Aquinas on Degrees of Goodness

Four Catholic therapists and four Catholic philosophers take on the most frequently asked metaphysical questions about grounding Internal Family Systems in a Catholic worldview.  Join Elizabeth Galanti, Dr. Anthony Flood, Dr. Andrea Messineo, Dr. Gerry Crete, Dr. Monty De La Torre, Fr. Thomas Berg, and Dr. Peter Malinoski for a spirited discussion of: 1) the relationship between IFS and the Catholic Church; 2) problems with the IFS conceptualization of “Self’; 3) the importance of the Catholic IFS clinician staying true to the teachings of the Church; 4) distinguishing between parts and demons in IFS work; 5) how can we prevent parts work from opening the door to demons? 6) what does it mean to say that all parts are good?; 7) how does ordered self-love differ from selfishness?; 8) is there a danger of creating an endless nesting of parts within parts within parts, an “infinite regress” of parts?; and 9) How does the Catholic understanding of conscience related to parts in IFS?  

Fr. Thomas Berg’s books: 

Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hurting-in-the-church-fr-thomas-berg/1124597873

Choosing Forgiveness: Unleash the Power of God's Gracee: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/choosing-forgiveness-fr-thomas-berg/1140395384?ean=9781681926537 

Dr. Andrea Messineo’s book “Alone in Church”: https://www.amazon.com/ALONE-CHURCH-Andrea-Messineo/dp/1732054290

Check out Dr. Messineo’s website at Andreamessineolpcc.com

Dr. Anthony Flood’s books: 

The Root of Friendship: Self-Love and Self-Governance in Aquinas https://www.cuapress.org/9780813226057/the-root-of-friendship/ 

The Metaphysical Foundations of Love: Aquinas on Participation, Unity, and Union: https://www.cuapress.org/9780813234205/the-metaphysical-foundations-of-love/

Dr. Gerry Crete’s book, “Litanies of the Heart”: https://www.amazon.com/Litanies-Heart-Gerry-Ken-Crete-ebook/dp/B0CSKSCMPP?ref_=ast_author_mpb

Elizabeth Galanti’s practice:  https://www.elizabethgalanti.com/

Dr. Monty De La Torre’s recent reflections:  

https://www.soulsandhearts.com/blog/the-metaphysics-of-parts-part-i-the-soul-the-faculties-and-the-senses/

https://www.soulsandhearts.com/blog/intellect-knowledge-judgement-reasoning-and-parts-the-metaphysics-of-parts-part-ii/

Check out our Resilient Catholics Community (RCC) here:  https://www.soulsandhearts.com/rcc

Check out our Formation for Formators (FFF) Community here: https://www.soulsandhearts.com/fff

Key moments

12:28  "What does the Catholic Church have to say about IFS, and is IFS OK for Catholics?" "How can we make sure that our IFS-informed parts work is fully Catholic?”

19:50  Problems with the IFS conceptualization of “Self” and how to modify the idea of the inmost self so that it harmonizes with a Catholic understanding of the human person

23:30  The importance of the IFS Catholic clinician staying true to all Catholic doctrine

25:20   "How can I tell if I'm connecting with a part or a with a demon?  How do we keep our parts work from creating vulnerabilities toward demonic influences?"

35:55  "Why do we say in IFS that there are no bad parts, that all parts are welcome? It certainly seems that some of my parts are urging me to do bad or sinful things, and that I have to resist them."

50:00  "From a parts perspective, how does ordered self-love differ from selfishness?"

59:00  According to St. Thomas Aquinas, there is no part of you that by itself has hegemony over the role of goodness. Each part has a goodness or proper functioning that is nested in the good of the person as a whole. That is why when willing goods to oneself, you must will goods in a way that is respectful of all of you, not just some of you.

1:06:50  "What if I create an endless number of parts? Or, a part, that has a part, that has a part, etc...? "  -- the “infinite regress” of parts

1:21:50 How does the Catholic understanding of conscience related to parts in IFS?