Friday 26th April 2024

Home » Our Catholic Faith » Recent Articles:

We Need Faithful Shepherds

July 9, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on We Need Faithful Shepherds

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Sixteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR B) Readings: Jer. 23:1-6 Eph. 2:13-18 Mark 6:30-34 In the first reading today God, speaking through the Prophet Jeremiah, condemns the shepherds who mislead and scatter His flock. It is a great honor to be chosen by our Lord to be a shepherd; it is also a great responsibility that one accepts as part of that same office and for which he is answerable to God. What causes the problem for many shepherds is the misuse of the authority they have been given to lead and make decisions. It is necessary that this authority be given so that the flock of Christ can be united in truth and love. However,…Continue Reading

Obergefell V. Hodges . . . Supreme Court Decision Is “Profoundly Immoral And Unjust”

July 8, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Obergefell V. Hodges . . . Supreme Court Decision Is “Profoundly Immoral And Unjust”

(Editor’s Note: Below we present some of the statements from U.S. prelates in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 26 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which declared same-sex “marriage” a constitutional right.) + + + Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Regardless of what a narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this moment in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable. Just as Roe v. Wade did not settle the question of abortion over forty years ago, Obergefell v. Hodges does not settle the question of marriage today. Neither decision is rooted in the truth, and as a result, both will eventually fail. Today the…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . Legalizing Abortion And Redefining Marriage: The Anti-God Crisis

July 6, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Legalizing Abortion And Redefining Marriage: The Anti-God Crisis

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The past week’s 5-4 Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decision to redefine marriage as no longer between one man and one woman is merely the latest step in a journey away from God marked on its path through our history also in 1973 by Roe v. Wade. These two legal interferences are rooted in the rejection of God and are merely the most dramatic consequences on the legal landscape of man and woman tearing themselves by the roots away from their identity as creatures. We are not our own and must look to God as our source not simply as the beginning of life but also as the constant reference point as to…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course… Why Be A Christian? Why Not Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu?

July 5, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course… Why Be A Christian? Why Not Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 9 There are many religions in the world today, all claiming to be true. Many were founded by individuals who claimed to be “prophets” of God — or of the gods, depending. In this context, why be a Christian at all? Why not be a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu, an animist, or whatever? How could a man who founded a specific religion — or a woman, for that matter, and I am thinking of Mrs. Ellen White, who founded the Seventh-day Adventists, or Madame Blavatsky of Theosophy, for instance — prove the authenticity of his or her message? One could use fire and sword like Mohammed, or present an attractive philosophy…Continue Reading

The Four Marks Of The Church — Holiness

July 4, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Four Marks Of The Church — Holiness

By DON FIER Part 2 The second of four distinguishing marks or properties of the one true Church, as we saw last week, is that she is “unfailingly holy” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 823). Despite being composed of sinners, “the Church is holy because she was founded by Jesus Christ, who is all-holy, and because she teaches, according to the will of Christ, holy doctrines, and provides the means of leading a holy life, thereby giving holy members to every age” (The Baltimore Catechism). Moreover, she is holy because “the Most Holy God is her author; Christ, her bridegroom, gave himself up to make her holy; [and] the Spirit of holiness gives her life. Since she still includes…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

July 3, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

  Editor’s Note: D.M. has e-mailed to us the following thoughtful comments: “In a recent reply regarding the bishops and our borders, you noted that our immigration system is ‘badly broken.’ To me that was a bit like hearing the proverbial fingernails on a blackboard. It seems to me that those who seek to dominate all of us use the refrain, ‘It’s broken,’ to help achieve their ends. “Some examples: Our heath-care system is ‘badly broken’ and we’ve got to fix it; hence, the Affordable Health Care Act. Look at the negative impact it has had on the Church. The climate is also ‘badly broken’ and we’ve got to fix it. Who knows where that fix will end? Fixing our ‘badly broken’ immigration system is…Continue Reading

Chosen By God

July 2, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Chosen By God

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Fifteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR B) Readings: Amos 7:12-15 Eph. 1:3-14 Mark 6:7-13 In the first reading, Amaziah, the priest of Bethel (the place of the original Temple of the Lord), chastises the Prophet Amos for preaching against the goings on in the House of God. The priest tells the prophet to go and make a living by prophesying for people, but he is not to come back to Bethel. No one ever likes to hear negative things, but this is especially true of priests and bishops. After all, pride is the sin of the priest, so they only want to hear that everything they do is wonderful. However, for our purposes today, it is…Continue Reading

National Mass Recalls Anniversary of St. Columbanus… “Why Are You So Frightened, You Men Of Little Faith?”

July 1, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on National Mass Recalls Anniversary of St. Columbanus… “Why Are You So Frightened, You Men Of Little Faith?”

ARMAGH, Northern Ireland (ZENIT) — A national Mass of Thanksgiving to mark the 14th centenary of St. Columbanus was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh on Sunday, June 21. Opening remarks were given by Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, and the homily was given by Fr. Neil Collins. Following are the texts of both, provided by ZENIT News Agency. All rights reserved. + + + Remarks by Archbishop Eamon Martin: + + + Last November I had the honor of visiting Bobbio and San Colombano al Lambro in northern Italy to mark the beginning of celebrations to mark the 14th centenary of the death of St. Columbanus, the great Irish missionary saint. And what a privilege it is for…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course… Refuting Objections To The Spiritual Soul’s Existence

June 28, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course… Refuting Objections To The Spiritual Soul’s Existence

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 8 The reader will have noticed the progression of thinking in this new series of articles in The Wanderer: Instead of dealing with various topics rather randomly, the section consists of a series of articles in the format of lessons within a course. So, the first topic was the most basic one, that is, truth is objective and not subjective; the second topic was the existence of God; the third topic was the human spiritual soul. As the last topic is harder to prove than the previous one, I would like to answer some common objections that agnostics raise against the existence of the human soul as a substance distinct from, but united with,…Continue Reading

The Four Marks Of The Church — Holiness

June 27, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Four Marks Of The Church — Holiness

By DON FIER For the past two weeks, we have been unpacking the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) on the first of her four marks, that she is one. Our Lord left no room for uncertainty when He said, “There shall be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16), nor did St. Paul when he proclaimed that “we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Romans 12:4). The Catechism summarizes several reasons to support the claim that the Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by Christ: “She acknowledges one Lord, confesses one faith, is born of one Baptism, forms only one Body, is given life by the one Spirit,…Continue Reading