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A Leaven In The World… Is It The Pope Or The Gospel That Upsets The Comfortable?

June 16, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Is It The Pope Or The Gospel That Upsets The Comfortable?

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The 20th century is both the most and the least comfortable in history. The bloodiest century for Christians is also the same in which most of the modern conveniences that smooth our lives were invented and mass produced. Air conditioning, refrigeration, automobiles, and many other creature “comforts” have enabled greater prosperity, increasing access to the middle-class lifestyle which is the boast of America and for which most of the world’s population still yearns. At the same time that our lives have become more materially comfortable, however, many have fallen into the trap of thinking that the spiritual life must be the same. The “logic” goes like this: If we get better spiritually than spiritual things…Continue Reading

Are Statues Idols? The Sacred Dwelling And Its Furnishings

June 15, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Are Statues Idols? The Sacred Dwelling And Its Furnishings

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 3 The very same God who condemned idol-making actually commanded that statues be carved. He told the people to show more respect to them than any patriotic American would respect the Lincoln Memorial or any British subject would respect a statue of Queen Victoria. The most sacred place in the world was the Temple sanctuary that lodged the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was so sacred that nobody but the High Priest could touch it. It contained the tables of the Commandments. The presence of the Ark brought God’s blessings to Holy of Holies; the Holy of Holies to the Holy; the Holy to the Temple; the Temple to Jerusalem; Jerusalem to Israel;…Continue Reading

Reading And Interpreting Scripture

June 14, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Reading And Interpreting Scripture

By DON FIER We ended last week’s installment by launching into a discussion on a question of critical importance: “How is Sacred Scripture to be read and interpreted?” The significance and the relevance of this question become apparent if one examines findings outlined in the 2012 “Status of Global Mission” report, a publication of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research which has been issued annually for the past 28 years. The report tells us that by mid-2012 there will be approximately 2.3 billion Christians in the world, comprising about one-third of the global population. Of these, approximately 1.2 billion profess to be Roman Catholic. What about the remaining 1.1 billion Christians? A telling statistic in the report is the number…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

June 13, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. In the Gospel of John, chapter 18, the Jewish leaders told Pilate that it was not lawful to put any man to death. However, it seems the leaders attempted to stone Jesus to death earlier, and King Herod ordered the beheading of John the Baptist. Would you please comment on this? — J.D.H., California. A. If you look again at the passage in John’s Gospel (18:31), you will see that the Jewish leaders told Pilate, “We do not have the right to execute anyone” (emphasis ours). That was true since the Romans had denied the Jewish authorities the right to put anyone to death. If the Jewish leaders had retained that right, they would have stoned Jesus to death.…Continue Reading

The One Whom The Angels Adore

June 12, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The One Whom The Angels Adore

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER The Solemnity Of Corpus Christi (YR A) Readings: Deut. 8:2-3, 14b-16a 1 Cor. 10:16-17 John 6:51-58 In the first reading today Moses reminds the people of the events that had occurred during their sojourn in the desert. In particular, he calls to mind the miraculous manner by which the Lord fed His people during those forty years with Manna. Twice he reminds the people of this along with the point that this was a food unknown to their fathers. Reflecting on the spiritual significance of what the Lord had done, Moses says that this was to demonstrate that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.…Continue Reading

The New Media And The Work of Evangelization

June 11, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The New Media And The Work of Evangelization

By MOST REV. EAMON MARTIN DUBLIN (ZENIT) — This address was delivered May 19 by Archbishop Eamon Martin, coadjutor archbishop of Armagh, at the Soul Waves Radio conference in Dublin. ZENIT News Agency provided the text. All rights reserved. +    +    + Many people say that it was a four-minute speech which led to the election of Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio of Buenos Aires as Pope. In his pre-conclave speech to the other cardinals, he used the popular image from the Book of Revelation of Jesus standing at the door and knocking. But in an unusual and inspired way, he turned the image around: “Obviously, the text refers to His knocking from the outside in order to enter, but I think…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… For The 30th Jubilee Of The Fordham Class of ’84

June 9, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… For The 30th Jubilee Of The Fordham Class of ’84

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Welcome class of ’84, spouses, families, and friends. This Mass is the occasion for expressing through faith our gratitude for our years at Fordham and to thank Almighty God for the blessings our formation and education have brought into our lives. Things have changed a lot since 1984. Don’t they always? There are even new ways of bridging time through memory as I found in my recent experience. Through a smartphone, a post on Twitter by an Italian man, and a video on YouTube on the Internet, all of which did not exist in the 1980s, I viewed something I witnessed firsthand together with many of you in September 1981: the Central Park reunion concert…Continue Reading

Are Statues Idols? The Meaning Of “False Idols”

June 8, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Are Statues Idols? The Meaning Of “False Idols”

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 2 “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I the Lord, your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:2-5). In this classical text, God our Lord begins by reminding the Hebrews who were gathered around Mount Sinai that He, God, had brought them out of the land of Egypt. And He adds a specific trait…Continue Reading

The Written Word Of God

June 7, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Written Word Of God

By DON FIER In previous installments of this series, it was established that “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred Deposit of the Word of God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 97), and that “the task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church” (CCC, n. 100). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that these three elements (as italicized above) depend one upon the other and, in fact, are inseparable if God’s Revelation is to be truthfully and accurately made manifest to mankind. This installment will focus in particular on the written word of God, that is, Sacred Scripture, and its faithful interpretation. For, as we are candidly told…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

June 6, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. I have friends who just had a baby via in vitro fertilization. They are thrilled with this baby, and I don’t understand why the Church is opposed to this method when a couple is unable to have children in the normal way. — KR., Connecticut. A. You are right that it is hard to understand why the Church would oppose IVF when the process has brought joy to so many couples. So let’s look at some facts that are not usually included in the discussion. First of all, the process is not at all like the loving union of a husband and wife. It involves drugs designed to produce not one but multiple eggs, most of which are then…Continue Reading