“Catholic Answers Are Wrong”
I was raised in a Catholic family. My father was a daily communicant. My younger sister is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brooklyn. I have given myself to Jesus in many ways–faith ministry, Eucharistic minister, lector, parish council, odd jobs around the church grounds.
I guess I got too close to it. It has been my experience that priests are interested in two things, my money and their power. Christianity is a foreign subject. I have left the Catholic Church and lost my faith in Jesus. I have subscribed to your publications since August 1986. Sad to say, Catholic answers are wrong.
Jack McKinney
Bishop, California
But Catholic Answers Is Right
Thank you so much for the two books you sent. They are a needed diversion from my incarceration. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities of the world and lose the focus on things of importance, such as spirituality. This is especially true in an environment such as jail. Be encouraged that the work that you and all the staff of Catholic Answers do is appreciated and is changing lives.
Phil Montella
Manchester, New Hampshire
Not a Prison for the Soul
I am a convert to Catholicism, four years old in the faith, and I am no less fascinated at the riches discovered in my exploration. Your work for the Church has often been a great help to me, as I was raised as a Southern Baptist. Upon my conversion (from agnosticism) I had to relearn just about everything from the Catholic perspective.
I am president of a Legion of Mary praesidium which I established here with the help of a Legion member from another parish. Being in prison, we have to struggle to maintain a Catholic presence here. As you noted in This Rock, prisons are battlegrounds for Fundamentalist sects.
Our praesidium works to improve the Catholic programming and education among our many fallen brothers who seriously need reconciliation with Christ and the Church. Unfortunately, many of our brothers fall prey to Fundamentalism, as its anti-clerical (authority) stance is appealing.
There are a few here, though, who are growing strong in the faith and who are helping others to see the truth in Catholic teaching. Knowing that you seek to help Christ’s brothers in prison, I am requesting your help here. Enclosed please find my request for books and tapes. I realize that these items are costly, and so I ask that you supply whatever you are able to and to be at peace about whatever you must deny us. I have listed these things in the order of importance for your benefit.
We are thankful for your concern for us and your support. I especially am thankful for your evangelistic approach and ministry. I pray that our many brothers and sisters in the Church will love the truth enough to give it to others as you have chosen to do.
Richard Smith
Los Lunas, New Mexico
Buddy, Can You Spare a Tract?
I would very much appreciate the donation of as many of your tracts as you can spare. I have an active Catholic prison population of 50 and a registered Catholic population of residents of well over 500. The tracts would be of great help in furthering my outreach to bring these men back to Holy Mother Church. Because of the budgetary problems of the State, we sadly cannot pay for them, so I am reduced, in the spirit of St. Francis, to asking you to donate them.
Rev. Sebastian Buccellato, OFM
Staten Island, New York
Was Oz a Catholic?
The question about whether there were “miraculous” talking statues (“Quick Questions,” January 1992) interests me. Back in college I minored in history, and since then I continued to read about both Renaissance art and the history of technology. I never ran across a reference to “miraculous” talking statues. But fake miracles, yes.
A few years ago a merchant donated a statue to a church, and the statue began to weep. The statue’s “tears” were chemicals that oozed from around the statue’s eyes as the statue aged. The merchant was planning to sell copies of this “miracle” statue. But talking statues? No.
Where did the story come from? Well, stories of heroes who expose “living” idols as fake are popular. There’s Daniel 14:1-42 and an oddly similar episode of Star Trek. American popular culture is full of tales of talking idols that turned out to be mouthpieces for hidden priests (the Wizard of Oz, for instance). But talking statues in church?
The thought occurred to me (when a television evangelist leaned forward to ask me, “Will you pray with me right now?”) that in reality the evangelist wasn’t in the studio then; what I was watching was a recording, made hours or months before, of the evangelist leaning toward the camera’s lens.
I’m not accusing television evangelists of trying to fool their public. In fact, one of them, after announcing that God was curing someone “right now,” mentioned on his show that he still didn’t fully understand how God could be using him–after all, one of his cures didn’t actually happen until someone in the Philippines was watching his show six months later. But the evangelists have no qualms about creating the illusion that they’re in the room with you, especially when they ask you to pray “with” them.
I don’t know if we had talking statues back then, but I do know we have people kneeling before their talking boxes now.
Don Schenk
Allentown, Pennsylvania
This Rock Dating Service
I recently got married–to another This Rock subscriber. As a convert to Catholicism from Lutheranism, I enjoy your strong, intelligent defense of the faith. I particularly enjoyed the article a while back by one of the directors of the Couple-to-Couple League (John F. Kippley, “Apologetics and Birth Control,” November 1990). It was one of the very few articles on natural family planning that I found truly doctrinal but also truly realistic in its understanding of the dynamics of a married couple.
Jensine M. Nolan
San Diego, California
Getting to Know Her
I especially enjoyed “The Ark of the New Covenant” (December 1991). The suggestion that Evangelicals who become Catholics often suffer from lingering suspicions that Jesus’ sinlessness is compromised by Mary’s sinlessness was an apt observation.
Overcoming Protestant habits of thought has been a constant struggle for me over the past year. It’s almost like learning a foreign language. I find myself gradually becoming more at ease speaking the Catholic tongue into which I have been immersed. Perhaps I will never possess the intensity of devotion to our Blessed Mother demonstrated by cradle Catholics.
I feel like one who has been reunited with his real mother after having been separated at birth and raised by a stepmother. I pray that our Mother will draw me gently and patiently into an ever-closer relationship of love and trust with her, one which will overcome my residual hesitation. What I know about Mary must still permeate my heart to transform my feelings for her. It’s not easy being a convert from conservative Evangelicalism!
John H. Thompson
Placentia, California
Shining with Sheen
I would like to recommend to readers of This Rock, both Catholics and other Christians, one of the finest expositions of the Christian faith I have ever read, the Life of Christ by Fulton Sheen.
Never have I read such a complete, understandable, and enjoyable integration of the Old and New Testaments under one cover. It is captivating. In fact, after reading Sheen’s classic interpretation of Christianity, both Catholics and non-Catholics who are honestly and objectively evaluating the Catholic Church will come to a much fuller appreciation of Catholicism. You folks are good, but Sheen is tremendous. His book is the best investment I ever made.
Mark S. Roberti
Enumclaw, Washington
Are there Catholic Klingons?
Sorry for the delay in sending the renewal check. It was buried beneath a pile of papers, pamphlets, notes, letters, and stuff cluttering my study. (The late “Hee Haw” jokester Grady Nutt, a “reverend” himself, said, “Anything organized looks Catholic to a Baptist.”)
We take a lot of magazines in this household. This Rock is certainly my favorite of them all. When it comes, I read it from cover to cover, neglecting all else. Does this mean This Rock is an occasion of sin to me?
My dream job would be to work for a fine, orthodox, lively, on-target Catholic periodical–but I haven’t the qualifications and geography is against me. So what I do is (1) read as much good, solid Christian material as I can possibly digest (and even some material that I can’t), (2) pray for all evangelizing Catholics, (3) try, in conversation, to give reasons for my own conversion from a “Bible-believing” church.
I also make some effort at putting Christian apologetics into my fiction (a few small and scattered successes), which presently involves revision of a sort of science fiction novel I’m calling Fort MacDonald. My hero is a modern-day, Methodist-reared Comanche space alien. (My husband and I are great fans of Star Trek, both Kirk’s and Picard’s Enterprises.)
Sue Branum
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Are You a Former JW?
I am interested in hearing about the experiences of people who used to be Jehovah’s Witnesses and who are now Catholics. Some may be subscribers to your magazine. I am doing research for a possible book on that topic.
I also need old Watchtower and Awake! magazines (preferably bound), tracts, pamphlets, books (especially by Charles Taze Russell and Joseph Rutherford), plus intraorganizational publications.
Anyone who could help me may contact me at P.O. Box 2529, Dale City, WA 22193.
Cathleen Koenig
Dale City, Washington
This Letter Isn’t from “Mom”
You are making a difference! Your style of listening and responding with charity to secularists, Fundamentalists, and uninformed Catholics is part of a growing trend to stand firmly upon “this rock”–where Peter is, there is the Church. I am most happy to send a contribution to your growing apostolate.
Rev. John A. Abe
Staunton, Virginia
Nor Is This One
You are absolutely the most exciting Catholic group I’ve heard of. This Rock is a superb magazine, and the type of people you are helping to find the Church is great.
Frances Parker
Saginaw, Michigan
How’s Panama Office Project?
I was touched by your appeal for help for your branch office in Panama. I made copies of the letter and order forms, distributed them to my friends, and urged them to make a donation to that cause. I am glad that somebody is doing this for our Catholic faith. Please keep me informed of the progress of this project.
Ricardo de Guzman
Pomona, California
Editor’s reply: Our “branch office fund” is growing slowly. We hoped to have interns from Panama working with us in San Diego right now, but we haven’t raised enough money yet. The project will be delayed, but not cancelled. This is a disappointment to us, to Archbishop McGrath of Panama City, and to those who already have contributed, but we’re confident that further prayer will provide the needed support.