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| The answers
on this page are to questions most frequently asked about the Catholic faith. If you have
questions of your own you may E-Mail Fr. Richard Eberle or
contact your local friendly priest. Content on this page is from Sacred Heart Church or
reprint from The Catholic Times. |
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| Q. My mother-in-law-to-be is a member of a
Protestant Church. She does not want me to marry her son because I am a
life-long Catholic. She says that the Catholic Church is a cult because Catholics worship
statues and pray to Mary. I know that she is wrong but I do not know how to explain it.
A. A very good question and one that just won't go away. No, Catholics
do not worship the saints or Mary. It is sad to see people who reject the Catholic Church
on the basis of what they have heard from someone else as to what the Catholic Church
believes. First the question of statues of saints. Catholics have statues of the saints in
our Church for the same reason that a family may have pictures of their deceased loved
ones on the mantel or a portrait painted and framed - or even a teenager may have a poster
of their favorite singer or actor. These saints are our heroes or heroines who have given
us wonderful examples of how to live as a follower of Christ. It is significant that Pope
John Paul 11 has named more people saints than any other pope. And most (if not all) of
them are modern people. We need modem heroes and heroines who come from our time in
history. Also, many statues are great works of art - Michelangelo and the other
Renaissance sculptors come to mind.
Now the question of prayer to the
saints. The focus of prayer is to God alone. Prayer is the lifting up of our hearts and
minds to God. We Catholics ask Mary and the saints to pray FOR us in much the same way
that we would ask our family or friends to pray for us. Asking for prayer is very much
different from praying to someone. If I were to pray TO a friend, I would expect that
friend to be very mystified and upset! In other words, we don't pray TO saints and Mary.
We pray WITH them. Perhaps some of the misunderstanding comes from an older English usage
of the term "prayer" - as in: "I pray thee, help me!" Older English
recognized this meaning of prayer just as it recognized this meaning of
"worship" as simply declaring the "worth" of another. Thus our
ancestors called judges your worship."
As regards Mary.
Catholics do not worship Mary as if Mary were a goddess. Perhaps it would be helpful to
assert that Mary is the FIRST of the saints. We certainly give her honor, respect, and a
revered place in our hearts and in our Churches. We do the same thing for our mothers -
but that is not divine adoration.
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| Q. I
am a divorced Catholic. My friends have told me that I am out of
the church and not supposed to receive the sacraments. Is this true?
A. No. It is not true and never was. Divorced Catholics are just as eligible to
receive the sacraments as every other Catholic. This is a very widespread belief that I
have heard many times - sometimes even from "cradle Catholics." The only
exception is: those Catholics who are divorced and re-married outside the Church. Such
persons should talk to a priest to discover if something can be done in their specific
circumstances. A divorced Catholic, who wishes to marry again, must seek the possibility
of an annulment before he or she can married in the Church. But the simple fact of being a
divorced Catholic does not prohibit the Catholic from receiving the sacraments.
(For
more information on annulments, click here.)
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| Q. A man
I work with is a Jehovah's Witness. They don't celebrate Christmas. He told me that
Christmas is a pagan
holiday and that Jesus wasn't born on December 25 anyway. Is this true?
A.
Perhaps the main reason that Jehovah's
Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas is that they don't believe that Jesus is really the
Son of God and a Divine person. That is what Christmas really celebrates: the Second
Person of the Blessed Trinity coming as a human being. God so loved the world that he gave
us His only Son. That is "the reason for the season."
Now as to the specifics. Matthew and
Luke are the only Gospels that mention the infancy of Jesus. Neither tells us when or what
day Jesus was born. Simply stated, birthdays were not celebrated then. Mary must have
known because mothers never forget their children's birth but she never told the gospel
writers. The closest we can figure is that Jesus was born in the Springtime of the year.
That is the time of the year when shepherds kept their flocks in the fields at night.
Normally they drove the sheep into pens or corrals for the night - to keep them from
straying. But during the springtime, during laming season, the sheep were kept in the
fields so the baby lambs would not be trampled. So Jesus was most likely born in March,
April or May.
Where did December 25 come from? The Romans
celebrated Saturnalia from December 21 to 25, festival days of non-stop partying when
nobles and slaves changed roles and families gave one another gifts. All this celebrated
the return of the sun - the days start to get longer again after the winter solstice
("sol" - Latin, sun -"sto" - stand). The earth starts to tip on its axis back again to the north. The early Christians
kind of "baptized" this feast and declared that if it was appropriate to
celebrate the return of the sun to winter lands, it was certainly good to celebrate the
coming of the SON of God to the world and to give one another gifts because the greatest
gift had been given to us by God Himself. Sounds fine to me!! So it is not WHEN Jesus was
born that is important - but rather THAT Jesus was born and saved us!
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Q. Is it a matter of faith to believe the Bible is inerrant and infallible? If it's
inerrant and infallible we must believe it in all things so faith depends on it being right but
is it true?
A. We had better define
our terms. Infallible means incapable of erring exempt from the possibility of mistakes,
impossible to deceive. Inerrant means it contains, in fact, no errors.
However, the Bible does, in fact, contain
the kinds of human errors we expect whenever we leave our fingerprints on anything. It has
mistakes in science and history, omissions, duplications, overlaps, padded additions,
erroneous genealogies and some fanciful allegories.
It's difficult to prove a
negative. So, rather than use words with an "in" prefix that connote negative
protection let's be positive and say the Bible is absolutely truthful a matters of
divine revelation when we understand the purpose of the writers and conditions at the
time.
We can't use the Bible as a
reference book on astronomy or genealogy, as in Genesis, but we can use it as a
testimonial to God's intervention into human affairs and human responses to God's
impulses. That alone is worth the price of the book.
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Q. I thought the feast of Christ the King at
the end of November, 2001, and the end of the millennium, would have been
the perfect time for homilies about the coming reign of Christ as King but it didn't
happen here. Where can I rind more doctrine explaining the 1,000-year reign of Christ as
presented in Revelation 20, Daniel 24 etc.?
A. Over
the centuries the Catholic Church has given repeated explain nations regarding the
millennial appearance of Jesus Christ and the message has always been the same. The most
recent is in the Catechism of,the Catholic Church (I 992).,
"The church has
rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name
millenarianism" (CCC No. 676).
Do not wander into
Revelation or Daniel without a competent guide. Amateur Bible dabblers have been lost in
that wilderness of mystical symbols and numbers and have stumbled out years later babbling
nonsense.
Unless
you believe that the entire period of world history is just 7,000 years (1,000 years for
each day of creation) and we have just entered the final Sabbath day of rest period of
1,000,years the whole theory of millenarianism falls apart like a wet cardboard box.
The idea first appeared in
the apocryphal Secrets of Enoch (200 BC) and reappeared later with some variations in
apocryphal Four Ezra (70 AD). It was popular for a while in the first centuries when
astrology was favored and not much was known about earth and sky sciences. A few fervent
fundamentalist denominations still proclaim it today.
The first millennium after Christ came
and went with considerable anxiety but no sighted appearance of Jesus. We recently put the
second millennium to rest without undue excitement but again no sightings of Jesus. We
enter the third millennium with confidence that the Lord will "come again to judge
the living and the dead" (Creed) when he's good and ready because we "do not
know the day nor the hour" (Matthew 24:36). It I s better we don't know.
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Q. It seems to
me that when I was younger the stance of the Catholic Church was that if you were not
baptized, you did not get into heaven. Is this still the case or have the heavenly gates
widened a bit?
A. The gospels present to us various passages that, when looked at
together, give us a sense of whether baptism is necessary for salvation. In one passage
Jesus says, "No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and
Spirit '(John 3:5). A second passage is Jesus' words at his Ascension: "Whoever
believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned"
(Mark 16:16). From these two passages we can see that salvation is the combination of
baptism and believing. Those who learn of Christ's gospel and purposely reject it are
rejecting eternal life.
In the early Church some catechumens
were martyred before they could be baptized. Others desired baptism but died before they
could receive it. Still others sincerely tried to do what is right but had no opportunity
to learn about Christ. Salvation is available to these groups. The Church identified these
as baptisms of blood, of explicit desire, and implicit desire. I John 4:7 tells us that
"everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God."
Here the gift of salvation comes to us
in loving. Also, in Matthew 25, we have the great scene of the last judgment where people
are saved because they ministered to Christ in the poor and hungry, even though they might
not even have been aware of Christ's presence. Salvation here comes because of kind
action. It seems, then, that we can say that baptism combined with believing is certainly
one of the means to salvation, but not the only means. In God's goodness, there are other
roads that can also lead us into the kingdom. God's mercy and goodness are not limited to
the sacrament of baptism.
The canon law of the Church requires 2
things for the baptism of infants: 1) that the child be baptized in the parish community
where the family normally practices 2) there be a reasonable hope that the child be raised
Catholic. Sometimes parents want the child baptized in their "home parish" -
where they were baptized as infants. This is permissible as long as the pastor of their
residential parish gives permission and delegates the other pastor to administer the
sacrament. Several times during the Baptism, the parents are asked if they understand that
it is their responsibility to be the "first teachers of their children in the ways of
faith." If the parents cannot promise this, then the baptism of their child should be
delayed until such time as the parents have "gotten their act together" and put
their beliefs into action. It is not acceptable to baptize the child merely as an
insurance policy against limbo.
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| Q. My sister belongs to a
parish in Ohio and she said "In our church we pray during Lent for the catechumens who are preparing for their Easter baptism. It seems strange to center our
thoughts on baptism during this time of penance and mortification. "
A. Catholics, even those who may not practice their faith regularly,
seem to be captured by Lent. Ash Wednesday is very often the busiest day of the year in
many churches. People wear their ashes with pride and talk about what they are giving up
for Lent. The abstinence of the Fridays of Lent reminds us that it is a penitential
season. The word "lent" comes from an Anglo-Saxon ten-n meaning spring. It is a
time of new beginning. Lent is a penitential season because, in the early Church, people
confessed their sins and did a period of penance before they were baptized. Baptisms took
place only on Easter Sunday. The whole point of Lent was to prepare for baptism. That is
why many parishes cover or empty the holy water fonts at the entrances of the Church.
Easter is the great feast of the paschal mystery (the death, Resurrection, and Ascension
of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit as God's plan for our salvation), and baptism
is the Christian's entry into that mystery. Lent prepares us to enter into the paschal
mystery, to put on Jesus Christ. At baptism, the symbolism of entrance into the
water, the clothing with a white garment, and the lighting of a candle all remind us that
we are entering into the dying and rising of Christ.
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| Q. If a married
couple decides to try to have a child by the "in vitro" method of
fertilization would they be excommunicated? Why is the church 's moral stand so much
against this way, which might be the only way, Of Pregnancy for infertile couples?
A. There is no more personal area of modem technology that displays the difference
between secular humanism and Christian principles than human reproduction. In vitro is
one.
Secular
humanism claims that human problems can be addressed only by developing and applying human
skills until the problems are solved. It says: The more we learn, sooner or later we will
know how to.,
Christian principles
proclaim that we are not totally self-sufficient but we have been given a share in ' the
dominion of Almighty God to whom we are accountable. It asks: We may know how to but
should we?
Aye, there's the rub. Those
two polarized opinions are the points of departure for debate about most matters of
medical ethics.
The Catholic position is not
insensitive to the suffering of childless couples. It does insist, however, that no one
has an intrinsic right to have a child. "Marriage does not confer upon spouses the
right to a child .... The child is not an object to which one has a right nor can he be
considered as an object of ownership."
The child, the central
person in this discussion has a primary right that's more important. The child has a right
to true parents.
As the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith explained in "Instruction of Respect for Human Life in
Its Origin and on The Dignity of Procreation" the child "must be the fruit of
his parents' love. He cannot be desired or conceived as the product of, an intervention of
medical or biological techniques ' that would be equivalent to reducing him to an object
of scientific technology."
According to Catholic
principles in vitro fertilization is immoral but it does not incur the penalty of
excommunication. It's wrong. It does not, of itself, exclude the persons from the
community.
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Q. Why are the
Holy Water fronts empty and covered or removed from the entrances of many Catholic
Churches?
A. Lent has always been the traditional season when people are
prepared for Baptism. Easter, and most especially the Easter Vigil, is the time for
Baptism. Of course, by baptism, we are plunged into the paschal mystery - the death and
resurrection of Christ. The beautiful custom of blessing ourselves with Holy Water when we
come into the Church is a symbolic way of renewing our Baptism. By removing the Holy Water
from the entrances of the Church during Lent, we are calling to mind our own Lenten
preparation for renewing our Baptismal Vows on Easter Sunday.
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Q. My niece was
married recently in Toledo at Old St. Patrick's Parish in a Mass on Saturday evening at 7:
00 pm do I have to go to Mass again on Sunday?
A. Yes, you have to go to Mass again on Sunday - since the wedding Mass that you
attended was a wedding Mass and not a Sunday Mass.
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| Q. Is there any merit having Masses offered
for non-Catholics? To me this is the finest prayerful remembrance we can
give a departed friend yet if one is not of the Catholic faith will the graces be
efficacious?
A. It was my good fortune, in the days of my youth,
to be assigned to a parish with a wise and kindly pastor. At the dinner table one evening
we were talking about your topic. Without missing a bite, the grand old gentleman said,
"Like us Catholics, they need all the help they can get." He was a lifetime
ahead of Vatican Council II..
The Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith (I 976) agreed we may celebrate Mass for people who did not
share our faith, but with two sensible provisions, both intended to forestall any
misunderstanding .
First, the request
should come from the family or at least be tacitly approved by them. It's a matter of
courtesy that we be sensitive to their preferences, careful to avoid even the appearance
of foisting a faith they might not understand or possibly reject.
Secondly, there must
not be even a hint of scandal either for the family of the deceased or for the Catholic
parish. That's common sense but sometimes conditions arise that need a closer look.
The Catholic Church
does not claim exclusive rights to the grace of God. Neither does it impose itself on
anyone. "The wind blows wherever it pleases .... That is how it is with all who are
born of the spirit" (John 3:8).
Like us, they need all the help they can
get.
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| Q. Gambling is becoming a growing
problem in our family with casinos nearby and far away getting some of our time and money.
It's getting to be a real argument. It would help me if you would explain the moral
attitude Christians should have towards something that's causing such trouble to families.
A. Classic
moral theology lists all forms of gambling as aleatory contracts, from the Latin word
"alea" meaning chance. Aleatory contracts are not, per se, immoral as long as
certain conditions prevail.
Equal risk and equal
opportunity for all gamblers. Odds of winning and losing,, and how much the percentages
favor the house or the gambler, are clearly understood b all.
It is considered legal
by civil authorities.
Beyond the minimal guidelines there's the gray area of compulsive gambling where morality
poses serious questions, the kind of concern raised in your inquiry.
Can gambling be a sin?
Yes. We are responsible for our actions. Gambling, in the early stages, may be innocent
fun but when it gets out of control we are responsible for the damage, which can be huge.
Compulsive gambling is
a progressive behavior disorder in which a person has an uncontrollable urge that disrupts
the gambler's personal life. Like every addiction, it's out of control. Every
rehabilitation program begins with an admission of a need for outside help.
I've heard casino
players brag about their impressive good luck but I've never heard them admit their
losses. Where do casino operators get the mega-millions to build those shrines to
gullibility? I wouldn't play those odds with Confederate money.
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| Q. When a faithful
Catholic dies, one who has done God's will all during life and has no mortal
sins, is that person guaranteed heaven? But what if during the final moments before death,
when the devil is working hardest to get that soul, and he or she commits one final
mortal sin, do they deserve hell? We have picked this argument to pieces. What's
the answer?
A. Hypothetically,
yes. Realistically, no. Your chances of winning the lottery at a million-to-one are better
than the devil's chances of picking off that soul.
Dying in the
state of grace is more than dying without sin. There will also be evidence of a healthy
spirit, a lifestyle of virtues that have become ingrained habits. There's a checklist of
the attractive qualities of a state-of-grace person in Matthew 5:3 and Luke 6:20.
Was your case person
also poor in spirit, merciful without judging, comforting to others, clean of heart,
peace-making, grief-sharing, gentle under pressure, passionate for what is fight? If
he/she gets eight out of eight it's a perfect score and the "reward will be great in
heaven."
It would be contrary
to every behavioral pattern if somehow your case person, in his/her final hour, would
violate any of those virtues by suddenly becoming greedy, merciless, irritating,
duplicitous, conflicting, selfish, quarrelsome or compromising. Life doesn't happen that
way.
But is it possible?
Yes. Given our free will, it's possible until our last breath. Is it likely? No. As we
live so shall we die. As the Irish lady said, "May you be dead three days before the
devil finds out."
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| Q. About the Dutch church not performing
funerals for those who plan to be euthanized. This is rather extreme.If a person has been
devout through life is it appropriate to let one sin wipe out the previous record? Aren't
all sins forgiven? Doesn't this punish the family left behind that may have forgiven the
deceased because of the likely pain or other circumstances? To do this seems to be
heartless just when we need the church at the end of life however it is concluded.
A. True, all sins, confessed and
repented , can be forgiven without question, certainly in those last lucid moments of
life. That is precisely the crux of this moral issue.
But
what about a person who is determined to kill himself, or arranges to have someone else
kill him, does not repent the evil act of suicide or euthanasia and refuses any final
offer to be reconciled with the sacrament right up to the moment of injection?
"However it is
concluded" makes all the difference, Whether it's by natural causes at the end of
life or deliberate act of killing to end life.
The Catholic Church,
along with other mainline moral authorities, says killing, by one's own hand or another's,
is absolutely wrong, so inherently wrong it cannot be justified by any special
circumstances.
Dutch Catholic sources
made this clear. "The church doesn't refuse funerals willingly - it normally does so
only when one has distanced himself from religion." If a person absolutely refuses to
abide by this most basic religious command not to kill himself it would be incompatible
with his beliefs to bring him into the church when he can no longer resist.
Doctor-assisted suicides
(commonly called "mercy killings" because suicide is more properly
"self-killing") are legal in the Netherlands. The law requires doctors to get a
patient's consent but also allows doctors to use their own discretion when, in their
estimate, a patient is incapable of deciding. I have no idea how many patients have been
euthanized through that very large medical loophole.
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Q. Tell
me if I am considered as Catholic as I think I am. As an adult I
am a registered member of my parish, attend Mass mostly on Easter and Christmas plus
whatever weddings or funerals we have in the family and defend the church's teachings in
all arguments? My parents tell me that's,not good enough.
A. You may have a difficult time defending one of the Catholic Church's most
important expectations, namely, celebrating the Lord's Day, Sunday, by sharing our
Eucharist with the other Catholics in your area. That has been the greatest trademark of
the Catholic faith since the first century. When you're not there, our faith is
diminished. We miss you.
Perhaps you would
agree you're hanging on by your fingernails but that's better than not hanging on at all.
Perhaps you would agree you're hanging on by your fingernails but that's better than not
hanging on at all.
Sooner or later you
will have to make a decision whether to pull yourself up to full membership with the rest
of your parish family or just drop off. You can struggle by yourself against or with the
grace of God, or you can ask someone to give you a boost from behind. Mothers are
especially good at that.
Or call your local
friendly priest for a visit. He will have some adult level books suited to people who are
searching for answers. Do some praying and reading, in that order.
I have never met
anyone who lived the Catholic faith sincerely and regretted it but I have met some who let
their faith slip away and felt lost without it.
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| Q. Why do we so often pray to saints? We
can pray directly to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit but why pray to individuals who
were human like us? I have my favorite saints but there's nothing in the Bible that
mentions praying to them. Can you give me a reason?
A. Our
Catholic Christian heritage has always had a strong family sense of belonging. "With
so many witnesses in a vast cloud on every side of us we too then should throw off
everything that hinders us" (Hebrews 12:1). We are part of that vast cloud of
believers who share the same faith with "those who have gone before us marked with
the sign of faith." That's the communion (community) of saints we profess in our
Creed. Can they help? Of course. That's our family. We're all in this together.
Our belief in the
community of saints has been a natural feature of our Catholic faith ever since our
earliest ancestors had the good sense to honor the memories of their beloved sisters and
brothers, saints and martyrs. Their names were included in the canon of the Mass (they
were "canonized") and they were invoked by name in a litany of saints.
It's
a natural development of doctrine to venerate - not worship - heroic men and women in our
family, asking them to intercede for us. It detracts nothing from praying to God the
Father, Son or Holy Spirit when we also pray to specific saints in the old tradition of
our ancestors.
As for a Bible
reference, there's nothing in the Bible that suggests the Bible must be the source of
every doctrine and devotion. The Bible doesn't say that. People say that.
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| Q. I get the idea
that private interpretation of the Bible without the church's so-called magisterium is
discouraged. Also, what do you consider the most difficult book in the Bible?
A. If you
allow me to narrow this down to the New Testament, then, beyond all reasonable doubt, it's
the closing book, Revelation, also called Apocalypse. Good people have wandered innocently
into those final 22 chapters and have come out babbling utter nonsense. It's the mother
lode for all aspiring fundamentalists.
The book of Revelation
is brilliant, magnificent writin as Ion as author Johif s purpose, style and context is
rightly understood but it can be a scriptural swamp for anyone who lacks competent
direction.
Do not wander into
that book without a qualified guide. For years the Knights of Columbus published, and may
still have, a fine little pamphlet entitled simply "Revelation." ffighly
recommended for honorable students who want a reputable guide they can trust.
As for private
interpretation of the Bible, the church's magistefium is not "so-called." It's
real. It's the teaching authority of the church. Why would anyone want to go it alone when
world-class Scripture scholars are available as guides? After all, the New Testament is
the Catholic church's family papers. We wrote it, preserved it and made it available to
others.As a recent convert told me, "That's our stuff."
I will not submit my
body to a self-taught surgeon who doesn't know a scalpel from a suture nor will I submit
my faith to a self-taught Bible believer who doesn't know a Greek infinitive from a Hebrew
parficile.
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Q. Let me try to say this
clearly. The Romans crucified thousands of people. Jesus allowed himself to be
crucified. What did his death do? How did his death accomplish what it did?
A. With
those two short questions you're touching the essence of the core doctrines of the
Catholic faith, redemption through sacrifice and resurrection to new life.
Those two articles of
faith are so inter-related that one without the other doesn't make much sense. Redemption
through Jesus' death would be point less unless there is the sequel of Jesus' resurrection
to new life. Redemption and resurrection are twin doctrines that need each other.
The idea of vicarious
atonement, having an innocent person sacrifice himself for the liberation of others, is
acce ted theology in the Hebrew Testament. Read the marvelous, inspired Servant
Songs (Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12). Follow that same idea into, the Christian Testament with a
further development of that doctrine. "In his own body he brought your sins to the
cross. By his wounds you were heale4f' (I Peter 2:22).
All that would be
wasted effort, "fofly" and "absurdi ' as St. Paul called it I Corinthians
1:20) if there was no resurrection. The resurrecfion validates everything. St. Paul,
sounding Re a cheerleader, scoffs at death. "O death, where is your victory? 0 death,
where is your sting?" (I Corinthians 15:55). "He makes all things new."
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| Q. What does it mean to be "born again "?
A. The
"born again" phrase comes from the Gospel of St. John 3. Jesus is speaking to
Nicodemus. "No one can see the reign of God unless he is begotten from above (some
translations have: "again")." Nicodemus does not understand and thinks
Jesus is talking about the birth of human infants. Jesus responds: "I solemnly assure
you, no one can enter into God's kingdom without being begotten of water and Spirit."
Water is needed for baptism. A few lines later, (3:22) "Jesus went with his disciples
... and spent some time baptizing." No doubt about it, being born again or born from
above means being baptized.
If, as some fundamentalists insist, being born again meant just accepting Jesus as savior
in your heart, why did the disciples baptize people who accepted Jesus as their savior?
And Paul, recovering from being knocked off his high horse was told "It is time you
were baptized."(Acts22:1 6). By itself, "born again," is one of those fuzzy
phrases that means whatever you want it to mean. It can mean a profoundly shattering
religious experience that changes a person. William James wrote about that in his classic
study, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). It can be a warm, fuzzy feeling that
makes you feel saved all over. It can be a passing phase that vanishes with the first cold
spell. lf we separate born again from the reality of baptism it can be just another
"feel good" transient emotion. If born again means baptism, it's the beginning
of a lifetime commitment with serious consequences. Baptism, the first and most important
of the Sacraments, is the "door of the Church," for which reason many Churches
have their baptismal font at the entrance of the Church and also why we have the custom of
blessing ourselves with holy water when we come into the Church. We are renewing our
Baptism. For most people, Christian life is a series of conversion experiences - rather
than a one time all or nothing peak emotional moment. The Christian life - or any
important commitment - calls for a deep rational decision rather than an emotional high or
low. Love is a decision not a feeling.
Some material
taken from The Question Box, Fr. Isidore Mikulski
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| Q. As I continue
to grow in my faith I have questions. How do we know Catholicism is the one true
faith? If we all follow the Bible how is one religion more correct than another?
The Bible doesn't refer to any type of religion. Jesus never claimed to
start a certain denomination.
A.Ah, but he did. He really did. "So I now say to you: You are
Peter and on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell can never hold out
against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth
shall be considered bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be considered
loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:18).
That's a pivotal
statement, clear and precise' Peter and the other disciples understood it perfectly. In
the Acts of the Apostles, which is a diary of the infant church, Peter is given prominent
mention over the others more than 50 times. And Paul, who was a latecomer, brought his
questions of doctrine to Peter for review and later boasted that he had challenged the top
to settle the matter.
Their successors, the
next generation of leaders, people like Ignatius, Clement, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Justin and
Augustine wrote about the primacy of Peter, the cornerstone rock of the church, as an
accepted fact. Bishop Ignatius wrote the slogan "Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia."
Where Peter is, there is the church.
They could not have
imagined that 20 centuries later we would have the 265th successor of Peter, named John
Paul 11. The powers of hell, despite their best effort, have not held out against it.
The Bible does not mention any denomination by name because no other denomination existed
at the time of writing. Bishop Ignatius (d. 107) was the first to use the Greek adjective
"katholikos," meaning "universal," to describe the church. The name
stuck and we've been known as Catholics ever since.
If you ask about being
"more correct" you imply that all other denominations may be less correct. Would
you settle for being the first, the original"
One last comment.The
Bible is not the sole source of religious faith. The Catholic Church pre-existed the first
composite Bible by more than three centuries. The New Testament is the offspring of the
Catholic Church, not its parent. As a recent convert said. "That's our stuff."
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| Q. My question is this. How do I know if it's time to get out of a bad marriage or if this just happens to be my cross to bear? My husband of
nine years is pessimistic and with that comes anger, verbal abuse and sometimes physical
abuse. I think maybe it's God's will for me to stay to help him. What about my committed
vows for better and for worse?
A. If you have endured even one
instance of physical abuse it's time to find professional help. It's definitely not God's
will that you remain in a marriage where you might suffer any form of physical abuse.
Seek marriage
counseling. Your diocesan front office may have certified marriage counselors on the staff
or they can recommend a qualified counselor. Contact your pastor. He can arrange an
appointment with a professional counselor.
Things will not get
better by themselves. It's long past the time for promises. will power and excuses. Seek
outside help immediately.
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| Q. Why do Catholics
bless things?
A. A blessing or benediction is
a prayer invoking God’s power and care on something or someone. Thus, blessing an
object places it under the care of God or dedicates it to His service. Blessing objects
helps us to remember that everything comes from God and should be used as He intends.
Knowing that something is blessed can help us to remember to treat it with respect and
revere it as a sign of God’s favor. The same can be said of asking God’s
blessing on a person. Many parents make the sign of the cross or lay their hands on their
child’s head before the child goes to sleep at night or goes outside. Eucharistic
ministers and priests bless those who have not yet received Holy Communion when they come
up in the Communion line – young children or folks who are not Catholic. We ask those
who wish to receive a blessing to come up in the communion line with their arms folded
over their chest. Anyone can ask God’s blessing on someone. (People do this all the
time when they say: "God bless you!" when someone sneezes).
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| Q. What did Jesus mean in the
"Lord's Prayer" about "Lead us not into Temptation".
A. Matthew's original Greek
dose not mean temptation as enticing us into sin. It's much broader than that. Context in
that reading shoes that Jesus was referring to the final judgment, the end times, the
moment of truth.
Newer translations say
"and do not put us to the final test but save us from the evil one." That line
asks that we do not come up short on the final day of judgment. (See
article on the Lords prayer) Use back aero to return to this page.
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