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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 12, Number 5
 May-June 2001 
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That Awful Word
Q: Is there some reason why you have to use the word "apologetics" to describe defending the faith, when our English language has thousands of other words that don't sound like you're sorry for something? I'm a Catholic defender, not an apologist.
A: One can certainly sympathize with your reaction. It's a tricky call sometimes when trying to figure out whether to fish or cut bait on using a particular term. If there's no good synonym, sometimes you have to stick with what you have and try to popularize an awareness of what it does signify.
In the present environment, the alternatives to apologist are problematic. Defender makes it sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. Controversialist makes you sound quarrelsome. And evidencer isn't a real word.
Fortunately, the term apologetics seems to be gaining in popular currency. In the last couple of years it has been cropping up-of all places-on political commentary shows, where it is being used in a secular context (e.g., calling someone an apologist for thus-and-such political position). Perhaps if people learn what it means in a secular context, they'll be more prepared when they encounter it in a religious one.
Q: I have some Protestant friends who are opposed to the idea of pilgrimages. They reproached me, saying I didn't have to go far to be with God. What should I do or say to back up my faith?
A: While it is true that God can be worshiped from anywhere, it is also true that he manifests his presence in a special way in certain places. It is profitable to visit these places as a way of signifying one's desire to commemorate what God has done and to draw closer to him in one's heart.
The custom of setting up memorials at places where God has specially manifested his presence goes back to the book of Genesis. Jacob set up a stone memorial of God's appearance to him in a dream at the place that came to be known as Beth-EI ("House of God"). This is just one example of many. The greatest Old Testament example of a memorial of God's presence is the Temple in Jerusalem.
After memorials of God's presence and deeds are established, we see them being visited by God's people. Indeed, such visits could even be required. Thus, for example, all the men of ancient Israel were required as part of their religious duties to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year for certain feasts.
While we are no longer under the Old Testament Law and are not required to go on pilgrimages, human nature has not changed. The same impulse that made pilgrimages profitable for people then still operates in our hearts today, for it was God who built the impulse into our hearts.
Ask your friends this: "If you could visit the Tomb of Christ or visit Golgotha, would you? Would it be spiritually profitable for you to see these places and honor God's saving deeds? Would you feel closer to God as a result?" If they answer yes, then they have just endorsed the idea of a pilgrimage. If they say no, something is wrong in their hearts.
Q: Do any other faiths believe in transubstantiation? Episcopalians, for example?
A: The Eastern non-Catholic Churches, including the Eastern Orthodox, also share the Church's faith in transubstantiation, though they do not call it that.
Typically Episcopalians do not believe in transubstantiation but in a concept of the Real Presence that would best be termed consubstantiation (though they don't use this term), since it holds that both Christ and bread and wine are present.
Q: I've had some "issues" with the Church, and I can trace them back to the Protestant vacation Bible schools that we went to as children. It didn't seem serious at the time, but it rewally is. Why do you think parishes don't pay much attention to the dangers from Protestant churches?
A: It is unfortunate, but individuals at parishes often do not realize the seriousness of the problem of anti-Catholicism in this country. This may be due to the fact that many parish officials travel in mostly Catholic circles and do not often encounter anti-Catholicism in daily life. It may also be that anti-Catholics tend to tone down their rhetoric when they're talking to a priest. Because of their background, parish workers may see through anti-Catholic arguments more quickly or take them less seriously. Whatever the causes, many parish officials seem to be less aware than they could be of the extent to which ordinary lay people encounter anti-Catholicism and how much it disturbs them. It is an issue on which greater awareness would benefit many priests, deacons, directors of religious education, and other parish workers.
Q: If it is a sacrilege to receive Communion without believing, what are we to do about friends and relatives who receive as a ritual without regard for the true meaning of the Eucharist? What would be the best way to bring this up? Is it uncharitable to assume that they are sinning? There are so many communicants who don't go to confession, for example, that I wonder if they are somehow protected from the sin of sacrilege by ignorance.
A: It is objectively sinful to receive Communion without believing that one is really, truly, and substantially receiving Christ. However, those who are innocently ignorant of this fact will not be held accountable for it. Those who are culpably ignorant, on the other hand, are sinning in such a way that they are liable to judgment. They are committing either a venial or a mortal sin depending on the level of culpability for their disbelief.
It is uncharitable to assume that people are sinning. Paul tells us to reckon that others are better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3). A good way to bring the subject up would be to talk with people about how much Christ's Presence in the Eucharist means to you and what a profound and wonderful teaching of the faith it is.
Q: My wife asked me what Pope John Paul II has done specifically that makes him so great. Your help is appreciated because as my evangelizing about the faith is starting to make headway, and an intelligent answer will sway her.
A: Among the things that are most commonly cited in praise of John Paul II:
1. He has provided an extraordinarily large body of orthodox, articulate, intellectually rigorous teaching in his encyclicals and other documents.
2. He helped reestablish stability in many Catholic circles during the turbulence following Vatican II. (There is generally a period of turbulence following each ecumenical council as its directives are implemented.)
3. He promulgated the 1983 Code of Canon Law (for the Western rite) and the 1990 Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches (for the Eastern rites), the latter being the first time that the Eastern Catholic churches have had a complete code of canon law.
4. He promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the first catechism of its kind since the Roman Catechism in the 1500s.
5. He personally helped bring about the fall of Communism and the destruction of the Iron Curtain.
6. He has served as a staunch pro-life, pro-family advocate--among other ways, by standing up to attempts made at the Beijing Women's Conference and the Cairo Population Conference (both by the United Nations) to force anti-family, anti-child policies on the nations of the world.
7. He is remarkably holy and a man of deep prayer who sets a great example for others.
Q: Would you be able to tell me what Mass cards are? Also, why do we preface each Mass with "This Mass is being offered in memory of so-and-so" ?
A: Mass cards are sent to people to inform them that a Mass will be said for their intentions (prayer concerns).
If a Mass is being celebrated for a specific individual-either for the intentions of a living person or for the repose of the soul of a person who has died-it is often announced at the beginning of the Mass or at another suitable point.
Q: If Christ is the way to salvation) why does it matter what religion you are as long as you live as Christ did? In other words, why would God condemn someone who does everything Jesus called him to do just because he worships differently?
A: First, nobody lives as Christ did. Christ was sinless; we are sinners. That's the point behind why he came-to save us from our sins.
If someone does everything Jesus calls him to do, then he will-among other things-believe in Jesus and join his Church. Christ set up one Church for his believers to join. In Matthew 16:18, he says "I will build my Church," not "I will build my churches."
Of course, if you sincerely don't know that Jesus said to believe in him and join his Church, then God will not hold you accountable for failing to do so. However, if you should know or do know that Jesus commanded these things and yet you refuse to do them, then you are not living in accord with the gospel and will not receive its benefit of salvation.
Worship and religious affiliation are part of what Jesus commanded his followers, and so what religion you belong to does matter.
Q: I was told by my father-in-law, who is Methodist, that their missionaries in Haiti are reporting that the Catholic Church there condones the practice of voodoo. True?
A: Voodoo is a non-Christian religion that is incompatible with the Catholic faith, and the Catholic Church in Haiti does not tolerate voodoo.
It is no more fair for a Protestant missionary to go to Haiti and return declaring that the Catholic Church in Haiti condones voodoo than it would be for a Catholic missionary from Haiti to come to the U.S. and return declaring that the Protestant churches in America condone the New Age movement.
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