I firmly believe that, sooner or later, each and every convert to the Catholic faith—whether that person chose to become Catholic as an adult or was brought into the faith as a baby by his parents—is going to have to face the scandal that the Church is not what he believed it to be when he signed up. The test will be whether he will persevere because he knows it to be the Church Christ founded, or whether he will fall away because he...
Last week, Pope Francis received a collection of world religious leaders in his first ecumenical and interreligious event. His address to them contained diplomatic niceties and specific expressions of good will aimed at Orthodox, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims.
His remarks to the latter recognized that Muslims “worship the one living...
A surface reading of I Timothy 2:5 would seem to eliminate the idea of Christians “mediating” graces to one another: “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.” Protestants will argue, “If Jesus is our one mediator, then Christ alone mediates grace. In saying anyone else can, Catholics are usurping and thereby denying Christ’s singular role as mediator. That’s blasphemy!”
THE CATHOLIC RESPONSE:
Much to the surprise of many...
Recently it was announced that the U.S. Supreme Court would be hearing two cases on same-sex "marriage"—one involving California's pro-marriage initiative Prop 8 and the other involving the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
When we learned of this, Catholic Answers began preparations for filing what's known as an amicus curiae (Latin, "friend of the court") brief with the Supreme Court to help bolster the case for marriage.
Catholic Answers was one of a number of...
In this post I’d like to look at the logical case for purgatory. But before we do, let’s take a look at what purgatory is. The Catechism teaches:
All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. . . . The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely...
"Where the bishop is, there is the community, even as where Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
