his attention to the resurrection, when all men will be judged according to their works. He describes this by using the metaphor of two books. One of these records the actions of men (as in Daniel 7:10 and other passages of the Old Testament, cf., e.g., Is 65:6; Jer 22:30). The second book contains the names of those predestined to eternal life (an idea inspired by Daniel 12:1; cf. also, e.g., Ex 32:32). This is a way of showing that man cannot attain salvation by his own efforts alone…”

At this point the preacher expounded on the evil of abortion, describing abortion as a mess and as sin. The Bible states that life begins in the womb – Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” Pictures of baby formation at 12, 27 and 40 weeks were displayed on massive screens at the front of the Sanctuary. Psalm 139:13 states, “For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.” However, in NY State it is now permissible to kill a baby at the moment of birth. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed such a bill into law. That is heinous and unspeakable.

God uses His Word to point out our sins. We don’t have what it takes to get saved, to live day by day.

COME CONFIDENTLY TO THE THRONE OF GOD (HEBREWS 4:14-16)

We have an Advocate – Christ Jesus – to speak on our behalf. Nothing can deliver our deepest needs but Jesus. He never failed in His temptations and He won’t fail us in ours. We are able to pray because of Jesus and we are able to receive help because of Jesus. He is the Bread of Life (John 6:22-59). He is life itself (John 14:6). John Newton once said that no one can ask too much of Jesus. Therefore, let us come confidently to the Throne of Grace.

Should we pray every day? YES! Just as we should read His Word every day.

Romans 12:3 states, “For by the grace given to me I bid everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.” This shows that we can’t do it by ourselves but only by the measure of faith that God assigns us. Therefore, why don’t we come to the Word of God, the Throne of God? Maybe we’re lost, in which case we need to repent and convert.

We cannot be with God and be separated from His Word, His Throne.

PERSONAL COMMENT

The respect that Protestant Evangelicals have for the written Word of God should be practiced by every Catholic and Orthodox person. I cannot emphasize that enough. We Catholics and Orthodox directly descended from the first century Christians gave the Bible to the world, and for us to NOT know what it says is absolutely shameful. But the Word of God isn’t just written.

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The written Word is merely a reflection of the Divine Word (Jesus Christ) Who created all of existence and became incarnate of a Virgin in order to die on a Cross for our sins; he descended into hell, rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. When we are baptized, we are baptized into His Body the Church of which He the crucified and risen Lord is the Head exactly as St. Paul describes it. When we partake of the Holy Eucharist, we eat that Word as His flesh and drink His blood exactly as the Bread of Life Discourse in John chapter 6 describes it.

Reading the Bible is absolutely necessary, but the Holy Spirit through the very real power of the Sacraments makes its power alive within us. Jesus said in John 6:53-58, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

The Eucharist – not the Bible – is the source and summit of our Faith. In fact, there was no Bible (as we know it today) before the late AD 300s when the Church at two different councils decided on what books would be in the Bible and what would not be. Before that time the only thing that Christians had were the Church, Sacred Tradition and scattered collections of Scared Books. That’s why St. Paul says in 1st Timothy 3:15, “…if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” And in 2nd Thessalonians 2:15 he says, “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.”

I was very pleased and blessed with the overall sermon, especially that the subject of abortion was directly and forthrightly dealt with (sadly unlike Catholic Parishes which are running scared under the priestly sex abuse scandal and lack of leadership from the current Pontiff). And I like being stimulated to think on these things. Furthermore, I have nothing but encouragement to offer this Protestant preacher. But I always go back to how the early Church Fathers in the first four centuries AD viewed Scriptures. They were the closest to the Apostles, and I would urge any preacher - Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant - to read how the Church Fathers viewed and interpreted Sacred Scripture.

Immigratio et Bonum Commune

TALK ON IMMIGRATION BY MY PARISH PRIEST

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

On the evening of January 10, 2018 (Wednesday), Father gave a talk on Immigration and the Common Good at our Parish. The following are my notes on that presentation.

When we consider issues like immigration, we must do so with the sobriety that comes with sound theology. It is all too easy to become overwhelmed with sentiment.

PRUDENCE

Faith, hope and love are the primary virtues instilled by the Sacrament of Baptism. After these comes the virtue of prudence given in article 1806 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going." "Keep sane and sober for your prayers." Prudence is "right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

Jesus gave two examples of the virtue of prudence in Luke 14:28-32:

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace.

HUMAN SOLIDARITY

Human solidarity builds a civilization of love. We have been given to each other. This is exemplified in the principle of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. We as Christians are obliged to give out of our extra means to other in need, when we are employers, we are duty-bound to pay a just wage. Human solidarity is discussed in articles 1939 through 1941 of the Catechism.

1939 The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of "friendship" or "social charity," is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood.

An error, "today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the Cross to his heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity."

1940 Solidarity is manifested in the first place by the distribution of goods and remuneration for work. It also presupposes the effort for a more just social order where tensions are better able to be reduced and conflicts more readily settled by negotiation.

1941 Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order; world peace depends in part upon this.

SUBSIDIARITY

The twin of solidarity is subsidiarity. The lowest level of public authority should take care of the need because the lowest level is closest to our neighbor and as such understands what the need really is. Subsidiarity is opposed to socialism and collectivism which are antithetical to the right to private property. The Church is always cautious of government involvement. The government is not the solution to everything.

The Founders of the United States instituted a government based on subsidiarity. The individual sovereign states keep the Federal government in check, and individual counties within a state keep the state government in check.

Subsidiarity is discussed in articles 1883 through 1885 of the Catechism:

1883 Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which "a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co- ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good."

1884 God has not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of governance ought to be followed in social life. The way God acts in governing the world, which bears witness to such great regard for human freedom, should inspire the wisdom of those who govern human communities. They should behave as ministers of divine providence.

1885 The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals and societies. It tends toward the establishment of true international order.

CIVIL AUTHORITY

Christianity views authority as a blessing in providing social order whereas the West typically views authority as a necessary evil to prevent anarchy and citizens killing each other. In Christianity we obey lawful authority so that we can grow in virtue. Laws are given for our own good. For example, why is a certain road designated with a 35 mph speed limit even though we see we can drive on it at 55 mph? Well, we may not the reasons why that speed limit was selected. Is there a deaf child living in the area? Are there unsafe curves up ahead that we cannot see? Is there construction going on? Civil authorities in that particular area who are mothers and fathers had to select a speed limit based on protecting both driver and residents. Therefore, we are supposed to honor all those in authority because all authority comes from God. Romans 13:1-7 states:

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

1st Peter 2:13-17

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,[b] whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. 17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

John 19:10-11 states:

10 Pilate therefore said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.”

Like Pontius Pilate, the Nazis and Communists received their authority from God, but they abused that authority and as history records suffered the consequences. Political authority is obliged to respect human rights, and people have a right to migrate.

Because civil authority is a representative of God (Romans 13:2), they are stewards of His gifts. Thus, Sirach 10:1-5 states:

1 A wise magistrate will educate his people,
and the rule of an understanding man will be well ordered.
2 Like the magistrate of the people, so are his officials;
and like the ruler of the city, so are all its inhabitants.
3 An undisciplined king will ruin his people,
but a city will grow through the understanding of its rulers.
4 The government of the earth is in the hands of the Lord,
and over it he will raise up the right man for the time.
5 The success of a man is in the hands of the Lord,
and he confers his honor upon the person of the scribe.

We the citizens have a right and a duty to voice just criticism of what is harmful to the dignity of persons and the good of the community based on the principles of Truth, Justice, Solidarity and Freedom. Note that charity and sentimentality do not appear in that list, and that truth leads the list. But we must still exercise submission to authority. This is based on the ancient Roman principle of pietas which means responsibility, sense of duty; loyalty; tenderness, goodness; pity; piety. A civilized person owes pietas to God, Republic and Family. This means that we must vote, pay taxes (Romans 13:7) and defend the homeland.

If civil authority does not violate goodness, then we must obey even when we disagree. If there are no violations of human rights and moral goodness, then obedience is required. We must not be given over to sloppy theology.

Civil authority is discussed is articles 2234 through 2240 of the Catechism

Duties of civil authorities

2235 Those who exercise authority should do so as a service. "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant."41 The exercise of authority is measured morally in terms of its divine origin, its reasonable nature and its specific object. No one can command or establish what is contrary to the dignity of persons and the natural law.

2236 The exercise of authority is meant to give outward expression to a just hierarchy of values in order to facilitate the exercise of freedom and responsibility by all. Those in authority should practice distributive justice wisely, taking account of the needs and contribution of each, with a view to harmony and peace. They should take care that the regulations and measures they adopt are not a source of temptation by setting personal interest against that of the community.

2237 Political authorities are obliged to respect the fundamental rights of the human person. They will dispense justice humanely by respecting the rights of everyone, especially of families and the disadvantaged.

The political rights attached to citizenship can and should be granted according to the requirements of the common good. They cannot be suspended by public authorities without legitimate and proportionate reasons. Political rights are meant to be exercised for the common good of the nation and the human community.

The duties of citizens

2238 Those subject to authority should regard those in authority as representatives of God, who has made them stewards of his gifts: "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution. . . . Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God."44 Their loyal collaboration includes the right, and at times the duty, to voice their just criticisms of that which seems harmful to the dignity of persons and to the good of the community.

2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.

2240 Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one's country:

Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

[Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners. . . . They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. . . . So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it.

The Apostle exhorts us to offer prayers and thanksgiving for kings and all who exercise authority, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way."

IMMIGRATION PROPER

More prosperous nations to the extent of their ability are obliged to welcome the foreigner. But the number of immigrants welcomed and the process of administering immigration are both determined by civil authority. Public authority must respect the right of the immigrant. This is based on the Biblical notion of hospitality. But the right to immigrate to subject to juridical conditions. Based on the principle of solidarity, civil authority should be generous to our neighbors, but based on the principle of subsidiarity civil authority must be protective of the citizenry. Civil authority has a responsibility for safety, the common good and economic well-being, and has a duty to say, “Not here,” “Not now,” or “Not in this way.” This stems from moral theology where human rights are accompanied by human duties.

The immigrant must respect the country into which he immigrates. Immigrants must not create colonies of the countries of their origin in their new country. They must integrate and respect the new country’s laws such as paying taxes.

We as citizens may voice opposition to a certain immigration policy, but ultimately we must obey. Legal immigration is encouraged and illegal immigration is prohibited.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is NOT the Gestapo, a hyperbole that a bishop in Texas unfairly used. ICE is simply doing its job in enforcing the law. Either the immigrant enters the country legally or is subject to penalty. Likewise someone harboring an illegal immigrant is subject to penalty. This is nothing like harboring persecuted Jews to hide from the Nazis.

What if a family has entered the country illegally but has remained here for an extended period of time? Then the Church argues for compassionate accommodation. But we don’t know if the people to be accommodated are actually a family or not. Ultimately civil authority decides whether or not to provide accommodation.

Likewise what if a child was born to illegal immigrants in this country and was raised for years here, never knowing the country of his parents’ origin? Again we ask for compassionate accommodation, but ultimately civil authority decides.

Immigration proper is discussed in article 2241 of the Catechism:

2241 The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.

Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.

Oecologia et Energia Nuclearis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The priest at our parish is giving a series of talks on major issues of our time. One of those talks scheduled for mid-February concerns the environment. I sent the following letter to the priest since this topic is near and dear to my heart.

Dear Father,

Thank you for the excellent Masses this past week, and the great homilies therein. Evoking the lesson of the prophet Hosea and his faithless wife Gomer in Friday evening’s homily was especially noteworthy. Additionally, the celebration of the Eucharist Ad Orientem was positively beautiful. I am also happy to learn that you will be delivering a series of instructional talks on major issues of our time on Wednesday evenings over the next two months. I look forward to attending. One of the topics caught my specific interest. It was related to the environment. Being a 40+ year nuclear energy professional, this topic is of course near and dear to my heart. So below I am presenting a short distillation of the environmentally positive aspects of nuclear energy. Of course, as a priest you should neither support nor oppose any particular technical methodology of good stewardship of God’s creation – that over which He has given us dominion. And I suspect your topic will likely not touch on the technical aspects of what I present below. In fact, you may already be aware of much of this. But I fully expect so-called environmentalists to be as critical of nuclear energy (if not more so) as they are of carbon-emitting fossil energy (though their reflexive anti-nuclearism is slowly changing). And while I am no climate change activist (I do NOT adhere to or otherwise believe in the fiction of anthropogenic global warming), anyone with normal intelligence can see that indiscriminately dumping billions of tons of fossil fuel pollution into the environment year in and year out is an untested experiment which inevitably will have unanticipated and undesirable consequences. Don’t pollute isn’t just good theology. It’s common sense – one doesn’t poop in one’s backyard (sorry for the visualization, but I am a submarine sailor). J

DISCLAIMER 1: this paper is NO criticism of anything you have said or done (quite the contrary, you’re one of the best priests I know). But it is a long winded explanation based on my 40+ years of training and experience as a nuclear energy professional. So please forgive me for having “diarrhea of the keyboard” (humor – Ha! Ha!). And forgive any typographical errors.

DISCLAIMER 2: I have freely “plagiarized” from various sources in the discussion below (yes, I know I am long-winded, but I can’t distill those 40+ years of training and experience into a Facebook sound bite or a Twitter meme, so you may want to read the rest of this when you have time). I have include screen capture diagrams and have identified the source where I have “plagiarized” (I don’t know everything and I rely heavily on sources like the US NRC, NEI, IAEA, etc. – people who do know more than me). I cover the following:

Fuel Comparison
Pollution
Land Use
Capacity Factor
Mortality Rate per Terawatt Hour
Accidents (TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima)
Spent Fuel
Radiation Hormesis

The only thing I can add to these sources is the following: I have worked in nuclear power for 40+ years. I have stood watch in an enclosed metal tube right next to a 158 MWth nuclear reactor while 1000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface (obviously it’s called a submarine). I have held uranium pellets (unirradiated of course) in my hands and have had my nose mere inches away from newly manufactured uranium fuel rods (again unirradiated). I have stood above spent fuel pools full of irradiated fuel rods, I have worked atop the head of a reactor pressure vessel at a 1000 MWe reactor plant, I have dismantled and installed instrumentation on reactor plant components in radiologically controlled areas, etc. ad nausaeam. If radiation were as deadly as environmentalists say, then I would be dead by now. But the good Lord has (for some reason unknown to me) kept me alive (in spite of my best efforts to the contrary). Nuclear power is the safest, most environmentally benign form of power generation, even including solar, wind and all the rest of the so-called renewables. My life is proof of that because if I had been working in coal, oil, gas, wind or solar, then I would be dead (long story for a different letter).

FUEL COMPARISON

According to the European Nuclear Society, “With a complete combustion or fission, approx. 8 kWh of heat can be generated from 1 kg of coal, approx. 12 kWh from 1 kg of mineral oil and around 24,000,000 kWh from 1 kg of uranium-235. Related to one kilogram, uranium-235 contains two to three million times the energy equivalent of oil or coal. The illustration[s] show how much coal, oil or natural uranium is required for a certain quantity of electricity. Thus, 1 kg natural uranium - following a corresponding enrichment and used for power generation in light water reactors - corresponds to nearly 10,000 kg of mineral oil or 14,000 kg of coal and enables the generation of 45,000 kWh of electricity.”



POLLUTION

“The World Nuclear Association carried out a review of over twenty studies assessing the greenhouse gas emissions produced by different forms of electricity generation. The results summarized in the chart below show that generating electricity from fossil fuels results in greenhouse gas emissions far higher than when using nuclear or renewable generation.”

“In 2011 the world's nuclear power plants supplied 2518 TWh (billion kWh) of electricity. The following table shows the additional emissions that would have been produced if fossil fuels had been used to generate the same amount of electricity.”



NOTA BENE: nuclear power’s life cycle carbon emissions come from initial construction and from periodic testing of the emergency diesel generators. These emissions are orders of magnitude smaller than fossil fuel emissions. Read also the following essay from the late Dr. Bernard Cohen of the University of Pittsburg: “Environmental Problems with Coal, Oil and Gas.”

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter3.html

LAND USE

A company (for which I once worked) did a study some time ago to compare “…how much land would be needed to produce 1,800 Megawatts of solar or wind energy compared to the amount of land currently in use at the Arkansas Nuclear One Station.” This study states:

Assuming the wind and sun were able to generate electricity at a 90 percent capacity factor (of course the sun cannot shine 22 hours, or 90 percent of each day), land requirements necessary to generate 1,800 MW of electricity, the equivalent of our nuclear facility, would be as follows:

Modern Wind Power

• Power Output: Above Average Wind Turbine Generates2.5 Megawatts/turbine
• Number of 2.5 MW Turbines Needed to Generate 1,800 Megawatts:720
• Average Acres Per Megawatt: 60
• Land Use: 108,000 acres (169 square miles)

Modern Solar Power

• Power Output:1 Megawatt per 7.4 acres of photovoltaic solar panels
• Land Use:13,320 acres (21 square miles)

The bottom line is that a massive amount of land area must be torn up for so-called renewable energy and that has an environmentally harmful impact. Why such large land use? Because sunlight and wind are diffuse and highly variable sources of energy. Such is NOT the case for nuclear power.

CAPACITY FACTOR

The following graph comes from the Office of Nuclear Energy in the US Department of Energy:



“Nuclear power plants are typically used more often because they require less maintenance and are designed to operate for longer stretches before refueling (typically every 1.5 or 2 years). Natural gas and coal capacity factors are generally lower due to routine maintenance and / or refueling at these facilities. Renewable plants are considered intermittent or variable sources and are mostly limited by a lack of fuel (i.e. wind, sun, or water). As a result, these plants need a backup power source such as large-scale storage (not currently available at grid-scale) — or they can be paired with a reliable baseload power like nuclear energy.”

“A typical nuclear reactor produces 1 gigawatt (GW) of electricity. That doesn’t mean you can simply replace it with a 1 gigawatt coal or renewable plant. Based on the capacity factors above, you would need almost two coal or three to four renewable plants (each of 1 GW size) to generate the same amount of electricity onto the grid.”

The bottom line is this: if solar and wind were so great, then why don’t we still bake bricks in the sun as the ancient Sumerians did, and why don’t we sail across the sea in sailing ships as the Vikings did? Solar and wind have capacity factors of less than 30% and always require polluting fossil energy backup as spinning reserve for the 70% of the time that they can’t generate electricity. Every renewable energy plant is a methane gas power plant, and they pollute.

MORTALITY RATE PER TERAWATT HOUR

Nuclear energy has the lowest mortality rate per terawatt hour of electrical power generation. The following chart comes from Next Big Energy Future and is a summary of data from the International Energy Agency. Nuclear has 0.04 fatalities per terawatt hour (even including Fukushima and Chernobyl and TMI and Windscale) compared to solar at 0.1, wind at 0.15, gas at 20, oil at 52 and coal (USA) at 10.



ACCIDENTS

There have been three big accidents during my professional nuclear career:

TMI
Chernobyl
Fukushima

You can read about the TMI accident here:

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html.

In the TMI accident the operators did not believe their indications and incorrectly secured the safety injection pumps. If they had done what they were supposed to do, then the accident would not have been nearly as severe as it was. That said, not one member of the public was injured or died from the TMI event. And the amount of radioactivity that was released in the form of noble gases (argon, krypton and xenon) had no significant impact on background radiation levels to which local residents are exposed with or without nuclear power.

You can read about the Chernobyl accident here:

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html.

Read also Dr. Bernard Cohen’s essay, “The Chernobyl Accident – Can It Happen Here?”

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter7.html .

Regarding the Chernobyl accident, this reactor was a mad atheist communist design: water cooled, graphite moderated reactors are inherently unstable by the laws of physics (positive void coefficient of reactivity). I won’t go into details here, but this design – RBMK (Реактор Большой Мощности Канальный or High Power Channel-type Reactor) – could never be licensed in the West. Yes, scores of people died. That’s what communism does. This was a communist problem, NOT a nuclear power problem. The fools there did a test outside of procedure, overrode automatic reactor protection, and then the God-ordained Laws of Physics took over. I can explain more but the explanation requires some rudimentary knowledge of nuclear physics which is beyond the scope of this discussion. Bottom line: obey God’s Law, whether divine or physical, because you won’t like the consequences if you don’t.

You can read about the Fukushima accident here:

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/japan-events.html.

In the Fukushima accident, for decades TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) ignored advice that it was given by General Electric (GE) and the rest of the West. You see, when the earthquake happened off Japan’s east coast in March, 20011, the six reactors at Fukushima were placed in safe shutdown right away. The emergency diesel generators were started to keep vital safety-related equipment running. But the diesels were essentially on the beach and exposed to the tsunami which of course hit. This flooded the diesel intakes and the safety-related cooling water equipment eventually de-energized when backup batteries died. Then the inevitable happened: physics. The Japanese had to learn that God’s Law is immutable, and they learned it the hard way. If TEPCO hadn’t been so cheap and had built its diesels above the 35 foot tsunami line as GE told them to, then the accident would never have happened. Again, the issue isn’t nuclear power. The issue is taking stupid risks and expecting that God is going to exempt you from the Laws of Physics. That’s not what will happen – or in this case, happened. Nevertheless, not one person in the public died from the Fukushima accident (compared to the thousands who died from a near dam failure and from explosions at petrochemical installations in the Chiba Prefecture), and less than a half dozen died on site, all due to industrial accidents from recovery operations, not any radiological event.

SPENT FUEL AND WEAPONS PROLIFERATION

Currently designed light water reactors in the West (Boiling and Pressurized Water Reactors) typically use only 5% of the available energy content in the fuel. The reason why is the low enrichment of U-235 in the fuel and the accumulation of fission product poisons as the core operates over a few year’s time. We store spent (or more properly used) fuel for eventual geological repository, hence the never ending fight over Yucca Mountain. Why did we do that? Because first Gerald Ford then his successor Jimmy Carter enacted a policy of no reprocessing on unfounded fears of the proliferation of plutonium for weapons use. But that’s ridiculous. Why? Because the only isotope of plutonium that is usable in bombs is 92+% pure Pu-239 and spent fuel from light water reactors has too much non-fissile Pu-240 mixed in. Any bomb made from such material would fizzle out. It wouldn’t be a militarily useful weapon (as the North Koreans found out when they exploded several duds). Sadly sometimes Presidents (Republican and Democrat) make stupid decisions, and this was one (though Jimmy Carter, a former nuclear trained submarine officer, should have known better; he was one of Admiral Rickover’s few failures). Bottom line: reactor fuel cannot be used for a bomb because a bomb requires 92+% enriched U-235 or Pu-239, and reactor fuel is enriched to less than 5%.

In the case of Candu heavy water reactors in Canada, the Canadians don’t enrich their fuel at all. They use natural uranium and heavy water as the neutron moderator. Their reactors do produce some plutonium, but there’s so much Pu-240 mixed with the Pu-239 that it can’t be used for a bomb.

So now we have enough spent fuel from 100 reactors in the US to fill a football field to a depth of some scores of feet (compare that to the multi-million ton coal ash accident Duke Energy spilled from one coal fired power plant into the river system in North Carolina). And we plan to send used fuel to Yucca Mountain. But 95% of its energy content remains. Why don’t we use it? We could build fast neutron burner reactors like GE-Hitachi’s PRISM sodium cooled reactor, or something like a Carlo Rubbia Energy Amplifier to consume all the long lived actinides that present the long-term radiation hazard. There are plenty of other designs too: Oak Ridge’s molten salt thorium reactor from the 1960s, General Atomics high temperature helium cooled reactor, Westinghouse’s DaVinci lead cooled reactor, etc. With any of these we could obviate the need for Yucca Mountain because fast neutron burner reactors leave behind "ash" that decays in 600 years, not a million years. Compare that to heavy metal pollution in coal ash from coal fired power plants which never ever decays away – BTW, coal fired generation releases far more radioactivity than nuclear because coal contains naturally occurring uranium, thorium and radium that’s dumped will-nilly into the environment in the coal ash:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste/

We don’t have a spent fuel problem. We have a political problem of greed. Not reprocessing spent fuel means we leave ourselves reliant on fossil fuel and that enriches fossil fuel purveyors and the politicians who receive tax revenue therefrom.

RADIATION HORMESIS

The International Atomic Energy Agency has a paper on radiation hormesis here:

https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/35/034/35034260.pdf.

“Hormesis is defined as the stimulating effect of low doses of agents that cause an inhibiting effect at high doses…..The theory of radiation hormesis states that low doses of ionizing radiation are not only harmless, but they have beneficial effects by stimulating the immune system and repair mechanisms.”

Dr. Bernard Cohen maintained that the current no linear threshold theory of radiation exposure (which asserts that any radiation exposure is harmful) is erroneous. His essay on “How Dangerous is Radiation?” is noteworthy:

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter5.html.

Read also Atomic Insights’ article on radiation hormesis:

https://atomicinsights.com/radiation-hormesis-a-profound-truth-that-might-induce-a-few-more-converts-to-support-nuclear-energy/.

The bottom line is this: we are exposed to radiation all the time: cosmic radiation, radiation from soil and ricks, radiation from foods like bananas naturally containing radioactive potassium, etc. If radiation were as dangerous as environmentalists assert, then we should all be dead.

I will stop for now. There is so much to say and explain and I have continued for nine pages (and perhaps have bored you to tears if you managed to make it this far). So that’s long enough. I hope that some of this information may be of some small use to you. I however repeat that as a priest you must maintain objectivity and be “agnostic” (dare I use that word?) with regard to energy sources and technical methods of environmental stewardship. But I can personally assure you based on my 40+ years of training and experience that you won’t die from a reactor accident at the nearby nuclear power plants south of the greater metro area or ones north of that area.