Open Forum

Cy Kellett and senior apologist, Jimmy Akin, discuss a variety of questions submitted via email and social media. If you have a question you’d like to submit for the next internet open forum, please email it to radio@catholic.com.  

Questions Covered:

• 01:55 - Could you tell us more about the writer of the Gospel of Matthew – was the Gospel originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and why do people think that? Why is the tax collector called by Jesus called Matthew in this Gospel, but Levi in Luke and Mark? 
• 14:26 - Approximately what year did the altar rail stop being used? Was there actually a time, for say a decade or more, when no one at all was receiving Holy Communion at an altar rail? Worldwide? Or for instance, was there a place here or there in Europe which never did away with the altar rail/kneeling reception of Eucharist? 
• 16:52 - Do you think sleep paralysis has a spiritual component? It’s frightening. Awful. 
• 21:35 - If 1st Clement was included in the New Testament Canon would it be likely for Protestant and Orthodox arguments against Papal authority be nonexistent since that letter deals with Pope Saint Clement using his authority to deal with a problem in the Corinthian Church? 

• 28:33 - Could you discuss the practice of “canonical coronation”. Doesn’t this practice which started in the 17th century appear to non-Catholics to be idolatry? When Saint Joseph is wearing a crown, exactly what is his kingdom? 
• 32:53 - I saw someone mention that they couldn’t baptize their child, due to the current situation, and decided that they were going to baptize their child on their own. Is there an official way of doing this, like Spiritual Communion? 
• 39:44 - How do pure spirits act on the material world? Why are humans limited in direct manipulation of external matter? Will this limitation be removed once we are in a glorified state? 
• 44:40 - Jimmy, does God punish? Yes, not? In what sense can we understand this problem? 
• 49:06 - A Protestant friend refers to singing Christian songs as her ‘worship’. As a Catholic I tend to identify worship pretty much solely in a liturgical context (Mass, Benediction). I wouldn’t regard private prayer, or even communal prayer as ‘worship’. What does the Church say? 

• 51:00 - Should the de auxiliis controversy still be considered off-limits for theologians?