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Catholic Replies

September 16, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This Series on the Bible is from the book Catholicism & Scripture. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. Send your questions via email or postal mail to the addresses listed below. Special Course On Catholicism And Scripture (Chapter 3) Since all truth comes from God, there can be no conflict between religious and scientific truth. God is the author of both. So, when we look at the Book of Genesis and the account of Creation, we are looking at the religious origins of the human race, not at a scientific account. The Bible is not a scientific text, but a…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Persevere To The End

September 15, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Persevere To The End

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved” (Matt. 24:13).Together with my little parish, years ago, I took the freedom offered the Church by Pope Benedict XVI to re-embrace our entire tradition, to include the most important part of it, the Traditional Latin Mass.Wide attention has been drawn to our small community by an EWTN segment of “News in Depth” that was first aired on Friday, September 2. YouTube views of the show at https://youtu.be/CFs-BGxeVXE now total 83,068. The comments have been disabled after climbing to over a thousand. I would guess they weren’t entirely complimentary to those responsible for the oppression.Today, as I write, on September 8, the Nativity of…Continue Reading

Clear Enough? A Plain Warning… Unrepentant Sexual Sin Excludes One From The Kingdom Of God

September 14, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Clear Enough? A Plain Warning… Unrepentant Sexual Sin Excludes One From The Kingdom Of God

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this on September 7 and it is posted here with permission.) + + In today’s first reading for Mass (Tuesday of the 23rd Week) St. Paul writes clearly of the danger of certain behaviors that many celebrate today. Others minimize them as of any importance:“Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the Kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10).To say that someone who does not repent of such behaviors “will not inherit the Kingdom of God” is to say that they will go to Hell. This is very clear and…Continue Reading

Whom Will You Serve?

September 12, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Whom Will You Serve?

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Amos 8:4-71 Tim. 2:1-8Luke 16:1-13 In the Gospel reading today, Jesus tells us that we cannot serve two masters. He goes even further to say that if we try to do so, we will either hate the one and love the other, or we will be devoted to one and despise the other. In the context of the reading, our Lord addresses one of the most common false gods: money. He says explicitly, we cannot serve both God and mammon.In a society like ours, money is a necessity. By itself, money is not evil. However, St. James tells us that the love of money is the root of…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 9, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. In chapter 19 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus forbids divorce, saying that “what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” When asked why Moses permitted divorce, Jesus responded, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” What did Jesus mean by saying “unless the marriage is unlawful”? — W.R., via e-mail.A. Since Jesus unequivocally condemns divorce in Mark 10:2-12 and Luke 16:18, He can hardly be permitting it in the passage from Matt. 19:9. What He was probably discussing was an illicit sexual union, such as…Continue Reading

Salvation Is The Highest Law Of The Church

September 8, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Salvation Is The Highest Law Of The Church

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK On the last Sunday of August the Gospel parable of the Good Samaritan came around again in the traditional Missale. The man of the parable who is robbed and left for dead represents humanity, sinful and subject to death without divine intervention. Christ is the Good Samaritan who in mercy picks us up in our weakness and helplessness, takes us to the inn and leaves us in the charge of the innkeeper who will render an account of his care when the Samaritan returns.The sterling teaching of the Church and the balm of the sacraments are the means of caring for the souls entrusted to the mercy of the ecclesial “innkeepers,” our bishops. How they…Continue Reading

Love And Lament Alike

September 7, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Love And Lament Alike

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this “Brief Reflection for All Who Care About the Church” on August 29. It is reprinted here with permission.) + + As a priest and pastor I work very closely with others: clergy, religious, laity who work for the Church, and laity who volunteer. We all work for the Church because we love her and her people.At times, though, there is disappointment, hurt, or even disillusionment. Perhaps these feelings result from issues in the wider Church: sexual abuse by clergy, the lack of courage and leadership from some bishops and priests, the scandal of dissent at the highest levels, questionable partnerships with anti-life and anti-Catholic organizations, the breakdown of discipline,…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 7, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. We often hear that some new law will compel Catholic hospitals or schools to adopt practices contrary to faith and morals. Could such a hospital or school accept NO government money (i.e., taxpayers’ money) and thereafter be free from any immoral demands? — C.E., via e-mail.A. They could try, and some colleges have done so, but unfortunately many Catholic institutions are entangled with the government through such things as loan guarantees or Medicare reimbursements and would be hard pressed to continue functioning without these federal funds. The problem, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled many years ago, is that whatever the government subsidizes it may control.A further problem is that the government does not hesitate to impose its gender…Continue Reading

Rejoicing Over One Repentant Sinner

September 5, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Rejoicing Over One Repentant Sinner

BY FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fourth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Exodus 32:7-11, 13-141 Tim. 1:12-17Luke 15:1-32 In the readings today, we hear about sinners, the righteous, and the hope for sinners to become righteous. We begin with the second reading where St. Paul declares himself to the be worst sinner of all. What is most amazing about this confession is that St. Paul was living an exemplary Jewish life and for this reason was filled with a sense of self-righteousness. More to the point, St. Paul says he was once a blasphemer. We can all understand that his self-righteousness was arrogance, as he admits. We also know he persecuted the Church. But for a man who would have…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 2, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This series on the Bible is from the book Catholicism & Scripture. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. Special Course On Catholicism And Scripture (Chapter 2) Everything that God created was good, but His creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve, was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). They were created in a state of holiness and immortality, but Satan tempted them to disobey God, saying that eating the forbidden fruit would make them “like gods” (Gen. 3:5) who would know what is good and what is evil. God punished Adam and Eve by expelling them from the Garden of Eden,…Continue Reading