Anti-Catholicism | Blogger Priest

Arguing with Picollo about Catholicism

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Father Joe

This is the first of several posts in a rebuttal of an anti-Catholic on the faith. Picollo is not particularly bright but his poison is no less deadly.

PICOLLO:

It is really very pertinent and worrisome that in this present 20th century the Catholics can still persistently oppose and contradict the facts in the Bible, claiming that the apostle Peter was the first pope and that Mary the mother of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST remained a virgin after the birth of his first born son/child according to Matthew 2:24-26 and Luke 1:5-7.

FATHER JOE:

I would urge you to examine how your ignorance fuels your prejudice against Catholic teachings and practices. The claims of Catholicism are more impressive and clearly reasoned today than ever before. The preaching and teaching Church even preceded the canon of the Bible and the composition of New Testament Scriptures. I mention this because it is the surest evidence for the enduring value of Sacred Tradition. Your disavowal of such Tradition as a source for revelation betrays an entirely different methodology and starting point. This is why debates are so very difficult because fundamentalists and Catholic Christians are not even on the same page. Catholicism represents genuine and historical Christianity. Protestant fundamentalism is the manifestation of a modern aberration. Despite such problems, I will briefly respond to your hostile remarks, which constitute almost a kind of spam against this Blog.

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics | Leave a comment »

How Catholic are You?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Father Joe

We can test to see how badly infected our people are with doubt and faithlessness. Here are some sample questions:

1. Do you believe that deliberately missing Sunday Mass is a mortal sin, as detailed in the precepts of the Church?

2. Do you believe that premarital sex and/or cohabitation is a mortal sin?

3. Do you believe that a Catholic can get married validly outside the Church and how can this be if it is a sacrament?

4. Are you for or against the legal choice for abortion even though the Church calls it the murder of ensouled human beings?

5. Do you believe that the marital act must always be that type of act that is open to mutual self-giving and the generation of new human life or do you favor the use of artificial contraception?

6. The Church teaches that same-sex attraction is a disorder and that its pursuit is a violation of the natural law and is seriously sinful. Do you believe this?

7. Is the Eucharist a symbolic presence using bread and wine, a nostalgic remembrance or the actual Risen Christ (divinity and humanity, body and blood)?

8. Do you ever go to Confession? Do you believe that the priest has the power to forgive sins? Do we really need the priest for this at all?

9. Is the Mass a real sacrifice just as the death and oblation of Jesus on the Cross?

10. Does it really matter what one believes as long as he or she is a good person? Is one Church pretty much as good as another? Is it intolerant to insist that the Catholic Church is the one true Church established directly by Christ?

11. Do you believe that the Pope as Vicar of Christ has universal jurisdiction and is given the gift of infallibility in teaching about faith and morals?

12. Do you pray daily and if so how do you pray? Do you really think someone is listening? Do you remember the various types of prayer?

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Catholic, Church, Commandments, Contraception, Discipleship, Magisterium, Mass, Morality, Pope, Pro-Life, Questions, Sexuality, Sin | 2 Comments »

Is the HHS Compromise Really a Compromise?

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Father Joe

CLICK HERE to read Cardinal Wuerl’s response to compromise.

CLICK HERE to read Cardinal Dolan’s letter to fellow bishops.

Who is the architect of this fiasco with the HHS?

The buck stops with the President and the head of the department, which he appointed: Kathleen Sebelius. What is her background as a “Catholic”?

When she was governor, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas told her that she “should stop receiving Communion until she publicly repudiates her support of abortion.” More recently, Archbishop Raymond F. Burke, former archbishop of St. Louis but now prefect for the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s highest court, ruled that Mrs. Sebelius should not approach the altar for Communion in the United States. Despite pastoral admonition, she obstinately persists in serious sin and now she would entice the bishops and the rest of the Church to join her.

In 2008, Sebelius vetoed House Substitute for Senate Bill 389, titled the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act by its sponsors. Proponents of the bill claimed the legislation would strengthen late-term abortion laws and prevent “coerced abortions” particularly with respect to minors.

She has been given high ratings and endorsement from Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion provider around. It has made a financial “killing” in destroying unborn children under the banner of women’s rights.

The administration was SHOCKED into making a compromise… not because religious liberty was esteemed as an important value in itself.

The Obama administration hopes that the U.S. bishops will accept its proposed compromise (February 10, 2012). However, while we are still awaiting word from our shepherds, I still have serious reservations. The administration was shocked that even liberal Catholic voices were joining the chorus in deploring the initial policy as encroachment upon religious liberty. It was certain that there would be no movement of the Obama Whitehouse away from the giving women free access to contraception. But as Republicans picked up on the issue, election strategists urged an immediate counter-strategy. The offer of a year of grace was insufficient. Is this the best for which we can hope? Might this merely be a ploy to defuse the situation while really changing very little? Catholic parishes, schools, charities, and hospitals should not be forced to provide birth control to employees since such would violate Catholic teaching against artificial contraception. That is the bottom line!

Even if the institution is protected; what about the rights of individual believers? What about individuals and organizations that are not part of the Church administration but are Catholic in values? EWTN, for instance, is a lay organization with a lay board.

The sentiments of Catholics and other pro-life Christians would not be respected by this change. The Church is more than the institution but is found in her membership. Their personal religious rights and conscience would not be respected. I know a doctor who runs her own practice and refuses to prescribe birth control. Now, she would still be forced to pay for it as a health benefit for employees! That is wrong and the Church needs to be a voice for people like her. Similarly, I know a man who refused to take a vaccine because there was the remote use of embryonic material from an abortion. He would rather close shop than add his money to the purchase of abortifacients.

The First Amendment protects not only the rights of churches but the individuals who make up those faith communities. Even if Catholics should themselves personally dissent, continued membership implies that they still respect (on some level) the teachings and the authority of the Church. I suspect that President Obama miscalculated in thinking that Church teaching was subject to polls or that liberal Catholics could force further passivity upon the bishops. This new measure might protect Church institutions and pamper dissenters, but it would hang faithful Catholic citizens out to dry. Their rights would not be respected.

Nothing has really changed, what we have here is only magical sleight-of-hand.

The revised rule says that religious organizations would not have to offer or pay for contraception. So far, so good; but then it stipulates that health insurers would have to take up the cost and provide it directly to women for free. Does this really leave the employer out of the equation? It seems to me that what we have here is a new version of the old shell game. Nothing is really free. The money is going to have to come from somewhere. What will happen is that premiums will go up and people will pay more for a sick person’s needed antibiotic to make up for a promiscuous woman’s contraceptive.

What about those dioceses which are self-insured? Would this force us out of the insurance business?

Another wrinkle, and I see this as very problematical in my own Archdiocese, is that we are self-insured. There is no absolutely independent insurance entity to which we can give the dubious honor of providing contraception. I suppose such a measure would also make it hard for practicing Catholics to function at the leadership level or as CEOs of insurance agencies.

Where do we go from here?

It is not clear to me that the Obama administration really wants to go to the bargaining table. However, the bishops have suggested that this newest offer is a sign that he is willing to make some kind of compromise. It is my interpretation and I admit to being fallible, that there remains a serious hurdle and that we must take to heart Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s remarks in The Wall Street Journal, “Coercing religious ministries and citizens to pay directly for actions that violate their teaching is an unprecedented incursion into freedom of conscience.” This really says it all and is the line from which we must not retreat.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has made this statement: “The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services.” The statement continues, “We will therefore continue–with no less vigor, no less sense of urgency–our efforts to correct this problem through the other two branches of government.”

We must urge Congress to pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act!

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Morality, Politics, Pro-Life, Religious Liberty, Sexuality, Social Justice, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Gay Sex & the Law

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Father Joe

I can recall when sodomy was not a “protected right” but a “perverse crime.” It was that way not too long ago. Indeed, any sexual activity, even with a woman, if outside of marriage, was often judged as criminal and there were set penalties. There is division in the Church on the subject and it may be that some have too closely aligned themselves with the American Psychiatric Association which redefined homosexuality from a mental illness to an acceptable sexual orientation.

One of my favorite television programs was DRAGNET. There is one episode where Joe Friday (Jack Webb) is railing against the sins of the city. Among them he lists “sodomy.” When the episode was repeated recently on television, the sound failed precisely when he moved his lips to say the word that is no longer politically correct. In another episode, The Big Kids, there is a dialogue which shows the change in secular morality:

Capt. Lou Richey: It’s not just a problem of law enforcement, it’s a community problem.

Sergeant Pearson: Trouble is there is no community captain. These people come piling in here from every where. They dont know each other and don’t want to. They come out here, make a down payment on a house and move in with a couple of kids. That doesn’t mean they made a home no more than givin’ a name to a place makes it a community.

Sergeant Joe Friday: Yeah and you get a littele weary of hearing every kid give you the same excuse when you tag them. You don’t understand, I just wanna to belong thats why I did it. Belong to what?

Capt. Lou Richey: What it boils down to is the new morality, doesn’t it, a whole new sense of values. The kids see it on television, in magazines. Even hear it from the pulpit. God is dead. Drug addiction is mind expanding. Promiscuity is glamorous. Even homosexuality is praiseworthy. How you gonna fight that?

Officer Bill Gannon: It ain’t easy.

Capt. Lou Richey: What you got to remember that, the vast majority of the juveniles you’re handling are the kids next store. They’re not hard core criminals. It’s just that for them it’s a great deal more important to be accepted by the other kids than to please their parents.

Today, the “love that dare not speak its name” (citing Lord Alfred Douglas) is proclaimed a civil right and thrown into our faces where ever we look, even in Cowboy movies… I know John Wayne is rolling in his grave!

The Church in Boston had to shut down its adoption services because the government made it illegal to discriminate against gay couples. The Archdiocese of Washington has done likewise. Catholic Charities in Los Angeles was almost shut down by a law mandating benefits and insurance (analogous to a spouse in marriage) to the bed-partners of homosexual men and lesbians. Renters are being compelled to permit gay men and women to live and commit mortal sin in their premises.

My faith in our society and the legal system is much shaken. I cannot say that I would generally trust activist judges or spineless legislators to make decisions that would please me or others with traditional values. I concur with the Church that homosexuality is “disorientation” and that to live it out is a grievous offense to God and a corruption of others.

Our compassion and love for them should not translate as utter toleration and/or approbation. We should encourage chastity and celibacy. While it is controversial, where possible, we should pursue proven treatments that have helped thousands to adjust to a heterosexual orientation (as in the work of Dr. Fitzgibbons). This issue is very emotionally charged. We are sorely tempted to look the other way and give homosexual advocates what they want. They insist that not to accept their form of sexuality is a denial of them as persons of worth. But such is not the case. The old cliché still holds, “Love the sinner but hate the sin.” Both natural law and the Scriptures condemn same-sex activity. Sexual expression is restricted to marriage and such is only between a man and a woman. No judge, legislator or shrink can truly change the truth about this. Going through the motions will not make vice into virtue or that which is false into something real. The pendulum is swinging. While gay sex was once illegal; it is now legally protected. Indeed, those who reject it are being subjected to charges of discrimination. I would err on the side of preserving our traditional values but not pursuing matters which would intrude into the privacy of people’s homes. I guess you could say that I would favor bringing back the proverbial closet.

Of course, even if we were willing to leave such people in peace, there will be no peace today for those who oppose the homosexual agenda.

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Commandments, Homosexuality, Marriage, Morality, Sexuality, Sin, Social Justice | 4 Comments »

Discussion About Priestly Service, Scandal & the Church

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Father Joe

GH: (initial statement)

The Church has brainwashed you and you are a mere puppet of this institution! It is like a cult, if you do not OBEY or agree with every belief and precept 100%, you are OUT!

I walked away from the church after 25 years of trying to be a good Catholic because all I witnessed were MANY priests leaving to get married. (I knew of 12— that’s a LOT in such a time period!) Several others stayed and had women on the side. Oh yeah, these guys heard my confessions too and had the power to take my sins away— what a joke!

I suppose you think that when they die they will burn in hell, the ones who left and were laicized, I mean. Is this a loving reaction, BANISH them forever? (Their love is disordered, unholy and they all end up divorced, too.)

You wrote that there were only a FEW rascals? You sir are deluded! You try to maintain a facade of good and holy priests; I do not doubt there are some, and in fact pray there are, as we need them. Sadly, I think that it is the exception and not the norm.

You blame the individual men themselves (who left to get married). They wanted to serve God but perhaps after a while felt their heartstrings pulled one time too many? Or maybe they just gave into what you regard as the great sin of falling in love and wanting to be with a woman. Therein rests the conflict of wanting to serve God and wanting to love one of his creations. Why does there have to be a choice and why is the punishment from the church so final and damning?

But there is something wrong with a church hierarchy that claims to have the only true pipeline to God and to the truth while insisting on celibacy that apparently so few can truly live out.

FATHER JOE: (immediate response)

You might like to think that people like me are brainwashed, but nothing could be further from the truth. I was a public school kid. I was even kicked out of Sunday high school CCD. No, I was not stupid; rather, my teacher said I knew too much. It was embarrassing my slower classmates. Actually, I think it was correcting my teacher a few times that was the last straw! Because of ill health and asthma, I read a great deal on my own. Religion fascinated me, but I was no one’s robot. I became convinced of the Church’s claims and tried to appreciate them, not simply from authority but from my reasoning.

If people do not clearly understand their faith, we do not kick them out of the Church. We invite them to read the catechism, adult formation classes, and bible study.

If you left the Church because of hypocrisy then you placed greater faith in men than in God. It is no wonder you defected. You are just making excuses for yourself. You could have stayed in the Church and supported those priests who were faithful to their promises. Instead, you joined the crowd of bad priests and womanizers. How can you complain about them when you aligned yourself with them against the Church and her faithful ministers? You join the chorus of those who mock Catholic priests and their ministry of reconciliation. You should be ashamed.

You are another one presuming that priests like me damn the defectors and others to perdition. Where do you get such ideas? We preach about the mercy of Jesus and yes, about his justice. But God will judge you and me. We are all sinners. The posture of any good priest is to pray for others, especially for those who leave the Catholic fold.

I am not deluded, I am a priest and I know my brother priests. Most are good and holy men. While you falsely depict me as damning others; you have judged me and my brother priests. A few have disgraced themselves and have made headlines. The most publicity many of us will ever have will be our obituaries.

You have been away from the Church and yet you think you know the truth about her priests. You should not sin by such presumption.

Promises are made to be kept. No one forced their hand. I am responsible for my priesthood and so are they for theirs.

Would you excuse a married man who fell in love and left his wife for another woman? I can well understand sinfulness, weakness and passion. All priests over time have their heartstrings tugged; but that is when we embrace celibacy as a true sacrifice.

But what punishment is so final and damning for those who leave? A priest who wants to get married may eventually get laicized. He leaves ministry. However, if he marries in the Church then he can return to the sacraments. He can form his children in the Church. He remains a priest forever but in practice is reduced to the lay state. No one says that he must be consigned to hell.

The deposit of faith is made permanent with the death of the last apostle. No new doctrines are invented although there is organic development. Jesus institutes the Catholic Church and establishes a teaching authority. These are the facts as the Church sees them. Anyone can encounter our Lord in Scripture, prayer and in the Church. The hierarchy shepherd the Church and the Magisterium has a charism to preserve the truth in every generation. Over the centuries, the Church discerned that a celibate priesthood best served the needs of God’s people. I believe this is still the case and I trust God’s grace to help priests in being faithful to their commitments. Yes, there have been some bad apples. But you wrong many good priests. About this you should be ashamed and ask pardon.

I will pray for the healing of your hurt and anger. God bless you!

Subsequent Dialogue

GH: That is the Catholic way, to put shame and guilt on people. I should be ashamed?

FATHER JOE: I do not know what you did. If you did something wrong, then yes, you should feel guilty and ashamed of yourself. Feeling guilty is not a bad thing, when you are guilty. Such remorse moves a person to repentance and to reforming his or her life. The trouble today is that many people no longer know shame and people tolerate all sorts of nonsense. Children and young women dress immodestly. People use bad language without so much as saying they are sorry. Couples cohabitate and fornicate and then get mad when the priest challenges them to either separate or get married. Yes, such people should be ashamed of themselves, not simply because they have destroyed their reputations, but because they have dishonored God by their disobedience.

GH: The ones that should be ashamed are those priests I speak of— I have seen repeated sin and hypocrisy and men masquerading as true priests; they are the ones who MOCK the sacrament of reconciliation, Father, not me.

FATHER JOE: Hopefully bad priests do feel sorry for their poor witness. But there are also good priests who should not have their faithfulness mocked or their ministry invalidated by the failures of others. In any case, we are all sinners; there is enough blame to go around. Just because the shepherds sometimes fall short is no license for the sheep to get lost as well.

GH: Yet they will not leave because they are afraid to; so they live a double life.

FATHER JOE: If you know of priests living double-lives then tell the authorities. They will put an end to it. If this is too drastic, then tell a good priest in confidence and ask him to talk to a rascal in the ranks. I have read the riot act to men and some will listen. But as I said, most priests I know are faithful to their promises and ministry.

GH: I am not wronging the good priests. Where did I say that?

FATHER JOE: Look at your words. You lump us all together and contend that there are more bad apples than good. Such has not been my experience and I have been an active priest for 25 years and in the seminary for 8 years before that. On top of it all, you said that the poor witness of priests caused you to leave the Church. That means you saw nothing worthwhile enough in the work and character of good priests to remain in the fold of Christ’s Church.

GH: I said that there are some true and holy priests, yourself one indeed, but I feel they are in the minority.

FATHER JOE: And, while I appreciate the commendation, I sincerely believe good priests are in the majority. Sure the Church went through some hard times. Many priests defected in the 1960′s and 70′s. Some had trouble with the reformed liturgy. Others thought the rule of celibacy was going to be relaxed and they wrongly got ordained with this false expectation. The 1980′s and 90′s brought the almost unbelievable scandal of child abuse. Homeschoolers and other die-hard Catholics kept the faith and now their children are entering the seminaries in droves. This new generation of clergy is very traditional and serious about their commitments. They are joining ministry with those who remained faithful and steadfast in priestly work. Yes, there were some womanizers and misbehaving homosexuals hiding in the ranks; but as they have been identified they have also been expelled from the active presbyterate. Some men with problems, as with a woman or alcohol, have sought counseling, reconciliation and moral reform. This deserves mention in any evaluation of the Church, too. There are real signs of hope, today.

GH: Yes, this is sad. Perhaps, I have been unfortunate enough to have been exposed to far too many of the so called “few bad apples”?

FATHER JOE: This may be the case. Not every diocese is the same and some formation programs were more successful than others.

GH: I don’t see a long line of potential men answering the call either. Why do you suppose that is? There has been much damage done and a great need for healing in the Church. I unfortunately am one of the casualties.

FATHER JOE: I am not sure how you would see the new men coming forward for priestly ministry, given that you have exiled yourself from the Church. Numbers could be better and worldwide; many missionaries are coming from the Third World to reconvert Europe and the West. The dissenting and progressive Catholic families either had no children or a few who were secular and uninterested in vocations. Our more traditional homes are having large families and encouraging their children to be priests and nuns. This is where the next generation of vocations is emerging. The dissenters have contracepted and aborted themselves out of existence. The youth symbolized by the thousands that celebrate World Youth Day with the Pope are serious about their faith. Indeed, they seem more fervent than their parents. The Holy Spirit is not done with the Catholic Church, yet!

GH: I have read in other topics on your blog that you feel such men are “risking their soul to hell.”..You may as well say they will go there.

FATHER JOE: All mortal sin is risking hell. You cannot fault me for a basic teaching of the catechism. But God will be their judge. He will also be the judge of you and me.

GH: It is all semantics and how you word things.

FATHER JOE: No, such should not be the appreciation of Christians. After all, we follow the living Word and his testimony should never be regarded as confusing semantics. Do not be like Pilate who said back to Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus is the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. It is still the message and person and saving activity of Christ that is proclaimed and made manifest in the Church. The ministry of priests who participate in his high priesthood is still essential to this Good News.

GH: Then you try to put even more Catholic guilt on me because I have walked away from an institution that makes no sense to me anymore. I have not walked away from God, only the Catholic Church. And we all know that the Catholic Church feels those who do that are also— you got it— “risking their souls to hell.”

FATHER JOE: Jesus established his Church as the living sacrament of salvation. It is a new People of God. Our personal salvation comes within this community of faith. That is why Jesus gave us the sacraments. He extends his work through the ministry of priests. I am sorry if I increase your unhappiness. While I cannot control what you would do, my hope is that you would come home to the safe harbor of faith. If anyone hurt or abused you, I am truly sorry. But that is not what the priesthood and the Church are really about. My work as a priest centers upon teaching the truth, celebrating the Eucharist and bringing healing to others. I would have you seek the sacrament of penance and absolution. You would still have a right to be upset with those priests or churchmen who disgraced themselves. But if they were about the work of the devil then who wins if you should be forever alienated from Christ’s Church? Don’t let the devil win in your life. You say that you still have faith in Jesus; then seek out a good priest. Share your whole story and even your anger with him. Return to the sacraments. You might even think that the discipline of compulsory celibacy should be reviewed. But we need humility and acceptance about such things. We need good people to build the Church up again. Maybe God wants you to be one of those people?

GH: The church exerts her absolute power over her priests that leave… even the ones who are laicized; they are not even permitted to read God’s word or act as any type of lay minister. This to me is unjust punishment.

FATHER JOE: Were you a priest? The priesthood is a ministry that belongs to the Church. She has the right and the authority to regulate it as she sees fit. No man was forced to become a priest. Every man who made a perpetual promise of celibacy had six or eight or twelve years of formation to think about it. I believe that God would give the good candidate all the graces he needs to live out this promise. But we are sinners. A few fail. Often they were remiss in their prayer-life and various duties. One person began to mean more to them than the many over which they were given charge. All the Church asks is that we keep our promises. Laicization is the best that the Church can do. It allows a man to rebuild his life while protecting the ministries of the Church from further scandal. The men themselves often ask for it, particularly if they want to remain within the bosom of Mother Church. The restrictions also help to protect the good name and the authority of the priests who keep their promises and remain on the job.

GH: A priest who leaves is a disgrace and an anathema in the eyes of the church. I said the eyes of the Church, NOT God.

FATHER JOE: Here I would disagree. Such a priest made promises or solemn vows. Yes, they were made to the bishop or superior, but also to Almighty God. Breaking our promises to God is a genuine tragedy. God is the one who gives the initial call. The Church later affirms that divine summons.

GH: The analogy that priests are wed to the church is also overused and makes no sense if the church does not in turn use that same analogy with regards to divorce when priests are laicized.

FATHER JOE: Analogies are not exact, but the comparison of things that share some likeness. The marriage analogy would not make married priests impossible. After all, we have some licitly married priests already. The marriage analogy flows from the meaning of the Eucharist. It participates and manifests something of the marriage banquet of heaven. It is not the same as an earthly and carnal marriage which is dissolved by death. The priest participates in the priesthood of Christ who is the groom to his bride, the Church. This relationship is eternal. The new laicization process makes the laicization stages similar to a Church annulment. However, he remains a priest. He does have to argue that he should never have been ordained. Just as the Church does not recognize divorce between married couples, Jesus will never divorce himself from his Church. The laicized priest will always be a priest, even if he can no longer function. A laicized priest who wanted to get married and have sexual relations would still require a permissorial releasing him from his promises.

GH: True, they may receive the sacraments, but why are they not permitted to be a lector or EMC? Divorced people who had their marriages annulled are permitted to be such lay ministers, but laicized priests are not? Again the church exercises her authority with a heavy hand.

FATHER JOE: There is always a scandal when a priest leaves ministry to get married. It advertises hypocrisy and a double-life. A man should not be rewarded for his sins and for breaking his promises. Allowing such a man to continue some form of ministry is also an insult to good men who did what they were supposed to do. Our actions have consequences. If there is any man who should know better, it is the priest! He is held to a higher standard and must pay a more severe price for disobedience. (Having said this, Church law does sometimes permit laicized clergy to function as teachers of religion, although usually in another diocese where their former priestly ministry is not known. Such is up the local bishop’s discretion.)

GH: And the Church wonders why so many Catholics are disgruntled, confused, hurt and angry? We don’t have enough priests to serve anymore because no one wants to join— churches are closing and the remaining priests are burnt out. Something has to give somewhere.

FATHER JOE: You would be ill served by flooding the ranks of the clergy with disobedient priests. The faithful remnant support and love their priests. My little church is filled with such wonderful and happy people. Many of the Masses are so packed that I have people standing up in the back and along the walls. We may not be wealthy, but the faith is alive. I hope and pray that you will know healing and find this joy once more. God bless you!

GH: Father Joe, I want to wish you the very best in your ministry as a priest of the Most High God. I am wounded and confused. I keep in touch with many Catholic friends and read our local Catholic newspapers and unfortunately still am privy to stories of those priests who have left or caused scandal. Sadly it continues. I know there are good and true apostles of our Lord and I will continue to pray for more. God bless you!

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Catholic, Marriage, Priests, Sacraments, Sexuality, Sin | 2 Comments »

Polemic Exchange Against Anti-Catholicism

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Father Joe

This is a continuation of a discussion from a previous post:

The Catholic Church, Salvation & Peter

DENNIS:

You tell me I assume many things. What about you? You assume I undermined my wife’s faith. You assume her faith is weak when she has more faith than anyone. You assume that I am delighted my daughter has been stolen from the church… WRONG! AND BESIDES, SHE IS HERE TO FOLLOW CHRIST not the church. I will never believe in purgatory no matter what your arguments. If Peter were pope, which I don’t believe, then his successors should have been married like him. Perhaps then all this sick disgusting behavior would never have occurred. I will say no more but I never personally attacked you, like you have me. Some of your responses to others seem almost hateful. Trust me I have done plenty of researching to draw the conclusions that I have. Stop thinking you are the only one with truths! Thanks for your time.

FATHER JOE:

Your assumptions about Catholicism are not coherently argued. You are working from a prejudiced view of the faith, not as one who is truly informed.

As for myself, mine is a faith seeking understanding. Catholics do not accept a blind faith that is at war with reason. We seek to know the truth from all the pertinent sources: the authority of the Church, the Sacred Scriptures, Sacred Tradition, philosophical and theological inquiry, dialoguing with other disciplines of learning, etc.

If your wife abandoned her religion in light of your postured conversion, it is only reasonable to assume that you undermined her Catholic faith. Indeed, you take delight that you have had a part in your family’s defection. I am sorry if you think I am rude but I find what you did to be reprehensible and dishonest.

Catholics regard our relationship with Jesus Christ to be intimately bound to our union with the Church. Our Lord makes himself and his saving activity present through the sacraments of the Church. Defection from the faith means a certain level of estrangement from our Lord, although as in your wife’s case, it might not be absolute. Only God is the ultimate judge as to whether such actions will cost people their salvation.

Peter was the first pope, although the title was only used later. Being married or not married is beside the point. You would condemn celibate priests as well as chaste single people. Not everyone gets married. Some choose not to do so, like Catholic clergy, and others never meet the person with whom they want to settle down. Our Lord Jesus never married. The beloved apostle John never married. St. Paul never married. The pope’s line of apostolic succession runs from both St. Peter and St. Paul, although the universal primacy passes down from St. Peter. You equate not being married with perversion and child predators. You are a very sick and bigoted man. Why are you so angry? Why would you condemn the virginity of the pope and so many priests? Yes, there have been a few criminals, but there are many of these among married men, too— even Protestant ministers.

I have not sought to be hateful, only truthful. Your allegations are in themselves of the most vulgar sort. It is hard to make proper responses to such bigoted allegations and ignorance. I suppose you would judge any response, as hateful. Part of the problem may be that you have neither the intellectual nor the spiritual tools to discuss such matters calmly and reasonably. That is one of the reasons why I suggested that you contact your local priest and maybe enter the continuing religious formation program. You should at least understand what you are rejecting.

Research has to go further than Chick comics and the ravings of anti-Catholic apologists who hate the Church. If you have nothing to fear, then go to the source… and speak and act with humility.

DENNIS:

I would love to talk to you personally and see if you would call me such things to my face. God have mercy on you for being so judgmental and hateful.

FATHER JOE:

You are upset with me? Listen, you come to “my” blog and assert the following:

1. You bluntly stated that Purgatory is a myth.
2. You illogically argued that Peter was Jewish and thus could not be Pope.
3. You ridiculed the Catholic Church as placing symbolism over substance.
4. You mocked the Pope, saying his title “HOLY Father” is a joke.
5. You fall for the fundamentalist lie that the Pope is the antichrist.
6. You joined the Catholic Church to marry your wife but never believed in what it taught (where is integrity?).
7. You taught your wife and daughter that the Church was evil and so they defected with you.
8. You will never believe in Purgatory no matter what sensible arguments I and others might make.

Either on the Internet or at my door, I would tell you the same. I am not being mean to you, only truthful. Sorry if the truth hurts.

DENNIS:

It is not the truth that hurts, what hurts are the many lies the Catholic church has told. I am glad I found out in time. Find out about things that go on inside the Vatican. A statue of Buddha was placed on an altar. They gave those of the wiccan faith a room to worship. The use of the papal upside down cross is satanic. I only want to leave a church. I am not leaving CHRIST. It is only HIS grace that can save us. The church was not built on Peter but Christ. “The Rock the builders rejected became the cornerstone.”

Jesus told the criminal on the cross, “Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus did not say anything about purgatory. I asked a priest about this and basically he said he defied the odds. I only laughed at this.

Only Jesus is HOLY, not the pope.

Praying with people who practice witchcraft, worship Buddha, making the Nazi sign with Hitler, kissing the Quran— are these not signs of antichrist?

I married my wife because of love. Since then we have learned that the many things the church teaches are lies. Have you never believed something at one time and then found out it was not what you thought?

You state that I taught my wife and daughter these things. My daughter learned many of these things at university here in Canada. We still believe STRONGLY in JESUS CHRIST.

My non-belief in purgatory has nothing to do with salvation. It is only by GOD’S GRACE that we are saved. Acceptance of CHRIST as your savior is the only way to eternal life.

The catholic church has collected plenty of money over the years for saying masses for “SOULS IN PURGATORY.” If there is no purgatory this money will be a testimony against it at the time of judgment. Great pastors and preachers like BILLY GRAHAM, DAVID JEREMIAH, CHARLES STANLEY, and I could name many more, is hardly a list of wackos who do not preach about or believe in purgatory. So the truth does not hurt at all; it sets one free!

FATHER JOE:

Say what you like, you are still running away from the truth (about yourself). I am a Catholic priest, but while convinced of the Church’s claims, I have studied the writings of the Reformers directly and as objectively as possible. I disagree with many of the views of the Protestant churches, but I have never pretended to be a Protestant. I would also not want to build my Church up by tearing down the religious beliefs of others. Christians of various denominations can find points of concurrence and work together for a more loving and just society. Not all non-Catholics are anti-Catholics. But you would fit the profile of a bigot against the Catholic Church. You classify Church teachings as lies. You even gloat about your prejudice. And, like so many of your ilk, you get basic facts wrong.

Someone wrongly placed a small Buddha statue on an altar during the Assisi Ecumenical Conference (not Vatican) back in 1986. Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) was furious about the mistake.

I have no idea what the Wiccan reference is about. Such paganism is in direct conflict with Catholic teaching and worship. Indeed, several years ago there was an incident where Wiccans insisted on using a military chapel for their services. The U.S. Government cannot play favorites regarding the faith practices of uniformed men and women. The military code of conduct required that the Wiccans keep their clothes on. Afterwards, the Catholic priest and several Protestant ministers offered prayers and ritual to spiritually exorcise or cleanse the room and altar-table.

The so-called upside down cross is not satanic. It is the ancient symbol for the first pope, Peter. Tradition has it that he was crucified upon an inverted cross. He requested it, not feeling worthy to die like his Lord.

I cannot know your conscience, and only God can judge you, but in my estimation, defection from the Church is a departure from Christ.

Christ is indeed the cornerstone of the Church, but Peter remains KEPHAS or ROCK. Jesus says he will build his Church upon him and after his resurrection, he heals him with the threefold admonition to his question, “Do you love me?” Jesus says: FEED MY LAMBS; TAKE CARE OF MY SHEEP; and FEED MY SHEEP.

As for purgatory and the good thief, you are being silly. Temporal punishment can be remitted by earthly penance and endurance of suffering. Given that he had faith in our Lord and was repentant, dying on a cross next to Jesus must assuredly count for something. Our Lord promises a place with him in paradise. As for ourselves, even if we must pass through purgation, we are also promised a place in his mansion of joy.

All holiness belongs properly to God. But God can extend his presence and make us saints. We can be transformed by the mysterious holiness of God. We can apply the word HOLY to the pope and to all who have a share in the eternal life of Christ.

You fault the Church for an errant ecumenism which the universal Church and Pope Benedict would not condone. Each can worship as his conscience dictates, but we would not blend the Christian dispensation into a mix with those outside the Judeo-Christian tradition. There can be separate acts of prayer, communal dialogue and debate, a cooperative exploration of the truth and a partnership in making a better world. But Catholics do not practice witchcraft, worship Buddha or any of the Hindu deities. National Socialism, along with Communism, was condemned by the popes, even prior to World War II. You hate the late pope for kissing a Koran as a sign of human respect to the one billion plus Moslems in the world, well, then so be it. But you are chasing ghosts because everyone knows that the pope places his faith in Jesus and not in Islam or Mohammad. Indeed, when Pope Benedict XVI urged Moslems to disavow violence as a means to bring about conversion, millions chanted, “Kill the Pope!” It seems that you might have more in common with these fanatics than the Holy Father. If the pope is truly the Vicar of Christ and you oppose and ridicule him, would this not make you an antichrist?

I am glad you married your wife because of love. I became a priest because of love. However, I always tried to act honestly and from conviction. My entire life is dedicated to God’s service, loving God by ministering to his people. While a teacher, I am also a perpetual student. We can disagree about various points, but I do not see lies. As a matter of fact, I would not accuse Protestant churches of lies, either. There are many good Protestant churchmen who study and teach and work with honesty and professionalism. You would not extend such courtesy to the Pope or to a lowly priest and pastor like me.

I am glad you still believe strongly in Jesus Christ. That may be the one element we share. The doctrine of purgatory is a facet of soteriology. We must be made perfect. The elect want to be made perfect. Everything is grace. We are redeemed, given faith and perfected by grace. We cannot save ourselves. Prayers for the dead are literally our way of adding our breath to that divine fire which purifies us like the gold in the furnace. In the end there will only be two realities, heaven and hell. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. There is no other way to the Father. This is basic Catholic teaching 101.

The stipends for Masses are gifts to the priest. At one time they were the only resources he had to live upon. But the priest will apply the fruits of his Mass even without remuneration for the effort. Ultimately, the sacraments are free. The priest is duty-bound to pray for his people, living and dead. It will be upon that, that he will be judged.

I can give you a long list of popes, bishops, priests, deacons and laity who accept and teach about purgatory. Looking at your list, did you know that Billy Graham has said that the Catholic Gospel is the same as his? Did you know that he contacts the local Catholic churches when he does revivals and sends Catholics who answer the altar call to Catholic churches? Did you know that he has shared his pulpit with Catholic clergy? Evidently he does not see the doctrine of purgatory as an impediment in witnessing the faith alongside Catholics. Do you really think that your venom would please him? I would not be surprised that you turn on him now, like so many other Fundamentalist bigots have chosen to do.

Sometimes the truth does hurt. You say it does not. But that is the problem, it is supposed to hurt. The freedom that we know demanded the great “hurt” of the Cross. Our Lord invites us to take up our crosses and follow him.

DENNIS:

I can no longer see any point in discussing things with someone who continues to assume so much about me.

FATHER JOE:

I assume nothing; you come out and reveal what you are about to us all.

DENNIS:

As for BILLY GRAHAM sharing the pulpit with catholics does not mean he believes in purgatory.

FATHER JOE:

But it does mean that he sees no problem with such a belief and views Catholicism as a saving Christian faith.

DENNIS:

By accepting JESUS as our savior he enters us and lives HIS life through us.

FATHER JOE:

Actually, by accepting Jesus we enter into his life and are transformed. There is a two-fold movement. We accept the redemptive intervention of Christ. We believe in the infusion of divine grace. We believe that Jesus enters us through the gift of Holy Communion. Jesus became a man (coming to us) that we might have a share in his divine and eternal life (entering into the divine mystery). You do not believe in such a transformation or becoming a new creation in Christ. Those who reject purgatory tend to subscribe to the old Lutheran view of juridical imputation. This has been labeled by one critic as salvation by disguise. We must enter into and make our own the mystery of Christ. Christianity is an incarnational religion. Christ lives in us. We must give birth to Christ’s presence, proclamation and activity through our lives.

DENNIS:

We are cleansed by the blood he shed for us.

FATHER JOE:

His blood makes possible the remission of sins.

DENNIS:

But basically you are saying that is not enough and that we need purgatory.

FATHER JOE:

No, you are saying that, Catholic teaching sees no conflict in the redemptive work of Jesus with purgatory. Our Lord makes possible our approach to God and our entry into heaven. We must still participate and accept his gift. Souls that belong to God but are not yet perfected, endure purgation as they approach heaven. Not all souls pass through purgatory.

DENNIS:

Purgatory therefore is a higher trump card than CHRIST.

FATHER JOE:

Purgatory is no trump card at all. Souls that pass through purgation are all headed toward heaven.

DENNIS:

As for the pope he is the head of the catholic church, not all Christianity.

FATHER JOE:

The Catholic Church is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. All true Christians are in some fashion, even if tenuously, attached to this Church. In that sense, Catholicism is the purest form and the true Christianity.

DENNIS:

As for calling me silly about the criminals, fine if you want to resort to name calling. But this is an issue I have prayed about and this is where God directed me. But as you have little respect for me you probably won’t believe me.

FATHER JOE:

What you said was silly. And please be honest, you never had any respect for me from the very beginning. How could you, since you regard the pope as the antichrist and me as one of his minions. What do I think about you personally? I do not think I actually shared much of anything about that, except for a deep disappointment. You pray, and that is good. Prayer is certainly positive. But remember the posture of humility and the need to feed your faith with truth.

DENNIS:

Also I will repeat that just because I don’t want to attend the catholic church anymore does not mean a defection from Christ.

FATHER JOE:

Only you can know this in your own conscience. As for me, any departure from the Church would constitute turning my back on Jesus.

DENNIS:

Also, I will credit you with teaching what you believe. It is just that I do not believe some of the catholic teachings and have moved on.

FATHER JOE:

That is fine. But remember, this is my blog. I have a right to express my faith here. I also get the last word.

DENNIS:

You say yourself there are only two realities, heaven and hell. I guess with purgatory no one will see hell.

FATHER JOE:

Why would you say this? The existence of hell is also Catholic doctrine. Once again, here is a statement that proves to me that you really do not understand Catholic teaching. Traditional Catholic eschatology is very clear. Some souls go straight to heaven (forever). Some souls go straight to hell (forever). Some souls go to heaven but pass through purgation (so that they can be perfect in heaven). Souls in purgatory have been forgiven. Like those in heaven, they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. All souls in purgatory will go to heaven. When the end comes and the final consummation, there will be two realities, heaven and hell. Purgatory will cease to exist.

DENNIS:

Again thanks for your time, and the many things that you have assumed about me which certainly don’t demonstrate love. To call someone a bigot is HORRIBLE. I would never refer to someone this way even if I thought that about them.

FATHER JOE:

You cannot have it both ways. You insult the pope as the antichrist and imply that Catholicism is involved with witchcraft and false religion. I am a priest; mock and malign the pope and the Church and you impugn me as well. I call it as I see it. I speak the hard truth in love. Yes, Dennis you are an anti-Catholic bigot. You might love Jesus but you have amply shown that you hate his Church. I am spiritually married to that Church and have given up wife and family to serve God with a single-hearted love. You probably feel that I have wasted my life. You have no love and no desire for priests or the sacrifice of the Mass in your life. I became a priest to offer the Mass for the living and the dead. I became a priest, so that like St. Paul, who was an ambassador for Christ and a minister of reconciliation, that I might bring our Lord’s forgiveness of sins to the lives of God’s people. This is not my job. This is my identity and vocation. But I guess I am talking to the wind. You are too far gone to understand. As you said, you have moved on. I will pray for you. Maybe one day you will wake up, and even if you do not come home to the Church, maybe you will again see that good Catholics are your Christian brothers and sisters? Enough said!

DEE:

Wrong! Jesus did not establish the Catholic Church. Read your history. The Catholic Church was established by the Pagan Sun Worshiper, Emperor Constantine, in 313 AD.

FATHER JOE:

I would not regard bigoted Jack Chick tracts to be a real or reliable portrayal and history of Catholicism. Would you say that people who like basketball are sun-worshippers for using a round ball? An image of the Holy Spirit as a dove surrounded by colorful stained-glass at St. Peter’s in Rome is hardly a pagan symbol! The Church uses many symbols and these are often misinterpreted (intentionally) by anti-Catholics. Catholics do not worship the sun but rather the one who created the sun. Read reliable history… the Catholic Church was instituted by Jesus Christ. After centuries of persecution and the blood of the Catholic martyrs, the Emperor Constantine made Christianity a lawful religion of the empire.

FABIOLE:

Wonderful discussion, Father Joe, your arguments are so clear that I believe in time those bigots could and will shed their anti-Catholic lenses. It’s a shame that one bad word against Blacks, Jews and Homosexuals would have the courts and others at one’s doorstep. But calling the Catholic names gets a pass. It’s no wonder that only intellectual Protestants convert to the true Church. One main reason is that they can read. We must pray for them so that they can see the truth and not be led by their anti-Catholic leaders who spit out hateful, unchristian and vile messages. They should practice what they preach and not spread hateful and untrue messages to their tiny flocks. Study the history of the Christian church, not from the 1500’s but back to the early Fathers of the Church! Clearly, many of the anti-Catholic participants to the discussion do not realize that the Bible was not put together until the third or fourth century. Also there is nothing in the Bible that supports Sola Scriptura or the Bible Alone.

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Catholic, Church, God, Holy Spirit, Pope, Saints, Salvation | 12 Comments »

God the Father & Priestly Fathers

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Father Joe

This discussion emerged within a series of comments from what is commonly regarded as an Internet troll or spammer. Typical of such efforts, the critic here uses the “cut-and-paste” method of extracting text from old anti-Catholic works and then inserting the material (without attestation) into the comment fields or message boards of others. The style change is the usual give-away. The modern media allows even a silly and ignorant anti-Catholicism a voice to plague Catholic sites and to tear down the faith of weak Catholics. While many would erase such comments, I try to turn them into teaching moments.

RONIE:

Mister Joe, I am sorry but I will not call you as others address you. Christ said call no man Father.

FATHER JOE:

I have discussed the issue of priestly fatherhood before, as well, but let me repeat myself:

“And call no one on earth your Father; for one is your Father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).

This is an example of a Scriptural literary form known as Hebraic Hyperbole. It is like the passage that admonishes tearing your eye out or cutting off your hand or foot. It is a way of speaking to give heightened emphasis. The fundamentalist reads everything as if the primary language is English and the author contemporary. This is also an example of taking a verse out of context and distorting its meaning. Verse eight says to call no one Rabbi or teacher. However, do we not use this word all the time? Further, if this line is absolute against Catholic priests who possess a spiritual fatherhood, then what about our foster fathers and biological fathers? It would have to apply there as well. Almost no one would agree to this. It is a wonderful sign of respect and relationship. The matter about which the Lord is concerned is that his disciples not imitate the Pharisees in their pride and hypocrisy, lording their positions over others. God is the true and ultimate Father of all. If any fatherhood does not flow from and participate in divine fatherhood, then it is a lie and oppressive. St. Paul speaks of himself as a spiritual father in his first letter to the Corinthians and admits that there are other such fathers, although not many. The shortage of vocations to the priesthood is still a matter with which we must deal.

[In speaking of our priorities] “He who loves FATHER or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).

[About marriage] “For this cause a man shall leave his FATHER and mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Matthew 19:5).

[Placing discipleship to Jesus first] “And everyone who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or FATHER, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting” (Matthew 19:29). {see also Mark 10:29}

[Abraham is called father] “For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham who is the FATHER of all of us, …” (Romans 4:16). {see also Romans 4:11-12,17}

[Treatment of elders] “Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as a FATHER” (1 Timothy 5:1).

[Enduring trials] “For what ’son’ is there whom his FATHER does not discipline?” (Hebrews 12:7). {see also Hebrews 12:9}

[My favorite and very similar to calling the priest, Father] “I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many FATHERS, for I became your FATHER in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you to be imitators of me” (1 Corinthians 4:14-16).

RONIE:

Dear Mister Joe, this is in regard to your answer to me and the text:

“Matthew 23:9 – And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”

Sorry but I have to say this, you are out of context. The “Father” in the above text refers to “God the Father,” which is Spiritual, and the verses to which you refer, like Matthew 19:29, Mark 10:29, Romans 4:16, refer to our earthly fathers. The fathers of our flesh must be called fathers, and as such we must give them reverence; but God only must be allowed as the Father of our spirits, (Heb. 12:9). Our religion must not be derived from or made dependent upon any man. Our flesh fathers do not have authoritative power over men’s consciences in matters of faith and obedience, in which God and Christ are only to be attended. Christ’s sense is that he would have his disciples not fond of any titles of honor at all. Much less would he have them assume authority over men, as if they were to depend on them— as the founders of the Christian religion— the authors of its doctrines and ordinances— and to take that honor to themselves which did not belong to them. Neither would he have them even choose to be called by such names, as it would lead people to entertain too high an opinion of them. It would take off of their dependence on God the Father.

You know Mister Joe, these titles the scribes and Pharisees love to be called. Kindly check your verse in 1 Corinthians 4:14-16. I notice that there is a text “for I became your father” which is not found in the Greek text. I more agree on this verse found in the KJV below:

1 Corinthians 4:14: “I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.”

1 Corinthians 4:15: “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”

1 Corinthians 4:16: “Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.”

FATHER JOE:

The proper title for a cleric is Father, Reverend or Pastor. Why should I spend any time with a person who begins with a deliberate act of disrespect? But given that our Lord would want repentance and conversion for both the ignorant and the bigoted who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, I will try to make a short response. Admittedly, I have little confidence that anything I might say will penetrate the walls fabricated by those who are obstinate against the truth and closed to the movement of divine grace.

You begin by seeking to “clarify” this text: “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9). Actually it is best that we look at the entire section and our Lord’s use of Hebraic hyperbole (verses 1 to 12):

Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

The authority of the Church instituted by Christ would eventually supersede that of Moses and his successors in leadership, the Pharisees. The bishops of the Catholic Church sit in the seats of the apostles. The popes govern from the Chair of Peter. Jesus establishes both a new People of God and the accompanying authority. Our Lord was critical about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and pleaded with his apostles that it should not be so with them. He gave them the example of the foot-washing and urged humility in service. The hyperbole stresses that the ministers of the Church should not seek earthly rewards, titles and esteem, but rather that imperishable treasure of being in right relationship with God. The titles rabbi, father and teacher (or master) would continue to be used. Even St. Paul speaks of himself as a spiritual father. Lost in translation is the peculiar Hebrew form of stressing a point by pushing a matter to absurdity: call no man father or teacher or rabbi; if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. These matters were never meant to be understood in a literal fashion. Apart from the truth of Christ, no one is a genuine teacher. In conflict with the fatherhood of God, no fatherhood is genuine.

You say that my reference to “father” is out of context. You must be kidding! You are the one who gives no real context at all. Indeed, you treat Scripture as if it were written originally in English. Instead of respecting the message and historical setting, you offer an illogical and contrived explanation that goes against the practices and writings of the early Christians. They were close to the source and were in a position to know the truth. They did not understand this text as you do.

The text cannot be dissected as you attempt. The meaning is that there is no true fatherhood which usurps or conflicts with the fatherhood of God. This includes both spiritual fathers (as with St. Paul) and with our biological or adopted fathers. Matthew 19:29 and Mark 10:29 speaks about the family of the Church and the communion of the saints. Romans 4:15 makes mention of Abraham as our father in faith. God calls him forth and his family becomes a tribe and later a nation. He is a crucial starting point in the history of salvation.

The texts you cite either contradict or do not support your view. The Church sees herself as a family and addresses God in her prayers as FATHER MOST HOLY. Priests, bishops and popes are spiritual fathers in that they perpetuate the teachings and mission of Jesus Christ. The Church fully subscribes to the understanding of her membership as brothers and sisters to one another. In faith and baptism, Jesus is our elder brother and Mary is the queen mother. We are adopted sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. The reference to earthly fathers means any type of fatherhood here on earth. Our mortal fathers, no matter if biological, adopted or spiritual, must reflect divine fatherhood or else they are false. There is nothing here that says that biological fathers are exempt. Further, your citation of Romans 4:16 is in reference to Abraham, not almighty God. He is called the father of all.

Parents are the primary educators of their children in the faith. They constitute the “little church.” You wrong Christian fathers by reducing them to roosters who service hens. St. Paul tells us that the Christian husband/father is the head of the home just as Christ is the head of the Church.

You next write (uncorrected here as above for grammar): “Christ’s sense is, that he would have his disciples not fond of any titles of honor at all, and much less assume an authority over men, as if they were to depend on them, as the founders of the Christian religion, the authors of its doctrines and ordinances, and to take that honor to themselves, which did not belong to them, nor even choose to be called by such names, as would lead people to entertain too high an opinion of them, and take off of their dependence on God the Father.” What you write is absolute gibberish. Indeed, your run-on sentence even defies linguistic diagramming. And yet it makes more sense than what you usually write. Of course, you did not write it. You stole it. You plagiarized. You borrowed the work and genius of another to foster the pretense of knowing what you are talking about. These are not your words, but those of one who was a polemicist against Catholic claims. As I said before, you prefer parroting the enemies of the Church instead of learning objectively and directly from her own mouth. These words come from an EXPOSITION OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE written (between 1746 to 1763) by John Gill.

The commentary here is not your own and I dislike dialoguing with cut-and-paste intellectual thieves. However, despite this and the convoluted language, I will try my best to parse it out. Our Lord was not so much against titles as he was concerned that “show” not replace “substance.” The title “apostle” itself becomes one of great distinction. Our Lord was often called “master” or “teacher” or “rabbi.” He explicitly gave his authority to his apostles and sent them out to baptize the nations. He explicitly gave Peter the power of the keys and the power to loosen or bind over sin. He tells him, after the resurrection, to feed his sheep and to care for his flock. It is quite evident that Jesus gave them such authority as shepherds to the community. This authority would be passed down to others. Failure to see this demonstrates your blindness to important passages in the Word of God. Jesus, himself, was the founder of the Christian religion, i.e. the Catholic Church. He is the ultimate source of revelation. He would send his Spirit to insure the Church’s fidelity to the truth, the doctrines and ordinances that men should know and follow. As I have mentioned before, the great apostle Paul spoke about himself as a spiritual father. There was no prohibition, either about the title or the function. The spiritual title of FATHER given to a priest in no way detracts from the fatherhood of God. Indeed, he becomes a flesh-and-blood symbol of God’s abiding love and mercy in the faith community.

Just because the Pharisees allowed their titles to go to their heads does not mean that such must always be the case for others. The title “father” is an expression of endearment.

“I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you” (1 Cor. 4:14).

Paul admonishes the Corinthians as his beloved children. There is definitely a fatherly relationship.

“For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15).

This is a somewhat archaic Protestant translation. A better translation is the RSV, also Protestant (but acceptable to Catholics):

“For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

The reference to “father” is in the Greek text as is the term for being begotten of a father:

ἐὰν γὰρ μυρίους παιδαγωγοὺς ἔχητε ἐν Χριστῷ ἀλλ’ οὐ πολλοὺς
πατέρας ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ
διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς ἐγέννησα

“Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me” (1 Cor. 4:16).

More than followers, he is literally urging them to imitate him. He sends Timothy as his emissary and calls him his “Beloved and faithful son in the Lord.” The spiritual fatherhood of every priest is akin to that of the apostle Paul.

A brief aside:

While I might sound harsh at times (in this and other posts), it is hard not to become emotionally involved about matters that priests take very personally. Critics would strip priests of their spiritual fatherhood and label them as minions of Satan and/or the anti-Christ. There have been a few deletions of the more insensitive material in this particular post.

Is it impolite for a priest to offer correction and to be blunt?

Is it rude to speak the truth?

I received criticism to this effect, and apparently from a Catholic. But the person in this post, and those narrated in others, often do not come for a sincere and simple discussion, but rather, to ridicule the priesthood and the Church. I try not to be hurtful. I avoid foul language. Nevertheless, I stand by my negative assessment of such anti-Catholicism and the poor people who swallow and spout it. Some people are moved by gentleness and others must be shaken up a bit. We see this in the ministry of Jesus where he was gentle with the outcasts and marginalized but harsh with others like the scribes, lawyers and pharisees.

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Apostles, Bible, Catholic, Church, Faith, Fatherhood, God | 3 Comments »

The Catholic Church, Salvation & Peter

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Father Joe

MARTHA LEE:

The Catholic Church according to its practice and compared to Biblical injunctions is tantamount to a cult.

FATHER JOE:

Actually, it is more likely that your religion is the cult. Catholicism is true religion and the Church directly instituted by Jesus Christ. Catholicism is the most genuine form of Christianity.

RONIE:

Mr. Joe, can you tell me in your own understanding the meaning of Church?

FATHER JOE:

Mister Joe?

The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ.
The Church is the great Sacrament of Salvation.
The Church is the House that Jesus built.
The Church is that community of faith which receives its life from the Eucharist.
The Church is built on the foundation of Christ (invisible head) and the ROCK of Peter (visible head).

This information is elsewhere on this site. Look it up next time.

DENNIS:

Purgatory is a myth and Peter was Jewish so how could he be the first pope. I am no longer going to the catholic church because it is all symbolism over substance. It will be a pope (HOLY FATHER…WHAT A JOKE) who will be the antichrist or at least be very supportive. I joined the catholic church before getting married 29 years ago and I told my wife who is catholic that many things the church did were wrong. After many years she agrees and my daughter has taken religious courses that prove the evils that exist.

FATHER JOE:

In the course of God’s progressive revelation to his people, the Jews had come to believe in both an afterlife and that atonement could be made for the dead. Jesus speaks about the afterlife drawing from the analogy of a debtor’s prison where none could be released until the last penny was paid. While the passion and death of Christ makes possible our redemption, he desires that we have both a saving personal faith in him and a corporate faith as members of his new People of God, the Church. Purgation is a sign of God’s gracious mercy. We must be transformed by grace and made perfect for heaven. If we belong to God, then he will finish what is started in this world. The saints of purgatory are all destined for heaven. As they approach the fire of God’s love, that eternal flame burns away the last vestiges of sin and vice. Temporal punishment is appeased and we are made truly holy. Such is no more a myth than our abiding faith that our Lord has gone ahead of us and that he prepares a place in heaven for his children.

The first called by Jesus were the Hebrew people. Salvation comes from the Jews. The apostles were all Jewish and yet at the Last Supper our Lord instituted both the priesthood and the Eucharist. Just as there are Semitic Catholics today, Peter was both Jewish and the visible head of Christ’s Church, the Catholic Church. They became the first Catholics.

You probably never really understood your Catholic faith to really know what you were rejecting. Did you ever sit down with a priest and ask your questions? Did you take advantage of adult faith formation in your parish? The odds are that you did not. There is no conflict between sacred signs and a faith of real substance. The problem is that you may never have known where to look for that substance or the meat of faith.

The Pope or Holy Father has even written a personal reflection on the life of Christ, now in two volumes. He preaches and witnesses to our Lord. Be careful of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. If God does protect Pope Benedict XVI and the faith and morals he teaches, then you slander not men but God. Only ignorant men filled with hatred would call the Pope by the demonic name of “antichrist.” Be careful that the joke is not on you.

You did not have to join the Catholic Church to get married in the Church. The fact that you entered a Church in which you placed no faith is tragic. It says nothing against the Church but volumes about your own lack of integrity and discretion. Why would you lie and say you believed when you did not? You should have shared your reservations then and withheld your prejudiced venom now.

I suspect that you undermined your wife’s weak faith and now delight that your child has also been stolen from the Church. Am I supposed to take these remarks seriously? I challenge you to bring your family to a strong parish-run Catholic instruction program. Bring your questions to the priest. You assume many things and there are plenty of misguided ministers ready to steer you away from Catholicism… not with a positive message of their own, but with a negative message against the Roman Catholic Church. They build themselves up by tearing others down. My Church preaches love, not hate.

RONIE:

It is very clear. By the way, your explanation about church is different and it is more complex. You know church is not a house or a building, Church is called the Bride of Christ, and also is called the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). Its members all have different functions. It is composed of saved and baptized believers; that’s why Christ love the Church. The word “Church” in Greek is “ekklesia” which means “called out assembly.” Peter is not the rock because the 12 disciples, knowing well the Old Testament, recognized the Rock as a description or name for God.

“He is the Rock, His word is perfect” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

“The Lord is my Rock, and my fortress…” (Psalm 18:2).

“For Who is God save the Lord? Or who is a Rock save our God” (Psalm 18:31).

We see here that there is no other Rock than God, not even Peter. Jesus Christ is the foundation Rock on which the Church is built. Oh, by the way Mr. Joe, Peter did not even reach Rome. The only man who was sent by God to preach to the Gentiles was Paul. Also, if Peter is your first Pope, why until now are priests not allowed to marry, since Peter had a wife? (see Matthew 8:14)

FATHER JOE:

I am not sure what you read, but I have spoken numerous times about the Church as the bride of Christ. Indeed, the Mass is a sacramental participation in the marriage banquet of heaven. This Church is one and the same with the Catholic Church. The members of the Church have different functions and gifts. We make distinctions between the clergy and the laity. Baptized believers with faith in Jesus live in the hope of their salvation. Your reference to the “saved” might be criticized under the sin of presumption. Jesus loves the Church as his own body.

The term “ekklesia” was originally a political term for the calling together of an assembly. It becomes descriptive of the assembly of the Church. Christ calls us both to a personal faith in him and to a CORPORATE faith as his Church. I suspect that you would tend to minimize this latter understanding. No one is saved apart from Christ; no one is saved apart from the Church.

Moving on, I am sorry, but Peter is the ROCK because Jesus said so.

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it,” (Matt. 16:18).

Our Lord is the foundation stone of the Church. He gives something of his own authority to Peter and his successors to shepherd his flock. There is no contradiction in that Jesus is also called our rock of safety and refuge. Peter is literally a chip off the old block.

There is ample historical evidence that Peter reached Rome. The problem you face is that you exclude any information not put forward in the Bible. That would also exclude the works of the Church fathers and the legacy of the saints. Or maybe this is not true? You do seem to esteem the interpretive works of reformation anti-Catholics like Gill even more than the Bible. Excavations have discovered the tomb and the bones of Peter, clearly marked. The Holy See sits upon the twin pillars of Peter and Paul. As for priests getting married, the fact that Peter has a wife says nothing about the discipline of celibacy as practiced by Jesus, Paul and others. Celibacy is not so much a doctrinal matter as it is one of Church discipline. Disciplines can change or even be revoked; doctrines cannot.

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Apostles, Bible, Catholic, Church, Evangelization, Faith | Leave a comment »

The Catholic Church is NOT a Cult

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Father Joe

This is a follow up discussion from the initial debate with Nicholas who runs an anti-Catholic website. The following discussion shows that he has many bedfellows.

KYRIE:

Deuteronomy 4:2: “Never add anything to what I command you, or take anything away from it. Then you will be able to obey the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.”

What part of “Never” is unclear?

“Come out of her my people” (Revelation 18:4).

FATHER JOE:

The Catholic Church is faithful to Christ. Those who would use these verses against Catholicism are themselves seriously in the wrong. They minimize or reject the significance of the Church. Jesus said that such critics would best have a millstone tied around their necks and be thrown into the sea before leading any of the little ones astray. Jesus established the Catholic Church. He promised us that the gates of hell would not prevail against her! (Acts 12:1-24)

ROB:

The question at hand is whether or not the Catholic church is a cult. I’d like to expand the discussion by asking you if you think a cult is a religious system whose dogma is adhered to at least as much as its quest for fostering spiritual growth. Far too many times I’ve encountered churches that put more energy into kneeling, standing, kneeling again, standing again, etc, until I wonder if I’ll have any cartilage in my knees when it’s over. Church services shouldn’t be choreographed. Spirituality is supposed to be the main focus. Cults seem to place extremely tight and rigid emphasis on all the pomp and circumstance in lieu of fostering healthy relationships with our Heavenly Father. Tragically, that seems to be the case with Catholic churches.

FATHER JOE:

Actually, it is the other way around. Cults usually minimize liturgy and sacraments. Ritual is formalized to ensure the fidelity of faith and worship. Remember, that Catholicism is both a corporate and a personal faith. As for pomp, the reformed liturgy is not sensational at all. It essentially consists of the LITURGY OF THE WORD and the LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST. It is fairly simple really. But the meaning it has for God’s people is tremendous. As for liturgical gestures, it is a sad truth that many do not understand what they fully signify.

KOLOSTYAK:

Is this is a joke, or a bad joke? The Church is a cult. It’s not a Branch Dividian-esque cult, but that doesn’t change the applicability of the word. With words as the topic, read up on “pride.” Have a debate on the merits of that topic. There is at least one seminarian who thinks there is such a thing as “good pride.” *cough*

FATHER JOE:

Better watch your cough, because your cold seems to have affected your head and thinking. Webster defines cult as “a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious.” The Catholic Church is the Mother Church of all Christianity. She is not a cult but represents true Christianity. I am unsure what you mean by “pride” unless you are trying to make a homosexual connection. Are you a gay seminarian?

JAMIE LEE:

[Comments deleted.]

FATHER JOE:

Let me intrude to admit that I deleted the pages of anti-Catholic garbage that you purloined from a bigoted website (I traced it with GOOGLE). The sources go back to the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing movement of the 1800’s. It is a shame that anti-Catholics must rely upon ignorant half-truths and outright lies to make their points; but, prejudice has never been known for its honesty and reliance upon reason.

JAMIE LEE:

I have read all the commentary above and strongly disagree with all of the Catholic arguments and some of the Protestant arguments. Some of these I will gladly address at a later date as I am short on time at the moment. The one thing I want to leave for the moment is a bit of a history lesson specifically for our friend Father Joe. This is also a lesson that others may mull over and respond to at their own discretion. A full discussion on the matter is quite welcomed. Father Joe has stated quite clearly that “Jesus established the Catholic Church”. This, sir, is an erroneous statement. Jesus established followers of our Fathers Word and His teachings…His followers (Christians) established a church, soon to have separated into many different belief systems based on what THEY thought were the teachings of our Christ Jesus.

FATHER JOE:

Sorry, but it will not wash. Study the Church any further back than five centuries and the Church you encounter in the West is the Roman Catholic Church. The fracturing of the Church came with the printing press and political rivalry between princes. Our Lord made the apostles his bishop-priests at the Last Supper. He gave us the Eucharist and gave to the Church the power of the keys to forgive sins. Read the Bible and the writings of the Fathers of the first few centuries. The vision they give us of the Church is very Catholic. The Bible itself was ratified at the Council of Hippo. It is a Catholic book!

JAMIE LEE:

Many of the ‘rituals’ and ‘beliefs’ and ’symbols’ of Catholicism were stolen from the pagans when the Church went out and conquered their lands, forcing them to build Catholic churches on the sites of their pagan temples. Thus the Catholic church received many things from the pagans they slaughtered and conquered in the name of God.

FATHER JOE:

Catholic Christianity brought Jesus to both Jews and pagans. The Church sought to transform and Christianize a pagan world. Centuries of Christians faced torture and murder. The early martyrs were Catholics in a Church persecuted by pagan Rome. Pagans killed Catholics, not the other way around. However, this Church would one day come up victorious. The beliefs were handed down from the apostles as the deposit of faith. Jesus told the apostles to go out to the whole world and to baptize in the name of the Trinity: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Ablutions were often followed with anointing and here we have the accompanying confirmation. Jesus took bread and wine and said this is my body; this is the cup of my blood (of a new covenant). He made the apostles his first bishop-priests by telling them to “do this in remembrance of me.” He told them that they would have the power to forgive sins and St. Paul calls the shepherds, “ministers of reconciliation.” The epistle of James speaks about the sacrament of the sick and how the priests of the Church bring healing to others. The wedding feast of Cana is where our Lord performed his first sign; Jesus is imaged as the groom and the Church as his bride. Every marriage as a sacrament points to this reality.

JAMIE LEE:

To this day in some churches in Europe, you can look up in the rafters of many churches and see what is called the “foillate mask.” This is a portrayal of the pagan god, Pan, left behind by the slaves of the countryside who were forced to build these monolithic buildings of worship.

FATHER JOE:

Such a charge is absolute nonsense! You just oppose the artistry and beauty of the great cathedrals. By the way, it is called a “foliate mask” and such is simply a carved face. Our places of worship were built and decorated as a way as to raise our thoughts to heaven. Some of the great churches took generations to build. They were built by people in love with Christ and wanting to please God by the gift of their craft and hard work. These churches are testimonies of faith!

JAMIE LEE:

On the same note, this is also how it came to be that the ‘Church’ started to worship Mary as the ‘Queen of Heaven.’ The pagans, being forced to worship our Lord, built a statue in the likeness of their goddess Diana and handed over it to the officials stating that it was the image of the mother of God. This way they were able to go to the ‘Catholic’ church and ‘worship,’ but really the whole time they were paying homage to their own deities.

FATHER JOE:

Pick up a reliable history book and you will find a different story. The Christians destroyed many idols but discovered that statues once dedicated to pagan deities could sometimes be salvaged and given a new and worthwhile meaning. A statue of a woman holding a child made them immediately think about Mary and the baby Jesus. You probably oppose any type of religious art. As for the title MOTHER OF GOD, it was known in the East as the THEOTOKOS. It regards a form of communication through idioms. Mary is a creature like you and me. However, her child is the God-Man. The title does not make Mary into a goddess; rather, it defends the full divine personhood of Jesus Christ. Those who opposed the title (Nestorians) were charged with denying or compromising this divinity. You have actually fallen into an ancient Christian heresy. Do you believe that Jesus is God come down from heaven? If not, then you are not even a Christian, of any sort!

JAMIE LEE:

There are many other instances to be discussed here, and I assure you that this and all the others I have in mind to post be historical fact and may be looked up and studied.

FATHER JOE:

Sorry, there is no history in your distortions, just angry fantasy.

JAMIE LEE:

I leave you now with this thought; if Jesus established the Catholic Church, then why were Paul, the rest of the apostles and the followers of Christ in the time of the Bible not holding the same ceremonies as the Church does today? Answer: They are the rites of man, thought up and adopted by man and are a shear pompous expression of man, a proclamation to be the only way to God. I am sorry my friend, but Jesus did NOT create the Catholic Church and only HE is the true way to the Father.

FATHER JOE:

I have often detailed how all the sacraments of the Church find their source in the Gospels. Indeed, St. Paul gives us the institution narrative of our Lord at the Last Supper and says that he hands on what he received. As an apostle-priest this is literally the wording he used in offering the Mass! While the Church has made various adaptations, the sacraments, called MYSTERIES in the early Church, were instituted by Jesus. The Church uses words, ritual and art to bring men and women to the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Church is the great sacrament of our encounter with Christ, his mystical body as detailed in Scripture. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. But, you know neither our Lord nor his Church as you ought.

JAMIE LEE:

Oh, dear Father Joe, I mean no disrespect by the things I say, but I can clearly see that the facts I have pointed out have deeply disturbed you and have made you angry. This, I assure you, were certainly not my intentions. I must say that I find it quite disturbing that you would delete my latest entry that I borrowed from another web site. Isn’t it better that the others who read this great debate understand the depth of it. This ‘anti-catholic garbage’ as you call it should be the center of discussion.

FATHER JOE:

Then those who wrote it and not those who purloined it are the ones to initiate the discussion. Copying and pasting pages of material into the comments fields is a practice of spammers and flamers. I doubt non-Catholic bloggers would like to have the entire Catholic Encyclopedia downloaded to their sites.

JAMIE LEE:

To set the record straight dear friend, I am in fact a Christian, a devoted one at that. I’m just not a Catholic. I seek God where ever I may find Him and yearn for his presence in my life daily. My wife, on the other hand, IS a Catholic. I have yet to understand many things, but I’m sure that our thoughts and beliefs can be shared and discussed in more detail as time allows.

FATHER JOE:

Sharing and dialogue is not what you did. You posted anti-Catholic material that is rooted in half-truths and outright lies. Even many educated Protestants would have rejected the material I deleted. Much of it has already been covered in past discussions.

JAMIE LEE:

I will debate more later on, though I do wish you had allowed for that borrowed piece to be a foundation for the upcoming days. God bless you Father.

FATHER JOE:

I am a busy pastor. I can discuss one topic at a time but not volumes of propaganda. Keep your comments short and to the point. Also, make them original. I am not interested in debating bigots who have already been dead a century or more. If you are going to question Catholic teachings, then use Catholic source materials. It will save us a lot of unnecessary corrections. Peace!

MICHAEL:

Jamie Lee, Jamie Lee, you’re having a discussion with a man who gave up his entire life to be with and to serve God alone. Give the man the benefit of the doubt by maintaining an open mind. Fr. Joe is very right. You know that God doesn’t tell us everything. Why? Because if He revealed it all to us right now we would die. This peanut-size brain of ours couldn’t handle it and our eyes aren’t capable of seeing it, YET. We wouldn’t have the need for any faith either. God preserves these things for us in the next life.

Your remarks remind me of those of St. Thomas the apostle after the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus did indeed create the Catholic Church through St. Peter (one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic). These are the four true marks of Christ’s real Church here on earth.

FATHER JOE:

Jamie probably has a perfectly normal brain. The trouble is that it has been filled with poisonous ideas. Christians can disagree about their interpretation, but the facts of history are pretty clear.

JAMIE LEE:

Well Father Joe, I must say, I am a little disappointed that at this time you are not interested in a debate with me. I myself am trying to understand your beliefs and WHY anyone would hold to them. As I said previously, my wife is Catholic though she does not practice her faith. There are many points I would like to discuss.

FATHER JOE:

I would suggest you visit CATHOLIC ANSWERS. They have full-time apologists ready to play with you. Right now, I have finished a funeral, come back from the Confirmation retreat, just concluded Palm Sunday Masses, attended Confirmation prep, still have sick calls to perform, a family counseling appointment, two house blessings, and all the Holy Week and Easter services with which to deal. Your life might be empty, but mine is full.

JAMIE LEE:

I do have a question for you though; By ‘Catholic source materials’ do you mean material written by and for Catholics? Is this the material I should get my arguments and future material for debate from?

FATHER JOE:

Yes, look to primary sources, starting with the Bible, writings of the Church fathers, Papal and conciliar teachings, and approved catechetical texts, etc.

JAMIE LEE:

I’m trying to keep this short my friend, but I just have a couple of questions, if you would please answer without thinking me long winded: Why do you burn incense in the church?

FATHER JOE:

Incense was once used in processions because the streets were smelly. Church use can be traced to Jewish usage. The sweet smell symbolizes the odor of sanctity and the rising smoke represents our prayer ascending to heaven. It is symbolic language or ritual. There is nothing supernatural about the sacramental of incense. It adds to a ceremony as do flowers and candles and such.

JAMIE LEE:

Why must I confess my sins to a Priest?

FATHER JOE:

Not all sin must be confessed to a priest, although Catholics are urged to bring all serious sins to their Confessor. The authority goes back to Christ:

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:19–23).

We have not only an individual relationship with God but also a corporate relationship with Christ, in the Church. The sacrament of penance makes possible our spiritual healing as part of something greater than ourselves. Sin hurts the whole body of the Church. The priest represents both Christ and the Church. While we can ask for personal forgiveness, the absolution of the priest heals us as members of the Church.

JAMIE LEE:

And lastly for now, how does praying to Mary repetitively after confession absolve me of said confessed sin to a Priest?

FATHER JOE:

Repeating the Hail Mary after Confession does not absolve you from sins. It is a possible penance (other prayers and/or acts could be substituted) demonstrating our repentance and making amends for the temporal punishment due to sin.

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Catholic, Church, Evangelization | 24 Comments »

Responding to an Attack Upon Catholicism

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Father Joe

PAUL: You people are very sick.

FATHER JOE: You are very angry and judgmental about Catholicism. Are you a fallen-away Catholic? Many Catholics find comfort and helpful guidance in Catholic faith and values. You are too quick to tear down and attack that for which you seem to lack authentic understanding. Sin is the sickness, not religious faith. You are no better than the people you ridicule. You are also a weak sinner who needs Jesus and his mercy.

PAUL: The Catholic Church has made so many “rules” that do not even exist in the Bible.

FATHER JOE: The Catholic Church has rules for good order, but the commandments and the ecclesial precepts find their basis in the Decalogue given to Moses and the two commandments of love from Christ. We also believe in natural law. God gave us reason to appreciate the harmony and order of his creation. Values that reflect divine positive law and natural law are not capricious.

PAUL: Since when do “men” speak for God or Christ?

FATHER JOE: As for men speaking for God, such is the witness of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles. Our Lord, himself, while critical of the hypocrisy of Pharisees, admonished the Jewish people to do as they say and not as they do. Jesus establishes a new covenant people and gives the Church’s leadership something of his authority. The Church is entrusted with the Gospel and even collects the books and letters that would constitute the New Testament and the complete Christian Bible. Men in the Church have also been responsible for the translation of the Scriptures. Apart from the community, and men wise in the ways of God, you would not even know God’s Word. If men and women did not pass on the faith, you would not know Jesus or the story of salvation. The Catholic Church was preaching the Good News before there was a complete Christian bible and while the Gospels were only an oral tradition.

PAUL: Where in the Bible does it say one should confess sins to another man, say a few Hail Marys, Our Fathers (and of course put some $$$ in the box!) to be forgiven? PLEASE show me this. IT does not exist.

FATHER JOE:

Jesus, being God, knew the hearts of men. Nevertheless, sinners still needed to repent and believe. Priests have the authority to forgive sins, but few have the power to read souls or minds. That is why the confession of sins is crucial, making possible an adequate penance and counsel. The prayers or acts of penance and/or mortification show God our thankfulness for his mercy and make a certain degree of reparation for temporal punishment due to sin. There is precedent for confession in the Old Testament: Leviticus 5:5, Leviticus 26:40-42, Hosea 5:15, Job 33:27-28, Joshua 7;19, Jeremiah 3:13, and Proverbs 28:13.

Tithing or support for the Church is a Christian obligation; however, it is not normally an element of penance arising from the Sacrament of Confession. The Lord gives priests something of his authority so that they might perpetuate his ministry of reconciliation. We read in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11: “Whomever you forgive anything, so do I. For indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for you in the presence of Christ, so that we might not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not unaware of his purposes.” St. Paul goes on to write: “And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Another important text is 1 John 19: “If we acknowledge [confess] our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.” There is also James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.” Looking at the Gospels, texts like Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18 are important. Often cited is John 20:21-23: “(Jesus) said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’”

PAUL: What good does it do me to pray to Mary? She cannot save ANYONE. Only Christ can forgive your sins. Pray to him, not some guy in a fancy box who will then give you his recommended “Penance.” How ridiculous!

FATHER JOE: Yes, only Christ can forgive sins, but the ministry of Jesus is perpetuated and mediated within the saving community of the Church. Penitents receive absolution from a priest, but the proper object of the prayers is always God. Indeed, even prayers to Mary and the other saints, while they invoke intercession and solidarity, are still directed to God. Those who have already made it to the promised shore continue to love and pray for us. The graces from the deposit of the saints can also be accessed. Nothing is lost. Christ is present and his saving work is active in his Mystical Body, the Church. Confession is a sacrament that can be conducted behind a screen or face-to-face. There is nothing ridiculous about this. Indeed, it is beautiful. God loves us and gives us all we need for spiritual perfection.

PAUL: Catholics need to read their own Bible and quit making up their own human rules!

FATHER JOE: Catholics have wonderful bibles and the Scriptures are proclaimed at and substantiate the Mass and Reconciliation. Human rules or disciplines in the Church amplify the law of God and give order to our Christian discipleship. Such is the mandate given to the apostles and their successors as our lawful shepherds.

PAUL: Please tell me where in the Bible sins are labeled as “mortal”? — MORE Catholic rubbish.

FATHER JOE: For someone who argues “sola scriptura,” you seem to be in great ignorance of biblical truths. It is sad that someone who claims to be a Christian would insult learned believers who take their faith seriously. The Bible teaches degrees to sin. All sin, even “venial” or lesser sin, is disobedience and a failure to love as we should. However, certain sins are most grave and bring upon us the sentence of death, in other words, these are “mortal” sins which kill the soul and breech our relationship with God. The Old Testament admits to degrees of sin (see Genesis 18:20). The New Testament amplifies this truth (see John 19:11). Just as our Lord could raise the dead, the absolution in the sacrament of penance can restore a contrite soul back to life. “If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly” (1 John:16-17).

PAUL: Just step into our church, sit down and let us read you a few verses, then we’ll pass the basket around again for a few more of your hard earned dollars… I have been to Rome and viewed all the wealth the Catholic Church has managed to gather from “devout Catholics.”

FATHER JOE: Participation at church is more than just going through the motions. Most parishes and Catholic pastors struggle to be good stewards of the resources given us by God’s good people. We do not preach a prosperity gospel but witness in a way that brings the truth to ignorance, healing to the hurting and hope to the oppressed. The Church is a treasury of the Western world’s history and culture. But she is also the refuge of a billion people in this world and many more in the next who count Jesus Christ as both their personal and corporate Savior. The Pope intervenes annually for the poor and collections are taken the world over to cover the shortfall. Would you have us sell all our churches for secular condos and for shopping malls? Your bigotry betrays your reason.

PAUL: My wife was refused entry into the famous “Vatican” because her shoulders were not completely covered. Christ said bring ALL sinners, He has no Dress Code for his house! I found it very funny how a young girl in line ahead of us (most likely 8 years of age and obviously a virgin) was allowed in without her shoulders covered at all, yet a married woman was not! MORE Catholic B.S.!

FATHER JOE: The dress code for the Vatican and meeting the Pope is well documented. The problem was that you and your wife did not respect the Holy Father enough to make proper preparations. Comparing the status of an adult woman with a child and then making a comment about her sexual condition shows the great depth of your spiritual sickness and moral depravity. All churches have dress codes of one sort or another, the same for synagogues and mosques. Would you have churches allow people to enter with vulgar tee-shirts or naked? As for our Lord, he told a parable that you have evidently forgotten: “But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:11-14). Every Mass is a sacramental participation in the heavenly marriage banquet. Our dress and posture should show the proper respect, not simply to the Pope, but to almighty God. Tell your wife to cover up next time.

PAUL: NO ONE could ever convince me that this cult called Catholicism is true followers of Christ. The weak minded will believe ANYTHING these “men” tell them and empty their pockets if they are convinced it will get them to Heaven.

FATHER JOE: If you believed Catholicism was a cult then why would you even try to enter the Vatican? Were you up to no good? The weakness of argument and mind is yours. You throw out straw man arguments that are parroted from old anti-Catholic sources. I hear a lot of prejudice and anger speaking, but little in the way of reasoned argument. Typical of your type, you falsely characterize Catholic beliefs and then you attack what you yourself have fashioned. No one can buy his or her way into heaven. The Catholic Church has taught for 2,000 years that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. Jesus is the anointed one or Christ. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

PAUL: All people really need to do is READ THE BIBLE THEMSELVES and understand that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL!

FATHER JOE: The Bible was once used in arguments for slavery. You cannot use the Bible like a moral manual. However, I will admit the there is much in the Scriptures, particularly in the message of Christ, which stresses the inherent worth and dignity of all men and women. St. Paul makes mention that in Christ there is neither free nor slave, Jew nor Gentile, male nor female… all are called to the saving grace of our baptismal faith. Man was made in the image of God. The forgiveness of sins restores our full likeness.

PAUL: Just because some guy wears a fancy robe (and a KKK hat) doesn’t make him (or her) any “holier” than anyone else on this planet. Nor does it give him (them) the divinity to make some “new heavenly rules”!

FATHER JOE: The racist KKK is also historically anti-Catholic and you are mouthing many of their old slanders against the Catholic Church. The robes do not give our shepherds their authority. It is given to them by Christ. They share in the apostolic succession that keeps us in both historical and spiritual unity with Christ. The apostles passed on their authority and we still proclaim the ancient faith. Christianity did not begin as a book religion. As I have written before, the Church was proclaiming the Gospel and baptizing new believers even before there was a New Testament. The Magisterium does NOT invent new heavenly rules. Rather, the Church passes on what she has been given. The problem is not that Catholicism added anything; rather, it is that anti-Catholic fundamentalists like you have subtracted out elements of the faith given us by Jesus Christ.

PAUL: Personally I follow the guidance delivered by The Bible, not a bunch of men and women who think they are “cleaner than the rest” because they supposedly don’t have sex (let’s not talk about the altar boy molestation that has occurred time and time again and mostly hidden or covered up by the Great Catholics!)

FATHER JOE: The scandal of abuse by clergy is indeed a terrible business. But most priests are good men who love the Lord and try to make a positive difference in the lives of the people they serve. Speaking for myself, my one great ambition is to go to heaven and I would like to take a few of my friends with me. We have different roles to play in the body of the Church. We need each other. We all need Jesus. Priests do not imagine themselves as “holier than thou.” Even the Pope regularly goes to confession. We acknowledge in the sacrament, and at the beginning of every Mass, that we are sinners in need of a redeemer. LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US. CHRIST, HAVE MERCY ON US. LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US. A priest who hears confessions and offers absolution is humbled that God would make him into an instrument of healing and mercy for others. The priest Confessor counts himself as the first among sinners. He is not perfect either. That is why all priests are to be guarded about hypocrisy and self-righteousness. As for the Bible, you speak as if I and all Catholics are ignorant about God’s Word. That is not true. Of course, we could all know it better. I think you have a long way to go before you can make a claim upon teaching biblical truth. Why do I say this? Not only do you show your lack of biblical formation again and again, you demonstrate nothing of the heart of Christ’s message. There is nothing of charity in what you say. Without charity, you have nothing. I tell you this because, even though you have upset me, I am required to forgive and share the sacrificial love of Jesus. I want you to be in good standing with the Lord. You do not seem to have any awareness that attacking the Church, which is all the Christian people and not just buildings or clerics, you attack Jesus Christ.

PAUL: Jesus said it is good if a man CAN abstain, he never said you MUST abstain to spread his word, another Catholic “invention.”

FATHER JOE: No, it is your invention. One does not have to be a celibate priest in order to spread God’s Word. The Roman Catholic Church prefers a celibate priesthood, although various Eastern rites of the Catholic Church have married clergy. Our deacons are also given Holy Orders and the vast majority of these Catholic ministers are married men. They witness marriages, perform baptisms, offer funeral services, work as chaplains and bring Holy Communion to people. They do the very things we see Protestant ministers doing and more. We also have religious brothers, sisters and members of the laity who teach the faith and proclaim the Gospel by word and witness in the larger community. Further, there are growing numbers of Catholic lay evangelists, who are married and single.

PAUL: I have also never seen anything in the Bible that said masturbation is a “Mortal Sin.” Wow! I guess this means that about 99% of all men will rot in Hell— ANOTHER Catholic rumor.

FATHER JOE: Do you have a hang up about sex, Paul? Sexual sins are serious because we are corporeal beings. Our bodies are not robotic appendages or extensions, but are intimate elements of our identity as persons. Masturbation as a sin constitutes serious matter, but all good confessors also give weight to issues like habit, passion, an erotic society and media, etc. Anything that takes away freedom necessarily affects the consent. As a priest my concern about any of the sins is not to steer people toward hell but to direct them to heaven. You may have passed over into the dark area of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. I would plead that you be careful about this. The Old Testament and the rabbinic tradition placed a great emphasis upon fertility and the blessing of posterity. Masturbation is a trespass against this good of God. Masturbation or Onanism is condemned by God (see Genesis 38:9). Complicating matters further, it is a matter of course that masturbation is inextricably connected to lust and adultery in the heart. Such is also condemned by God (see Matthew 5:28-29).

PAUL: I am sorry, but the God I believe in would rather a man touch himself then take advantage of another.

FATHER JOE: This is why I am worried about you. Men can struggle with chastity and still not take advantage of others. The lines of dichotomy that you draw are false.

PAUL: All the Catholic Church wants is MORE Money. You have to make your monthly payment to get to their heaven…

FATHER JOE: Up until a few months ago, I was driving a 1995 used car. Now I have moved up to a 2002 used car… still nine years old! I wear shoes until there are holes in them. I think I live fairly simply. Compared to the Protestant ministers in my neighborhood, I am probably the poorest man among them. Most Catholic priests would be in this category. Yes, we ask for donations, but to pay the bills. We also feed the poor and help those who are hurting. Money is raised not to buy anyone’s way into heaven but to help relieve the hell that people suffer here on earth. You have it all wrong. Your false judgment against “all” the Catholic Church is nothing less than a sin.

PAUL: I went to Catholic school for the first five years of my education. It finally reached a point where my mother could not afford the tuition. She was told by the clergy that she would go to hell because she removed my sister and I from the school… Pretty cool huh? What a bunch of sickos….

FATHER JOE: Given how you have misrepresented so much else, I have a hard time believing what you write about this anonymous priest. The poor man may have had a bad day or what you say is an exaggeration, but such a tale is hardly a good reason to turn against the Church. I was turned down for Catholic school entirely. Sister told my mother that I was “sickly and stupid,” and so I went to public schools all the way through High School. I failed first grade and the public school teacher wanted to send me away to a special school for “retarded” children. Yes, that was the word she used. Another teacher came to my rescue and helped me to stay in the school the following year. I did not give up on life or learning. Neither did I turn away from the Church. I became a priest. I am sorry that you did not have such strength of conviction or faith.

PAUL: Oh and one more thing (sorry, I forgot!). The God I believe in would rather a couple use a condom to prevent the spread of disease and an unwanted child. There are enough sick people and starving children on this planet.

FATHER JOE: Men and women are not simply animals in heat. The marital act is non-contraceptive intercourse between a husband and wife. Regardless of age and fertility, it is that TYPE OF ACT that is open to the generation of new human life. Condomistic intercourse is not the marital act. Not only is it closed to the gift of children, it also places a barrier between the spouses in terms of their mutual fidelity. The natural law is circumvented in regards to the giving and receiving between spouses. They are to surrender everything they are to the other and become one flesh… not one flesh divided by a piece of latex. This is not simply a mechanistic reservation, condomistic intercourse is an entirely different TYPE OF ACT from the marital act, an act that renews the marital covenant, a covenant elevated by Christ to a sacrament which points to his unity with his bride, the Church. If marital couples are faithful to each then there is no chance of HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases. As for the contraceptive intent, it is the handmaid of abortion. You display this slippery slope in your language about “an unwanted child.” No child should be unwanted. Once we start thinking like that, we become enemies of the Gospel of Life proclaimed by Jesus and the Church. If couples hate, or do not want children, then they should not get married. Couples who are not married have no right to the sex act. Our Lord prophesied during his passion about such an attitude as you display. “A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?’” (Luke 23:27-31).

PAUL: Sex is a wonderful experience shared between two people in love. But according the Catholic’s way of thinking you need to have a newborn at least once a year because birth control is a MORTAL SIN… How stupid is that?! They just want MORE Catholics to send them more money!

FATHER JOE: The marital act is indeed a beautiful expression of love between a husband and wife; however, not every form of sexual expression is legitimate or worthy of our humanity. But I guess you have a problem with any restrictions. Once again, though, you falsify the Catholic stance toward the propagation of the species. Natural family planning can help couples space births and to have children. As long as it is used unselfishly, such family planning has value. Artificial contraception is deemed immoral but there is no Church requirement that people reproduce like rabbits. Next, you connect the matter of sex to money… the two topics that seem to obsess you. The Church embraces millions upon millions who have little voice except that of the Church seeking justice. She does not write them off or give preference to the rich. Indeed, despite how they tax the resources of the Church, the late Pope John Paul spoke about the vast multitudes of the poor as the true treasure of the Church. The Church has a preferential option for the poor.

PAUL: I pity you all for being so brainwashed. But then again look at the other cults of the world (including the one run by Jim Jones) who have convinced weak minded individuals to follow them!

FATHER JOE: You would compare the Church to a cult where a madman murdered his followers? The Church does not brainwash people or seduce weak minds. But the enemies of the Church do precisely this, and it appears to me that you are one of their victims.

PAUL: Stand up for yourselves people and pray. God WILL listen to you. Some people do need a little guidance along the way but NEVER believe things “men” speak of. There is no need to obey rules made up by a cult intent on controlling your life. Read your Bible and you will learn what GODS will is, not some guys making up the rules as they go…. Catholicism = The Earth’s Greatest Cult (good luck with that!)

FATHER JOE: Our good Catholic people do pray, sometimes standing and sometimes on their knees. Catholics are increasingly knowledgeable of their bibles and have the wisdom of the saints, the Church fathers and theologians and biblical exegetes. We are not afraid of learning. Ours is an informed faith. These sources of Christian doctrine are far more reliable than that of one ignorant and angry anti-Catholic fundamentalist. You offer no reasons why anyone should follow you over the 2,000 year old institution established by Christ. Do you belong to a church or are you a cult of one. If Catholics read the Bible and study their faith, then the ignorance, prejudice and treachery of men like you is immediately exposed. Catholicism = Christianity, pure and simple!

Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Bible, Bishops, Catholic, Church, Commandments, Confession, Contraception, Discipleship, Faith, Forgiveness, God, Jesus, Justification, Magisterium, Morality, Mortification, Pope, Priests, Repentance, Sacraments, Saints, Salvation, Sexuality, Sin, Social Justice | 4 Comments »

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