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The Church Of Jesus Christ… Christ Founded The Catholic Church

July 16, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Church Of Jesus Christ… Christ Founded The Catholic Church

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 1 Suppose that you meet a man from a country where Christianity is little known. He had heard about Jesus Christ, but in a rather vague manner. He was also told that Jesus founded a church, and that church was the one he should join if he wanted to be saved. Very well. But the problem is that he had met people from various different self-assigned Christian churches before, each one holding a creed of its own, different from the one on the left-hand side of the street, and even contradictory to the other church on the right-hand side of the street. How will this poor man decide which church is the true one,…Continue Reading

The Minister Of The Sacrament Of Penance

July 15, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Minister Of The Sacrament Of Penance

By DON FIER As has been emphasized in recent weeks, three essential acts are required of the penitent for worthy reception of the Sacrament of Penance: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. To be genuine, contrition must be accompanied by a firm purpose of amendment; likewise, an entire, sincere confession presupposes a thorough examination of conscience. The component that was examined last week, satisfaction, consists in the performance of penitential works imposed by the confessor which helps to satisfy for the temporal punishment due to sin. Penance also serves as a remedy against relapse and as a means of amendment of life. Provided the penitent fully intends to perform his penance prior to receiving absolution, his Confession remains good even if he…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

July 14, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: At a time when it’s easy to get discouraged about developments in the Church and in the world, Fr. George Rutler reminds us that “to discourage is to lose heart. It is a trick of the Anti-Christ and the very opposite of Christ, who encourages: ‘Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day’ (2 Cor. 4:16).” Reflecting on the parable of the unjust judge (cf. Luke 18:1-8), Fr. Rutler, pastor of the Church of St. Michael in New York City, compared the widow whose persistence compelled the judge to hear her case with the “Ladies in White, who are wives and mothers of political prisoners…Continue Reading

The Spirit Helps Us In Our Weakness

July 13, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Spirit Helps Us In Our Weakness

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Sixteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 Romans 8:26-27 Matt. 13:24-43 In the first reading today the Wise Man finds himself in awe of God, not so much because of His almighty power, but because of His clemency and leniency. It is precisely because God is all powerful and all knowing that He is also lenient. In other words, He knows perfectly the weaknesses His human creatures struggle with in their attempts to do what is right and just. He knows our limitations while He has none. One could look at those unfortunate souls on Earth who exercise their own strength or position to pick on the weak, the elderly, the handicapped…Continue Reading

To Honor Joachim Cardinal Meisner, RIP… Revisiting An Apostolic Letter And A WYD Homily

July 12, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on To Honor Joachim Cardinal Meisner, RIP… Revisiting An Apostolic Letter And A WYD Homily

(Editor’s Note: Below are two documents, one a 2008 apostolic letter from Pope Benedict XVI to Cardinal Meisner on the seventh centenary of the death of Blessed John Duns Scotus, and the other Cardinal Meisner’s homily for the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne, his archdiocese. (Benedict’s apostolic letter is found on the Catholic News Agency website and Cardinal Meisner’s homily is found at www.vatican.va. All rights reserved.) + + + To Joachim Cardinal Meisner On The Occasion Of The Death Of Blessed John Duns Scotus By POPE BENEDICT XVI (Apostolic letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI to Our Venerable Brother Joachim Cardinal Meisner of the Holy Roman Church, archbishop of Cologne, and to all those in any part of…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… “Scandals Will Come”

July 10, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… “Scandals Will Come”

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “…But woe to those by whom they come.” Devastating news from Rome about some clerics who work for the Holy Father has seemed recently to come in a flood. Those held to the very highest standards of holiness in their service to the universal Church have been discovered mired in the worst forms of human depravity. As reported by speroforum.com from a report in Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, an alleged drug-fueled same-sex orgy was discovered by Vatican police in a Vatican-owned building not far from St. Peter’s Square. It is usually dedicated to housing bishops who work for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and other offices in the Vatican. This came…Continue Reading

Our Savior And Redeemer… The Role Of The Cross In Salvation

July 9, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Our Savior And Redeemer… The Role Of The Cross In Salvation

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 15 Jesus, our Redeemer, paid the price for our redemption and amply and generously offers us the opportunity to benefit from His redemption though the Church He Himself founded for that very same purpose. But He also said: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Here is something we do not like very much. To take up the daily cross. We abhor suffering; we would do nearly anything not to suffer in life. But oftentimes we forget that the role of the cross in life has a most important value, and goes alongside prayer and the sacraments. There are evil…Continue Reading

Acts Of The Penitent — Satisfaction

July 8, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Acts Of The Penitent — Satisfaction

By DON FIER In our consideration of the Sacrament of Penance, three acts were specified that are requisite of the repentant sinner in order to make a worthy confession: contrition or sorrow for all sins committed; confession of all serious sins committed since one’s last good confession; and satisfaction or atonement for those sins. We saw last week that the Church has always taught that the disclosure of sins must be auricular — the priest must hear sins directly from the penitent. “For this reason,” explains Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, “the confession of sins over the phone, in writing, or in any other manner in strictly forbidden” (Basic Catholic Catechism Course [BCCC], p. 163). In her solicitude, however, the…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

July 7, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: Continuing our summary of the six appearances of Our Lady of Fatima 100 years ago, here is an account of what happened on July 13, 1917. The third appearance of Our Lady of Fatima occurred on the 13th of July, and about 4,000 people were present, although once again only the three children were able to see and hear the Virgin. This was a very momentous event in which our Lady revealed three “secrets” to the visionaries. Lucia would make two of the secrets known in memoirs published in 1941, and wrote about the third secret in 1944, but put it into a sealed envelope that was not be opened by the Pope until 1960. The contents of…Continue Reading

The Word Made Flesh

July 6, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Word Made Flesh

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Fifteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:10-11 Romans 8:18-23 Matt. 13:1-23 In the first reading today God says through the Prophet Isaiah that His Word will come to Earth and will not return to Him until it has achieved the end for which it was sent. This can be understood in two ways: the Word of God contained in the Sacred Scriptures and Jesus, the Word made Flesh. Either way, the truth of the statement remains: Jesus told us that not a jot or tittle would pass away from the Law until it was all fulfilled and the Word made Flesh achieved perfectly the end for which He was sent. What is important…Continue Reading