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Featured Term (selected at random):ACCLAMATION 1. One of the ways of electing a pope in which the cardinals unanimously, without consultation or balloting, proclaim one of the candidates Supreme Pontiff. 2. Liturgical acclamations at the coronation of a pope or the election of a bishop. Acclamations were sent as compliments to the emperors from the early Church councils and were found in the coronation rites of secular princes and kings. Sepulchral monuments carried them as inscriptions. Brief liturgical formulas such as "Deo gratias" (thanks to God) may be classified as acclamations. (Etym. Latin ac-, to + clamare, to cry out:...

5 Myths about 7 Books  MARK SHEA Here are the answers to five common arguments Protestants give for rejecting the Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament. People don't talk much about the deuterocanon these days. The folks who do are mostly Christians, and they usually fall into two general groupings: Catholics — who usually don't know their Bibles very well and, therefore, don't know much about the deuterocanonical books, and Protestants — who may know their Bibles a bit better, though their Bibles don't have the deuterocanonical books in them anyway, so they don't know anything about them either....

Gambling 1137. Why does not your Church condemn gambling and lotteries as sinful and immoral? Because they are not sinful and immoral in themselves. They can be made the occasion of sin, as when a passion for gambling leads a man to spend money which is not his own, or which is necessary for the upkeep of wife or children, or to pay his lawful debts. But if one can honestly afford it, he is free to invest in lotteries, or to indulge in the amusement of a wager, unless he is violating a law of the state. 1138. Does...

Part Three:  The Will of God Christian Morality Table of Contents     In order to reach heaven, we must have the grace of God. Beyond what we have when we enter this world, we need divine grace in order to reach everlasting life in the world to come. The main source of this grace is the sacraments, beginning with Baptism. And the most important of the sacraments to keep us spiritually alive and well is the Holy Eucharist.But the sacraments alone are not enough. We must cooperate with the graces we receive. God keeps giving us constant illuminations of the mind...

Featured Term (selected at random):CHRISTIAN LAW The revealed precepts of the New Testament. There is a sense in which the Christian dispensation superseded the laws of earlier revelation, since the ceremonial and judicial practices of the Israelites have ceased to be binding on the followers of Christ. Also the moral code of pre-Christian Judaism has been greatly elevated. But all of this, as Christ was careful to explain, does not mean that he came to "abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear,...

[snip] When [Christopher Wenthe became a priest], he didn't sell his scattergun, his bow or his fishing rods. Nor, in his ever-more-detailed studies of the Bible and the church, did he find conflict between his evolving life as a man of God, and his past -- and current -- life as a hunter. And killer. "It comes down to, 'Is it moral or not' to hunt? If it weren't, I wouldn't do it," he said. "To be honest, I haven't given it much thought. But I believe hunting is moral. We have a long tradition as Catholics and an extensive...

On Thursday Afternoon, November 5, 2009, 12 pro-lifers were arrested inside or outside in the hall at Nancy Pelosi's office at #235 Cannon office building. They entered, with two complete copies of the bill - all 2,000 pages (4,000) - and proceeded to rip it up, page by page, and strew it on the floor...

Cremation 1134. Why does the Catholic Church forbid cremation? It was a pagan practice which Christians avoided from the very beginning. In the third century we find Christian writers, such as Minucius Felix, warning Christians against imitating the practice, and bidding them retain the custom of earth burial. In comparatively recent times Atheists and irreligious materialists have reintroduced it in order to destroy Christian belief and to impress in an imaginative way the doctrine that all is over at death. This, in itself, would be enough to justify the Church in her refusal to accept a practice credited with such...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Marriage Table of Contents     Marriage is not of human origin. It was instituted by God, as described in the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis.But when Christ came into the world He elevated the natural institution to the level of a sacrament. He wished to provide not only individuals with the means they need, as persons, to reach eternal life: He also wanted to give grace to His followers as social beings. Marriage is the foundation of the family, which is the bedrock of human society.In the Church’s own language, the sacrament of Marriage...

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” – Mary worshipping God in Luke 1:46–47 Mary was simply a very godly young woman who loved the Lord and trusted in Him despite great risk to her own reputation. She repeatedly appears as a devout woman who loved God and was a loving mother to Jesus. Contrary to some aberrant teaching, she did not remain a virgin, but mothered other sons such as James and Jude, who visited Jesus with Mary during His ministry (Matthew 12:46; Mark 3:31–35; Luke 8:19–21) and later became pastors who penned...

GUEST LIST November 5 Fr. Thomas Euteneuer Exorcism Ask Fr. Thomas Euteneuer a question Fr. Thomas Euteneuer BIOGRAPHY: Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer became president of Human Life International in December of 2000. Human Life International is the worldÂ’s largest pro-life organization with affiliate offices and associates in seventy-five countries around the world. In five years of service to this unique mission Fr. Euteneuer has traveled more than 500,000 miles as a pro-life missionary and visited more than forty countries. Fr. Euteneuer was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1962, the fourth of seven children born to Joseph and Marian Euteneuer....

Pope Benedict XVI (C) arrives to lead a mass to commemorate cardinals and bishops who died this year, in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican November 5, 2009. Vatican City, Nov 5, 2009 / 11:17 am (CNA).- This morning, Pope Benedict celebrated a Mass for the souls of the cardinals and bishops who have died over the past year.  In his homily, the Holy Father described death as “an enigma charged with anxiety,” and noted the importance of faith, hope and mercy in times “of human sadness and distress.”The Mass, which is a traditional November occurrence, was concelebrated by members...

Christ, Lunatic or God? If reason alone were all we had to establish the existence and essence of God, we might feel curiously dissatisfied. If God is a Supreme Spirit, omnipotent and of total benevolence, the origin and end of us all, why does He not speak and re-assure us? The Christian claim is that, in fact, God has spoken to mankind first in the prophets of the Old Testament and last of all through His Son made man. The historical existence of Christ is what we are now concerned with and also with His claim to be the Son...

Before starting the text of a long article, I want to explain what it is. In discussing the meaning of the Eucharist with Catholics on FreeRepublic, I've frequently been told that the Church Fathers, from the very beginning, have taught it was a 're-presentation' of Calvary. I've read little of the Church Fathers - as have many who have lectured me, I suspect. The norm on both sides of the argument is to pull quotes from those who help your case, and ignore what does not. In excerpts below, taken from his 7,000 page history, Philip Schaff discusses the nuance...

Featured Term (selected at random):MIGNE PATROLOGIA The most comprehensive editions of the Fathers of the Church and ecclesiastical writers in existence. Jacques Paul Migne (1800-75) had been a parish priest in Orléans, France, until 1844, when he began publishing the corpus of Latin authors up to Innocent III (217 volumes, 1844-55). Then followed the Greek writers to A.D. 1439 (162 volumes, with Latin translation, 1857-66). The two collections, Patrologia Latina (P.L.) and Patrologia Graeca (P.G.), although lacking the critical perfection of modern scholarship, are still a standard source for reference and quotation. All items in this dictionary are from Fr....

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Holy Orders Table of Contents     Among the sacraments, none is more distinctively Catholic than the sacrament of Order. The plural, Orders, is commonly used because there are three levels of this one sacrament, namely the diaconate, priesthood, and episcopate. In the Church’s own language, this sacrament is described in the new Code of Canon Law. By divine institution, some among Christ’s faithful are, through the sacrament of Order, marked with an indelible character, and are thus constituted sacred ministers…. They are thereby consecrated and deputed so that each according to his own grade, they fulfill,...

Freemasonry 1104. Does not the Church absolutely forbid Catholics to become Freemasons? Yes. 1105. You have never been a Mason. How can you know anything about it? I seem to know so much about Masonry that I have been challenged over and over again with the charge that I am an ex-Mason of the Royal Arch Degree. However I have never been a Mason. But just as I can speak about New York even though I have never visited that city, so I have authentic information about the origin and aims of Masonry. 1106. Your Church takes the stand of...

“I love all religions. … If people become better Hindus, better Muslims, better Buddhists by our acts of love, then there is something else growing there.” Or in another place, “All is God — Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, etc., all have access to the same God.” We see, then, that Mother Teresa held beliefs that contradict many Biblical principles. Chief among these principles is that Christ is the only means of salvation. In John 14:6 Jesus states, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” By teaching that all religion could...

Christ Is Necessary for You MILLIONS OF MEN have lived in this world yet only one Man could say in His own right and back up His words with proof: "Which of you can convict me of sin" (John 8:46)? Hundred of men over the ages have been teachers of their fellowmen, hundreds have pointed out the way life should be lived, hundreds have led others of their fellow beings, but not one of them dared say of himself as did this Man: "I AM the way, and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). Many claimed to be sent...

Featured Term (selected at random):MOTU PROPRIO Words used in rescripts drawn up and issued by a pope on his own initiative, and not conditioned by any petitionary requests. The documents are always signed personally by a pope. See Also: PROPRIO MOTU All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.   PROPRIO MOTU More commonly motu proprio. Something done on one's own initiative or by one's own will. Said especially of certain papal documents written on the Pope's own authority, often to meet a special and urgent need in the...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Anointing of the Sick Table of Contents     The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick was already implied in Christ’s first mission to the twelve apostles. “So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them” (Mark 6:13). Some time during His public ministry, Christ personally instituted anointing “as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament” (Council of Trent, November 25, 1551). After the Lord’s ascension into heaven, anointing was commended to the faithful and promulgated by the Apostle James, “the...

Protestant services 1089. Is it a sin for a Catholic to attend weddings in Protestant churches? The law of the Catholic Church forbids participation in a religious service that is not Catholic because it is an implied repudiation of the faith which a Catholic professes to be the only true faith. It is good for non-Catholics to realize this so that, knowing that Catholics must refuse, they will not ask them to assist at the religious ceremony itself and then be offended as if refusal were due to lack of friendship. 1090. May a Catholic act as best man or...

The Brothers and Sisters of Jesus   There is absolutely ho historical evidence that Mary, the mother of Jesus, had other children. The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was a Virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus.The belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity (which necessarily includes her virginity after the birth of Christ) has been so deeply rooted in Catholic Tradition from the very beginning, that the Fathers of the Church instinctively and vigorously rose to its defense every time early heretics questioned it. Among the many witnesses that could be mentioned in this connection are: Origen, St....

Featured Term (selected at random):CELTIC CHURCH The name originally given to the Church in the British Isles before the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604) from Rome (596-97). It was founded by the second century, mainly among the poor, by missions from Rome and Gaul. By the fourth century, it was sufficiently established to send delegates to the Synod of Arles in 314 and the council of Ariminum in 359. All the evidence indicates that the Celtic Church was little affected by the major heresies of the age. It was in frequent contact with the Church of the...

Jesuits 1080. Were not the Jesuits the very embodiment of the intolerant moral theology of the Catholic Church? The Jesuits are members of a Religious Order whose members pledge themselves to love Jesus Christ as much as possible, to labor solely in His interests and in order to win as many souls as possible to His service. 1081. Did not Clement XIV suppress the Jesuits because he was so shocked by their crimes, and die shortly afterwards from poison? No. The Jesuits were very active in stemming the tide of the Reformation, and many of the Protestant princes and rulers...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Penance Table of Contents     As Catholics, we have no doubt that Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance on Easter Sunday night. St. John describes the event in great detail. In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, “Peace be with you,” and showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord and He said to...

Folks, Sandro Magister, the world-renowned vaticanista, hosted in his website an exchange between Muslim theologian Aref Ali Nayed and the Catholic Islamologist Michel Cuypers which I think you should read. The subject of the exchange is one that I’ve covered repeatedly in these humble folios, having to do with the need for a higher criticism of the Koran in order to know, expose, and study its literary genres, its historical context, the oral traditions that converged in its formation, and the phases in its redaction that gave us the text as we read it today. Of course, such an...

Featured Term (selected at random):HEAVEN The place and condition of perfect supernatural happiness. This happiness consists essentially in the immediate vision and love of God, and secondarily in the knowledge, love, and enjoyment of creatures. Until the final resurrection, except for Christ and his Mother, only the souls of the just are in heaven. After the last day, the just will be in heaven in body and soul. Although the same God will be seen by all and enjoyed by all, not everyone will have the same degree of happiness. The depth of beatitude will depend on the measure of...

From Sandro Magister of Chiesa: ROME, November 2, 2009 – At the general audience last Wednesday, Benedict XVI made a clean break. He didn't discuss the figure of a Church Father or a great medieval Christian author, as he has done systematically for a long time. The previous Wednesday, for example, he talked about Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Wednesday before that, about Peter the Venerable, the great abbot of Cluny. No. This time, pope Joseph Ratzinger turned his catechesis into a history lesson on theology. He dedicated it entirely to describing twelfth-century Latin theology, which blossomed in the...

This weekend’s feedback is in response to a number of queries about the Church of England (Anglicans) officially apologizing to Darwin. However, they don’t speak for all attenders of this church, since many of them are still faithful to Scripture and are appalled by their ‘leaders’. There are numerous mistakes in the article by the official CoE representative, a Rev. Dr Malcolm Brown, on the official CoE website, and Jonathan Sarfati replies point-by-point...

The Inquisition 1068. What about the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition? You have probably read many imaginary descriptions of that tribunal which pretend to be history. However let us be quiet about torture inflicted by Catholics four hundred years ago. Seventy years ago a young servant girl was transported for life to Tasmania for scorching linen while ironing, and that from England three centuries after the Reformation! We are rather in a glass house. In 1848 things occurred in Norfolk Island in the name of gentle English Protestant enlightenment which would make your hair stand on end. Here are...

The early 21st century stands as a period of profound moral confusion. On the one hand, mothers and doctors are permitted to crack open the skulls and suck out the brains of nearly-born babies with government sanction under the banner of partial birth abortion. Should these very same people hike into the woods and crack open a bald eagle egg, they could face serious prison time. It would therefore seem that contemporary society is marked by two seemingly contradictory extremes—- that of extreme license and that of excessive control. However, upon closer inspection it could be concluded that these conditions...

November 2 All Souls Day  The death of one we love leaves us empty. Yearning for lost companionship, we grieve through remembrance, tears, and prayer. Whether death comes mercifully to end a long illness or ruthlessly in violence or accident, mourners struggle to live day by day without the person who made those days bright, who made them feel loved, and who lightened burdens like these. Catholics who grieve find comfort in faith. Belief in life after death helps us receive the loss of someone we love with anticipation. We believe we will reunite with those we love after death. Catholics...

Secular linguists are puzzled by the existence of twenty or so language families in the world today. The languages within each family (and the people that speak them) have been shown to be genetically related, but few genetic links have been observed between families. This is a problem for secular linguists. If, as they believe, man evolved from an ape-like ancestor, man would at some point have gained the ability to speak. This process of change would actually be superbly dangerous, as they admit. But still, if speech did evolve somewhere, somehow, we would expect to find that all languages...

Pope Benedict prays the Angelus from the window of his study overlooking St. Peter's Square Vatican City, Nov 1, 2009 / 09:58 am (CNA).- To the faithful gathered on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus, Pope Benedict XVI presented the communion of saints, a “beautiful and comforting” reality that says “we are never alone.”  In particular he held up the ancient cult of martyrs in the early Church, and in this Year for Priests, “the saintly priests, both those canonized…and those many more that are known to the Lord.” Pope Benedict also spoke of Monday’s commemoration of the...

An Ignorant Jesus?  Rev. William Most, Ph.d              Was Jesus confused? Did He know He was Messiah? or divine? Did He know much  about the afterlife? Did He have at least one superstition? Did He have only the mentality of a Jew of the first third of the first century? -- Wild as it may seem, some prominent scholars charge Him on all the above counts, and more too.              But: What does the Church teach on these things? Pope Pius XII, in his great Encyclical on the Mystical Body, on June 29, 1943, rejected all such charges. He taught:...

Persecution 1062. Does the dictatorship of the Pope refer to spiritual things only? We cannot use the word dictatorship of the Pope in the ordinary sense of the word. The Pope has supreme authority according to the laws dictated by Christ in the constitution He gave to the Church. The authority of the Pope extends to both spiritual matters and to temporal matters in so far as they have connection with spiritual things. The Catholic Church is not a society of angelic beings, but of human beings who are composed of a spiritual soul and a material body. As...

I donÂ’t recall his source, but Thomist scholar Dr. F. F. Centore used to point out to us that according to Aquinas, women make better saints than men. And back in the early 80s, I recall reading Butler's Lives of the Saints and being struck by just how much female saints outnumber male saints; I believe it is by about two thirds. And one cannot read the Latin Fathers for a reasonable stretch without coming across the notion that the Church is a woman. She is the bride of Christ and the Mother of Christians. As St. Augustine comments on...

Featured Term (selected at random):MUSICAM SACRAM Instruction on music in the liturgy of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. An extensive document giving general norms and applying them to every important aspect of liturgical music. Among other provisions there should be choirs, at least one or two properly trained singers especially in churches that cannot have even a small choir. The distinction between solemn, sung, and read Mass is retained; Gregorian chant should be given pride of place; adapting sacred music for regions having a musical tradition of their own requires "a very specialized preparation by experts"; and those instruments which...

Ratzinger's Faith Ratzinger's Faith By Dr. Jeff Mirus | October 30, 2009 4:36 PM I've just finished reading Tracey Rowland's Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology Pope Benedict XVI. Rowland is Dean and Associate Professor of Political Philosophy and Continental Theology at the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne, Australia. She is also on the editorial board of Communio, the theological journal founded by Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger. She had already written a critically-acclaimed book, Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II, as part of the Oxford University Press Radical Orthodoxy series. The book carries cover blurbs from...

Haunted houses, ghosts, demons—our Western culture can’t seem to get enough of the spirit world. The latest Gallup poll indicates that 42% of Americans believe in demon possession, 37% believe in haunted houses, and 32% believe in ghosts. (Not just Americans are enthralled—40% of the British believe in haunted houses, too.) Though interest in the paranormal is widespread, the majority of people are skeptical. They discount all spirit activity, going so far as to deny the existence of Satan and demons. Atheists stated this view succinctly in a sign they planted next to a manger scene last Christmas at the...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace The Eucharist Table of Contents     The Holy Eucharist is unique among the sacraments. Even the variety of names by which it is called emphasizes the central position which it occupies in Catholic Christianity. It is the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord’s Supper, the Holy of Holies, the Table of the Lord, the Body and Blood of Christ, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, Viaticum, and the Real Presence – to mention only a few of the titles by which the Church has identified this central Mystery of Faith. Yet among...

....the dates which were “Christianized” and now host Christian “Holy-Days” were originally utilized for “Pre-Christian” (“Pagan”) celebrations. This process reflects the wisdom of the Church and a missionary approach. She has “baptized” them, recognizing the seeds of what was good within them. By immersing them in the beauty of the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the fullness of truth and the source of all goodness, she transforms them into vehicles for transforming culture. The Church is His Body. She is meant to be the home of the whole human race. As the early fathers were fond of proclaiming, the Church is...

DULUTH, Ga. (BP)--When Southern Baptist pastors huddle together, whether at Starbucks or Cracker Barrel, the conversation these days generally gravitates toward the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force and the work it has undertaken. Consequently, there is a lot of speculation that has surfaced as a result of these coffee klatches. A certain amount of speculation is good. It shows keen interest in the denomination, its leadership, the impending report of the task force and the future of the convention. Since members of the task force have been asked to keep their deliberations a secret and since the meetings are closed...

DALLAS (BP)--Following an Oct. 27 dialogue with 22 executive directors of Southern Baptist state conventions, Great Commission Resurgence Task Force chairman Ronnie Floyd addressed several issues on which he felt the record needed to be "set straight." Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., listed those issues in a statement released after the task force meeting adjourned: 1) The Great Commission Task Force is not considering any abandonment of the Cooperative Program. "We are asking questions about how the Cooperative Program can remain our central system of missions funding, not whether it will remain so," Floyd said in...

Featured Term (selected at random):PASCENDI Encyclical letter of Pope St. Pius X condemning Modernism. Its full title is Pascendi Dominici Gregis, published September 8, 1907. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

"...the most important issue which must be addressed is lost in the charged rhetoric over all of this "justice talk". That is the glaring fact that many who use the “Social Justice” arguments in this debate also support the intrinsically evil and utterly indefensible inclusion of abortion as a “health care service” in all of the current proposals for health care reform. Abortion is the intentional killing of children - our first neighbors - in the first home of the whole human race. Medical science confirms what the Natural Law has already revealed to all of us, that little boy...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Confirmation Table of Contents     “If there was ever a time when the Sacrament of Confirmation needed to be explained carefully, that time is now. All too many members of the Church neglect it altogether; and those who have received it or who plan to receive it, see it as something minor in their lives. There is need, then, for instruction on the nature, power, and dignity of this sacrament. Far from being neglected or received in a mere perfunctory way, Confirmation must be restored to the reverence and devotion it deserves.” These words introduced The...

<p>All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.</p>

The delay in publishing the apostolic constitution, which will allow large numbers of Anglicans to be received into the Catholic Church, is due not so much to translation problems as the more weighty issue of priestly celibacy.According to two reliably informed Italian newspapers, Il Giornale and Il Foglio, canon lawyers are continuing to define what has been a particularly unclear aspect of the new provision: whether married Anglicans could train as seminarians.Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale reports that over the last few days, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts has been working to clarify this point. He writes that “everything...