Raising The Standards
Dr. Paul Byrne on Brain Death
[Foreword from Thomas A. Droleskey, Ph.D: Readers will notice that I rarely use my academic title or the initial of my terminal degree in my articles. Indeed, I don't think that I've ever done this in any article on this site, perhaps doing so in some fund-raising letters now and again. Readers can find out the details of my academic background on th "About Christ or Chaos" page on this site. Some are "put off" by academic titles, finding them pretentious and pompous. The titles and credenitals do indeed mean nothing in eternity. As they represent one's training and competency in a given field of study, however, and one's participation in academic organizations, there are times when it is appropriate to use a title or to list the initials of one's terminal degree. This is one of those times.
[I was for many years a member of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, serving as chairman of its political science section from its founding and organizing annual "related group" meetings for the Society at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. We had a number of interesting panels, including one on Americanism in 2000, over the years. I also served as the Society's "second vice president" (sort of vice vice president, if you will), advising the senior officers now and again. Although it is well known that I have made my break from the structures of the counterfeit church of conciliarism, largely because of the denial of the Social Reign of Christ the King by the ethos of conciliarism, I do nevertheless have great respect for much of the scholarly work being done by our fellow Catholics in various professional organizations even as every fiber of my being disagrees entirely with any and all concessions made in the direction of conciliarism and/or any efforts to attempt to reconcile conciliciarism with Catholcism, whether concessions are made corporately by organizations or individually by their members.
