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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 17, Number 2
 February 2006 
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Do Jews Believe in Purgatory?
Q: Do modern Jews believe in purgatory, as 2 Maccabees 12:45 speaks of prayers for the dead?
A: Although the theology of the afterlife is not highly developed in Judaism (which is due, in part, to Judaism’s emphasis on the importance of this life), traditional modern Jews offer prayers and memorials on behalf of their deceased loved ones. They do not recognize the Catholic doctrine of purgatory per se, but their actions are in line with Catholic concern for the souls of the deceased. In any event, the books of Maccabees are usually not included in the modern Jewish canons of Hebrew Scripture and are considered by most modern Jews to be apocryphal.
Q: Who ran the Catholic Church after John Paul II died and before Benedict XVI was elected?
A: During an interregnum (Latin: "between reigns"), the day-to-day business of the Church is administered by the cardinal camerlengo (chamberlain). The camerlengo during the interregnum of 2005 was Eduardo Cardinal Martinez Somalo. The camerlengo does not make any decisions that are not of immediate necessity to the administration of the Church. Any decision that is not urgent to the running of the Church is postponed until a new pope is elected.
Q: Robin Hood "stole from the rich to give to the poor." Should he be regarded as a hero, given that he accomplished his good ends through the evil means of theft?
A: By taking the goods from the sheriff of Nottingham’s treasure wagons and giving them to the poor, Robin Hood was actually reclaiming goods unjustly stolen from the poor by the crown through unjust taxation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: The seventh commandment forbids theft, that is, usurping another’s property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods. This is the case in obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essential needs (food, shelter, clothing) is to put at one’s disposal and use the property of others (CCC 2408, emphasis added).
Q: Is it permissible to have nocturnal adoration from the night of Holy Thursday into the morning of Good Friday?
A: After the Mass of the Lord’s Supper [on Holy Thursday], the faithful should be encouraged to spend a suitable period of time during the night in the church in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament that has been solemnly reserved. . . . From midnight onward, however, the adoration should be made without external solemnity, for the day of the Lord’s Passion has begun (Paschale Solemnitatis 56). While prolonged eucharistic adoration of the reserved—not exposed—Blessed Sacrament into the early morning hours of Good Friday is permitted, after midnight it should be silent adoration. When the adoration should end is not clearly defined by the document, but the wording of the rubric appears to indicate that the adoration should take place during nighttime hours.
Q: Why is the listing of names for the twelve apostles in Matthew 10 and Mark 3 different from Luke 6? The first two evangelists list Thaddeus instead of a second Judas, as does Luke.
A: The apostle Thaddeus mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew (10:3) and Mark (3:18) is one and the same as the first Judas mentioned in Luke (6:16). It is likely that this apostle had a second name that was often used to avoid confusion with Judas Iscariot. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture explains: Doubtless like others of his time he enjoyed several names, and it is natural that the early Christians should have avoided the name he shared with the traitor (948).
Q: What is "anonymous" confession?
A: One confesses anonymously when one kneels behind a privacy screen and does not confess face to face with the priest. In the decades before the revision of the sacramental rubrics, this was the standard manner in which confessions were given. Even after the revision of the rubrics, all Catholic churches are required to give people the option of confessing their sins either face to face or from behind a screen.
Q: Can non-Catholics participate in the gestures at Mass, such as kneeling, making the sign of the cross, etc.?
A: As a congregant, a non-Catholic is allowed to do as much as do Catholics in the pews with the exception of receiving Communion. You can make the sign of the cross, kneel, stand, etc. Those non-Catholics who are guests (as distinguished from RCIA members) can also participate to the extent they feel comfortable doing so, with the exception of receiving Communion. If they are merely there as observers and do not wish to participate, they need only stand when the congregation does and otherwise sit quietly.
Q: Are children of an annulled marriage considered illegitimate?
A: In his book Annulments and the Catholic Church, canon lawyer Edward Peters explains: The granting of an annulment does nothing to affect the legitimacy of children. That status, to the scant degree it has any canonical significance, is determined prior to the time any questions of annulment are raised" (117–19).
Q: Does abstinence from meat include byproducts of animals, such as eggs, cheese, and milk?
A: At one time Lenten abstinence from meat was much stricter than it is today. In the past, Catholics did fast from meat byproducts as well as from meat. That is why there arose in some areas in the West the tradition of Fat Tuesday, the day that preceded the opening of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Catholics would clean out their pantries of meat byproducts by using them in special meals on that Tuesday before Lent. Even today in England, there is a tradition of pancake races on Fat Tuesday in honor of the one-time custom of making pancakes on this day to use up milk, eggs, and butter.
Such Lenten abstinence from meat byproducts is no longer required for Latin-rite Catholics, although it is still mandatory in Eastern churches that are in union with Rome.
Q: Are marital relations not supposed to pleasurable because they are only for reproductive purposes?
A: The primary purposes of marital relations are procreation and spousal unity (babies and bonding), but that does not mean that the husband and wife are not supposed to derive pleasure from their marital relations. Although pleasure is not a purpose of sex, it is important to fulfilling the purposes of sex.
God gave humans the capacity to enjoy food and sex in order to encourage them to fulfill the purposes of those human needs. A moral problem occurs only when deriving pleasure from food and sex is put above or in the place of its intended purpose. Someone who eats solely for pleasure, without regard for the needs of his body, abuses the privilege of eating. In the same way, someone who has sex solely for pleasure, without regard for its intended purposes of babies and bonding, abuses the privilege of sex.
Q: Karl Keating stated in his book Catholicism and Fundamentalism that we are all "redeemed" but we are not all "saved." What is the difference between the two?
A: Basically, redemption is collective, while salvation is individual. Christ redeemed humanity collectively from slavery to sin and from the debt of punishment that mankind, as a whole, owed due to sin. Every person, Christian or non-Christian, is redeemed because he is a member of the human race. Salvation is the application of redemption to individuals. A person can choose to reject the graces won for him by Christ even though he has been redeemed.
Q: Can a non-Catholic Christian groom receive Communion at his Catholic wedding?
A: No, the non-Catholic may not receive Communion at a Catholic wedding. Actually, not all Catholics may receive Communion. Only those who are in a state of grace can receive the Eucharist. To receive Communion in the Catholic Church is a sign of complete acceptance of Catholic teaching. It is also a sign of complete unity among believers. Unfortunately, Catholic and non-Catholic Christians still do not share such unity. At present, the mutual reception of Communion by Catholics and non-Catholics would not be an honest sign. Because of the inability of non-Catholic Christians to receive Communion, Catholics who are marrying a non-Catholic are usually encouraged not to have a Mass as part of their nuptial liturgy.
Q: Do miscarried fetuses have souls? If so, what happens to them?
A: All living things have souls, and all human beings have spiritual, rational souls made in the image and likeness of God. If a human being is conceived then that person has a spiritual, rational soul. So, yes, miscarried children do indeed have human souls. As for their eternal destiny, they share the same hope for heaven that the Church believes is possible for all unbaptized children (cf. CCC 1261).
Q: Does the Church approve of Christian Seders held at parishes?
A: Although the Church has not expressly forbidden Christian Seders, it is also not an event of which the Church has approved for public celebration. Unapproved private devotions, no matter their nature, should not be publicly celebrated on Church property because the mistaken impression is given that there is Church approval where such approval does not yet exist.
Q: At work, I have the option of signing up for health insurance that covers abortion and sterilization. Would it be wrong for me to sign up?
A: No, it would not be wrong for you to sign up. Your intent is to pay for medical coverage for yourself and your family, not to pay for abortion or sterilization. Of course, if you can find comparable coverage and rates through a company that does not cover abortion or sterilization, it would be best to buy your coverage from that company. Unfortunately, finding such a company in this day and age is extremely difficult.
Q: Do female Anglican priests have the same power to consecrate the Eucharist as do male Anglican priests?
A: The Catholic Church does not recognize the validity of Anglican orders, whether they are sought by men or women. In the Catholic Church’s view, no Anglican priest, man or woman, can validly consecrate the bread and wine. During the reign of King Edward VI the Church of England no longer upheld the Mass as a sacrifice. Therefore the form of the sacrament of holy orders was compromised, rendering it invalid.
Q: Should a Catholic hospital or Catholic university cafeteria sell meat dishes on Fridays during Lent? Wouldn’t this be material cooperation with sinful acts?
A: Such cafeterias serve a wider public than Catholics alone, and it is perfectly fine for those non-Catholics to eat meat on Lenten Fridays. So it would not be wrong for Catholic cafeterias to sell meat dishes on Lenten Fridays. But it would be a courtesy to the Catholic patrons for the management to post a sign reminding Catholics that this is a Lenten Friday and therefore Catholics are required to abstain from meat.
Q: Could you explain the custom of taking a "confirmation name"? It seemed to be required when I was younger but I don’t think it is anymore.
A: The custom of adopting a saint’s name at confirmation was done in order to adopt the saint as a special heavenly patron or to honor a saint to whom one had a special devotion. In short, the purpose was to give the confirmand the opportunity to develop his understanding of and reliance on the communion of saints.
While the practice is still in use today, some dioceses have encouraged returning to the older tradition of not picking a new name at confirmation. The idea is that the person is already supposed to have a Christian name, given to him in baptism, and that continuing to use that name at confirmation will serve as a link between these two sacraments of Christian initiation.
Q: Jesus gave the Eucharist at the end of the Last Supper after he and the apostles had already eaten a meal, so why do Catholics have to fast before Communion?
A: First of all, it is not precisely known at what point during the Last Supper that Jesus gave his disciples Communion. For all that is known at this point, it may have been before the ritual Seder meal. But let’s presume for the sake of argument that it was after. The eucharistic fast is a discipline—not a doctrine—of the Church. It is meant to help Catholics prepare for the awesome privilege of receiving Christ’s body, blood, soul, and divinity. As a discipline, it can be modified or abolished. Indeed, just in the last century, the eucharistic fast was reduced from several hours to just one.
There is some scriptural evidence that the eucharistic fast may have been an early discipline of the Church. Paul writes this about the practice of eating and drinking during the liturgy: What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. . . . So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—if any one is hungry, let him eat at home—lest you come together to be condemned (1 Cor. 11:22, 33–34).
Q: Did people understand what John the Baptist was talking about when he told them to "repent and be baptized"? Is there a precedent for baptism in the Old Testament?
A: The Old Testament is full of references to ritual washing. Of particular note are Elisha’s instructions to Naaman in 2 Kings 5 to ritually wash himself in the Jordan as a cure for leprosy, a biblical symbol of sinfulness. It is also a noteworthy part of Jewish tradition that the Jewish people from ancient times to the present have had ritual baths known as mikvahs. In fact, ancient mikvah sites have been found by archaeologists in the Holy Land. The mikvah was commanded under Jewish law to cleanse a person of ritual impurity (e.g., a woman would go to a mikvah after her period of ritual impurity during and after menstruation). So it is likely that the people to whom John the Baptist preached had a good idea of what he was referring to when he instructed them to be cleansed of their sins in the Jordan, which, because it is a natural body of water, could itself have possibly been used as a mikvah.
Q: Christ was a Jew, so why don’t Catholics observe Judaism?
A: Catholicism is the completion of the Jewish religion. Had all of the Jews of Jesus’ time accepted him as the Messiah and entered the Church, there would have continued to be one true religion. But because Jesus of Nazareth was not accepted as the Messiah by the majority of the Jews of his time, a split occurred. Pre-Christian Judaism was the true religion; post-Christian Judaism is an incomplete religion because it lacks recognition of the Messiah it anticipates.
Q: Is there anyone whom we know for certain is in hell already?
A: Satan and the fallen angels are certainly there—or will be on the last day (cf. CCC 392–93). As for human beings, Scripture implies that some will not be saved (Matt. 7:13–14), but it has not been given to us to know in this life who has not found salvation. Indeed, in union with God who desires the salvation of all men (1 Tim. 2:3–4), the Church prays for all who have died and hopes for the salvation of each person individually (CCC 1821).
Q: Why are snipers a routine part of the Holy Father’s security?
A: In addition to being the spiritual head of the Catholic Church, the pope is the temporal head of Vatican City. In other words, he is a head of state. The U.S. president and the queen of England have fully armed security details, so it should not be a surprise that the Pope does as well. Do not forget that John Paul II survived an assassination attempt in 1981. It makes sense that the Vatican would seek to prevent anyone else from trying again to harm a pope.
Q: What is the difference between an archbishop and a cardinal?
A: An archbishop is usually the bishop of a major metropolitan archdiocese and may also be a cardinal. A cardinal is a member of the college of cardinals, and, according to current requirements, is usually a bishop. There is a regulation that a cardinal who is not already a bishop must be ordained to the episcopate, but this rule can be dispensed. So, with permission, it is possible for a layman or a priest to be a cardinal.
Q: What are the criteria for a pope in choosing his new name? Are there restrictions on the names he can choose?
A: There are no official criteria, but a pope usually chooses to honor a predecessor or someone he admires. For example, John Paul II honored Paul VI and John Paul I, and John XXIII honored his father. He may also choose to give an indication of the course of his papacy, as did Pius XII, who indicated that he would continue Pius XI’s work.
There are no restrictions on the choice of name, but it is an unwritten custom that popes do not choose the name Peter. It is generally considered a matter of prudential judgment for popes not to invite comparisons between themselves and the pope Christ himself chose.
Q: Where does the information about Saints Anne and Joachim originate?
A: The names attributed to Mary’s parents come from the Protoevangelium of James, a second-century apocryphal Christian document that gives a history of Mary’s childhood. It is not part of the biblical canon, but as an early Christian history it may preserve some correct information about the family history of Mary and Joseph.
Q: Could a non-Catholic be canonized by the Catholic Church?
A: It is theoretically possible that the Church could canonize a non-Catholic, because canonization is simply an official acknowledgment that a particular person is in heaven. But to date the Church has done so only with its own members. This is because one of the purposes of canonization is to set forth for Catholics a model of Catholic Christian holiness.
Q: I am deployed to Afghanistan, and our current chaplain is a Church of Christ minister. In this situation would the Protestant service offered by the minister fulfill my Sunday obligation?
A: Attendance at a Protestant service does not fulfill the Sunday obligation. The Catechism instructs: The first precept [of the Church] ("You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor") requires the faithful to sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the principal liturgical feasts . . . by participating in the eucharistic celebration, in which the Christian community is gathered (CCC 2042). If participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, you have no obligation to attend Mass. But, in this situation:It is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the Liturgy of the Word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families (Code of Canon Law 1248).
Q: Deacons cannot celebrate Mass, so why can’t women be ordained to the diaconate?
A: Women cannot be ordained deacons because deacons receive the sacrament of holy orders, which women cannot validly receive. Deacons receive this sacrament in a lesser degree than priests or bishops, but they do receive it, so potential candidates must be capable of receiving it. Deacons do not preside at Mass but they do read the Gospel and are allowed to preach at Mass, functions that are considered in a certain sense to be apostolic. Because deacons share in the apostolic ministry, it is fitting that they be men as were the apostles Jesus chose.
Q: Is there a patron saint for discernment?
A: One possibility is Ignatius of Loyola whose Spiritual Exercises were created to help aid right discernment. His order, the Society of Jesus, has also been active in higher education and founded a number of universities in the United States. On the subject of discernment, Ignatius said, "We should always be prepared so as never to err to believe that what we see as white is black, if the hierarchy of the Church defines it thus."
Q: Where did the chapter and verse numbers of the Bible originate? Were they in the original manuscripts?
A: The chapters of the Bible are usually credited to a thirteenth-century British scholar named Stephen Langton, who eventually became the Catholic archbishop of Canterbury. Langton is better known for his involvement in the conflict over the creation of the Magna Carta.
The verses of the Bible are generally credited to a sixteenth-century French printer named Robert Estienne (better known as Stephanus, the Latinized version of his surname).
Q: After the election of Pope Benedict XVI, some media reports said that he is the 264th pope, while others said he is the 265th. Which is it?
A: The popular confusion arises from a failure to distinguish between the number of popes and the number of successors to Peter, the first pope. Pope Benedict XVI is the 264th successor of Peter, which makes him the 265th pope of the Catholic Church.
Q: If a person is infertile through no fault of his own, can he get married in the Catholic Church?
A: You may be confusing infertility with impotence. Infertility (the inability to procreate children) is not an impediment to marriage; permanent and irreversible impotence (the inability to consummate a marriage through marital relations) is an impediment. Impotence that is known at the time of the marriage to be permanent and irreversible is a barrier to marriage, because the couple must be capable of consummating their marriage. If the couple has reason to assume that the impotence can be treated or reversed, they may get married.
Q: The Universal Life church offers quick, free ordinations online that allow someone to officiate at a civil wedding. Can a Catholic obtain such an ordination?
A: There are two principles to keep in mind here: First, a Catholic cannot accept "ordination" in a non-Catholic church because such "ordination" is invalid and because it gives the appearance that one has joined and ministers in a non-Catholic church. Second, assuming that there are no obvious impediments to marriage, a lay Catholic who is qualified by the state to preside at civil marriages may do so for non-Catholics who are not bound by Catholic marital law.
In short, although a Catholic may not try to become "ordained" in a non-Catholic church in order to officiate at a civil wedding, if he is qualified by the state by some other licit means to preside at civil weddings (e.g., judge, justice of the peace), he can preside at a civil wedding under the conditions mentioned above.
Q: Why is it that the pope’s cassock is white while the clothes of other clergymen are usually black?
A: The custom of popes wearing white cassocks dates to Pope St. Pius V, a Dominican who chose to continue wearing the Dominican white habit as pope. Successive popes continued the custom, and it is now the traditional color of the pope’s clothing.
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