Open Forum

Callers choose the topics during Open Forum, peppering our guests with questions on every aspect of Catholic life and faith, the moral life, and even philosophical topics that touch on general religious belief. 

Questions Covered:

• 03:14 - What exactly was the Enlightenment and how does it relate to church teaching? 
• 10:22 - Why does each diocese sets the age to receive confirmation? Why do some parishes take it even further to require activities and hours to attain the sacrament and other parishes within the same city do not? 
• 13:59 - Can God love one person more than another? Does God love St. John more than St. Thomas, for example? 
• 19:14 - What exactly did the Council of Trent declare about the Latin Vulgate? Should all Catholics assume that the Latin Vulgate is more accurate and is “superior” than the New Testament in the original Greek? 
•  29:11 - I’ve been led to believe that a natural marriage is more than just mutual permission to perform the “marital act” but involves the intention on both parties to form a union oriented toward the procreation of children. A union formed for merely economic or legal reasons (with no procreative intent) would not be a true “marriage”. That said, one traditional view of Mary and Joseph’s union was that she was entrusted to him for protection and provision in what was intended to be a sexless, childless union. This seem irreconcilable with our natural law understanding of marriage. Is it acceptable to think that the union of Mary and Joseph was a “marriage” on in the legal sense? Sufficient to pass on inheritances (like inheriting the kingship of David), but otherwise not a true natural marriage? 
• 37:33 - I thought Jesus and the Father were equal. In John 14:28 You heard me say to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 
• 43:12 - If Jesus submitted his DNA to Ancestry.com would it prove that he shared DNA with Joseph? With Mary? 
• 46:47- Is it “ok” to consider that the great flood was brought about by the end of the last ice age, thus fitting many of the world’s culture’s take on flood legends? 
• 53:27 - Why and when did Saint Peter go to Antioch and Rome?