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Q u i c k Q u e s t i o n s
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This Rock
Volume 3, Number 1
 January 1992 
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Did Churches Use Talking Statues?
Q: I heard that during the Reformation there were many miraculous statues exposed as frauds. These statues were said to be able to speak, but after they were torn down it was shown they were actually mechanical dummies.
A: Every age is confronted with the problem of bad taste in liturgical art. (Our own is no exception.) During the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance artists strove for naturalism in the production of the visual arts of painting and sculpture. At the same time the study of engineering and mechanics was progressing.
These two began to come together. Mechanical clocks were invented, and, aside from their use as timekeepers, they became items of visual delight and entertainment. Today in Germany, Switzerland, and other Northern European countries you still can see examples of mechanical clocks combined with moving figures; the clocks not only keep time, but perform little mechanical plays. The cuckoo clock is a descendant of this art form.
Churches and shrines undoubtedly sported statues articulated with mechanical lips. With their movements they would be considered entertaining, but not miraculous. Anyone could see such devices at work outside the church on the towers of town halls and guild halls. In erecting such statues the churchmen of those days might justly have been accused of bad taste, but not of fraud.
Q: I have many questions myself that I would like answered but don’t necessarily want to write to you every time I have one. I sometimes have dozens of questions and don’t want to write dozens of letters. Is there a set of question-and-answer books you could recommend?
A: You are always welcome to write to us with your questions. Keep in mind that each December we publish an index to our Quick Questions column. If you keep your copies of the magazine, this is a handy resource.
There is an excellent three-volume set of books in a question- and-answer format. The title is Radio Replies, and the books were edited by Frs. Leslie Rumble and Charles M. Carty some years ago. These volumes were compiled from call-in questions to a radio program. The callers’ questions were answered by the priests.
The roughly 4,000 questions and answers cover a broad range of topics concerning the Church. They are readable and to the point. Each volume has its own index.
Radio Replies is an excellent resource, but you should keep in mind that these fat volumes were compiled before the Second Vatican Council. Issues and questions that arise out of the Council are not dealt with.
Sets of Radio Replies can be ordered through This Rock for $35.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling.
Q: If the Bible says we are to follow the Commandments of God and not the traditions of men, how can the Catholic Church require, under penalty of sin, that its members follow the Church’s man- made commandments called precepts?
A: The precepts of the Church are not opposed to, nor are they outside of, the Commandments of God. They are within those Commandments and are intended to help keep the faithful within the Commandments.
There are basically six, listed in different ways in different books: (1) to attend Mass and to refrain from unnecessary work on Sundays and holy days; (2) to fast and abstain on appointed days; (3) to go to confession at least once a year; (4) to receive the Holy Eucharist at least once a year; (5) to contribute material support to the Church; and (6) not to marry within certain degrees of kindred. These precepts are intended to bind the faithful close to the Church and to God.
Q: Aren’t the missions just another form of imperialism destroying a native culture?
A: It’s not clear what your definition of imperialism is. Most define imperialism as a political and economic hegemony of one nation over others.
Missions are a direct result of the mandate of Christ to his apostles and their successors to teach and to baptize all nations. They are the work of the Church fulfilling Christ’s command, not an attempt to achieve a political or economic hegemony.
At times governments have intruded their political or economic aims into the work of the missions. Those intrusions were unfortunate but should not stop the Church from its work. There is no doubt that when non-Christian cultures accept Christian teaching they will change. (Imagine the changes if our own culture accepted--and practiced--Christian teachings!) Cultures change but are not destroyed.
Q: Doesn’t excommunication send a person to hell?
A: No. The intention of an excommunication is just the opposite. It is intended to show the person that he is outside the communion of the Church and that he must turn away from the wrong he is committing and be reconciled. Christ said he came to save, not to condemn. Christ gave us the sacraments to bring us to heaven. It is these sacraments the Church wishes the excommunicated would return to.
Q: In the movie JFK it is said that a priest performed the last rites on the slain President. It was obvious that someone shot with such a terrible head wound already was dead, so why would a priest bother to perform the last rites?
A: The problem is that the onset of death is not so obvious. We really don’t know, scientifically, what constitutes physical death. Is it when breathing stops, when the heart stops, or when there is no brain activity? In spiritual terms death is when the soul leaves the body.
Priests are not able to discern exactly when this occurs. No physical event defines when the soul leaves. No "vacancy" sign pops up. Once all activity associated with life is gone and the process of decomposition begins, then it is clear the soul is no longer present, but at what moment the soul left we can’t tell. Unless he is sure death occurred, a priest should perform the anointing (James 5:14-15).
Q: The Catholic Church has many times declared that individuals have entered into heaven and become canonized saints. Why isn’t there a list of those who we know are in hell? Wouldn’t Judas be at the top of the list?
A: The Church simply doesn’t know who is in hell. Christ gave the Church no means or purpose for compiling a list of the damned. Christ wills that all men be saved. He will try to save us right up to our last living moment.
Judas is one of the least attractive characters in history, yet Christ loved Judas and wanted him saved. Judas hanged himself, becoming a suicide as well as a traitor. In those last moments of consciousness, with the rope around his neck, it is possible his thoughts were of remorse and reconciliation. If he repented his sins, even Judas could have been saved. Whether he did, we don’t know.
Q: Pictures of male saints often show them not just with halos, but with their heads shaved. What is the significance of the shaved head?
A: It is called a tonsure and was used to mark a man in the clerical state--in other words a man who had taken religious vows.
This practice finds its origin in the Old Testament (Num. 6:18) and is very much alive in the New. Paul had his head shaved when he made a vow (Acts 18:18); others did likewise (Acts 21:23-24).
The practice continued throughout the early Church and became formalized as part of the externals marking a man as an ecclesiastic. The tonsure was generally part of the ceremony for admitting a novice or a seminarian. In 1972 the "minor orders" were combined with the order of deacon, and the tonsure was no longer required.
Q: A priest once referred to the rosary as a "poor man’s psalter." What did he mean?
A: A psalter is a book which contains the 150 psalms. Before printing was invented books were fabulously expensive. Most of the world was illiterate and poor, and poor men did not own books. Monastic communities and churches had books, and their members could read. The psalm book was used for the daily recitation of prayers (something that continues today).
The common folk, the poor, wanted to pray daily like the monks, but had no books to read the psalms from. Unable to memorize all 150 psalms (not many are up to such a feat), they recited an Our Father or Hail Mary in the place of each psalm.
They strung 150 beads together, one for each psalm, so they could keep count. Other prayers and meditations were added to this beaded string of fifteen decades, until we arrived at the rosary we have today.<
Q: What is the sin of simony, and does it have anything to do with Simon Peter?
A: Simony is the sin of attempting to buy or sell an office of the Church or a sacrament. The word "simony" does indeed come from the name Simon, but not from the name Simon Peter. It comes from the name of Simon the magician, who had heard the preaching of Philip in Samaria and had accepted baptism.
In Acts 8:9-24 we find the account of this Simon, who offered money to Peter in exchange for the power to lay hands on people to confer the Holy Spirit. From Peter came an immediate and sharp rebuke. Ever since, the notion of buying an office of the Church or of buying grace has been referred to as simony.<
Q: When reading Catholic newspapers I have seen references to the "Divine Office." I am confused about what this means.
A: The Divine Office arises from the command of Jesus to "pray always." Priests and religious are required to follow this by reading (and meditating on) each day certain psalms, hymns, prayers, and biblical passages. This practice goes back to the times of the apostles. It assures there is an unceasing chorus of prayer from the Church to God.
Q: Is there a difference between atheists and agnostics, or are they just two names for the same thing?
A: There is definitely a difference between the two. Many people confuse the terms, and some people who are really agnostics mistakenly give themselves the label of atheist.
An agnostic is someone who believes he, or people in general, can never come to know anything about ultimate spiritual matters. His refrain might be, "I don’t know if there is a God."
An atheist, on the other hand, denies emphatically that there is a God. The atheist’s refrain would be, "I know there is no God."
Q: Mormon missionaries condemned as unbiblical the Catholic custom of paying priests and bishops. They said the Mormon Church has no paid clergy, claiming this was the pattern of the first Christians. How can I answer them?
A: Start your next discussion with 1 Corinthians 9:11: "If we have sown spiritual seed for you, is it a great thing that we reap a material harvest from you? If others share in this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?"
Paul says that even though he would have been justified in being paid for his ministry (v. 18), he chose to forego payment in order to eliminate a potential source of criticism from his detractors. He explains in verses 14 that "the Lord ordered that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel."
Other verses to examine are 2 Thessalonians 2:6-10, Romans 15:26-27; and 2 Timothy 2:6.
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