By N.D.C. Wansbutter, Esq.
Stephen Heiner has recently released a slew of five new interviews at True Restoration Video Interviews, including one with Dr. David Allen White which according to Dr. White is the last interview he intends to give. I've long been a fan of Dr. White's excellent lectures, and had the opportunity in June of this year to meet with him. In person he is even more friendly than his lectures portray and truly the epitome of a Catholic gentleman. It is therefore with no hesitation that I plunked down the $7.99 to download the video and watch it (although it would be more fiscally responsible to shell-out for the yearly subscription, I think).
Firstly, Mr. Heiner has recently "upgraded" to an HD camera operated by a professional crew, and the improvement in film quality is immediately obvious. Sound and image quality are both excellent, certainly everything one could hope for. The video also allows one to "fast forward" to the next question or rewind to a previous one which makes the video easy to navigate if you want to re-watch a particular answer. So technically, this interview is of superior quality to previous True Restoration interviews.
Of course, the content is the real selling point of the interview and, as one could expect given then interviewee, is an engaging and fascinating interview. Stephen starts straight out of the gate with a "controversial" question asking Dr. White about his take on the whole "Swedish Television" débâcle with Bp. Williamson. The whole discourse that followed was insightful, but of particular interest to me was the comment that in two decades of collaboration and friendship, Bp. Williamson had mentioned in passing the question perhaps twice -- "he didn't speak of it" were Dr. White's words. The doctor then looked at the debate over how many died in the Gulag Archipelago and the lack of punitive measures in that discussion and concluded that the Holocaust is "not just a historical question", and "connected to greater religious issues".
Dr. White's comments on teaching were of great interest coming from a lifelong educator. He in fact argued for the abolition of classrooms, except for the occasional lecture. See the interview to learn why he thinks this way. In discussing further the role of a teacher and the great reward of seeing some good fruit come through his work by way of some of his cadets who ended up becoming Catholic, "a teacher must be like the sower of the seeds in the Gospel".
Dr. White next brought up the importance of the public life versus the private life and how the obliteration of this distinction is one of the great evils of our modern age.
Other topics covered included dogmas of modern world, the importance of the humanities, the classic and modern concept/purpose of education, the "battered, empty, soul-dead, and endebted" plight of the young, modern materialism versus a supernatural understanding of life and how we know people have souls, how we are all Protestants now, Campos, and Malachi Martin (who Dr. White knew personally which was news to me). There was much more than this -- the interview is simply jam-packed with great stuff.
There was a fascinating and broad-ranging discussion of the effects of the Second World War that we are still living with which I cannot justly summarize, but this 20-minute segment, in the middle of the interview, alone was worth the price of admission.
The interview, as a whole, had about it the feel and tone of a friendly conversation through which many many important and edifying things were brought out. It was punctuated by instances of humour, anecdotes, heartfelt exchanges, and even some ranting. The total interview is about 1 hr 45 minutes and every bit of it is worth watching and re-watching. It is simply fantastic -- one the best interviews Stephen Heiner has done. Dare I say it, I think it may even be his best, better than the Bp. Williamson interviews. And it's the last time Dr. White will speak in such a format (he says in the interview he's now said all he has to say). Buy it immediately, or better yet, get the 12 month subscription because there are many other excellent videos available there: http://www.truerestorationpress.com/videos/
We will be posting a 15-minute excerpt of the interview here in the near future, so "stay tuned".
St. Martin I, Pope & Martyr, a.D. MMXI
1 comments:
My wife, Edith, and I had the honor to visit with Dr. White a few weeks ago, and while he reiterated his statement that he had nothing more to say, I see a whole lot of life left in him, so let's see what happens. I know that he will be speaking at next year's Fifth Circuit Judicial Conference, in Santa Fe, NM, at Edith's request.
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