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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 6, Number 9
 September 1995 
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Why not a bare cross?
Q: Why do Catholics insist on having crucifixes in their churches and homes? Jesus is no longer hanging on the cross but is risen. An empty cross is a better symbol of Christianity.
A: If two thousand years ago an empty cross stood on a hill called Calvary, nothing would have changed. The fact that a body was nailed to the cross, the incarnate body of the eternal Word of God, made all the difference in the world.
There is no Resurrection without the Crucifixion. Jesus suffered and died—was crucified for us. He paid for our sins and redeemed us by his sacrificial death.
The difficulty some have in accepting the Crucifixion is nothing new. Paul said, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (l Cor. 1:22–25).
Again, speaking to the Church at Corinth, Paul says, “When I carne to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1–2). That is why Catholics cherish the crucifix—never to forget how our Lord Jesus Christ suffered for us in order to save us. Unfortunately the cross is still a “stumbling block” for some.
Q: Can someone outside the Catholic Church be a godparent for a Catholic baptism? I ask because my uncle is the best example of a Christian that I know, and I would like to have him as a godfather to my child, but he belongs to a different denomination.
A: Canon 874 of the Code of Canon Law states that the office of sponsor, or godparent as it has been traditionally known, must be filled by a Catholic who has been confirmed and has received the Eucharist. He must be at least sixteen years old and live a life of faith that befits the role of sponsor.
Your uncle can and should be a positive influence on your child’s life, but as a non-Catholic he cannot be a Catholic role model, a primary responsibility of a godparent.
Q: Recently at our parish we have been told that during Mass we must stand during the Eucharistic prayer, including the consecration. As long as I can remember we have knelt. Why has the Church made still another change in our ever-changing liturgy?
A: The Church has made no such change, and the proper posture for the faithful during the Eucharistic prayer remains kneeling. No individual in your diocese, including the bishop, has the authority to change that.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops has mandated that the faithful kneel beginning after the singing or recitation of the Sanctus (“Holy, holy, holy Lord. . .”) until after the Amen of the Per Ipsum (“Through him, with him, in him. . .”) inclusive of the consecration (see Appendix to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal 21).
There are those in the Church who want to change this, but no change has been made yet. Recently the issue was up for a vote within the NCCB, and the change was voted down. Those currently forcing this change on the faithful are being disobedient to Church authority.
Q: Are we no longer required to genuflect toward the tabernacle when we enter and leave the church? My priest doesn’t even genuflect during Mass anymore. Is genuflection a thing of the past, a pre-Vatican II pious superstition?
A:If you can find the tabernacle (not always easy these days), you are expected to genuflect (reverently touching one knee to the floor) toward it upon entering and leaving the church and whenever you pass in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Some incorrectly bow toward the tabernacle instead of genuflecting. A profound bow, a bow of the body from the waist, is made toward the altar if there is no tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament.
As to the priest’s actions during Mass, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (n. 233) states, “Three genuflections are made during Mass: after the showing of the Eucharistic bread, after the showing of the chalice, and before Communion. If there is a tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament in the sanctuary, a genuflection is made before and after Mass and whenever anyone passes in front of the Blessed Sacrament.” Someone needs to let your priest know that at least three genuflections are required during Mass.
The failure of many to genuflect is a reflection of the loss of belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. If one doesn’t believe Jesus is truly present, why make a sign of reverence? Recent polls show a majority of Catholics have lost belief in this central doctrine of the faith.
Q: I’m dialoguing with some persistent Jehovah's Witnesses, and a Protestant friend of mine suggested I ask them about “Beth Seraphim” or something like that. Do you know anything about this?
A: Your friend was referring to “Beth Sarim,” a chapter in the history of the Watchtower that knowledgeable Jehovah’s Witnesses would just as soon forget and that most Witnesses have never even heard of. “Beth Sarim” means “House of the Princes” in Hebrew. It refers to a mansion built by the Watchtower in the one-time posh Mission Hills area of San Diego.
The leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses predicted that the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be resurrected in 1925 to establish a righteous government under control of the Watchtower. Joseph (“Judge”) Rutherford, the second president of the Watchtower, decided that, if the patriarchs were going to be resurrected, they would need a place to stay. They also would need to be in a climate they were accustomed to, and the climate of San Diego is much like that of the Holy Land.
The property was deeded to the Watchtower to hold in trust until the patriarchs’ arrival, with a provision that allowed Rutherford exclusive use of the mansion and its two sixteen-cylinder Cadillacs. The patriarchs never showed up, and only one "prince" ever lived there: Judge Rutherford. He wintered at Beth Sarim until 1942. The mansion was sold quietly by the Watchtower in 1948, having become something of an embarrassment.
(The appropriately moneyed who wish to own a piece of religious history should note that Beth Sarim is once again up for sale.)
Q:Could you help settle a minor family dispute? Is Ash Wednesday a holy day of obligation? How many holy days are there anyway? It seems some years we have more and some years less.
A: The number of holy days of obligation (the obligation is to attend Mass) varies from country to country, being decided by national conferences of bishops and approved by Rome.
Part of the confusion stems from the Church having made changes to the liturgical calendar in the last several decades. Some feasts, such as the Feast of the Circumcision, have been removed from the calendar, while others, such as the Feast of Corpus Christi, have had their observance moved to a Sunday.
At present in the United States we observe six holy days: All Saints (November 1), the Assumption of Mary (August 15), Mary the Mother of God (January 1), the Ascension (movable, forty days after Easter), the Immaculate Conception (December 8), and Christmas (December 25).
In 1992 Rome approved a resolution of the U.S. bishops to waive the obligation to attend Mass on All Saints Day, the Assumption, and Mary the Mother of God when these solemnities fall on a Saturday or Monday. So some years we are obligated to attend Mass on a particular holy day, and some years we are not.
Q: This may sound funny, but can I have my cat neutered? While I was at the animal shelter it dawned on me that I was about to have done to my pet something that would be sinful if I was having it done to myself—sterilization I mean.
A: Directly intended sterilization of a human, whether a vasectomy or tubal ligation, except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, such as to save a life, is a serious violation of the moral law (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2297). The same does not hold for animals.
The difference is the difference between human beings and animals. Properly speaking, animals have no rights, despite what many “animal rights” activists are saying today. (Although we say they have no rights, as stewards of creation we have duties toward them and toward all the rest of creation.) Unlike humans, animals do not possess rational souls made in the image and likeness of God—this is the key distinction.
The Church never has taught that there is anything wrong with having an animal sterilized. Catholic moral theologians of note hold that spaying or neutering a pet is analogous to picking the fruit off a tree: Removal of all the fruit will prevent a tree from reproducing.
Q: Can Catholics now be cremated after they die? I was taught that cremation was a pagan ritual and therefore forbidden.
A: The Church recommends that the faithful be buried, but Catholics may be cremated so long as cremation does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2301).
The Code of Canon Law states, “The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burial be retained, but it does not forbid cremation, unless this is chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching” (1176.3).
Early Christians opposed cremation because pagans often cremated their dead as a sign of disdain for the Christians’ belief in the physical resurrection of the body. To protect belief in this doctrine of the faith, the Church forbade cremation. The prohibition was lifted in 1963.
Q:What is the “seal of the confessional”? I know it isn’t something like a lock.
A: The term refers to the obligation of secrecy that must be kept by a priest regarding knowledge acquired from a penitent in the sacrament of penance. The obligation is analogous to patient-doctor confidentiality, but it even stricter—in fact, it is absolute.
A confessor is forbidden, under canonical penalty of excommunication (canon 1388.1), to reveal or discuss any matter confessed by a penitent. This prohibition extends even to discussion with the one who made the confession, unless that person releases the priest from the obligation of the seal. Unlike a physician, who may be required to release records in response to a subpoena, a priest may not break the seal even if he is threatened with incarceration or death. He may not break it even to prevent a third party from committing or undergoing an evil.
For example, a priest must maintain complete silence even if he is the only one who can identify the true perpetrator of a murder (presuming the information was revealed to him in the confessional) and even if, without his information, an innocent person would be sent to prison for the crime.
Some priests have been executed for not breaking the seal, but it is necessary that penitents know that nothing they confess will be revealed to anyone outside the confessional; without such a guarantee, many people would not go to confession and so would die unforgiven. Since the eternal state of a soul is immeasurably more important than any temporal consideration, the Church from the beginning has held the confessional to be sacrosanct.
Q: What does “INRI” stand for? I refer to the letters that are at the top of the crucifix.
A: The acronym INRI is composed of the first letters of the words that were written in Latin and that were placed above Christ on the cross when he was crucified.
In the Gospel ofJohn (19:19) we are told that after Pilate sent Jesus to be crucified, he ordered an inscription placed above him on the cross in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. In Latin the words are: “lesus Nazaraenus Rex ludaeorum”—“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Pilate meant the words as a mockery of Christ and as a taunt to the Jews who insisted on our Lord’s execution in part because, they charged, he had been claiming to be a king.
Q: Who or what is the “Black Pope”? I suspect the term has nothing to do with race.
A: You’re right. The term has nothing to do with race, but with clothing. It refers to the leader or Father General of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. This priest traditionally has worn a black cassock as opposed to the white one worn by the pope.
The term, which is a pejorative, was first used by critics of the Society of Jesus; they believed the order had become too powerful in Rome and that the pope had become reliant on them for every decision.
Q: I’ve seen your ad about your site on the World Wide Web, but I don’t know what I need to reach it with my computer.
A: You’ve got the first item, a computer. Next you need a modem, a device that lets your computer communicate over phone lines. Then you need access to the Internet. Presuming we’re talking about a connection at home, not at work, this can be done in two ways.
You can subscribe to a major online service such as America Online, CompuServe, or Prodigy; each provides access to the Internet. This is probably the easiest way to go and makes sense for anyone who anyway would like to make use of such a service’s other offerings, such as news, discussion groups, travel information, weather reports, and the like.
If you don’t want or need those things, you can subscribe to a service that connects you only to the Internet. On an hourly basis this is usually cheaper.
Once on the Internet, you can get on the World Wide Web by using a graphical program called a browser; many are available at no charge. The browser can take you to our Web site: http://www.catholic.com/-answers.
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