"WE ARE THE ELECT, AND DON'T YOU EVER FORGET THAT"
BISHOPS WHO BISH
A PRAYER BOOK FOR MOMS-TO-BE
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
A few days ago the discussion forums at http://forums.catholic.com passed the 40,000 mark in the number of registered members, making the Catholic Answers forums far and away the largest discussion venue for Catholics.
Not all of the participants are Catholics, of course.
We have many registered members who belong to other faiths or even to no faith.
They have praised our forums for being open to serious discussions.
We don't exclude people who disagree with us, so long as their disagreements are phrased politely.
We think Catholic truth can take care of itself.
Sometimes, praise of our forums by a non-Catholic is mingled with a note of caution.
You will find that in the following comment, made by an Evangelical writing at http://www.carm.org.
"Over the last two months I have been banned by two different Catholic forums. I have to admit that some of my comments were pretty obnoxious (done out of frustration) and I probably deserved it. There is one Catholic forum that is the creme de la creme of Catholic forums, Catholic Answers. It has over 30,000 members. When I first began to post there I would receive rebuts in less than 2 minutes. I am convinced that their rebuts were written by professionals. I would even say by theologians."
Let me pause the quotation at this point to note that the "rebuts" likely were composed not by any of the Catholic Answers apologists but by regular forum members.
The writer's comment is high praise indeed for the quality of the commentary that is posted, thousands of times a week, by our members.
Now back to the quotation:
"The point that I am trying to make is that this particular forum is set to entrap Evangelical Christians. There is a strong seducing spirit that I sense in this forum, so if you ever decide to post there make sure you pray for protection against that spirit. If Catholics can convince you that their tradition is legitimate, it is all over for you as an Evangelical. Make sure that you never doubt that the Bible is the only authoritative and infallible word of God. One other thing to remember is that the Catholic Church fears Evangelicals more than any other force on this earth and that is because we have the truth. We are the elect, and don't you ever forget that."
Many participants at our forums are themselves converts to the Catholic faith. I suppose they would concur with the writer to this extent: Once you begin to see the truth of the Catholic faith, "it is all over for you," whether you have been an Evangelical, a mainline Protestant, an agnostic, or anything else. Who says A must say B. If you come to see that the Catholic Church is right about one point, you likely will find it is right about much else--maybe even about everything else.
This Evangelical writer will be disappointed to learn, perhaps, that the Catholic Church does not "fear Evangelicals more than any other force on this earth." The Church acknowledges that Evangelicals hold much Christian truth but also acknowledges that they have adopted some erroneous beliefs and have jettisoned some true beliefs. There is no fear of Evangelicals. Instead, there is a desire that these good-hearted people come to embrace the fullness of the Christian faith, which will be found only in the Catholic Church.
In the final sentence by the writer is a note of desperation: "We are the elect, and don't you ever forget that." Is someone whistling past the graveyard? "I know that ghosts don't exist, and I don't want them to get me."
BISHOPS TO KEEP IN MIND
The "National Catholic Register" has been running a series, by Tim Drake, on "how some bishops are finding the voice to address the issues that most bishops, priests, and deacons have tended to avoid." In other words, the series is about bishops with spines.
Among the bishops already profiled or to be profiled are Victor Galeone of St. Augustine, FL; Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, AZ; Robert Finn of Kansas City, MO; Samuel Aquila of Fargo, ND; Robert Baker of Charleston, SC; John Myers of Newark, NJ; Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, CO; and Robert Vasa of Baker, OR.
I know several of these bishops personally and the others by reputation. Drake has chosen to profile men who have a track record for mentioning the unmentionables, such as the five non-negotiables. But these bishops go far beyond public policy questions and tackle other topics that many American bishops shy away from, such as contraception, liturgical issues, and--yikes!--confession. They also have had far better success than most bishops in recruiting new priests. (No need to wonder why.)
RECOMMENDED READING
A friend of mine, Deacon Roy Barkley of Austin, has produced, in both English and Spanish, a prayer book for mothers of unborn babies. It's called "The Gabriel Prayer Book" because it is done in tandem with the Gabriel Project. Roy told me that he "wrote this little book to fill the need for some positive spiritual help, as a supplement to the material help that the Gabriel Project gives to girls with unplanned pregnancies. The goal is, first and foremost, to save lives. The next goal, just as important, is to help the mothers toward a connection with Jesus and Mary."
You can order the book by visiting:
www.sempublishing.com
p.s., If you have a comment about anything appearing in this E-Letter, please do not hit your Reply button. Instead, go to Catholic Answers' discussion forums at
http://forums.catholic.com
where you may post your comment in the forum dedicated to the E-Letter. You will find a thread devoted to this issue of the E-Letter. Feel free to add your comment in the form of a reply to that thread.
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