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Catholic Replies

February 18, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This series on Apologetics is based on the book Catholicism & Reason. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. You can send them either to the postal mailing address or to the email address below, and we will interrupt this series to answer them. Special Course On Catholicism And Reason (Chapter 11) The true Church founded by Jesus must be catholic, which means universal, or existing in all places at all times, and it must be apostolic, which means tracing her leadership back to the twelve Apostles and teaching the same things that the Apostles taught two thousand years ago.The Church…Continue Reading

Rigidity Of Vague Accusations Is Worldly

February 17, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Rigidity Of Vague Accusations Is Worldly

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “Peter said to Jesus, ‘Behold, we have left all and followed you; what then shall we have?’”In a recent television interview the Pope named what he believes to be the biggest crisis facing the Church. No, it’s not found in the open schism in German where the “Synodal Way” has just called for blessing same-sex unions. No, it’s not found in France where Muslims are taking over Catholic churches for their false worship, including an incursion into the second largest church in Paris. No, it’s not plummeting priestly vocations. And it’s certainly not Catholic Charities receiving money from the Biden administration to traffic illegal immigrants throughout the United States.It’s none of these things.According to the…Continue Reading

Children, Go Where I Send Thee

February 16, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Children, Go Where I Send Thee

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this commentary on February 5 and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + This past Sunday’s Gospel describes the call of Simon Peter, one that takes place in several stages. While it is presented in a compact time frame, for most of us it takes place over a longer period, as the Lord works to deepen our faith and heighten our call.The upshot of the Gospel is that Peter’s faith is strengthened by his obedience to the Lord’s command.Let’s see how the Lord grows Peter’s faith.The Help that Isn’t Hard — The text says, “While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,…Continue Reading

We Can Be Saints

February 14, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on We Can Be Saints

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Seventh Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C Readings: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-231 Cor. 15:45-49Luke 6:27-38 In the second reading, St. Paul contrasts the first Adam, who was created by God in the Garden of Eden, with the second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. Both are first, but in different ways. For instance, we can say Adam is the beginning of the human race, but Jesus is the beginning of the redeemed, or even re-created, human race. Even easier, Adam is the beginning, Jesus is the new beginning.St. Paul takes things deeper and points out that the first Adam is natural and from the Earth. The second Adam is spiritual and from Heaven. St. Paul…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

February 11, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. Do we know how old St. Joseph was when he married the Virgin Mary? I have heard it said that he was an old man. — W.D., via e-mail.A. No, we don’t know for certain how old Joseph was when he married Mary. We think that Mary was about 15 or 16 years old, and young men at that time usually married when they were in their twenties. Those who speculate that Joseph was old may be trying to account for his willingness to enter into a celibate marriage. But Pope St. John Paul II shed a different light on Mary and Joseph’s consecrated virginity at an audience in 1996:“It may be presumed that at the time of their…Continue Reading

Perils Of The Porn Pandemic

February 10, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Perils Of The Porn Pandemic

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Porn use begins potentially as early as the moment a child receives a cell phone or gains access to the Internet for the first time. Addiction to porn is beginning at earlier ages than ever before. Medical experts are choosing which diseases are the stars of the latest “pandemic,” but a real pandemic with devastating consequences goes largely undiagnosed and ignored. The pandemic of porn is a soul killer and a marriage killer.Pornography use is sinful and an occasion of further sin. Priests, parents, and educators of all kinds must be alert to its ubiquity and be agents in the effort to turn back its widespread and toxic influence. Human dignity is violated by the…Continue Reading

Perspectives On The Presentation

February 9, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Perspectives On The Presentation

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this commentary on February 1. It is reprinted here with permission.) + + The liturgical focus of the Feast of the Presentation, which we celebrate February 1, is light. Christ is our light, and the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light! In the Gospel, Simeon holds the infant Jesus and calls Him “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.” Thus, this feast has long featured the carrying of candles by the faithful in procession and the blessing of candles. For this reason, the feast was often called Candlemas.Today’s feast celebrates the “purification” of our Lady. As a Jewish woman, she presented herself forty days after giving…Continue Reading

Choose Eternal Life

February 7, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Choose Eternal Life

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Jer. 17:5-81 Cor. 15:12, 16-20Luke 6:17, 20-26 In the first reading and the Gospel, we have a juxtaposition of two groups of people that might surprise us. We all know that what can be said of the spiritual life is usually just the opposite of what can be said about things on the natural level, but since we live in the world and are so accustomed to looking at things through the lens of our natural perspective, it is easy to forget the spiritual and even be surprised by it when it confronts us.God says through Jeremiah that those who trust in human beings are cursed. This sounds…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

February 4, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This series on Apologetics is based on the book Catholicism & Reason. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. You can send them either to the postal mailing address or to the email address below, and we will interrupt this series to answer them. Special Course On Catholicism And Reason (Chapter 10) We have seen that Jesus started a Church and that one way of finding His Church today is to look for a church whose leader claims to be a Successor of St. Peter. The only Church in the world today to make that claim is the Catholic Church. But…Continue Reading

Of Henchmen And Hirelings

February 3, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Of Henchmen And Hirelings

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK When division over the liturgy began to be reignited in the Church last July after publication of a papal document outlawing what the Church has always done, an archbishop made a revealing comment to a priest who offers the now-banned Traditional Mass. He said, “The bishops don’t appreciate being treated like the Pope’s henchmen.”Revealing. In a couple of ways. The bishops in this country do not support all of the plots fomented in Rome. They don’t think causing a war over the Mass of all time is a fight worth taking up. And they resent being instrumentalized by those who are pushing a modernist agenda in the Church.The Church is in a state of implosion…Continue Reading