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What Makes Catholicism So Special?

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Father Joe

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MARTA:  How long has Catholicism been around?  Why confess sin to a priest? How does Catholicism differ from Christianity?

FATHER JOE:

The Catholic Church is the “church” established by Jesus. All the bishops and priests are direct successors of the original apostles.  Jesus gave the Church and his apostles the power to forgive sins. Since priests cannot read minds and hearts, people confess to them so that the priests can give proper counsel and penance along with their absolution.  Catholicism is the original and most complete form of Christianity. East and West were one for a thousand years. Protestant churches only go back four or five centuries.

LILIANA:  With respect, I think what you say is contradictory; we should address God “directly” in prayer in the name of Jesus. The Bible doesn’t say we need saints.  God doesn’t need secretaries.  Everything is possible for him and he can listen to millions of people anytime.

FATHER JOE:

There is nothing contradictory about it. Such comes from an understanding of the Church as the new People of God and our relationship with one another and Christ. Those who discount the sacramental meaning of the Church and our corporate faith tend to make religion overly individualistic. We pray together, and for each other, as Jesus admonished; but we do not exclude the communion of the saints from our prayer. The Queen of the saints is Mary.

You really miss the point. It has nothing to do with what God needs, but about what we need as human beings and as a social people.

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Bible, Catholic, Church, Confession, Discipleship, Ecumenism, Faith, God, Mary, Religion, Saints |

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2 Responses

  1. The Unadulterated Truth's avatar
    The Unadulterated Truth, on August 20, 2013 at 6:14 pm said:

    The so-called virgin Mary appeared at a church in a West African country and all the attendees ran away because they sensed that it was the Devil in disguise. She appeared to my sister who was then pregnant and the baby was born with serious physical anomalies. Your virgin Mary is obviously not the mother of our Lord and Savior. Your replies must be Biblical or they are at best elusive and delusive. The Devil is in the Catholic equation. You cannot successfully defend darkness using the light of truth.

    FATHER JOE:

    It is pretty hard to respond when what you write is so vague. You contend that a Marian apparition was demonic, but you cannot give us the church’s name or tell us in what country it occurred. Certainly the devil can test believers by appearing as an angel of light; but Catholics discern such spiritual matters and look upon the fruits. You are welcome to your opinion; however, if such an apparition is made possible by the divine will and power, then you are essentially blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

    Next you fault such an apparition for the birth defects of your sister’s child. This is not only ignorant and outright bigotry, it is a form of superstition. We do not even know if there was such an apparition. It has no standing in the Church. For all we know the poor girl was delusional and you told her that the defect was the fault of Mary or of the devil. Saying such a thing to your sister was wrong and morally sick.

    The Virgin Mary is who she is. She is the Mother of the Messiah. She is the handmaid of the Lord. She is the first disciple of her Son. Everything about Mary in Catholic faith brings us back to the great mystery of Jesus Christ. If you reject the Catholic understanding of the Virgin Mary, then you reject Jesus. That is a terrible thing for you to do.

    There is nothing about the Mary who comes to us in approved private revelation that is in conflict with the Blessed Mother as she is portrayed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. You are the one being elusive and delusive.

    Like the critics of Jesus, you are arguing, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons” (Luke 11:15). You cannot dim the Catholic light of truth with your dark lies and deceptions.

    THE ANNUNCIATION – Luke 1:26-38
    THE VISITATION – Luke 1:39-45
    THE CANTICLE OF MARY – 1:46-56
    MARY GIVES BIRTH TO JESUS – Luke 2:1-14
    MARY KEPT ALL THESE THINGS IN HER HEART – Luke 2:15-21
    PRESENTATION OF JESUS / PURIFICATION OF MARY – Luke 2:22-40
    MARY FINDS JESUS IN THE TEMPLE – Luke 2:41-52
    MARY BLESSED FOR HEARING & KEEPING THE WORD – Luke 11:27-28
    MARY ENTRUSTED TO JOHN, JOHN & THE CHURCH GIVEN MARY – John 19:25-27

  2. The Unadulterated Truth's avatar
    The Unadulterated Truth, on August 20, 2013 at 6:01 pm said:

    Catholicism killed countless of its own during the dark ages just because they found out about the truth in the Holy Bible.

    FATHER JOE: This accusation is bogus, a lie that gets bigger every time it is told. The Church often resisted the efforts of the princes to place a capital sentence on dissenters. Ironically, the anti-Catholics who make these charges suppose that those who condemned fertility in marriage and celebrated ritual suicide were somehow bible Christians. They were not. They also promoted twisted translations of the Scriptures. Even the Protestants of today would have nothing to do with the heretics of old.

    As about Mary, she is not in heaven but in the grave until the resurrection.

    FATHER JOE: Ah, so you are one who believes that the dead sleep or are unconscious. If I recall correctly the SDA religion and spin-off cults deny the existence of a soul, reject eternal hellfire, repudiate Sunday as a day of rest and worship, and think the damned go into oblivion. Such is not biblical. The blessed dead alongside Jesus at the Transfiguration speak to life and awareness after death. There are plenty of places where hell is compared to fiery Gehenna. Our Lord shows himself to his apostles as bodily resurrected and says that a ghost does not have flesh and bone as he does, implying of course, the existence of the immortal soul. The ancient testimony is clear. Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven. Unlike so many saints, there are no relics. She is as we hope to become.

    Peter was no pope and the popes are usurpers of the glory of Christ and will answer to Him in the judgment. Catholicism is anathema to Biblical Christianity and you need to stop giving attention to dead saints ‘cause they are lifeless.

    FATHER JOE:

    The significance of Peter and his successors is an ancient Christian truth. Even the breakaway Eastern churches regard the Pope as Peter’s successor, and the first among equals (in regard to other bishops or patriarchs). Catholicism understands him to have universal juridical authority and special charisms to safeguard the truth and the deposit of faith.

    Matthew 16:18-19 – Simon is renamed PETER or ROCK, made the Vicar of Christ.

    And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. l I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

    John 21:15-19 – Our Lord restores Peter to his position as the lead apostle.

    Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

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