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A Leaven In The World . . . Citizenship On Earth And In Heaven

March 14, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Citizenship On Earth And In Heaven

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Believing Catholics join many others across this great land in calling the right to vote and determining who gets to vote one of the major, if not primary, issues of this time and of the election season before us. One may justly debate the pros and cons of immigration law and debate the procedures for becoming a citizen. Certainly immigration is a cornerstone of this “land of the free and home of the brave.” The Church rightly supports and calls for the preservation of the right of those who seek to share our democracy to arrive on our shores, as they have for over 200 years, to pursue a better life for themselves and their…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course . . . Can The Pope Be Infallible?

March 13, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course . . . Can The Pope Be Infallible?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 45 The most common objection articulated by non-Catholics — especially Protestants — against the dogma of the pontifical infallibility is that no man can be infallible, every man is a sinner and in need of salvation. So, how can the Pope of Rome claim such a nonsensical power? Besides, nowhere in the Bible will you find the word “infallible” or the idea that Peter’s faith would never fail. This is a man-made invention by an Italian Pope in the 19th century. So there! The first flaw in the objection is that the objector confuses chalk with cheese, as they say in Australia, and confuses infallibility with impeccability, or sinlessness. The Catholic Church has never…Continue Reading

Life Everlasting — The Final Judgment

March 12, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Life Everlasting — The Final Judgment

By DON FIER Of all the doctrines of Christianity that the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches and defends, one of the least attractive and perhaps the first to be abandoned by many is that of Hell, especially in the age of moral relativism and materialism in which we live. No one likes to think of being condemned to an eternity of unrelenting torment. And even if the reality of Hell is admitted, many hold that except for the fallen angels, it is empty, or at most sparsely populated. How easy it is to get caught up in the false rhetoric of those who claim that it is inconceivable that an all-merciful, all-loving God could condemn one to “the…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

March 11, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: The date on this issue of The Wanderer, the feast of St. Patrick, reminded us of the story about the time St. Patrick was about to baptize a pagan chieftain in a field. As the ceremony waas about to begin, Patrick stuck his staff into the ground without realizing that he had pierced the chieftain’s foot. The ceremony proceeded without Patrick noticing that the man had begun to perspire heavily and had a pained look on his face. It wasn’t until the Baptism was over that Patrick noticed his staff sticking out of the chieftain’s foot. “Why didn’t you say something?” the saint asked. “I thought it was part of the ceremony,” the chief replied. Q. The fact…Continue Reading

Be Faithful To The Beloved

March 10, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Be Faithful To The Beloved

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Palm Sunday (YR C) Readings: Luke 19:28-40 Isaiah 50:4-7 Phil. 2:6-11 Luke 22:14-23:56 In the readings today there is just too much to be able to make a single, coherent homily. The tragedy of this is that there is so much packed into the reading of the Passion and there is hardly any occasion for being able to preach about these readings. With this in mind, I want to digress from what I normally do to look at one particular passage from the Gospel. I do this for two reasons: First, because it is a bit of a strange passage which, in the midst of all the details contained in the Gospel, would very rarely be…Continue Reading

Cardinal Piacenza… Describes How To Live A Jubilee Lent

March 9, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Cardinal Piacenza… Describes How To Live A Jubilee Lent

(Editor’s Note: Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, the major penitentiary of the Catholic Church, spoke with ZENIT News Agency about this season of grace. Lent is always a time to experience God’s mercy, he said, and in this jubilee year, even more so. (In his conversation with ZENIT at the end of February, Cardinal Piacenza explained the relationship of fasting with the indulgences and the works of mercy. And he reminded us that, in this age marked by religious and social challenges, penance changes people’s hearts. (ZENIT published the interview in two parts. It is presented here in its entirety. All rights reserved.) + + + Q. Your Eminence, the Season of Lent is a penitential time par excellence. What worth does…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… “Let Freedom Ring” Now And Forever

March 7, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… “Let Freedom Ring” Now And Forever

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Every action causes an equal and opposite reaction. In an age of great social change and experimentation forced down upon us from the highest levels, we are witnessing a responding challenge on the part of the people. The most sacred of things have been repeatedly and boldly profaned, to include above all human life in the rampant slaughter of preborn boys and girls as protected by “legal” abortion, and the destruction of family life and the security and well-being of children through the redefinition of marriage by the Supreme Court. It has always been posited that the will of the people to change the game in a democracy and challenge the status quo ante is…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course . . . The Primacy Of The Pope Continued Did The Eleven Apostles Accept The Primacy Of St. Peter Over Them?

March 6, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course . . . The Primacy Of The Pope Continued Did The Eleven Apostles Accept The Primacy Of St. Peter Over Them?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA There have been baptized Christians, especially from the Anglican Confession, who believe that Jesus made Peter the “Head” of the Apostolic College — but “head” only between quotation marks. He was the head as the first among equals (primo inter pares), pretty much as the archbishop of Canterbury is first among the Anglican bishops: It is a position of honor, not jurisdiction. This may well be the case in the church founded by King Henry VIII, but it is demonstrably not the case in the Church founded by Jesus Christ. That St. Peter was the visible head of the Church after Pentecost, there is no doubt whatsoever. There is not one single instance of any of…Continue Reading

Life Everlasting — Hell

March 5, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Life Everlasting — Hell

By DON FIER Thus far during our journey through article 12 of the Creed and the Four Last Things, we have examined the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) on death, the Particular Judgment, and the immediate destiny for those who are saved: Purgatory or Heaven. As we saw just last week, it is possible to leave this world in a state where one’s will is perfectly conformed to that of God and so enter immediately into the joy of Heaven, and that is something for which all should ardently and mightily strive. However, it seems likely that the majority of those who die in God’s grace will require a period of purification to atone for unrepentant…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

March 4, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. At Mass this morning, the priest said that the sin of the people of Sodom in the Bible was not homosexuality, but rather injustice. What do you say? — M.N., Florida. A. We have heard this refrain before, and its variation that the sin was inhospitality to the angelic visitors, but this is just wishful thinking promoted by those who are trying to mask the abomination of homosexual behavior. Read the Sodom story in chapter 19 of Genesis and see if it sounds like unjust or inhospitable conduct to you. In fact, so aggressive was the desire of the men of Sodom to have “intimacies” with the visitors that Lot offered the men his two virgin daughters, knowing that…Continue Reading