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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 11
 November 2006 
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Hold Your Applause
Q: One of my friends suggests that we should not applaud the choir after the closing hymn. He says that the song should direct souls to the Lord. I find it unnatural if we don’t applaud.
A: The church is not a concert hall and the liturgy is not a performance. We are there to direct our attention to God—not to each other. There is a time and place for everything. The church is for prayer—not performances. If you want to convey your appreciation for the music, compliment the director after Mass.
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: How do we know that the Bible is not the sole rule of faith?
A: The Bible does not claim to be the sole rule of faith. Paul wrote, "What you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). And he instructed, "Hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess. 2:15).
These oral teachings and traditions have been handed down and entrusted to the Church, and they remain as much a part of the full Christian faith as the Bible. To ignore them is no less a tragedy than to ignore the Bible.
—Jim Blackburn
Q: When I was in the hospital recently, the only priest available was Russian Orthodox. He gave me Communion—he said he consecrated the hosts himself—and also the sacrament of the sick. Was it really okay for me to receive these sacraments from him?
A: Ordinarily, a Catholic can receive the sacraments mentioned in the canon from a validly ordained non-Catholic priest, such as a Russian Orthodox, if the Catholic does not have access to a Catholic priest and there is some necessity or spiritual good that receiving the sacraments would facilitate (see Code of Canon Law 844). A Catholic in the hospital without access to a Catholic priest would qualify.
—Michelle Arnold
Q: What happened to those who committed a mortal sin before the sacrament of confession was instituted?
A: They would have needed perfect contrition for their souls to be cleansed of mortal sin. Perfect contrition is having sorrow over sins that is motivated by love for God rather than the fear of punishment only. Since God is both perfectly merciful and perfectly just, they could still obtain the forgiveness of sins and the purification of the soul.
—Peggy Frye
Q: How can Eastern Orthodoxy have saints if it has no pope?
A: Sainthood is not determined by the pope; sainthood is only officially recognized by the pope through the canonization process of the Catholic Church. In other words, all people who die in God’s friendship become saints (after purgatory, if needed). In some cases, the Catholic Church officially recognizes the sainthood of certain individuals by canonization. It should be noted, too, that canonization is a later development in Church history; originally, saints were recognized by the acclamation of the communities in which they lived and by their bishops.
Basically, Eastern Orthodoxy can have saints because Eastern Orthodox may die in God’s friendship. In the Catholic view, the recognition of certain Eastern Orthodox to be saints by Eastern Orthodox churches may be somewhat similar to the acclamation process of the early Church and the bishops. But the sainthood of these individuals is not presently recognized in the Catholic Church, though their salvation is hoped for.
—Michelle Arnold
Q: I have been approached by some friends of mine who are part of a non-denominational Christian church who claim that God desires us all to be wealthy and that if we do not achieve wealth, it is due to a lack of faith.
A: Jesus tells a rich young man who wants to know what he must do to gain eternal life: "Go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Matt. 19:20). Then Jesus says of the rich: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matt. 19:24).
Your friends are only kidding themselves. The Gospels are full of examples of God’s favor being focused on the poor, not the rich. Jesus enters the world in a stable and lives in a working-class family. St. Joseph was a laborer, not a worker with fine wood. Through the years there have been many who have preached the gospel of the full stomach. But it is not the gospel of Jesus. Most of the saints who were born into wealth renounced it sooner or later.
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: Doesn’t Acts 2:47 ("The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved") prove the notion of eternal security?
A: While it says that they "were being saved," it does not say "they were saved and need not fear hell" or even "they were saved." It simply says that they "were being saved." "Being saved" is present tense, not past, so it implies that it is an ongoing action, just as the Church teaches. I don’t see any argument for eternal security in that.
—Peggy Frye
Q: An atheist friend asked me, "If God is perfect, how can perfection coexist with imperfection (i.e. an imperfect universe)?" How should I respond?
A: Of course they can co-exist. Anything God creates is going to be lacking in his perfection in that it is not him. Just because the universe lacks some of what God has in no way makes it a threat to God. The fact that God has what the universe lacks in no way makes God a threat to the universe. In fact without him, it would cease to exist.
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: A friend told me that God created other "parents" besides Adam and Eve, including Cain’s wife. Is this heretical?
A: Your friend’s theory is known as polygenism, and it was addressed by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Humani Generis: The faithful cannot embrace that opinion that maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the teaching authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own. (HG 37) Where did Cain’s wife come? Although their names are not recorded in Scripture, Adam and Eve had other children, including daughters—Cain seems to have married his sister. This was necessary (for a time) to propagate the human race. St. Augustine explained this in The City of God, book XV. When the necessity for sibling marriage ended so, too, did God’s allowance of it.
—Jim Blackburn
Q: I was unaware that there was ever an infallible statement made on the use of contraception. Doesn’t the pope have to proclaim a teaching ex cathedra before it becomes an infallible teaching?
A: Concerning the infallibility question, the pope doesn’t need to proclaim ex cathedra the teaching that artificial means of birth control is wrong; it’s already an infallible teaching of the Church by virtue of the ordinary and universal magisterium. This loyal submission of the will and intellect must be given, in a special way, to the authentic authority of the Roman pontiff, even when he does not speak ex cathedra, in such wise, indeed, that his supreme teaching authority be acknowledged with respect and sincere assent be given to decisions made by him. (Lumen Gentium 25) For further clarification on this issue, please see "What Is the Magisterium?" by Thomas Storck at www.catholic.net.
—Peggy Frye
Q: My husband would like to ask a good friend who is an Eastern Orthodox Christian to be the godfather for our expected child. Will Church law allow it?
A: Your friend can be godfather to your child so long as there is also a Catholic godparent and the Catholic education of your child is ensured. The Vatican document Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism states: Because of the close communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches, it is permissible for a just cause for an Eastern faithful to act as godparent, together with a Catholic godparent, at the baptism of a Catholic infant or adult, so long as there is provision for the Catholic education of the person being baptized, and it is clear that the godparent is a suitable one. (98b) When there are two godparents at a Catholic baptism, the Code of Canon Law states that there should be one godparent from each sex (CIC 873). If your husband’s friend will be the child’s godfather, you should select a Catholic woman to be the godmother.
—Michelle Arnold
Q: My deacon said that if a person confessed a sin that was yet to be committed such as killing someone, then the priest was bound by law and conscience to report the uncommitted crime; otherwise he would have to live with a troubled conscience for not having attempted to prevent it. Is this true?
A: Under no circumstances is a priest allowed to use "knowledge acquired in confession to the detriment of the penitent" (CIC 984). "The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason" (CIC 983).
—Peggy Frye
Q: Are any apparitions ever considered dogma?
A: No. Apparitions and locutions are considered "private revelation," and while some have been recognized by the Church, they do not belong to the deposit of faith. Catholics are not bound to believe Church-approved private revelations. The Catechism explains the role of private revelation as follows: It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive revelation but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church. Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects that base themselves on such "revelations." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 67) A good book on how the Church discerns private revelation is A Still Small Voice by Fr. Benedict Groeschel.
—Peggy Frye
Q: Has the Church ever condemned any Marian devotions as idolatrous?
A: Yes. In the fourth to fifth centuries there was a heresy known as Collyridianism, in which the adherents treated the Virgin Mary as a goddess by offering to her a bread sacrifice during their liturgies. The primary defender of the orthodox Catholic position was St. Ephiphanius of Salamis in his work Panarion.
—Michelle Arnold
Q: My sister read somewhere that Pope John Paul II gave some guidelines on how to help prevent illegal immigration. Do you know what she’s referring to?
A: Perhaps she is referring to his message given July 25, 1995, entitled The Church and Illegal Immigration. The complete text of his talk is at www.ewtn.com. There’s also an article by Jimmy Akin on www.jimmyakin.org.
—Peggy Frye
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