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The Eucharist Is Jesus Himself

August 14, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Eucharist Is Jesus Himself

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twentieth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR B) Readings: Prov. 9:1-6 Eph. 5:15-20 John 6:51-58 In the Gospel reading today our Lord makes several statements that we either have to believe are true or we have to run as far and as quickly from Him as we can. People who want to call themselves Christian while ignoring or downplaying John 6 have placed themselves in an untenable situation because they profess Jesus as God, but reject a teaching that Jesus makes absolutely clear and unmistakable. So, what are these statements? “I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Teaching Failures At Root Of Sexual Immorality

August 13, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Teaching Failures At Root Of Sexual Immorality

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. “But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction” (Malachy 2:7ff) The Church exists to preach Christ and Truth: These two things always go together; it is impossible to have the one without the other. Truth involves both what we believe and…Continue Reading

Martin Luther… The Man And The Myth

August 12, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Martin Luther… The Man And The Myth

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 6 (Editor’s Note: As this October marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Raymond de Souza is taking a break from his usual apologetics to correct the popular image of Luther.) + + + Gerhard Cardinal Muller, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, openly declared that there is nothing to celebrate about Luther’s 500th anniversary. And His Eminence is perfectly right. Luther’s deformation — not reformation — of the Christian faith was a catastrophe for the Church founded by Jesus Christ, even if a statue of the heresiarch was erected in the Paul VI Hall…Continue Reading

The Judgment Of Conscience

August 11, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Judgment Of Conscience

By DON FIER When the average person hears the word “passion” spoken in the hyper-sensualized culture in which we live, the first thought likely to come to mind is sexual desire, and perhaps with a disordered association. However, as we saw last week, in the parlance of moral theology the term has a more basic, neutral meaning. As defined in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCCC), passions are “the feelings, the emotions, or the movements of the sensible appetite — natural components of human psychology — which incline a person to act or not to act in view of what is perceived as good or evil” (n. 370). Morally neutral in themselves, the passions “form the…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 10, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. If a Catholic marries a non-Catholic Christian in a non-Catholic ceremony without a dispensation from the bishop, is it a valid marriage? Two of my grandchildren have participated in such ceremonies. I of course pray for them to regularize their situation. Isn’t this the same as when they were cohabiting? — A.S.B., via e-mail. A. As we have mentioned in the past, canon law (n. 1108) states that for a marriage of a baptized Catholic to be valid, it must be “contracted in the presence of the local Ordinary or the pastor or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and in the presence of two witnesses.” That is the canonical form of marriage that…Continue Reading

Karol Wojtyla… Humanae Vitae Is Infallible And Irrevocable

August 8, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Karol Wojtyla… Humanae Vitae Is Infallible And Irrevocable

Part 2 The essence of the Church’s teaching on natural law consists in emphasizing that there is an objective moral order, which derives from the nature of man, a universal and immutable order, guaranteed by the Supreme Legislator and, consequently, independent of the State and its power. Together with revealed law, this moral order represents the constitutive whole of morality. It falls within the competence of the Church: in fact, its observance is a condition for salvation. This is precisely why Paul VI defines the teaching of the encyclical Humanae Vitae as the expression of objective moral truth that no one, not even the Church, can change. The efforts of theologians to provide a new interpretation, or a better (more…Continue Reading

Grieving The Holy Spirit

August 7, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Grieving The Holy Spirit

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Nineteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR B) Readings: 1 Kings 19:4-8 Eph. 4:30-5:2 John 6:41-51 In the second reading St. Paul tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. He then goes on to list a number of things that grieve the Holy Spirit: bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling, and malice. He goes on to instruct us to imitate God and the love of Jesus who handed Himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God. When we consider this, we can say the failure to act in faith, hope, and charity would grieve the Holy Spirit even more than the vices St. Paul mentions. This becomes important in the context of the…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Scandal, Suffering, And Forgiveness

August 6, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Scandal, Suffering, And Forgiveness

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “And he said to his disciples: It is impossible that scandals should not come: but woe to him through whom they come. It were better for him, that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, I repent; forgive him” (Luke 17:1-4). Always, at every moment around the world, the human face of the Church is at peace or…Continue Reading

Martin Luther… The Man And The Myth

August 5, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Martin Luther… The Man And The Myth

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 5 (Editor’s Note: As this October marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Raymond de Souza is taking a break from his usual apologetics to correct the popular image of Luther.) + + + The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity stated that “Catholics are now able to hear Luther’s challenge for the Church of today, recognizing him as a ‘witness to the Gospel’,” and the German Catholic bishops praised Luther as a “Gospel witness and teacher of the faith.” It seems that the folks who work at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity have not read the Gospel very…Continue Reading

The Morality Of The Passions

August 4, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Morality Of The Passions

By DON FIER Two deeply flawed moral theories that have gained much popularity in contemporary times were scrutinized in last week’s installment: proportionalism and consequentialism. As we saw, Pope St. John Paul II authoritatively repudiated both notions in his tenth encyclical, Veritatis Splendor (VS), which was promulgated in 1993 after a preparation period of roughly six years. To summarize the basis of these false concepts and how each errs, we draw once again upon the illuminating intellect of master catechist and Servant of God Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, as expertly condensed in his booklet entitled Catechism on The Splendor of Truth (CST). Proportionalism “is the erroneous moral theory which claims that the value of a human act depends on…Continue Reading