2007 PILGRIMAGE AND CRUISE TO ROME AND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN
CAN YOU NAME THE FEMALE APOSTLES?
MANY MORE CATHOLICS YET LOSING GROUND
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
In this edition of the E-Letter I'm leading off with a pitch for our 2007 pilgrimage and cruise. We have had four successful cruises off the North American coasts, and next year we will have our first event in Europe.
For many of our participants this will be the trip of a lifetime. I hope you will be able to join us. If you sign up before the end of October, you can save a small bundle.
Next year's trip is still seven months away, but we're only four weeks away from seeing an across-the-board price increase by Holland America Line.
On November 1 Holland America will increase rates on all staterooms. The least expensive staterooms will go up by $300. Other staterooms that have been popular with our participants on prior cruises will go up by $500 and $600.
That's more than pocket change, so, if you intend to join us, this is the month to sign up. After October 31 the new rates will apply.
ITINERARY: ROME PLUS SEVEN PORTS OF CALL
Our theme will be Catholic history and culture. Joining me as co-hosts will be Jimmy Akin and Steve Ray.
Our first three days, May 7-9, 2007, will be spent on pilgrimage in Rome. The cruise through the eastern Mediterranean will run from May 10-20.
You have two options: You can sign up for the cruise only or for the cruise plus the Rome pilgrimage. So far, nearly everyone is going for the whole package.
In Rome we will visit basilicas such as St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls. We will descend into the catacombs and will have a chance to ascend the Scala Santa (Holy Staircase) on our knees.
Participants will be able to attend a papal audience in St. Peter's Square and tour the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel.
We will see not only Christian Rome but pagan Rome. There will be a tour of the Roman Forum, with an opportunity to visit the Colosseum. We also will be able to visit the Pantheon, built for the Roman gods but now a church in which the true God is worshipped.
And throughout our stay we will have special "insider" presentations for you.
Then comes the ten-day cruise. There will be seven ports of call:
- Dubrovnik, Croatia
This beautiful, walled city--established in the seventh century--is noted for the Church of St. Blaise (you know, the saint of throats) and two fourteenth-century monasteries. Croatia is a strongly Catholic country, and the Catholic ethos will be all around us.
- Corfu, Greece
Noted for its elegant Venetian architecture and lush landscape. Among other places, participants will be able to visit the Church of St. Spyridon, patron of the island.
- Katakolon (Olympia), Greece
Site of the original Olympic Games. We'll see temples dedicated to Zeus and Hera and will tour the archaeological museum. We'll learn about the "glory that was Greece," which became the "grandeur that was Rome," which in turn was "baptized" by the Church to become Christendom.
- Santorini, Greece
Once a volcano, now a crescent-shaped island, all that remained after a massive eruption around 1,500 B.C. We'll talk about how the eruption may have been connected with some famous events in the Old Testament.
- Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
We'll see the house where the Virgin Mary spent her last days. It was from Ephesus that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. We'll learn about the third ecumenical council, held in the city in 431. This was the council that opposed the Nestorian heresy and proclaimed Mary as Theotokos (Mother of God).
- Athens and Corinth, Greece
Pope Benedict's now-famous talk in Regensburg was about the relation of faith to reason. What better place to ponder that than at the Areopagus, where Paul preached to the Athenians about the "unknown God"? We'll visit the Parthenon and other historic sites. We also will see the ruins of Corinth and learn about early Christian settlements.
- Messina, Italy
Located at the strait between Sicily and the "toe" of Italy's "boot," Messina boasts a famous cathedral and Forte San Salvatore, built in the seventeenth century. In view is Mt. Etna, Italy's largest active volcano. We'll discover that the Italy of Sicily is quite different from the Italy of Rome!
That's a bare outline. For full details and to book this pilgrimage and cruise, please go to our special web site:
www.catholicanswerscruise.com
Or call our special toll-free number: (800) 707-1634
We're already getting more sign-ups than we expected to have at this early date. Maybe that's due to the impending price increase. Remember, to lock in the current rates, you need to make your reservation by October 31.
SURPRISE! SOME OF THE APOSTLES WERE WOMEN!
If you suffer from low blood pressure, you may find weekly relief by reading the letters to the editor in the "National Catholic Reporter." Many of them are wrongheaded enough to raise any orthodox Catholic's annoyance quotient. One that appeared in the September 8 issue made this claim:
"As anyone can see by even a cursory look at Paul's letters or at Luke's Acts of the Apostles, a fair number of the apostles were women. We don't know much about the development of the liturgy of the Eucharist except that it took place mainly in private homes. It would be hard to imagine that women would not have organized at least some of these celebrations of the Eucharist. It was not until the new religion had become better known to the general public that the role of women had to be suppressed in order to maintain the dominant social status of males."
If it takes only a "cursory look" at the New Testament to see that "a fair number of the apostles were women," how come this fact was missed by all scripture scholars until September 8? Or is it that the letter writer doesn't know the distinction between apostles and disciples? The terms are not synonyms. By my count the New Testament mentions a total of fifteen men denominated as apostles: the original Twelve, Matthias (the replacement for Judas), Paul, and Barnabas. No female names that I can see.
The letter writer was right that the first Masses took place in private homes. He said, "It would be hard to imagine that women would not have organized at least some of these celebrations of the Eucharist." Yes and no, depending on what you mean by "organized." If you mean women got the houses ready for Mass, that no doubt was true. If you mean women were the celebrants at Mass, that's quite something else--and something for which there is no shred of evidence.
Then comes the conspiracy theory. Once Christianity became "better known," says the letter writer, the original role of women "had to be suppressed" if male Christians were to remain at the top of the social heap. This argument makes no sense. If there was a need to maintain male supremacy, women never would have had (supposed) leadership roles at all.
The letter writer has an ideology for which he has to find supporting facts. He is quite convinced that there were women priests, even apostles. He sees that there is no extant evidence for this (aside from fantasized New Testament passages), so he posits a conspiracy: The guys got together and booted the gals from their leadership roles.
It's very neat and is the liberal Catholic analogue to Masonic conspiracies alleged by some Traditionalist Catholics. That no evidence can be adduced for a conspiracy is proof of how effective it has been! Since there is no evidence that women were priests or apostles, it must be that they were priests and apostles.
HEAD COUNT
According to "L'Osservatore Romano," from 1978 to 2004 the world's Catholic population increased by 342 million, going from 756 million to 1.098 billion.
The largest percentage increase was in Africa: up 172 percent. Next came Asia with an 80 percent increase. Then came Oceania (53 percent) and the Americas (50 percent, with North and South being counted together by the paper). In last place was Europe with an increase of less than 5 percent.
There is a small, dark cloud behind this silver lining. The Catholic share of the world's population has fallen slightly, from 17.99 percent to 17.19 percent.
This suggests that Catholics have not been very successful in reaching out to the five-sixths of the world that is not Catholic. Yes, there have been lots of conversions, but they have been offset by natural population increases in the non-Catholic world. In a way, we're just treading water.
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
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