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Catholic Replies

November 19, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. I am an avid reader of your column. A few years ago, you published an excellent piece on how to gain indulgences for the souls in Purgatory during November. I had used that column for years, but now can’t seem to find my copy. Would you be able to run it again? It’s the best article on that subject that I have ever seen. Many thanks, and keep up the good work. I also use your quizzes with my grandkids. — D.W., Ohio.A. Thanks for your kind words. Yes, you can obtain plenary indulgences for the souls in Purgatory during the month of November. It is too late for the indulgences for All Souls Day, or for the first…Continue Reading

Triumph Of Modernism: Ecclesial Suicide

November 18, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Triumph Of Modernism: Ecclesial Suicide

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK For many years now the Catholic middle-of-the-road attempt to avoid extremes was a recommended and safe conservatism, a refuge for those who favored tradition.On one side, the extreme to be avoided was the Protestant heresy. Respect for the Catholic past was necessary. We were part of a Church that was 2,000 years old, after all, because founded by the Lord Himself. We didn’t want to make the mistake of rejecting certain essentials as Protestants do, of course.There were, we knew, ever-spawning new Christian-like sects; splitting apart and reforming again and again, amoeba-like; new cells combining to imitate the old ones but at the same time, by doing so, mitigating against unity in their multiplicity.The Church…Continue Reading

The Paradox Of Poverty

November 17, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Paradox Of Poverty

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE The first reading in today’s Mass (1 Kings 17:10-16) speaks to us of the paradox of poverty: it is our poverty, our neediness, that provides a doorway for God to bless us with true riches. Our emptiness provides room for God to go to work.In our worldly riches, we feel we have “too much to lose”; the Gospel just seems too demanding. In our poverty, emptiness, and detachment from this world, however, there is a strange and unexpected freedom that makes it easier to step out in faith — and stepping out in faith is the only thing that can save us.Yes, poverty brings freedom. You can’t steal from someone who has nothing, and you can’t…Continue Reading

We Are The Kingdom

November 15, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on We Are The Kingdom

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER The Solemnity Of Christ The King (YR B) Readings: Daniel 7:13-14Rev. 1:5-8John 18:33b-37 In the Gospel reading today, Pilate questions Jesus and asks our Lord if He is a King. Jesus answers: “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” One might wonder what this has to do with being a king or how this answers Pilate’s question. In truth, it is at the very heart of our Lord’s Kingship.Jesus is God from all eternity, but it is interesting to note in the first reading that dominion, glory, and kingship are given by God, the Ancient One, to one like a Son of Man. We immediately…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

November 12, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. If you are to be teaching catechism, I would suggest that you start a new column and not use “Catholic Replies.” By virtue of its name, the column should be limited to answering questions submitted by your subscribers or others that relate to Catholicism and the Church. Monologues, however well-intentioned, do not seem a good fit. If you no longer wish to have a question-and-answer feature, abolish it. Perhaps your new teaching column could be called “Catholic Knowledge” or something of the sort. — C.W., via e-mail.A. Thank you for your comments. The problem is not enough questions are being submitted, down from more than a dozen each week in the old days to less than a dozen a…Continue Reading

The Fellowship Of The Unashamed

November 11, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Fellowship Of The Unashamed

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK I am part of the “Fellowship of the Unashamed.”The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line.The decision has been made. I am a disciple ofJesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down,back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my presentmakes sense, and my future is secure.I am finished and done with low living, sight walking,small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams,chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position,promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I now live bypresence, lean by faith, love by patience,lift by prayer, and labor by power. My paceis set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, myroad is narrow, my way is rough,…Continue Reading

The Whole Law, Standing On One Foot

November 10, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Whole Law, Standing On One Foot

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this homily on October 31. It is reprinted here with permission. His blog is found at https://msgrpope.com/.) + + Hillel the Elder, sometimes referred to as Rabbi Hillel, was a Jewish religious leader who lived shortly before Jesus’ time. There is a famous story told of him in which he was challenged by a potential convert to teach him the entire Torah while “standing on one foot.” In other words, can you distill the essence and present it succinctly?That same theme may be behind the question that was raised by the scholar of law, who asks, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”In answering while “standing on foot,” Jesus…Continue Reading

Glorified Or Horrified

November 8, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Glorified Or Horrified

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Thirty-Third Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR B) Readings: Daniel 12:1-3Heb. 10:11-14, 18Mark 13:24-32 Next week marks the end of the Church year; therefore, the readings reflect the theme of the end. In the Gospel, our Lord makes a statement that causes confusion to many. After telling His disciples about the signs that will occur before the Second Coming, Jesus says: “This generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” Obviously, neither the Second Coming nor the end of the world took place before that generation passed away.Many have provided some very imaginative interpretations of this passage, but inevitably they have all failed. The fact is that what our Lord spoke was fulfilled…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

November 5, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This series on Apologetics is based on the book Catholicism & Reason. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. You can send them either to the postal mailing address or to the email address below, and we will interrupt this series to answer them. Special Course On Catholicism And Reason (Chapter 6) While the divinity of Jesus can be indicated by His flawless personality and His extraordinary holiness, the Gospels give us three other signs that He is God: (1) the prophecies concerning the Messiah that were fulfilled only by Jesus, (2) the accurate prophecies of the future that were made…Continue Reading

“My Kingdom Is Not Of This World”

November 4, 2021 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on “My Kingdom Is Not Of This World”

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Mexico. 1927. A man in civilian clothes is brought before a uniformed military firing squad. As he walks from his cell to the courtyard, where the soldiers are mustered awaiting him, bristling with loaded weapons, he blesses the uniformed men, then kneels and briefly prays quietly.Declining a blindfold, he stood and spoke, “May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!”Before the firing squad was ordered to shoot, the condemned man raised and extended his arms in imitation of Christ on the Cross and, facing his executioners with a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other,…Continue Reading