|
Q u i c k Q u e s t i o n s
|
This Rock
Volume 11, Number 10
 October 2000 
|
|
|
Q: What is the Catholic teaching on reincarnation? I have been told that early in Church history, although it may not have been doctrine, it was not repudiated.
A: Wrong. It has been infallibly defined by the ordinary magisterium of the Church from the earliest days that humans will be resurrected, not reincarnated. The Church Fathers denounced reincarnation, which was a Greek rather than a Christian idea. They are very specific on the point.
Consider, for example, the scorn that Gregory of Nyssa uses when he rejects the idea: "They [pagans] tell us that one of their sages said that he, being one and the same person, was born a man, and afterward assumed the form of a woman, and flew about with the birds, and grew as a bush, and obtained the life of an aquatic creature—and he who said these things of himself did not, so far as I can judge, go far from the truth, for such doctrines as this—of saying that one should passed through many changes—are really fitting for the chatter of frogs or jackdaws or the stupidity of fishes or the insensibility of trees" (The Making of Man 28:3 [A.D. 379]).
Basil the Great writes similarly: "Avoid the nonsense of those arrogant philosophers who do not blush to liken their soul to that of a dog, who say that they have been formerly themselves women, shrubs, or fish. Have they ever been fish? I do not know, but I do not fear to affirm that in their writings they show less sense than fish" (The Six Days Work 8:2 [A.D. 393]).
Q: Someone told me that when the order of Mass was revised in the 1960s, the Holy See asked some Protestant theologians to help draft the prayers it uses. True?
A: This is a rumor one hears from certain quarters, but it is not true. A press release issued by the Press Office of the Holy See on February 25, 1976 made explained what really happened:
"1. In 1965, certain members of Protestant communities expressed a desire to follow the work of the Consilium.
"2. In August 1968, six theologians of different Protestant denominations were allowed to become simple observers.
"3. The Protestant observers did not take part in the composition of the texts of the new Missal" (quoted from Documents on the Liturgy, no. 1787).
Q: The Protestants I’ve encountered frequently seek out resources that confirm their preconceived notions about what the Catholic Church believes or does. How can one effectively refute these claims to the average Protestant when so many Protestant apologists are all willing to distort Church history to their own ends?
A: The problem you describe is a real one. Too often anti-Catholics (Protestant or not) do not read Catholic works in order to understand but merely to "find ammo." When this happens, their preconceived ideas about the Catholic faith are reinforced rather than corrected.
As to how to counter the problem, the best solution is to expose them to things written by Catholics. As long as they are listening only to what anti-Catholic apologists say about Catholics, the problem will persist.
There are still a couple of problems to be faced. First, Catholics often use language differently than do Protestants, and so misunderstandings can result when Catholic writings are put in front of Protestant eyes without some help in how to understand Catholic language.
Second, the reader may be no more willing than the anti-Catholic apologists he has been consulting to give a fair and charitable reading to the Catholic texts you give him. You can encourage him to read to understand rather than just read to garner material for attack, but if he is bent on the latter, then no amount of good material may dissuade him.
Q: If I were to marry a Lutheran, could our marriage still be blessed? What if a priest and a pastor had roles in the service? Also, could the Lutherans receive communion from the pastor and the Catholics receive Communion from the priest?
A: If you marry a Lutheran in a Catholic ceremony, or if you get what is known as a dispensation from form (i.e., a dispensation from observing the Catholic form of marriage), then you will not need to have the marriage convalidated (blessed) at a later date.
As far as having a joint wedding with both a Lutheran minister and a Catholic priest, it is possible to have both ministers involved in the ceremony in some capacity, but not the dual distribution of Communion that you mention.
The 1993 Directory on Ecumenism states, "With the previous authorization of the local ordinary, and if invited to do so, a Catholic priest or deacon may attend or participate in some way in the celebration of mixed marriages, in situations where the dispensation from canonical form has been granted. In these cases, there may be only one ceremony in which the presiding person receives the marriage vows. At the invitation of this celebrant, the Catholic priest or deacon may offer other appropriate prayers, read from the Scriptures, give a brief exhortation, and bless the couple.
"Upon request of the couple, the local ordinary may permit the Catholic priest to invite the minister of the party of the other church or ecclesial community to participate in the celebration of the marriage, to read from the Scriptures, give a brief exhortation and bless the couple.
"Because of problems concerning Eucharistic sharing which may arise from the presence of non-Catholic witnesses and guests, a mixed marriage celebrated according to the Catholic form ordinarily takes place outside the Eucharistic liturgy" [157–159].
Q: My brother-in-law believes that Jesus never claimed to be God. Can you give me some Bible quotes to prove that Jesus did claim that he is God?
A: A good place to point your brother-in-law to would be John 8:56–59, where Jesus is addressing a group of Jewish people and says, "‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple."
In this passage, Jesus claims to have existed before the time of Abraham, 2,000 earlier. He also applies the divine name to himself—"I AM"—the same name God used with Moses at the burning bush. Jesus’ claim to divinity was clear to the original Jewish audience. They thought he was committing blasphemy by claiming to be God which is why they picked up stones to stone him.
Another good passage—again where his claim to divinity is recognized by the Jewish audience—is John 5:17–18, where Jesus states, "‘My Father is working still [even on the Sabbath], and I am working.’ This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God."
Q: During a recent discussion, a friend who is a devout member of the First Church of the Nazarene said he believes that God created everything, including diseases and infirmities in order to punish us and things like pornography in order to test us. How do I answer?
A: God doesn’t do evil to anyone. Those things spoken of in Scripture as punishments from God are things that God has allowed (different than caused) to happen on account of people’s sins.
God does test people, but in the sense that he allows them to encounter adversity or temptation. He himself does not cause the temptation. This is made very clear in the book of James: "Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire" (Jas. 5:13–14).
Q: Why can’t a couple get married outdoors? A priest around here said we should complain because he doesn’t see a problem with it. As Catholics we want to get married in the outdoors where God made everything and we can be surrounded by his nature.
A: Customs differ widely between cultures regarding the place of celebration for marriage. In some cultures it is done in a church, in others it is done outdoors, in others it is done in a home. All of these locations can symbolize different aspects of marriage and how it is an institution established by God and sacred to him.
The Church tries to be accommodating. For example, the Introduction to the Rite of Marriage states, "Among peoples where the marriage ceremonies customarily take place in the home, sometimes over a period of several days . . . the conference of bishops, according to the pastoral needs of the people, may allow the sacramental rite to be celebrated in the home" (18).
In Western culture, the traditional place of celebrating a marriage is in a church in order to symbolize the sacred nature of the act being performed. Thus the Code of Canon Law specifies that:
"§1. Marriage between Catholics or between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic party is to be celebrated in a parish church; with the permission of the local ordinary or the pastor, it can be celebrated in another church or oratory.
"§2. The local ordinary can permit marriage to be celebrated in some other suitable place.
"§3. Marriage between a Catholic party and a non-baptized party can be celebrated in a church or in some other suitable place" (CIC 1118).
Note that a distinction is drawn between the marriages of baptized individuals (§§ 1-2) and marriage between a baptized and non-baptized party (§3). This suggests that the stronger requirement for celebration in a church in the former case is intended to emphasize the sacramental character of the marriage, since the former marriages are sacramental while the latter is not.
It is also generally the case that a Catholic marriage is celebrated in the context of a Mass, and the Mass must normally be celebrated in a sacred (i.e., consecrated) place (CIC 932 §1). Out-of-doors doesn’t count.
|
