Really Really Bad Popes

The Coat of Arms of Vatican City 

It's time to fess up. The Catholic Church, the Church that Christ began has had some of the worst leaders imaginable in the twenty centuries since Jesus appointed Peter as it's first leader.  So how does this affect the claims of the Catholic Church, her teachings and her authority?  Lets first examine a few of the rotters that occupied the Chair of Peter. 

Pope Julius III

This pope was in office for five years and during that time he looted the church treasury to fix up his home. He was known to be a child abuser and flaunted it.  Not exactly what one would expect of a pope. 

Pope Paul III

This pope ruled during a time of turmoil. He adopted a public anti corruption stance but offered offices in the church for sale. He had lovers on the side, the most famous was the Constanza Farnese, his daughter! 

Pope John XII

Pope John XII was haunted his whole life with lust. This can be explained perhaps as he assumed the throne of Peter at age 18 when hormones are raging.  He did not take NO for an answer and his list of crimes includes having sex with his niece.  It is reported that he died as the result of the punitive action of a jealous husband who found him in bed with his wife. 

Pope Benedict IX 

His contemporaries had a lot to say about this man. St. Peter Damian said "he is guilty of feasting on immorality." He also described him as a "demon from hell in the guise of a priest."  He also was deposed, got an army together, became pope again. He then sold the papacy and had sellers remorse, came back with an army and took it back.  He was forced out, refused to stand trial for his crimes and was excommunicated. 

Pope Stephen VII

He dug up Pope Formosus and tried him. Yes, he tried a corpse, found Formosus guilty and had the papal vestments removed from the the corpse, dressed it rags and eventually had the corrupted corpse thrown into the Tiber. For some reason, the people of Rome thought Stephen was insane. They rioted and eventually killed Stephen. 

Pope Alexander VI

This man worshiped one god, money. He is often thought of as the worst of the worst. He cared little about religion and was famous for throwing wild orgies. When money became a problem he arranged for the rich to have their treasures confiscated and if they refused well, there was the death penalty to consider. As you can readily imagine he made many enemies and some of them succeeded in getting him to step down from the throne of Peter by feeding him a wonderful poisoned pasta plate which he consumed with gusto, washing it down with most likely tainted vino.  

Okay, there you have it. My picks for the absolute worst popes of all time.  Have I shot myself in the foot?  Have I given ammunition to the anti-Catholic trolls out there?  No, not at all!! The Catholic Church has had 266 popes including Peter. The Pope is a fallible human being. A pope can commit sin and it is said that Saint Pope John Paul II went to confession at least once a week.  Out of all these men there was bound to be some who did not measure up to the standards we would expect a man in charge of the Church that Christ built.  But if you delve into church history a bit you will find one amazing fact.  Never in the history of the Catholic Church has a pope taught heresy or error. The Holy Spirit sees to that.  

There was a pope in the sixteenth century named Sixtus V.  He was a good pope, he brought order to the northern Italy, refilled the treasury but he was deficient in one thing, as far as his Latin went, well, he sucked. He assigned the task of translating the Bible to a group of scholars and they took what Sixtus thought was a long time. He fired them and undertook the translation himself, providing a Bible that was full of error and mis-translations.  He prepared the paperwork to tell the Church this was now the official translation that will be used. The night before he was going to issue the papal bull, he died, of natural causes.  This is an example of how the Holy Spirit protects the Church and the Pope from teaching error. 

So, when your non-Catholic friends point out a bad pope, you can point out the fact that Jesus has kept His promise and continues to keep it.  The gates of Hell will never prevail against His Church. 

 "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"

Ashes to Ashes - Dust to Dust

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of our forty day journey with Jesus in the desert.  When I was a boy the only thing I thought of on this day was that now on Friday's we would be having fish for dinner.  Fish normally consisted of either Mom's Tuna Fish Salad or the dreaded fish sticks. Some days during Lent we got a double whammy, at school we would be given fish sticks for lunch with a dry lump of U.S. Government cheese, coleslaw and a cup with a peach in heavy syrup in a cup. There was a reason God made fish the way He did, you know, fish shaped, that was to remind you that fish were meant to fish shaped and should be eaten fresh and never carved into sticks.  But that's in the past and today I never have to eat fish sticks. Not eating meat on Friday was really ingrained into us those days. One year my father took us to see the Chicago Auto Show on a Lenten Friday.  We stopped for a snack and he bought me a hot dog. I had taken a bite of it and before I could swallow it he mentioned that it was Friday.  It meant nothing to him, he did not follow the faith even though he was a baptized Catholic.  I excused myself and spat the mouthful of David Berg Kosher hot dog and bun into the garbage can and followed that up with by fling the reset of the hot dog.  My father laughed at my antics and shook his head as he took a bite of his hot dog.  By the end of the night I was a bit hungry and even a fish stick would have tasted good, everything tastes good when you season it with enough ketchup. 

Our journey with Jesus is one that takes us into the desert. It is a time that we can spend reviewing our life, working out what we need to change to become ever better followers of Jesus.  Why the desert?  The desert is a place like no other. It  is desolate, you can go a long time without seeing another person.  The only sounds you will hear is the howl of the wind. You will be utterly alone without any distractions. There will be no one there to flatter you or criticize you.  It will just be you.  The solitude will allow you to focus on yourself and your relationship with God.  That what Lent is all about. It would be a wrong to classify it merely as spring cleaning, because it it much more than that.  The desert, a place where you can begin to see yourself as God sees you.  

So as we step out of our comfort zone and begin to take some time to learn about ourselves and become closer to Christ let us resolve to make this Lenten journey the best one we have ever had. 

LET ME SING OF YOUR WONDERFUL NAME
LET MY LIPS TELL THE JOY OF YOUR LOVE.
THE HEAVENS PROCLAIMING THE GLORY OF GOD
AND YET NO SOUND CAN BE HEARD
THE WORLD IN IT STILLNESS ARE WRAPPED IN YOU SILENCE
NOW FATHER GIVE US YOUR WORD!
LET ME SING OF YOUR WONDERFUL NAME
LET MY LIPS TELL THE JOY OF YOUR LOVE. 

He said what? The Reformers Curious Quotations

Today's post will cause all of us especially the Protestants among us to pause and scratch our heads. Some of the things we think that we know about the 16th century founders of the new and novel Protestant churches is mixed up and wrong.  Lest you think I am a great brain and have done a lot of research on this subject, let me confess, I have not. The quotes were researched by a wonderful author named Devin Rose in the book entitled If Protestantism is True which is available through Amazon.com's Kindle service.

Protestant apologists often castigate the Catholic Church for believing things that they cannot find in the Bible.  Well, to them I would say where does the Bible say that all Christian belief has to be found in the Bible.  But that is a subject for another post.  Today I am going to let the great "reformers" to speak on several subjects that are bones of contention between Catholics and Protestants. I will not comment on what they say, I will let their quotations stand on their own merit.  I have to say that these people are the ones responsible for creating the many thousands of Christian sects that exist today. It was through their words that we have Lutheran churches, Presbyterian churches, Baptist Churches, Churches of God, and all of the other denominations that have sprung up.  It was their sword that carved up the Church and destroyed the unity that Jesus prayed for.  And so, without further delay, direct from the frozen tundra of Illinois I present to you the reformers.

On Mary the Mother of God

Martin Luther:

"In this work whereby she was made the Mother of God, so many and such great good things given her that no one can grasp them. Not only was Mary the mother of Him who is born in Bethlehem, but of him who, before the workd was eternally born of the Father from a Mother in time and at the same time man and God. (1)

John Calvin:

"It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son granter her the highest honor. Elizabeth called Mary Mother of the Lord because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary was at the same time the eternal God." (2)

On the Perpetual Virginity of Mary

Martin Luther

"Scripture does not say or indicate that she later lost her virginity. When Matthew says that Joseph did not know Mary carnally until she had brought for her so, it does not follow that he knew her subsequently; on the contrary, it means that he never did know her. This babble is without justification he (one who interprets the Bible against Mary's perpetual virginity) has neither noticed nor paid any attention to either scripture of the common idiom." (3)

John Calvin

"The inference Helvidius drew from Matthew 1:35 was, that Mary remained a virgin no longer than her first birth, and that afterwards she had other children by her husband. No just and well grounded inference can be drawn from these words as to what took place after the birth of Christ.  He is called the "first born"; but it is for the sole purpose of informing us that He was born of a virgin. What took place afterwards the historian dies not inform us. No man will obstinately keep up the argument except from a extreme fondness for disputation."  (4)

Martin Luther on Jews 

"The Jews are full of devil's feces which they wallow in like swine. (5)

Martin Luther on Marriage

"I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case civil authority has nothing to do in such a matter. (6)

Back to my narrative. These quotes are shown how the two greatest reformers thought about things.  I found the antisemitism and his tacit approval of polygamy striking.  

When there appears any article about the Roman Catholic Church on the internet you can bet that the trolls that hate the Church will come out in force and trot out all of the old tried and true accusations against the church such as that we worship Mary, pray to statues, worship bread and wine, you know the stuff.  I take a few minutes to correct the troll, knowing full well that I am not going to change the troll's mind. But there may be some out there who will read what I say and perhaps, just perhaps, their heart will soften and they will start looking at the resources I recommend to them. 

We Catholics have a great responsibility to our Protestant brothers and sisters.  I am not excluding rabid anti-Catholics either, those such as Jack Chic to give an example of someone who truly hates the Catholic Church.  We are tasked with bringing them home and to undo five hundred years of separateness back into the unity Christ wanted in the first place.  The quotes just serve to indicate that some of the people that hate us the most have no idea how far they have strayed from not only the Catholic Church but from their own Protestant roots. 

We are called to be one in Christ. It is not for the Catholic Church to divide herself among the denominations to bring this about. It is rather the denominations, large and small, that must unite themselves into one Church that teaches the Good News to those who need it most.  

I have come a long way in a short period of time in my own personal understanding of our differences. At one time I considered all Protestants beyond hope and hell bound.  Then I studied what my Church teaches and found out that I was in effect the Catholic version of Jack Chick, unreasonable, uncharitable, and not very Christ like.  The Catholic Church write in the documents of Vatican II what my understanding should be: 

"Even in the beginnings of this one and only Church of God there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly condemned. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions made their appearance and quite large communities came to be separated from full communion with the Catholic Church-for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame.  The children who are born into these communities and who grow up believing in Christ cannot be accused of the sin involved in the separation, and the Catholic Church embraces upon them as brothers, with respect and affection. For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church event though this communion is imperfect.  (7)

In the Decree on Ecumenism we read: 

Moreover, some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments with together go to build bu and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spitit, and visible elements too.  It follows that the separated Churches and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as a means of salvation which devive their efficacy frin the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church. 

I as a dutiful son of Holy Mother Church therefore am to treat Protestants with great respect, admiration, and love.  This is contrasted with certain Protestant sects that teach that he Catholic Church are idol worshipers, calling the pope the anti-Christ. 

So that is all I have to say today.  thank youfor listening. 

Footnotes 

(1) On the Divine Motherhood of Mary, Weimer's The Works of Luther English translation by Pelikan Concordia St Louis V7 P 572

(2) Ca;vini Oera Corpus Reformatorium Braunschweig Berlin 1863-1900 V 45 P 348

(3) Pelikan ibid v45:206, 212-3 / That Jesus Christ was born a Jew

(4) Pringle vol 1 p 107

(5) On the Jews and Their Lies - circa 1543

(6) Martin Luther, DeWette, II 459.

(7) Second Vatican Council, Unitatis Redintgratio, I 3

Angels

Do you remember the TV series "Touched By An Angel?"  I was a big fan of that series.  If you never had the chance to watch it the show depicted four angels doing their work on earth at the behest of the Father.  It was a great show and it dealt with a lot of different human issues. The show included the angel of death. Angels are real.  We know this because they are mentioned in the Bible.  Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, was visited by an angel and it was then that she accepted the mission that God had planned for her.  She became the mother of Jesus, a person worthy of the greatest respect.  We also have an angel appearing to Jesus during His agony in the garden where he prayed the all too human prayer asking for the approaching suffering to be taken away. The angel was there, says Jim Bishop in his wonderful book "The Day Christ Died" to offer comfort and to confirm to Jesus that he had to undergo the coming trials. Angels are mentioned in the Book of Revelation. They are the constant servants of God. The a Seraphim are the closest to God, they guard the throne of God. They burn with love for God. 

Angels are superior to us in every way yet there are two classes of angels. The good angels and the evil angels. At one time there was only one class of angels and all served God.  The brightest among these was Lucifer. He was so puffed up with his greatness that he fermented a rebellion in heaven.  He fought against the angels who were loyal to God and lost. The leader that threw Lucifer down to hell was the Archangel Michael, the strongest warrior in heaven. With Lucifer went all of the rebellious angels who form the cadre of devils and they will remain in hell forever.  They proudly proclaim that it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. They spend their time tempting us to sin.  They want nothing more than the ruin of our soul so we can join them in eternal darkness, grief, and punishment. 

God has made provision for each of us in the form of a personal angel called our guardian angel. Our guardian angel is there and tries to guide us in the path of right but he is not allowed to interfere with our God given free will. Mother Angelica relates her encounter with her guardian angel when she was young.  A truck was heading right for her. She was unable to get out of the way. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she was out of harms way on the side of the road, safe.  She did not walk herself, she gave credit to her guardian angel. 

The website I clipped the above from included a long prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.  We Catholics are more familiar with with the shorter version: 

Angels and especially guardian angels are just another way that God shows His care and his love for us.  

The Truth Within You

No, I am not some New Age guru selling chants and magic stones.  Far from it.  The New Age movement and all of its beliefs are incompatible with Christian beliefs. And I do not mean just Catholic beliefs. The things taught by the new age people are simply a return to pagan thought. Am I narrow minded? When it comes to these tools of the devil you bethcha!  No, I am talking about the Truth that lies within each one of us.  When we were created God programmed us to know good from bad.  This programming was augmented hopefully by our upbringing. That is why when I stole a cookie when I was a child I knew I did wrong.  I also knew that I did wrong when I lied about it. I should have wiped the crumbs from my lips before I told my tale, but I got caught. 

We Christians, Catholic and Protestant, are taught from young age to listen to the little voice inside of us. That voice is the voice of your conscience. It is one of the best gifts we have received from God.  When it comes to conscience we have two choices. We can listen to and be guided by it or we can stifle it and do what we want to do. 

If we have formed our conscience in the way of the Lord we will never be taken down the wrong path if we listen to it.  If we choose to do our own thing well, that will soften volume of the warning our conscience gives us in the future. 

The path to hell is lined with things such as "just once" or "a little won't hurt" or "no one will notice."  Each of these excuses is our way of quieting that little voice and justifying our sin to ourselves. Done often enough and the voice becomes quieter and quieter. It will never completely disappear but we can train ourselves to ignore it.  This is very dangerous to our spiritual health. 

A Christian needs to listen keenly for the wisdom being broadcast by his or her conscience.  Before taking action we need to realize that our conscience should be our guide.  When we are born we have basic instructions inside of us as a gift from God.  Our parents and teachers and clergy, if they are doing their jobs properly, will help us augment our basic conscience. We ourselves will sharpen our database by studying scripture.

So next time you come to a fork in the road listen carefully to what the truth within you is counseling you to do. If you do this and if you actively follow Christian principles in your life you will never be led down the path of selfishness and vainglory.  God has given you your conscience.  Thank Him for it and use it. 

My book "Journey to Emmaus" is available for your Kindle.  It is a thirty day, five minute a day, journey through scripture that will bring you closer to Jesus.  

You can purchase your copy at Amazon. The link below will take you directly to the page that shows the book. 

Journey To Emmaus - Click Here

Why Catholics Go To Church Every Sunday

The Main Ceremonial doors leading into St, Mary of Vernon
Church in Indian Creek, Illinois. 

One of the features of being a Catholic is the requirement that we attend Mass every Sunday and holy day of obligation.  For the average Protestant actual attendance at Church is not a requirement although there are many Protestants that attend both on Sunday and come back on Wednesdays, but this is not a requirement that binds under sin.  For a Catholic Sunday is the most important day of the week and attendance at mass is mandatory. Failure to attend is considered a very serious sin.  But, why is this so? Why is it considered so very important? There are any number of excuses that can serve to allow us to blow off Sunday Mass.  For example, we might just not feel like going, or we may feel that it is boring, or maybe we are convinced that we can worship God anywhere and do not need to be so formal about prayer and worship.  Maybe we think that we are too busy, too tired, or any number of other self-serving excuses. But as we will see, none of these excuses work very well. 

With thanks to Our Sunday Visitor here are ten reasons why Catholics believe attendance at Sunday Mass is so very important. 

• God asks us to make one day holy. We are to set aside one day to refocus physically, mentally, and spiritually. Going to Mass allows us to see things from a different perspective. We realize that not every idea that we have about God or how to live a Christian life is exactly on target. We exchange our agenda for God's.  We receive inspiration and strength for the week ahead. 
• Jesus gives us the gift of Himself. When we gather as a community we fulfill the command of Jesus to love and to be loved by God. We receive and are fed by the Word of God, the Scriptures that we hear proclaimed and we receive the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 
• We need to be part of a community.  Man is a social creature. A human being who keeps themselves away from other human beings can become an authority in themselves in that they begin to believe that their ideas are the only view of the world that are correct. They have no one to answer to but themselves. This is scary. When we are in a Christian community we give each other support, we make each other accountable and we give encouragement to one another, sometimes just by being there.  We see that we are not alone and we are reminded that we are part of the Body of Christ. 
• God has a special message for us.  We come together and listen to the Word of God and the prayers of the Mass and God speaks to us in a special way.  Each Mass should allow us to walk away with one thought that will help us in our spiritual lives. We receive this gift simply by focusing on what is going on around us and we open ourselves to what God is telling us. 
• People need our prayers.  Scripture commands us to pray for one another.  Certainly we can (and should) do this at home but when we pray for others at Mass we pray in a special way.  We pray as part of the Body of Christ, the Communion of Saints, and heaven and earth are united and the bonds of space and time are loosened. 
• We need to stand up for what we believe.  Being a follower of Christ calls us to be counter-cultural. Think back to the early Church. People would attend the Breaking of the Bread knowing full well that they might be arrested and become entertainment for the emperor in the arena. Today too our attendance shows that we are not closet Christians but rather Christians that are testifying to the Truth by being publicly present at public worship. We pray the Nicene Creed and publicly proclaim what we believe and who we are.  
• We need to acknowledge our mistakes.  At every Mass we have an opportunity to review the previous week and see where we have fallen short in word, deed, and thought. We admit that we have sinned in what we have done and what we have failed to do and we seek the forgiveness of God.  This serves as a reality check.  Are we as "good" as we think we are? Before communion we acknowledge that we are not worthy and ask God to heal us. 
• We need ritual in our lives.  Mass is a ritual. This means that through the prayers, movement and the changing of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ we are formed, disciplined and consoled. The sameness of the Mass carries us along the spiritual journey and we pray even if we don't feel like praying. 
• We need to experience something bigger than ourselves.  At Mass we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus and enter into God's great plan for our world to bring the Gospel message to all people. At Mass heaven and earth are joined in expressing praise to God and we join the choir of angels and sing the eternal praise of God when we sing; "Holy Holy, Holy..."  The Mass gives meaning and purpose to our lives and gives us a sense of wonder and awe.  

So you can see that for a Catholic going to church each Sunday while it is an obligation, it also provides many benefits.  I think that regulations, such as the "obligation" to go to Mass every Sunday are written for the people that only want know what the minimum requirements are.  For most Catholics attending Mass on Sunday is the high point of each week and they attend willingly and are very sad indeed when serious circumstances do not allow them to attend. 

May the Lord Jesus Christ brighten your life this week and may you feel a part of the Communion of Saints. 

The 2016 Convert - A - Catholic Challenge is underway. I am looking to be saved from the Catholic Church and looking for your most compelling arguments as to why I should join your denomination.  Write me by clicking this link.Click Here 

Ten Answers to Your Questions About the Catholic Church

Happy New Year to all of you. I am starting 2016 with a top 10 list.  These are the top ten questions that Protestants ask Catholics about the Catholic Faith.  I am indebted to Our Sunday Visitor for the information that I am going to share with you today.  Catholics are often misunderstood by our Protestant brothers and sisters. Sometimes it goes deeper than misunderstandings for example Chic publications prints what they know to be untruths about the Catholic Church and unfortunately people believe the stories he tells.  There are also great tomes, such as Roman Catholicism by Bettner that spreads lies about what Catholics do and what we believe.  So I want to take this opportunity to answer the top ten questions Protestants ask about the Catholic Church. 

Question 1: Are your beliefs found in the Bible?

"All Catholic beliefs can be found in the Bible in some form, whether plainly or by indirect indication."   The Bible itself does not teach that all beliefs Christians should have need to be in the Bible.  For example Paul says; "Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth  or by letter. (2 Thes 2:15)  The early Church did not have a Bible to open to settle differences. They held councils which made binding decrees.  (Acts 15: 1-29)  The canon of the Bible was not decided by the Church until the late fourth century so Tradition and Authority were necessary for us to even have a Bible to open today! 

Question 2: Why do you obey the Pope? 

Jesus knew that he would be returning to heaven. He knew that His Church would need to have a leader. In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus said to Peter; "And I tell you, you are Rock and upon this Rock I will build My Church.  He also told Peter that "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 16: 18-19)  The Pope can make infallible pronouncements binding the faithful under certain conditions. The Pope is protected by the Holy Spirit from teaching error.  This does not mean that the Pope is sinless, he is a man and he can sin.  As a matter of fact the Pope generally goes to confession at least once a week.  Some of the worst popes, the ones with secret children, concubines also had this faculty to and even these Popes never taught heresy.  the worst among them were too busy enriching themselves to bother with teaching anything. Because of the Pope and the Cardinals we have an authority to look to for correct interpretation of scripture. This because of Papal authority the Church, unlike the Protestant denominations believe one truth and are unified in worship as Jesus prayed for at the Last Supper. 

Question 3: Why do you call your priest "father"?  Christ said "Call no man father."

Jesus did say call no man father in Matt 23:9 but you have to understand what he meant. He is not speaking in an absolute sense.  If he was then what we call the husband of your mother?  Jesus is saying that the ultimate authority is God the Father. Jesus Himself uses the term Matthew in Matt 15: 4-5 and several other places. In the story of Lazarus Jesus has addressing Abraham as Father Abraham, twice (Luke 16:24, 30) St Paul also writes in 1 Cor 4:15 "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel." 

Question 4: Why do you pray for the dead? Dead is dead.

For the Christian, death is not an end but rather a change. We exhale our last breath on earth and take our first breath standing before the Lord to be judged. In 2 Maccabees the living prayed for the dead who died because they were wearing idols that were forbidden for them to wear.  St. Paul writes of being baptized on behalf of the dead.  In this case the term baptized indicates prayer and fasting for the dead.  Also Paul is praying for Onesiphorus in 2 Tim 1:16 -18.  

Question 5: Why do you pray to idols (statues)?

The answer to this question is very simple.  We do not worship or pray to statues. What does a statue and baseball bat have in common?  Both are made of wood by human hands.  Neither of them have any extraordinary powers. Statues serve the same purpose as photographs of loved ones that most people carry around in their wallets. The pictures in our wallets remind us of our loved ones and statues remind us about our loved ones in heaven.  No Catholic prays to a statue. We pray to the saint that is in heaven and ask them to pray to Jesus for us.  It is no different than you asking me to pray for your surgery to be successful.  The statue can be there or not, our prayers are just as effective and are heard. 

Question 6 Why confess your sins to a priest? 

The picture to the left is slightly out of date because in most churches today the confessional is a room where there is a kneeler and a screen where you can confess your sins without the priest seeing who you are and a couple of steps away from the screen there is a chair that you can sit and confess face to face.  This is the method most people use today.  Jesus gave the Apostles the authority to forgive sins when He said in Matthew 16:19 "If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven, if you retain them they are retained."  With these words Jesus instituted the sacrament of Reconciliation, AKA confession, AKA penance.  If we don't confess our sins out loud to the priest how will he know which ones to forgive and which ones to retain?  See also Matt 3:5-6, Acts 19:18 and 1John 1:9. 

Question 7: Why do Catholics worship Mary?

Once again the answer to this question is quite easy, we don't.  We venerate her. Worship is reserved for God alone.  Mary is the greatest of all the saints in heaven. We show her veneration, or great respect because of who she is.  She is the Mother of God!  Think of this if you want to understand why Mary deserves the respect we give her.  She was the first Christian. She believed she was carrying the Messiah in her womb. Mary began life without the stain of original sin. This was done to her by God as a special gift to her who would be the Mother of God. Remember, God is not bound by time or space. He knows what will happen and He could see the redeeming death and obedience of His Son on the Cross. Mary needed to be saved and so He applied the merits of Jesus' death on the Cross to Mary at the time she was conceived, thus we call her The Immaculate Conception as one of her titles.  Mary is very humble and while she does not speak much in the Gospels what she does say conveys her humility and she never points to herself but always to Jesus.  What did she say at the wedding feast at Cana?  "Do whatever he tells you."  Good advice both back then and now. 


Question 8:  Why do you worship wafers?

The bread and wine that are consecrated at mass are not simple wafers, they are the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. Most Protestants are not too familiar with the Gospel of John, especially the sixth chapter. Protestant ministers have a hard time dealing with this chapter as they deal with the rest of the Bible. Protestants generally believe that the bread and wine are mere symbols and the act a simple memorial of the Last Supper. The Gospel of John reports Jesus saying repeatedly that "he who eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life." Also, Paul tells us that if you take communion unworthily that you are guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord (1 Cor 11:27).  We cannot sin against the body of someone by destroying their picture which is a symbol of the person.  Also, read in the accounts of the Last Supper and look at the words of Christ. He does not suggest that the bread and wine are mere symbols, the word eat that he uses in Greek is the word that is used for gnaw or chew, the actions you use when you eat something real.  Finally, Jesus is portrayed as the Lamb of God and our Passover. Go back into the Old Testament, what did the children of Israel have to do so that the angel of death would pass over their house?  They had to mark the doorposts with the blood of the lamb and they had to eat the lamb. Jesus is the Lamb of God.

Question 9: If you died tonight would you go to heaven?

I have assurance of salvation if I am faithful and keep the commandments of God.  If I die in this state I will immediately enter heaven. But since nothing unclean can enter heaven I might need further purification to purge these imperfections from my soul. This purging takes place in purgatory.  It purges the soul of anything that is imperfect.  Once again let us look to what Paul says about this subject in 1 Cor 3:13, 15, "Each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose because it will be revealed with fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done...if any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved but only as through fire." 

Question 10: Are you saved? 

Short answer is YES. I as a Catholic am as sure as anyone else that I am in God's good graces. But because God has given me free choice, the gift of my salvation can be cast off any time I choose.  Once saved always saved is not a Biblical concept which makes no sense at all. For example on day one I say the sinners prayer (where is that found in the Bible anyway?) and according to the principle of once saved always saved, I've got it made. From that day forward I live a good, clean, Christian life. I  pray, I tithe, I go to church.  Then one day I wake up, grab my pump shotgun and rob a bank and in doing so I kill no less than three innocent people.  As I am leaving the bank I walk into a hail of bullets and am killed. Would it be fair for me to enjoy the bliss of heaven with the blood of three people on my hands?  Can you imagine this unholiness being in heaven?  Yes, for most of my life I was "saved" but in the end I chose to throw my salvation away in pursuit of money.  My friendship with God is completely voluntary and I can walk out of relationship with him by making sinful choices at any time.  Notice please that it is I that walk away from God. He never leaves us.  He is always but arms length away from us even when we are like the prodigal son wasting our inheritance on riotous living. So even at the last moment of life I can turn back to Him providing am contrite for what I have done.  

I hope that these ten little paragraphs help you understand the Catholic Church a little better.  I am one of the luckiest people ever born on this earth. No, I've not won Publisher's Clearing House or the Power Ball lottery. I was born into the Catholic Church and through it have access to the complete truth of the Gospel, guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.  I am a member of the one true Church founded not by a mere man but by Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Through her I receive grace through her Sacraments including forgiveness of my many sins through the Sacrament of Confession and I receive the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.  I am the luckiest man alive. 

God bless you on this Feast of the Epiphany when Jesus was recognized by the three wise men.  May the light of the Christ Child light your way today.

The 2016 Convert-a-Catholic Challenge has been made and I am waiting for one of you to accept the challenge and to convert this cradle Catholic to your denomination.  Just prove to me where the Catholic Church went wrong and I will convert to your denomination,  Click here to begin.  

Thanks to Our Sunday Visitor for their pamphlet "Top Ten Questions Catholics are Asked"  

2016 - Why I Am Catholic

It is the first day of a brand new year.  At midnight all counters rolled over to zero and we begin a new year with hope that it is better than the last.  The year of Grace 2015 saw the death of my wife's sister, a wonderful woman who brought up seven children while dealing with an alcoholic husband and keeping her faith. It also saw my wife finally getting her knee fixed and she is now walking much better than before. There was a mixture of good and bad in 2015 but one thing that hasn't changes is that I am still a Catholic and I am in love with the Church that Christ built and continues to build.  Here are some of the basic reasons why I am and why I always will remain a Catholic. 

First of all the Catholic Church is Christ centered. Our eyes are fixed firmly on Christ in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the triumphant Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity there in the flesh.  Other Christians are centered on the Bible.  The Bible of course is the very Word of God but this very book tells us where salvation lies and that is in the Eucharist and the book uses the very words of Christ to convey this truth.  Catholics love the Bible but we worship Christ in the Eucharist. 

Secondly, I am head and heels in love with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. My sisters have fallen away from the Church and my younger sister attends something called "Willow Creek."  I guess that this is some sort of a Church of What's Happening Now sort of place.  My sister's Facebook account shows a picture of them attending Christmas Eve services at this place and the "altar" appeared to be designed like a set for a play.  It did not look very reverent to me.  My Church on the other hand was decorated simply but beautifully with a couple of Christmas trees and poinsettia plants.  We did not need theatrics, or slide shows because we had Jesus in attendance at the Eucharistic Banquet. 

Third, no other denomination can offer the true Eucharist. Imagine while my sisters were being entertained by a minister juggling bowling pins and quoting John 3:16 I was receiving inside of me the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.  How can a slide show compare with this?  Imagine, God Himself being inside you, making your soul a dwelling place of God.  Keep the entertainment, I want to be close to God. 

Fourth, when I enter a Catholic Church I feel a sense of peace.  I see the glow of the sanctuary lamp and I know Christ is in this place.  The times I have been in Protestant places of worship I do not feel that closeness to God. 

Finally, my Protestant brothers and sisters have to depend on music and sermons to feed their spiritual life. If a pastor is not a good speaker on one particular Sunday my Protestant brothers go home without feeling that their spirits have been lifted.  For a Catholic, we do not depend on our emotions because we have been nourished by Christ's Body and Blood. 

So I am a Catholic because I know that the Catholic Church was the Church started by Christ and as such it enjoys the protection of the Holy Spirit and it will be here until Christ returns for us at the end of time.  Christ will come to claim his bride, the Catholic Church.

God bless you on this first day of the year,  I pray on this day for peace to break out world wide and may it start with your heart.   

Convert-a-Catholic 2016 has been launched!  Save me the clutches of the Catholic Church, convince me that the Catholic Church is wrong and I will drop it like a hot potato. Click here to make your pitch! 

Your Big Chance - Convert The Catholic to Your Denomination - All apologists welcome!

Okay, here is your big chance - I am inviting Protestants the world over to make their case why this Cradle Catholic should forsake the Church and join your denomination.   Here are the rules: 
Rule One - there are no rules.  

I do ask you to be kind and professional.  Please refrain from using profanity of any sort. Profanity will be cause for your ejection from the game.  If you use a Bible verse, please be good enough to give me chapter and verse.  I will give thoughtful, prayerful, consideration to what you tell me and my responses will be made in the same way. 

My Protestant brothers and sisters, this is your big chance to win a Catholic soul for your denomination - let the games begin. 

Why Do We Need A Pope Anyway?

His Holiness Pope Francis I

Welcome Holy Father to the United States of America.  We Catholics are glad you are here!  But some of my Protestant friends see no need for a Pope.  As a matter of fact they say that the word Pope never appears in scripture!  Heavens to Betsy say it isn't true! 

Actually I have to concede the point that the word "pope" does not appear in scripture.  But a lot of words that we associate with God, Jesus and His Church do not appear either.  For example, the word Trinity never appears in the Bible at all yet mainstream Christians believe that God a single being in three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  We use the term trinity to describe the unique character of God even though we do not understand how this can be.  

When Jesus began to build his Church He was well aware that He would not be on earth to guide it over the long years so he delegated a man to be in charge, to make the hard decisions, a man of rock, a man called Peter. How do we know absolutely that Peter was the man Jesus put in charge?  Well first we have the words of Jesus.  He tells Simon: "Thou art rock and upon this rock I shall build my Church."   Further on He gives Peter, and only Peter, they keys to the kingdom of heaven. Peter was therefore the first in a long line of men who would head the Church founded by Christ.  We know he was the one that the others accepted as head because when issues were debated, the debate ended when Peter spoke.  Also he is always listed first in any listing of the apostles while Judas is always listed last. 

But why do we need a pope at all?  Well every organization has to have a leader.  The Church too needed a leader once Jesus ascended to heaven. Peter was chosen. He made the hard decisions and his descendants through the years continued to make them.  

In the 1500's an evil arose and a man named Martin Luther attempted to pull apart what God had joined together.  As a result today we have over 30,000 Protestant denominations, each with a slightly different interpretation of the Bible, each claiming to be the carrier of the truth. 

The Catholic Church is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit that the gates of hell will never prevail against her.  The Pope is there to make the hard decisions.  When it concerns faith and morals it is he like Peter who relying on the Spirit proclaims what we should believe. 

This man, for the pope is only a man, is not worshiped or considered on a level with God by Catholics.  As a matter of fact Pope John Paul II went to confession weekly.  So the Pope can sin.  The only thing he cannot do is to proclaim a heresy as being true. We are guaranteed that what the Pope proclaims from the Chair of Peter, is the truth and nothing but the truth. 

So that is why we need a pope. As always I welcome questions about the Catholic Church or Christianity in general.  Hate mail will not be responded to. 

May the light of Christ bring you home. Amen. 

What Will Become Of Us ?

Your Room Is Ready...

There is no doubt that none of us will be leaving this world alive, in the classical sense of the word.  Our bodies will tire and wear out and eventually we will begin the dying process.  From the reading I have done, the process is about the same for all people.  As the time approaches we will reach out and try to mend fences, finish things that need to be finished, and eventually start to take leave of the things we can see relate to using our five senses.  Trudy Harris a registered nurse who has worked many years in hospice has seen the drama played out time and time again.  One thing that seems to permeate the process is that God spends some time preparing you.

He does not leave you to face it alone. Some who have been to the brink and have returned report different things.  They may find loved one who had died before waiting to escort them, some speak of a light at the end of a tunnel, some say Jesus or an angel is there. But in the end, life as we know it ends and the true life we are meant for begins. 

God is all good, all powerful, and especially all loving.  He has endowed his beloved humans with free will to love Him back or to reject him.  While we are on earth, the way we live our life will lead us to choose what path to take once we die.  I believe that God leaves it up to us. When presented with the ultimate love of God for us the sins we have committed, those things where during our life we turned away from him will cause us great pain because we will finally understand how very much God has loved us. For some of us we will have spent our lives very much apart from God, giving Him no thought or care.  Our lives would have been spent indulging ourselves to the maximum.  We would not have cared about those around us.  We may have preyed on the weak and vulnerable making their lives miserable.  We might have taken a life or lives.  For those who rejected God, living their life without Him, they will feel the pain of their failure and will choose to turn away from God.  God is a loving God and He will allow them their desires and these souls will choose Hell and be there forever. 

Some of us will have invested their lives in helping others, being absolutely selfless and doing the work of God not in the hope of any reward but because we have turned our whole soul and being towards the Father and His Son and followed the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  When people who have loved God their whole life and have done His will selflessly using their lives to better others, when their moment of decision comes, they will choose to go to God and the bliss of heaven.

This leaves us with the rest of us.  We are neither deserving of hell nor are we ready for heaven.  We have lived good lives, but our wills sometimes were turned away from God and we committed sins. But unlike those who threw their lives away we loved God and tried to do the things that Jesus asked us to do.  But we missed the mark.  We may have attachments to things of this earth or we may have unresolved conflicts with others where we have held onto jealousy, or bitterness, or perhaps we need to forgive the unforgivable wrong that was done to us.  Heaven is a place of bliss.  It is a place where love and only love is permitted.  There is no discord or disharmony among the souls there so for many of us who do not deserve hell there is a place, or process or whatever you want to call it called purgatory.  It is there that we will choose to go if we have any of the imperfections mentioned above.  You can liken it to cleaning yourself up before meeting a great personage.  You would not meet royalty here on earth wearing clothes that are tattered, a face that is smudged with dirt, or needing a shower would you?  Then how much more would you want to make sure you are presentable to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?  

Some say that purgatory does not exist, that it is a Catholic invention.  But there is Scripture that shows that God in His mercy has prepared a place or process for his children.  In later posts I will go over these passages.  You may want to review them yourself so I will list them here: 

• Matthew 12:32
• 1 Cor 3:15
• Rev 21:27
• Rom 6 : 3-5
• Heb 12:11

When I was a boy I was playing baseball one day and I hit a ball and it crashed through a neighbors window.  My friends vanished quickly as I stood there with my bat. I wish some of them ran as fast during our ballgames!  The resident of the house came out and to make a long story short he forgave me for breaking the window.  So he did not harbor a grudge for the accident but he still had to deal with the broken window.  I was forgiven but I had to repair the damage I did.  I went home which was right across the street from the field we were playing and my father gave me money to give to the neighbor who went to the hardware store, bought glass and made the repair.   So it is with sin.  Jesus by dying on the cross was able to secure forgiveness for the action but every sin, even those committed in secret, leave damage that needs to be repaired.  These repairs can be made in life by doing penance to repair the damage that was done.  If we do not make things right here, we will want to do so after death and we will choose Purgatory.  

Please watch this blog for more about purgatory.  I think at the end you will join me in thanking our most loving Father for it. Remember, I will answer any question about the Catholic Faith, Catholic Church or Christianity in general.  Hate mail will go unanswered.  God Bless you and yours and may Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God light your way today.  Amen. 

 

 

  

Once Saved - Always Saved - A Lie Exposed ! ! !

Jesus is our Shepherd, our leader, our protector.  He is not like a simple hireling, no, he laid down his life for us.  He went through the agony of death on the Cross and He redeemed us, curing the sins of our late great ancestors Adam and Eve. 

What does Jesus expect from us?  To hear some people talk he expects not much from us.  Some say that by simply saying the "sinners prayer" that we merit heaven.  These same people say that the Bible is the source of all knowledge we have about God and heaven.  Yet, they cannot tell me where it says in the Bible to pray the sinner's prayer.  The notion of once saved always saved does not make sense in the natural world nor does it in the Kingdom of God.  What if I am "saved" when I say the sinner's prayer on day one.  I live the next ten years of my life blamelessly, promoting the Kingdom, leading dozens of others in praying the sinner's prayer - saving them all - alleluia !  Then after ten years of faithful service and psalm singing I take up a new career and become a bank robber, killing indiscriminately if someone resists and I then embrace another religion such as Islam. Are you telling me that if I died with these sins on my soul I would go to heaven because "once saved, always saved" is the rule?  Sorry, that defies logic and worse than that it defies what is revealed to us in the Bible.  Recall the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 25 beginning at verse 31. "

"When the Son of man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory.  All nations will be assembled before him and he will separate people one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from goats.  He will place the sheep on His right hand and the goats on the the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right hand. "Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take as your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. 

For when I was hungry you gave me food, thirsty you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome.  Lacking clothes you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison you cam to see me.

The upright will say to him in reply Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  When did we see you as a stranger and make you welcome, lacking clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to see you?

And the king will answer "In truth I tell you in so far as you did this for one of the least of these brothers of mind, you did it to me. 

Then he will say to those on his left hand "Go away from me, with your curse upon you to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 

For when I was hungry you gave me no food, thirsty you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you never made me welcome.  Lacking clothes you did not clothe me, sick and or, in prison you never came to see me.

Then it will be their turn to ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty a stranger or lacking clothes, sick or in prison and did not come to your help?"

Then he will answer "In truth I tell you in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these you neglected to do it to me." 

And they will go away to eternal punishment and the upright to eternal life. "

So it is evident from this one story told by Jesus that simply saying the sinner's prayer is not enough to guarantee ones space in heaven.  What Jesus wants from us is more, much more.  He gave His all on the Cross, teaching us that God's love has no limits.  He lived his life not for Himself, but for our sake. He withheld nothing.  He calls us to imitate Him and to help our brothers and sisters.  

Do we have to do the heroic things? Heavens no!  In Mark Jesus tells us, "If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you he will most certainly not lose his reward."  A cup of water is a small thing but it is a great mercy to a thirsty man.  Look for the things you can do for someone else in the course of your day to day life.  Every mercy you extend you extend to Jesus. 

Please think very carefully about the "once saved, always saved" lie that the "reformers" came up with.  It has sent many to places where they did not think that they would end up. By the way we live our whole life will determine our choice of our eternal home. In order to be placed among the sheep when Jesus returns we must put our faith into action.  Believing is certainly a good first step. Studying the Bible and learning about salvation is also commendable.  We must guard against knowing more about God than loving God.  We must have knowledge of God but we must demonstrate our love by choosing to do the right for His glory and to do so expecting no reward. 

Remember, I will answer any question about the Catholic Church, her beliefs or Christianity in general.  I will not respond to hate mail.  May God bless you and light your path today.  Amen