Stop the Masses!
I am a cradle Catholic who until last year had no idea that This Rock, Catholic Answers, or apologetics existed. Although I was confirmed in high school, my study of the faith never went much beyond what I had to cram for my written exams–and, like most material covered in this manner, it didn’t stay upstairs for very long once the rough stuff was over.
At any rate, I’ve lately gotten sick and tired of my own apathy and decided to start again. A wonderful friend to whom I am greatly indebted surprised me with a subscription to This Rock after learning of my renewed interest in Catholicism. It’s opened up a brand new world and answered a lot of question (although some of your articles admittedly go over my head because I’m so new at this).
Now, the real reason I’m writing. I used to work at a publishing company, and one of our editors gave me the enclosed unsolicited manuscript which arrived in the mail a few days ago. While I’m nowhere near an expert in Catholicism, even I can sense a problem with the argument that Jesus can’t return to earth in human form because Catholics keep eating him at every Mass.
Susan P. Havas
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Editor’s reply: The manuscript is titled “The Reason Why Pope John Paul II Was Shot.” Its author is Verna Marquardt, who is otherwise unknown to us and who explains that she was divorced after a short marriage and now “has plenty of energy to transmute.” So it seems. She argues that “Jesus and Mary are wanting the Mass and ‘Lord’s Supper’ discontinued. Jesus needs to gather his body and blood to obtain sufficient required life forces to enable him to fulfill his promised second coming.”
Marquardt proves this by noting that “Jesus and Mary were attempting to get a message across” to John Paul II. After all, the Pope “was shot in the digestive system.” What is more, “He was shot by a person from Turkey…. An analogy between the eating of turkey for Thanksgiving feasts in the United States and the celebration of Mass can be drawn. Of course, the young rebel was a man, not a turkey, but he was a Turkey man! Jesus was apparently in touch with this Turkey man and encouraged the young rebel in his act.”
Any comment I could make on this reasoning would be superfluous.
Book Selling Secrets
Many Christian book stores are run by Fundamentalists. Naturally they are reluctant to carry Catholic books, so they do not carry books on Catholic apologetics. The nearest Catholic book store is about 25 miles away. With a little help from me, a married couple in our parish holds a book sale after Sunday Masses about eight times a year.
We get the books on consignment from a Catholic store. It makes money on the sales, which is good because it helps the store remain in business, and our risk is small. I tried to run a book sale of my own, concentrating on apologetics books. It did not work. I sold only one book. It is not that apologetics books do not sell, it is that one needs a large selection to attract people to the tables.
My book sale had about 30 books, my friends’ book sales have about 100 books plus rosaries and other items. Their Sunday sales are many times larger than mine were. So avoid small, narrowly-focused books sales, but by all means include some good apologetics books.
Richard Bruce
Davis, California
Editor’s reply: In fact, you can get by with only a few titles on a book table and can make a good income–if you do two things.
First, set up the tables properly. Select two or three books you especially want to promote and place multiple facings of them on the table–say, three copies deep by three copies wide and three copies thick (27 copies total). This display attracts attention and tells people that these are important books. You need to highlight several titles this way to make people linger at the table. If you place only one-by-one-by-one facings of books on the table, people won’t notice any of the titles because the table will look jumbled.
Second, you must pitch the books you are highlighting. It isn’t enough just to stand behind the table and let people browse. You need to hold up a title and explain in a loud voice what benefit readers will get from it. You need to say, “Madam, you need this book”–which, of course, she does.
At our parish seminars we have been able to sell as many as thirty sets of William Jurgens’ Faith of the Early Fathers to people who are the same ones coming out of Mass on Sunday. The Jurgens set is not a light read. It consists of three oversized books, and it’s expensive: $35. If we didn’t push the title and explain its benefits, no one would purchase it at the tables. But when we explain what it is and why it is so helpful, we sell out.
“Gross Error” on Scapular
I am writing in response to a “Quick Question” answer that appeared in the November 1992 issue concerning scapulars and salvation. I must inform you there is a gross error in this answer. Yes, it is true that salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. And rather than comparing the brown scapular to a wedding ring, it should be compared to wearing his garment. This is where the error comes in.
The brown scapular has a very definite promise with it. The promise is, “Whoever dies wearing this garment will not see the fires of hell.” Our Blessed Mother did not just say she would intercede. She said, I repeat, “Whoever dies wearing this garment will not see the fires of hell.” When God gives a promise through his holy Mother it is a promise and does not make the brown scapular a good luck charm. It is hard enough to get Catholics to wear it without worrying about whether somebody in error believes it’s a good luck charm.
William Dykes
Flushing, New York
Editor’s reply: What happens to a person who wears the brown scapular but lives a deeply sinful life and dies unrepentant? If you say that person will be saved, then you throw out the whole Catholic idea of the necessity of sanctifying grace. On the other hand, if you say that person will go to hell even though wearing the brown scapular, then the promise isn’t quite what it appears to be if taken literally, right?
The error we warned against was an extreme literalness. The promise presupposes cooperation with God’s grace, and cooperation is not guaranteed. (By the way, one can’t argue that someone wearing the scapular will be moved irresistibly to repent at the end–that would deny free will.)
Please don’t let your devotion to this sacramental obscure a true understanding of how salvation is obtained.
Smithsonian’s Goof
In the December issue of The Smithsonian Magazine there is a caption under a detail of the “Legend of the True Cross” by Piero. The caption writer has the Queen of Sheba kneeling to “worship” the sacred wood. I sent the magazine a note and told them the word should be “venerate.” I also enclosed your tract on relics. I thought they might find it informative.
Donald W. Killmeyer
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania