• Our Blogger

    Fr. Joseph Jenkins

  • The blog header depicts an important and yet mis-understood New Testament scene, Jesus flogging the money-changers out of the temple. I selected it because the faith that gives us consolation can also make us very uncomfortable. Both Divine Mercy and Divine Justice meet in Jesus. Priests are ministers of reconciliation, but never at the cost of truth. In or out of season, we must be courageous in preaching and living out the Gospel of Life. The title of my blog is a play on words, not Flogger Priest but Blogger Priest.

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    john on Ask a Priest
    Sarah on Ask a Priest
    Aidan on Ask a Priest
    "Alyssa on Ask a Priest
    mike shannon on MARY OUR MOTHER

DEFENDING THE CATHOLIC FAITH

Dealing with Anti-Catholicism

Did the Catholic Church Prohibit Bible Reading?

Scripture & Tradition

Sola Scriptura?

Isolated Verses Misused Against the Church

References to Pagan Rome Used Against the Church

Response to an Anti-Catholic on John 6 & More

Mission of the Church Took Precedence Over the Scriptures

Holy Spirit & Infallibility of the Church

Christianity is Not a Book Religion

Tradition Supplements the Scriptures

Commanded to Keep Traditions

The Issue of Heresy

The Bible is Not Self-Interpretive

The Pope & Bishops, Official Interpreters of Scripture

Catholic Approach to Scripture Fosters Unity in Christ

The Bible Belongs to the Catholic Church

Institution of the Catholic Church by Christ

Church Authority

Infallibility

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail Against the Church

Christianity is a New People of God, A Visible Community

Sinners & Christ’s Church

The Church is CATHOLIC

The Church is APOSTOLIC

Peter the First Pope

Baptism

Confirmation

The Real Presence in the Eucharist: Our Inheritance

The Greatest Food of All

A True Bread from Heaven

Jesus Meant What He Said About Eucharist

Only the Real Presence Demands Worthy Reception

Catholic Worship

Confession of Sins

Only Priests Can Offer Absolution

Anointing of the Sick

Bishops & Priests Given Charge over the Sacraments

The Vocation of Holy Orders is a Gift

The Apostles & their Successors

Women Ministers

Marriage is for Life

Divorce & Remarriage is Adultery

Purgatory

Images: Statues & Pictures

Ash Wednesday (Ashes)

Mass Vestments

Holy Water

Relics

Incense

Good Works

Virgin Mary

Angels & Saints

Sources for Catholic Doctrine

Biblical Terrorism

Faith & Works

Jesus the Way

Baptism & Born Again

Priests Forgiving Sins

Confession to a Priest & Petitioning Saints

Priests & Sacrifices

Priests Forbidden to Marry

The Church & Priests

Priests are Often Addressed as Father

Teaching Authority: Is the Pope the Holy Father?

Peter the ROCK of the Church

Is the Roman Catholic Church Christian?

Mass as Sacrifice & Eucharist as Really Jesus

Did Jesus Renounce His Mother?

Mary & Tradition: Offensive to God?

Mary Remained a Perpetual Virgin

Mary is Called the Mother of God

Purgatory, Religious Life (Nuns) & the Pope

54 Responses

  1. Hello Father and how are you?

    Saturday I went to my mailbox and inside was a CD and a note from my group leader for my ladies bibles study (denominational Church). We are due to view a video called AMERICAN CHRIST ALONE GOSPEL. Have you seen it or ever heard of it?

    She just viewed it to prep for our study and realize there was a lot of Catholic references and did not want me to be blindsided or taken off guard when we viewed it so she brought it over so I can see it first…

    So finally the reason I am writing, I feel as though when it came to the Catholics in my opinion the video was using old information, stereotypes… Documentation from the first Trent conference….

    Catholics believe
    (Faith + Works =salvation)

    They broke it down again and called it the
    Roman Catholics path to salvation….
    They claim saved by:

    Faith plus works
    Grace plus merit
    Christ plus other mediators (priest bishops etc)
    Scripture Plus tradition
    To the glory of God Mary and the other saints…

    I have attended this Bible study for years and have been the Catholic source.

    I believe that the only way we have salvation is through Jesus Christ and believing that he lived and died for us… Please correct me if I’m wrong.

    In the Catholic catechism
    under salvation the definition is the forgiveness is sins and restoration of friendship with God which can be done by God alone page 169

    I appreciate any input you can give me so that I can represent our religion correctly.

    God’s peace and blessings Happy Easter sincerely Paulette Leigh


    FATHER JOE:

    “American Gospel: Christ Alone” is a Protestant film that begins by rightfully arguing for a Gospel that is more focused upon Jesus than upon ourselves and any moral imperative. However, in contrast to the film, I would contend for the value of works as an extension of Christ’s saving acts. We are not in competition with our Lord. It is true that simply being a good person will not save you. Indeed, apart from the Lord we would not know how to be good. But grace can transform us into the likeness of Christ. It is true that we are convicted by the law; however, Christ can save us, not only from the devil, but also from ourselves. The film teaches a heresy that our nature is sin. It merges something of Calvinism and old fashioned Lutheranism. We are wounded, but God cannot make anything that is intrinsically and immediately evil. The film teaches Martin Luther’s notion of juridical imputation— we remained guilty and unchanged sinners but our justification has us disguised behind Christ who is righteous.

    No, the view of Christianity from the beginning is maintained by Catholicism. Catholics believe in transformation by grace. You can be made holy and righteous. You can become a saint, not as a label but in truth. The film denies this. The film looks to Jesus as a historical figure but not as a Savior made immediately present in the sacraments. It would emphasize a personal relationship but omit the communal. Our Lord calls a people to himself, the New Israel, the Catholic Church. Indeed, the Church’s sacraments and the praying for the dead are directly dismissed in the film. It is true that there is one Mediator in Christ but his place as priest and victim in the life of the Church and her mysteries would be non-sensical to the makers of the film. True justification by faith is always valued in terms of the two-fold commandment of charity. Look at the scene of Peter on the beach with the risen Lord. Peter has denied Jesus three times. Three times Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” When this love is affirmed, Peter knows mercy and is restored. Jesus tells him to feed his sheep— the saving work of Jesus is made his own. The invisible head of the Church uses the visible head to accomplish his ends. Our Lord extends his ministry of forgiving sins and giving food for the journey to his apostles.

    There are no non-denominational prayer or bible study groups. There are Catholic groups, ecumenical groups and Protestant groups. You have joined a Protestant group. Indeed, by showing this film, it is apparent that this group of yours is moving in the direction of a bigoted and ignorant anti-Catholicism. The film takes a few easy shots at fringe Protestantism but the real target is Catholicism. It is guilty of direct attacks and miscommunication on Catholicism. I would suggest that if you are Catholic, find a Catholic group instead. Most Catholics struggle to be apologists against the subtleties of such challenges. It attacks prayer for the dead, the value of works as an element of faith; indeed, it even attacks baptism and the sacraments instituted by Christ. The film merely dresses up in modern attire the old reformation heresies.

  2. Father, I have to say that I am on the side of priests. I tell you, I’ve had to defend priests to a very horrible man. He has been bashing the good name of priests. He claims that after being Catholic for 29 years, he’s seen evil things. He claims that priests and pagans have things in common. He has sent me the most offensive links against them. He said priests are lying and are not as nice as they seem. I really think that this religion or group just doesn’t get it. I love priests and the Church couldn’t run smoothly without them.

  3. I thank you so much for your help in defending our faith. I have had many difficulties with attacks on the Catholic Religion, that I needed help finding the the right words, and i came across your site. It relieves me that i found an intelligent web page. BLESS YOU.

  4. Catholic Jesuits endorsed the Inquisitions, and their banana republic nations in South America reflect what this religion is really all about.

    FATHER JOE: Your truncation and misinterpretation is not only deceptive but it is obvious that your tone in incendiary. You want to upset and anger Catholics. Good Catholics also faced the various national inquisitions or courts. Many saintly priests and other Catholics have suffered to preserve the Christian faith and have even faced torture and martyrdom for the sake of justice and the defense of human dignity and rights. You have probably done nothing more for your fellow man than run your mouth. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: