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The Sacrament Of Confession . . . Confession In The Old Testament

August 26, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Sacrament Of Confession . . . Confession In The Old Testament

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 1 Protestants and the like do not have the Sacrament of Confession. They strongly object to it. The mere idea of a Christian humbling himself to the point of confessing his sins to another Christian is simply unbearable to them. They prefer, or so they claim, to confess their sins directly to God alone. And in so doing, they are forgiven — or so they think. The first — and usually the only — objection coming from them against the Sacrament of Confession is: “It is not in the Bible.” Period. And, according to the first heresy of Martin Luther (Sola Scriptura) whereby everything must be in the Bible, and Confession is not, Christians…Continue Reading

Formation Of Conscience

August 25, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Formation Of Conscience

By DON FIER Conscience, used as a term to designate a person’s awareness of moral truth, can be spoken of in three intertwining senses. As we saw last week, each can be identified in a key paragraph of Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. An excerpt of this crucial teaching of our faith bears repeating: “Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment: ‘do this, shun that.’ For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 24, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. When I was about ten, my father and then my mother descended into radical mental illness, characterized by my physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. My father and three of my four grandparents died about this time. I was a baptized Christian during this period, and nothing more, but curiously believed that God existed and wanted to believe that He loved me. Experiencing the seemingly random and relentless evil of this period, however, killed off most or all of my hope, while allowing me to retain some faith and even charity. This period crippled my Christian spiritual life that “arrived” after my conversion to Catholicism at age 29. My question is, what can I do to regain hope in my…Continue Reading

Important Reminder… God Is More Powerful Than Satan

August 22, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Important Reminder… God Is More Powerful Than Satan

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian, Washington, D.C. Monsignor kindly gave The Wanderer permission to reprint this essay from his blog. All rights reserved.) + + + In the work of deliverance ministry, one of the first obstacles to overcome in the afflicted soul is an exaggerated notion of the power of Satan and his demons. Often the troubled person is experiencing a time of crisis. Overwhelmed, he is often scared and sees only darkness. The power of the evil one seems very real, while the power of the angels, of grace, and of God Himself is discounted or all but forgotten. There are some important truths that need to…Continue Reading

To Be United With God

August 21, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on To Be United With God

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-First Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR B) Readings: Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b Eph. 5:21-32 John 6:60-69 We live in a time when people want to be entertained. As superficial as this is, even worse is that people want to define their own truth according to their own wants and desires. In the Gospel reading today, we see this is nothing new. Jesus had drawn a large number of people who followed Him and wanted to be His disciples. We know the people marveled at our Lord’s preaching because He spoke with authority. His preaching was compelling and was not mealy-mouth pious pabulum. As long as our Lord was speaking of the more pleasant things, the people…Continue Reading

What Did Wuerl Know About Alleged Abuser — And How Did He Respond?

August 20, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on What Did Wuerl Know About Alleged Abuser — And How Did He Respond?

By ED CONDON WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA) — Donald Cardinal Wuerl and the Diocese of Pittsburgh say that when the former Pittsburgh bishop approved the transfer of a priest accused of serial sexual abuse, he was unaware of the allegations made against the priest. The transfer is described in the August 14 report issued by a Pennsylvania grand jury charged with investing clerical sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses. Fr. Ernest Paone was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1957. The grand jury reports that Paone served in five different parishes in the first nine years of his ministry, and that he was accused of sexually molesting boys during that time period. In 1964, a criminal investigation into…Continue Reading

Martin Luther… The Man And The Myth

August 19, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Martin Luther… The Man And The Myth

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 7 (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.) + + + When the British paper the Catholic Herald reported that “Pope Francis has told Lutheran pilgrims from Finland that Martin Luther’s intention 500 years ago ‘was to renew the Church, not divide her’” (Catholic Herald, August 12, 2016), a very big question mark was raised in the mind of countless Catholics. First, there is no evidence whatsoever to confirm such a claim. Secondly, Luther’s heresies flatly oppose the…Continue Reading

Levels Of Conscience

August 18, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Levels Of Conscience

By DON FIER In last week’s opening exposition on the role of conscience in the Christian moral life, it was stated straightaway that “conscience” is a term that is often misunderstood and misapplied in contemporary times. Frequently equated with one’s personal opinion or position, this entreaty to subjectivism is ready justification for nearly every conceivable immoral and aberrant behavior that is in vogue in the secularized “spirit of the age” in which we live. In an excellent article entitled “Christian Conscience” (The Catholic Faith; volume 2, n. 4; July/August 1996), John O’Connell perceptively states that “this spurious appeal to conscience stems from an ignorance or a rejection of the proper nature and office of the conscience” (p. 18). Not unlike…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 17, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: To a recent question about whether the ordination of a secret Communist would be invalid because he did not have the right intention, we said yes, citing canon 1029 of the Code of Canon Law, which says that those seeking the priesthood must “have an integral faith, are motivated by a right intention, possess the required knowledge, and enjoy a good reputation, good morals, and proven virtues, and other physical and psychological qualities which are appropriate to the order to be received.” A commentary on that canon says that a right intention “is a key area both for the candidate and for those judging his fitness for orders. An individual must choose to live his life imitating the…Continue Reading

Amid Church Scandals… Fix Your Hearts On Christ

August 15, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Amid Church Scandals… Fix Your Hearts On Christ

By FR. JOHN DE CELLES (Editor’s Note: LifeSiteNews on August 6 featured the following homily by Fr. John De Celles of St. Raymond of Penafort Church, Springfield, Va., the Diocese of Arlington. (Father reminded his flock: “We follow Jesus Christ, ‘the God of Jacob,’ and we follow the Holy Catholic Church which He founded.” (In May 2005, Fr. De Celles earned a Sacred Theology Licentiate from the John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C. (All rights reserved.) + + + In today’s second reading, St. Paul writes: “I . . . urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.” Each of us is called in Baptism to live…Continue Reading