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A Leaven In The World . . . How Catholics End Up As Practical Protestants

September 26, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . How Catholics End Up As Practical Protestants

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The Church is in the business of making Catholics, of proclaiming and calling all to the fullness of saving truth in Jesus Christ our Lord. Our mission to those who doubt or refuse some of our teachings is to call them to that fullness, whether Catholics already in our pews or Protestant brothers and sisters on our periphery. A confusion, sometimes called “ecumania,” has resulted in an inversion of the Church’s mission on the part of some Catholics, even among our Catholic leadership, as we have seen Walter Cardinal Kasper among those who would change Catholic doctrine on marriage to mirror what is already abundantly available among non-Catholic confessions. But our mission as Catholics is…Continue Reading

What Is Faith?… Is Faith Necessary For Salvation?

September 25, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on What Is Faith?… Is Faith Necessary For Salvation?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM For most of us who are cradle Catholics, it is not difficult to believe, since we received the theological virtue of faith in Baptism and grew up with it. Our parents and/or teachers taught us all about the Bible stories, the catechism, the sacraments. We learned to pray the Creed from an early age, and affirmed that we believe in those articles of faith. Of course today’s “cradle Catholics” do not know as much as we “oldies” know, but that is another issue. Fine. But for those who are converts, the process is different: Converts are called to make a specific act of faith in the truths taught by the Church of Jesus Christ, scienter…Continue Reading

The Necessity Of Baptism

September 24, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Necessity Of Baptism

By DON FIER The Church’s immemorial tradition of baptizing infants demonstrates in a particular way one of the great truths of our Catholic faith — that every human person is in need of salvation. Born into this world afflicted with original sin, “a sin which is the death of the soul” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], n. 403), even the tiniest newborn child needs “to be freed from the power of the Evil One and brought into that realm of freedom which belongs to the children of God” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 258). Moreover, “the sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism” (CCC, n. 1250), for the grace…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 23, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: Following up on a recent question about how much money the U.S. bishops get from the federal government, an article in LifeSiteNews reported that the Obama Administration is pouring hundreds of million of dollars into Catholic institutions and charities. “We’ve got the most virulently anti-life administration in the history of the United States,” said international child rights advocate Elizabeth Yore, “and the Catholic Church is propping up the administration. I find it very troubling that the Church is cooperating with the Obama Administration.” She said that in fiscal year 2016 alone, hundreds of millions of dollars found their way to the USCCB, Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, and the International Catholic Migration Commission — “jaw-dropping grants to carry…Continue Reading

If It Delays, Wait For It

September 22, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on If It Delays, Wait For It

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Seventh Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Hab. 1:2-3, 2:2-4 2 Tim. 1:6-8, 13-14 Luke 17:5-10 I have commented many times before on the last lines of the Gospel reading today where our Lord tells us to say: “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” Tragically, I wish that I could say that, but I cannot. I have been commanded by my Lord to love God with my whole heart and soul and strength and to love my neighbor. Not only have I not succeeded, I have not even come close to succeeding in this. I realize that I can only speak for myself — perhaps you have done…Continue Reading

The Role Of The Sacred Liturgy In Developing A Catholic Conscience

September 21, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Role Of The Sacred Liturgy In Developing A Catholic Conscience

By FRANCIS CARDINAL ARINZE Part 1 (Editor’s Note: Francis Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, delivered this lecture at The Church Teaches Forum in Louisville, Ky., July 16, 2016. (The lecture is reprinted here with permission; all rights reserved. We are presenting it in two parts because of its length.) + + + 1. Introduction: The sacred liturgy has a key place in the education of our conscience as followers of Christ. I have been asked to propose to this august assembly some reflections on The Role of the Sacred Liturgy in Developing a Catholic Conscience. We shall begin by saying a word on what the liturgy is…Continue Reading

A Noble Confession Of Faith

September 20, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Noble Confession Of Faith

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Amos 6:1a, 4-7 1 Tim. 6:11-16 Luke 16:19-31 In the second reading today, St. Paul addresses Timothy in a very strong and direct manner. Calling him a man of God, St. Paul then tells him to strive for righteousness, to compete well for the faith, and to take hold of eternal life to which he was called when he made his noble confession of faith. As if that were not enough, St. Paul then charges Timothy before God and Jesus who made His noble confession before Pilate, to keep the Commandments without stain until the coming of the Lord. You and I are called to be men and…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . Mother Teresa Is Now A Saint

September 19, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Mother Teresa Is Now A Saint

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK I joined thousands of others in Rome on September 4 for the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. My application for a press pass was accepted by the Vatican Office for Social Communications by return email on Wednesday prior and I reported to their location on Via della Conciliazione on Saturday, September 3 to pick up my press pass and ID card. Thanks to my editor here for the epistolary support necessary. With these hanging around my neck I would be admitted to the special seating arranged for press, video, and TV personnel on the day of the canonization Mass. My travel was made possible thanks to my participation as chaplain for a pilgrimage arranged…Continue Reading

What Is Faith?. . . Mysteries And Secular Sciences

September 18, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on What Is Faith?. . . Mysteries And Secular Sciences

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 3 “Scientists are the discoverers of God’s intentions,” taught Pius XII to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. There is no contradiction whatsoever between divine Revelation, which requires our assent in faith, and true, unbiased science. Simply because the God who created the universe, and established in it all the natural laws of biology, botany, geometry, physics, and astrophysics, is precisely the same God who revealed Himself to mankind through Moses and the prophets, through Jesus and His apostles. Superficially minded scientists think that a mystery of faith is unreasonable, simply because they cannot understand it. As if they had already understood the mysteries of the created universe! Take the mystery of the Holy Trinity,…Continue Reading

Infant Baptism

September 17, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Infant Baptism

By DON FIER Every unbaptized person, as we saw last week, is potentially a subject for sacramental Baptism. This includes infants and adults, those who have reached the age of reason and those who have not. Adults, under normal circumstances, must fulfill certain conditions to be admitted to Baptism, which are specified in the 1983 Code of Canon Law (CIC): “The person must have manifested the intention to receive baptism, have been instructed sufficiently about the truths of the faith and Christian obligations, and have been tested in the Christian life through the catechumenate. The adult is also to be urged to have sorrow for personal sins” (canon 865 § 1). This means that one who has reached the age…Continue Reading