On the "christian" Non-believer

Over the past seven years I've received personal e-mails from our web site asking me questions about the Church on a regular basis and I always welcome these e-mails. But every once in a while I'll receive, what I call a "buck shot" list of questions from visitors who aren't interested in clearing up any misconception they may have about the Catholic Faith OR inquiring about what Catholics believe in a certain area of theology. I'll even offer them a FREE copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, just to find out they either: have no interest in it OR already have one. Sometimes these e-mails are accompanied by sarcasm and arrogance. Many of these "believers" are not really believers. In their e-mails they will argue what they are against, but never what they believe in. {Similar to the protestant reformers, who disagreed among themselves but agreed on what they DIDN'T believe in, Rome was wrong..Jesus broke His promise Matt 16:13-20.}

One very hard task of replying to the various personal e-mails I get from the web site is discerning sincere faith-sharers from people who are just trying to waste our time. This second group of people are trying to convince themselves what they DON'T BELIEVE IN is correct. We are here to answer questions about what we BELIEVE IN. We are here on the internet to clear up misconceptions and answer questions about the Catholic Christian Faith Our Lord founded in 33AD. Buck shot e-mails with tons of objections to the faith are sometimes, not always, from people with insincere hearts.

Although I believe you can't make any generalizations, many of these so-called "believers" are ex-Catholics who were never catechized on the Divine Faith correctly. I know this based on my correspondences with them. Some have ministries to pull Catholics from the Faith Our Blessed Lord founded. [This is why Catholic support groups are critical now. When challenged by our faith, our response should be, "I don't know, but let me ask my Catholic friend"] Many, of these people I believe, have been hurt by parents, priests, religious, etc. in the past, and are in denial about it. What we would say to them is, what Tim Staples coined, "Don't leave Peter because of Judas [ and Judas behavior. ]"

We respect all questioners to our site. All we ask for is intellectual honesty, an objectivity to history and a mature attitude. Yes we can still agree to disagree and still be friends but a faith-sharing dialogue should be honest and true as the model Christ our Lord is Honesty and Truth Himself! If you can't send us a question about the Church with a mature attitude, don't waste your time as it will be ignored.

But we want to be clear, we always welcome the sincere inquirer/faith-seeker of any faith, Christian Catholic, Separated Brethren, Jewish, Muslim, etc.

Mike Humphrey
AskACatholic.com Web Administrator

The Catholic Apologist's Daily Prayer

Ineffable Creator, who from the treasures of your wisdom, have established three hierarchies of angels, have arrayed them in marvelous order above the fiery Heavens, and have marshaled the regions of the universe with such artful skill, You are proclaimed the True Font of Light and Wisdom, and the primal origin raised high beyond all things.

Pour forth a ray of your brightness into the darkened places of my mind; disperse from my soul the twofold darkness into which I was born: sin and ignorance. You make eloquent the tongues of infants. Refine my speech, and pour forth upon my lips the goodness of your blessings. Grant to me keenness of mind, capacity to remember, skill in learning, subtlety to interpret and eloquence in speech.

May you guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to completion. You who are True God and True Man, who live and reign world without end.

Amen

- St. Thomas Aquinas

When was your church founded?

Do you have any idea when your religion was founded, by whom, and how many members it has? We found the following interesting.

If you are a Hindu, your religion developed in India around 1500 B.C.. Hinduism has so many different sects it is not worth listing them. 751 Million

Buddhism split from Hinduism, and was founded by Buddha, Prince Siddhartha Gautama of India about 500 B.C.. Buddhism is also plagued with division. Examples: Theravada, Mahayana, Mantrayana, and Zen. 334 Million

Islam was started by Mohammed around 600 A.D. in what is now Saudi Arabia. Islam is divided into many different sects such as, the Sunni, Shiah, Wahhabis, and Ismaili Khoja. 1 Billion

If you are a Jehovah' s Witness your religion was started by Charles Russell in 1872. Jehovah's Witness are not christians. They believe Jesus is really Michael the archangel not the Son of God. 4 Million
What Jehovah Witnesses Really Believe

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints better known as the Mormons was started by Joseph Smith in 1830. Mormons masquerade as Christians, but in fact believe in many gods. This is contrary to the Christian faith. Mormons also believe that god was once a mortal man and that a faithful Mormon can become his own god after his death. Strange but true.

The Jewish religion was founded when Abraham listened to God about 4,000 years ago. The modern Jewish faith has many factions. Such as, Hasidic, Orthodox, Modern Orthodox, Reformed Judaism, and Conservative Judaism. 13 Million

If you are a Protestant your church was started by a human being. The belief of private interpretation of the Bible has been the hallmark and down fall of Protestantism. This is quite evident in the squabbling over the true meaning of the Bible which has created over 2500 different Protestant denominations. 382 Million

Examples of Protestant Churches:

Lutheran- Martin Luther in 1521.
Mennonites- Menno Simons in 1525.
Anglicans- King Henry VIII in 1533.
Presbyterians- John Calvin in 1550.
Baptist- John Smyth in 1609.
Methodist-John and Charles Wesley in 1729.
Episcopalians- Samuel Seaburyin 1789.
Church of Christ- Thomas Campbell in 1807
Seventh Day Adventists- Ellen White in 1860.
Salvation Army- William Booth in 1865.
Christian Scientist- Mary Baker in 1879
Pentecostal- Charles Fox in 1901
Fundamentalism- The Milton brothers and Lyman Steward in 1915.

The Eastern Orthodox religion separated from Roman Catholicism in the year 1054.

If you are a Roman Catholic, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, began your Church in the year 33 A.D. and has to this date about 1 Billion, 125 million members.

On a worldwide basis, it is also the fastest growing Church on the face of the earth. Join us today!

Ten Things Pope Benedict XVI Wants You to Know.

Vatican inside observer John L. Allen, Jr., drawing from the writings and speeches of the Holy Father, shares the ten most important things that Pope Benedict XVI wants all Catholics to know.

God Is Love Jesus Is Lord Truth and Freedom Are Two Sides of the Same Coin Faith and Reason Need One Another The Eucharist Is the Heart of the Christian Life Christianity Is a Positive Message The Church Forms Consciences but Stays Out of Politics The Importance of Catholic Identity Christ and the Church Are Inseparable The Virtue of Patience Go out and buy a copy for your Protestant friend today!

1. God Is Love

STRIP EVERYTHING else away, and the core of the Christian message is that God is love. The ultimate reality in the universe, the one which created it and sustains it, is love. In faith, we call that personal love God. Since that's the point upon which everything else in Christianity pivots, it's no surprise that Pope Benedict chose to title his very first encyclical, the most important form of papal teaching, Deus Caritas Est-precisely, "God Is Love."

The heart of the encyclical's argument is that eros, or human sexual love, is a beautiful reflection of God's passionate love for humanity. Yet eros, he says, is not an end in itself. Rather, it calls us out of ourselves, toward something even higher. Eros must be transformed through "a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing" into agape, meaning the complete gift of oneself for another. Agape, in turn, flows into service of one's neighbor, especially the poor and vulnerable, which is the basis for all Catholic charitable work. In order for this purification to happen, we have to exercise our reason about the right way to put our love into action. Thus, Benedict says, a final element of the Christian concept of love is logos referring not only to "words" in the sense of human thought, but also to the Word, the Son of God, made flesh in Jesus Christ.

Against any abstract or purely philosophical concept of God, Deus Caritas Est reminds us that the Christian God is not just a force or a concept, but a lover. "God is the absolute and ultimate source of all being; but this universal principle of creation-the Logos, primordial reason-is at the same time a lover with all the passion of a true love," Benedict writes. The late Italian Vatican writer Orazio Petrosillo said that with Deus Caritas Est, Joseph Ratzinger, once known as Grande Inquisitore, or "the Grand Inquisitor," revealed himself as If Innamorato, or "the Great Lover."

Benedict is well aware that critics over the centuries, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, have complained that Christianity "ruined" eros by making human beings ashamed of their sexuality, by treating sex as something to be controlled and feared. Instead, Benedict argues, Christianity liberates eros by pointing the way toward its true fulfillment. The pope chose to write on this theme, at this time, in part out of concern for all the violence and hatred in today's world justified in the name of a loving God. Too often, Benedict believes, people mistake passion for love, as if all we need is the heart, not the head. In reality, the pope insists, feeling is just the beginning of love, not the end. At bottom, love is the recognition that we are the sons and daughters of God's love for all humanity, which calls us to love of our neighbor-all our neighbors, everywhere in the world.

Benedict's understanding of love is closer to that of Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov, who wrote, "Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams." Real love comes at a price. That's the kind of love we see in Jesus, and that's the kind of love that Benedict describes in Deus Caritas Est.

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2. Jesus Is Lord

BENEDICT XVI has always been a prodigious writer, and in May 2007 he released the first book of his papacy: "Jesus of Nazareth", a 400-page work that's projected as the first volume of a longer study. In essence, Benedict wants to assure his readers that the gospels are reliable witnesses to Jesus. They teach us that the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith are one and the same figure: the Living Son of God, made flesh. Placing Christ at the center is Benedict's modus operandi, and proper ("Christology," meaning teaching about Christ), is the dominant doctrinal concern of his papacy.

Benedict wrote the book in part because during the last century, a number of popular reinterpretations of Jesus were floated by Bible scholars and theologians, usually in an effort to make Jesus more "relevant." But the pope believes that starting with desired social outcomes and then drawing conclusions about Jesus puts the cart before the horse. There can be no humane social order or lasting moral progress, he says, apart from a right relationship with God, and it is Jesus Christ who reveals God's face to us. If we really want to promote justice and tolerance, Benedict says, we have to start with Christ. Preaching Christ is not a distraction, he believes, from building a better world-it is building a better world.

Over the course of the book, Benedict critiques a number of popular modern images of Jesus: Jesus as a preacher of liberal morality, Jesus as a social revolutionary, Jesus as an inspired prophet or sage on the level of other founders of religious movements. The pope is well aware that these interpretations usually arise from noble motives, which he also shares-to affirm the primacy of human beings over the law, to combat poverty and injustice, and to express tolerance for other religions. But out of impatience to achieve desired social outcomes, Benedict argues, revisionist images of Jesus subvert the only basis for real humanism, which is belief in God, and in an objective truth that comes from God and stands above the human will to power.

Reflecting on Christ's temptations in the desert, Benedict makes this argument:

Whenever God is considered a secondary concern, which can temporarily or stably be set aside in the name of more important things, then it is precisely those things presumed to be more important which fail. It's not just the negative result of Marxism which makes the point. The aid given by the West to developing countries, based purely on technical-material principles, which has not only left God to the side but has also distanced people from God with the pride of its presumed superior wisdom, has made the Third World into the "Third World" in the modern sense ....Believing it could transform stones into bread, it has instead given stones in place of bread. What's at stake is the primacy of God. It's a matter of recognizing God as a reality, a reality without which nothing else can be good. History cannot be governed with merely material structures, prescinding from God. If the heart of the human person isn't good, then nothing else can be good. And goodness of heart can come only from He who is Himself goodness, who is the Good.

Reminding the world that, in Jesus of Nazareth, we see the definitive revelation of the meaning and ultimate destiny of human life, is a cornerstone of Benedict's papacy.

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3. Truth and Freedom Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

IF ONE WERE LOOKING for a single word to sum up Benedict XVI's message to the men and women of his time, it might well be "truth." His motto as a bishop is Cooperatores veritatis: "coworkers of the truth."The day before the conclave opened that elected him to the papacy in April 2005, then-Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger memorably defined the chief challenge facing the Catholic Church as a "dictatorship of relativism." By that, he meant the way in which denial of objective truth-of truths independent of time and culture, binding everywhere and for everyone - has become conventional wisdom.

It's worth quoting the heart of that homily:

How many winds of doctrine have we known in these recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many modes of thought. ..The small ship of thought of many Christians has often been agitated by these waves-tossed from one extreme to the other; from Marxism to liberalism, from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so on....To have a clear faith, according to the Creed of the Church, is often styled as fundamentalism. Meanwhile relativism, meaning allowing oneself to be carried away "here and there by any wind of doctrine," appears as the only attitude suited to modern times. What's being constructed is a dictatorship of relativism, which recognizes nothing as definitive, and that regards one's self and one's own desires as the final measure.

Benedict realizes that many people unconsciously endorse this "dictatorship of relativism" because they want to be free, meaning that they don't want to live on the basis of someone else's truths. But Benedict , believes that such a desire reflects a flawed understanding of what freedom entails. Freedom, he believes, is not the absence of restraint on our behavior, but rather the capacity to become the kind of person God calls us to be. That doesn't mean doing whatever we want; it means doing what we should.

Put it this way: An alcoholic might imagine himself "free" as long as he's able to drink as much as he likes, but we know he won't really be "free" until he breaks the chains of his addiction. It's the same with all of us, Benedict believes. Real freedom does not mean freedom to exploit the poor, to hate one's neighbor, or to sacrifice unborn life; it means the freedom to realize our highest potential as sons and daughters of God. God wants us to be free, but this freedom has content-it means ordering our lives in accord with God's design. Truth and freedom are thus not opposed, but interdependent. Truth, for Benedict XVI, is the doorway through which one must walk in order to be "free" in the fullest sense of the word.

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4. Faith and Reason Need One Another

ON SEPTEMBER 12,2006, Benedict XVI gave a lecture at the University of Regensburg in Germany, where he once taught theology. That lecture became a "shot heard 'round the world" because of controversies surrounding a quotation from a dialogue between a fourteenth-century Byzantine emperor and a Persian scholar, in which the emperor said negative things about Muhammad, the founder of Islam. The ensuing firestorm was unfortunate, in part because few people read the whole lecture-which was not about Islam at all, but the relationship between reason and faith. The title, in fact, was "Faith, Reason and the University."

Benedict XVI summed up the testimony of the Bible and the early Christian church in the following fashion:

God is Logos, creative reason itself. Thus, "not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature."

Christianity presupposes the rationality of God, and on the basis of that conviction, Christianity itself must be reasonable. Shutting down the exercise of human reason, turning Christianity into a form of religious fundamentalism, would be inconsistent with the rational character of God himself.

More broadly, Benedict said, faith and reason desperately need one another.

In the first place, Benedict argues, faith and reason belong together because reason presumes faith. How do scientists know that there's an underlying logic to the universe? Why do they assume that nature will work tomorrow the way it did yesterday? Why do they believe the human mind is capable of penetrating nature's secrets? In the end, they take all this on faith-a stance grounded in the Judeo Christian tradition, whether today's scientists acknowledge it or not.

On another level, much dysfunction in contemporary culture, Benedict believes, can be explained by attempts to separate reason and faith. Reason without faith, he believes, becomes skepticism, cynicism, and ultimately nihilism, leading to despair. Faith without reason, on the other hand, becomes fundamentalism, extremism, and sometimes violence. We see this today in radical currents within Islam, which justify terrorism and hatred in the name of God. Benedict is well aware, however, that in a different key, the same temptation to irrationality courses through every religion, which makes it all the more important that faith and reason remain on speaking terms.

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5. The Eucharist Is the Heart of the Christian Life

WHEN POPE BENEDICT XVI went to Cologne, Germany, for World Youth Day in August 2005, many Germans expected the pope to take them to task on a variety of fronts-from declining Mass attendance and internal dissent within the Church, to a general unwillingness to grant religion a role in public life. Instead, Benedict offered a message that was at the same time more gentle and yet more radical. In his concluding homily, he chose to meditate on the Eucharist, Christ's gift of himself under the forms of bread and wine at Mass.

The pope offered a memorable metaphor to describe its impact. He told the one million young people who had gathered to hear him:

To use an image well known to us today, [consecrating the Eucharist] is like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death, Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world. All other changes remain superficial and cannot save. For this reason we speak of redemption: what had to happen at the most intimate level has indeed happened, and we can enter into its dynamic. Jesus can distribute his Body, because he truly gives himself.

That imagery came from Joseph Ratzinger's lifetime of prayer and devotion centered on the Eucharist.

In March 2007, Benedict XVI released a document called an "apostolic exhortation," officially drawing conclusions from the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist that took place in the Vatican in October 2005. It's titled Sacramentum Caritatis (Sacrament of Charity) and it offers Benedict's most developed reflections on the Eucharist.

The Church's faith is essentiality a Eucharistic faith, and it is especially nourished at the table of the Eucharist....For this reason, the Sacrament of the Altar is always at the heart of the Church's life...The more lively the eucharistic faith of the People of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life in steadfast commitment to the mission entrusted by Christ to his disciples.

That last line is important, because as Benedict goes on to argue in Sacramentum Caritatis, the faith expressed in the Eucharist comes with a mission. On a personal level, it impels us to live our lives in accordance with what we profess during the Mass; we must become, as Saint Augustine once famously suggested, what we consume, meaning to model ourselves on Christ. On a social level, it means efforts to build a world in which the self-giving love of Christ, which is made new each time the Eucharist is celebrated, is the cornerstone upon which society is constructed, as opposed to ideology, profit, or the blind will to power.

Taken seriously, Benedict argues, the Eucharist can change the world-indeed, it's the only thing that can.

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6. Christianity Is a Positive Message

ONE OF THE MOST striking aspects of Benedict XVI's papacy has been how determined he is to phrase his message in a positive key. To take one example, when the Holy Father visited Spain in July 2006, many expected a dramatic showdown with the Socialist government of Prime Minister Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose left-wing government has done battle with the Church on a variety of fronts: gay marriage, abortion, divorce, euthanasia, and public funding for Catholic schools. Many Catholics expected fire and brimstone from the pope. Instead, he was doggedly positive, concentrating on the Christian fundamentals, never directly engaging any of the issues that have divided Church and state.

Later, some German TV reporters asked Benedict what had happened. It's worth listening to his reply in full:

Christianity, Catholicism, isn't a collection of prohibitions: it's a positive option. It's very important that we look at it again because this idea has almost completely disappeared today. We've heard so much about what is not allowed that now it's time to say: we have a positive idea to offer, that man and woman are made for each other, that the scale of sexuality, eros, agape, indicates the level of love and it's in this way that marriage develops, first of all, as a joyful and blessing-filled counter between a man and a woman, and then the family, that guarantees continuity among generations and through which generations are reconciled to each other and even cultures can meet. So, firstly it's important to stress what we want. Secondly, we can also see why we don't want something. I believe we need to see and reflect on the fact that it's not a Catholic invention that man and woman are made for each other, so that humanity can go on living: all cultures know this. As far as abortion is concerned, it's part of the fifth, not the sixth, commandment: 'Thou shalt not kill!' We have to presume this is obvious and always stress that the human person begins in the mother's womb and remains a human person until his or her last breath. The human person must always be respected as a human person. But all this is clearer if you say it first in a positive way.

Benedict's desire is to lead contemporary Catholics back to the fundamentals of our faith, to remind us of that deep "yes" that lies beneath our specific "no's" on hot-button cultural debates.

During his May 2007 trip to Brazil, Benedict XVI put the same point a different way when he said:

The Church does not engage in proselytism. Instead, she grows by "attraction": just as Christ "draws all to himself" by the power of his love, culminating in the sacrifice of the Cross, so the Church fulfils her mission to the extent that, in union with Christ, she accomplishes everyone of her works in spiritual and practical imitation of the love of her Lord.

In other words, the pope wants Christians to let the "good news" of their faith shine through their own lives, so that its inner beauty can again become clear in a world accustomed to thinking of Christianity as little more than a fussy legal system. That doesn't make the law less important or valid, but Benedict realizes that one doesn't stir hearts with law, but with love.

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7. The Church Forms Consciences but Stays Out of Politics

OVER THE COURSE of his career as a theologian and a Church official, Benedict XVI has resisted any attempt to turn Christianity into a political party. That doesn't mean, however, that faith lacks consequences for politics. Benedict wrote in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, that "Justice is both the aim and the intrinsic criterion of all politics." According to the moral vision of Benedict XVI, a Christian must work toward a just social order, which among other things implies a special concern for the poor.

In an address to the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean on May 13, 2007, Benedict endorsed what exponents of liberation theology have called the "preferential option for the poor," saying it is "implicit in the Christological faith in the God who became poor for us." And he has not shrunk from drawing the consequences of this option.

Benedict has repeatedly spoken out in defense of the poor, often in language with very concrete political implications. For example, in December 2006, he wrote to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the time the president of the G8 group of nations, demanding "the rapid, total and unconditional cancellation" of the external debt of poor countries. The pope described debt relief as a "grave and unconditional moral responsibility, founded on the unity of the human race, and on the common dignity and shared destiny of rich and poor alike."

Benedict has shown a special pastoral concern for the struggles of Africa. In June 2005 he announced his intention to call a synod of bishops from Africa to discuss the crises facing the continent. In November 2006, when a new bond measure was launched by the World Bank to raise four billion dollars over ten years for the immunization of children in impoverished nations against preventable diseases, the very first bond was purchased by Pope Benedict XVI.

For Benedict XVI, fidelity to Church teaching and Tradition is not opposed to social concern; to conceive of things that way, he believes, would be to pit faith against works, a position Roman Catholicism rejected during the Protestant Reformation more than five hundred years ago.

At the same time, Benedict is clear that the role of the Church is to hold up moral values, not to provide a specific political blueprint for translating those values into political choices.

"If the church were to start transforming herself into a directly political subject, she would do less, not more, for the poor and for justice,"

the pope said during his trip to Brazil,

"because she would lose her independence and her moral authority, identifying herself with a single political path and with debatable partisan positions."

"The church is the advocate of justice and of the poor, precisely because she does not identify with politicians nor with partisan interests,"

Benedict continued.

"Only by remaining independent can she teach the great criteria and inalienable values, guide consciences and offer a life choice that goes beyond the political sphere."

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8.The Importance of Catholic Identity

IN A MARCH 20, 2007, address to Italian businesspeople, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican's Secretary of State and a longtime intimate of Pope Benedict XVI, said that the "overall goal" of Benedict's papacy is to defend authentic Christian identity in a world marked by religious relativism.

This thrust toward a stronger sense of identity forms one of the megatrends in contemporary Catholicism. In every area of the life of the Church-from liturgy to religious orders, from Catholic schools and hospitals to seminary instruction-the question of the day is, "How do we know it's Catholic, and how do we make sure it stays Catholic?"

A consummate student of Western culture, Benedict knows that since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, religion has suffered a progressive exile from public life, especially in Europe. In the West today, religion is often seen as a purely private matter, and religious people feel pressure to either downplay or abandon those aspects of their faith that don't "fit" with the values of enlightened modern culture. Over time, Benedict worries, in too many areas the Catholic Church has gradually assimilated to this ethos, absorbing its world view like secondhand smoke. The result is that some Catholics, and some Catholic institutions, are shaped more by the values of secular modernity than the tradition of the Church.

The time has come, Benedict believes, to recover a strong sense of what makes Catholics different. His decisions in July 2007 to broaden permission for use of the pre Vatican II Mass, and to reassert that the Catholic Church alone is the true church willed by Christ, both express this conviction.

Benedict XVI comes out of the Communio school in Catholic theology, associated above all with the great twentieth-century Swiss theologian Hans Drs von Balthasar. Its key figures accent the need for the Church to speak its own language, premised on the conviction that Christianity is itself a culture, often at odds with the prevailing world view of modernity. Restoring a sense of Catholic distinctiveness-a Catholic version of what sociologists call the "politics of identity" has in some ways been Joseph Ratzinger's life's work.

In that light, Pope Benedict is less immediately concerned with numbers, such as Mass attendance or turnout at papal events, than with fostering a deep sense of Catholic distinctiveness, however few those who embrace such a spirit may be.

As early as The Ratzinger Report in 1984, he put things this way: "Today more than ever, the Christian must be aware that he belongs to a minority and that he is in opposition to everything that appears good, obvious, and logical to the 'spirit of the world,' as the New Testament calls it. Among the most urgent tasks facing Christians is that of regaining the capacity of non-conformism, Le., the capacity to oppose many developments of the surrounding culture."

That doesn't mean, of course, that Benedict wants Christians to cut themselves off from the world, retreating into a Catholic ghetto. Rather, he wants them to be in the world but not of it - to find, as he once memorably put it, "that none-too-easy balance between a proper incarnation in history, and the indispensable tension toward eternity."

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9. Christ and the Church Are Inseparable

IN MARCH 2006, Benedict XVI announced that he would devote his catechesis during his regular Wednesday General Audiences that spring to the "profound, inseparable, and mysterious continuity" between Jesus and the Church. Any attempt to say "yes" to Jesus but "no" to the Church, Benedict insisted, ultimately falls apart, because Jesus' message was intended precisely "to gather and to save" a people, which is the Church.

The Wednesday catechesis is the most important regular opportunity a pope has to get his message across, and for a teaching pope such as Benedict XVI, the choice of theme is revealing in terms of his priorities. Benedict is well aware that for many contemporary men and women, Jesus of Nazareth remains a fascinating figure, but they often struggle with aspects of institutional religion. The natural temptation, therefore, is to opt for Jesus without the "intermediary" of the Church.

In the end, however, one cannot truly love Jesus or follow his teachings, Benedict insists, without taking one's place in the family of faith that Jesus called into being. Being part of that family comes with no guarantees of perfect contentment; like any family, the Church has its ups and downs, its moments of disappointment and heartache. If that's true of a human family, how much more it is of a global Church of more than one billion people, carrying the weight of two thousand years of history! But just as one does not walk away from a family when things get rough, similarly a disciple of Jesus does not walk away from his or her Church.

Describing as "baseless" any "individualistic interpretation of the proclamation about the Kingdom made by Christ," Benedict said that the "obvious intent" of Jesus "was to unite the community of the covenant" into "the Twelve," symbolized and by the twelve apostles.

"By their very existence, the Twelve called from diverse origins-become an appeal to all Israel to convert, and to allow itself to be gathered into the new covenant, a full and perfect fulfillment of the old one," the pope said. "By entrusting the Twelve with the task of celebrating his memory in the Supper before his Passion, Jesus showed that he wanted to transfer to the whole community, in the person of his leaders, the mandate of being a sign and instrument of eschatological oneness throughout history, started in him. In this light, one understands how the Resurrected One conferred upon them, with the effusion of the Spirit, the power to forgive sins (cfr John 20:23). The Twelve Apostles are thus the most evident sign of the will of Jesus regarding the existence and mission of His Church, the guarantee that between Christ and the Church, there is no contraposition."

In response to the cry of "Yes to Jesus, No to the Church," Benedict XVI responds, "Yes to Jesus means Yes to the Church."

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10. The Virtue of Patience

SAINT AUGUSTINE once wrote that "the deeds of the Word are, for us, words too." He meant that we learn as much from what Jesus did as from what Jesus said.

In a similar vein, popes teach the world through their actions, their personalities, and their "styles," in addition to their explicit speech. For example, perhaps one of the most eloquent moments of John Paul II's papacy came near the end on Easter Sunday 2005, when despite his obvious agony, he spent twelve long minutes at the window of his apartment, struggling to speak to the faithful gathered below in Saint Peter's Square and to the millions watching around the world. The way John Paul poured himself out in service that day spoke volumes about his self-sacrifice, even though he never managed to utter a single word.

Probably without being conscious of it, Pope Benedict XVI is teaching the world something through his own behavior. He is exceedingly humble and gentle, which stands in stark contrast to the bluster and braggadocio often associated with global titans in the worlds of politics, finance, and culture. He is living proof that one does not have to be an exhibitionist to lead and to inspire.

Perhaps more important, he's teaching a microwave world that expects instant results to slow down a bit, to catch its breath, and to look before it leaps. Upon Benedict's election, there were fevered expectations of swift and dramatic action in manyquarters.Some expected a root-and-branch reform of the Roman Curia, the Catholic Church's central organ of government. Others anticipated a sweeping crackdown on dissident theologians and liberal activists within the Church. this day, many pundits and commentators are still waiting for the "real" Benedict to emerge from beneath his patient, gentle what they don't seem to appreciate is that what they regard as a facade is, in fact, the real pope.

Benedict is a man of deep faith, which means he realizes that, ultimately, the vicissitudes of the Church and of the world are in God's hands, not his. There's a serenity about him, a lack of what the Germans call angst, rooted in his belief that the final act of the story in which all of us are involved has already been written, and it ends well. Thus he does not feel the need to lurch from one initiative to the next or to resolve all the Church's problems in a Single bound. He understands better than most the complexities of those problems, both intellectually and pastorally, and he also grasps the importance of thinking carefully before taking steps that may have unforeseen consequences.

In an impatient world, Benedict XVI is a very patient man. To paraphrase Saint Augustine, occasionally his very lack of deeds is an important "word" for the harried women and men of his time.

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About the Author

JOHN L. ALLEN, JR., is the senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and senior Vatican analyst for CNN. He's also the author of The Rise of Benedict XVI (Doubleday, 2005) and the forthcoming book, MegaTrends in Catholicism: Ten Forces Turning the Catholic Church Upside Down (Doubleday, 2008).

Top 10 reasons to come back to the Catholic Church

by Lorene Hanley Duqin of Our Sunday Visitor: http://www.osv.com
with small improvements/edits by Mike Humphrey

You Can't Go Home Again is the title of a once-famous novel by Thomas Wolfe. There is deep wistfulness in his novel. He believed that going home again is bound to be a great disappointment.

Not so with the Catholic Church. No matter how long you've been away, you can always come home. You can start coming to Mass. ** You can become a part of a parish community. You can enter into the faith far more deeply than when you left.

Chances are, you're already feeling a strange inner pull. No matter what anyone else tells you, the spiritual longing you feel is God trying to draw you back to himself. But God never forces. God only invites. Whether or not you return to the Catholic Church is a decision that only you can make.

There are as many reasons for coming back to the Church as there are people who left. While God is at the center each of person's decision to return, the circumstances are varied. Here are ten reasons that influenced the decision of other people to return to the practice of the Catholic faith:

• Number 10: Because they want meaning in life.
  
  In the hustle of today's busy lifestyles, lots of people suddenly realize that their lives have lost a sense of meaning or purpose. They begin to ask themselves, "What is my life all about?" Why do I do what I do?" There is widespread confusion in our culture with regard to morality and truth. The Catholic Church offers a beacon of light that gives meaning to our existence and leads to eternal life if we persevere.
  

• Number 9: Because childhood memories surface.
  
  Some people say childhood memories of feeling connected to God surface in later life. They begin to ask themselves, "Is it possible to recapture that simplicity of faith? Can I ever really believe that God is watching our for me?" The secularization of our society leads people away from the spiritual side of themselves. The Catholic Church offers BOTH religious and mystical experiences that feed the heart, the mind the body and the soul AS WELL AS an array of active lay ministries that interface and interact with the secular world in order to make it a holier world to live in.
  

• Number 8: Because they made mistakes.
  
  Some people become burdened with the weight of accumulated sin. They want to get rid of the guilt of having hurt others. They begin to ask themselves, "Will God ever forgive me? Is there any way I can start over with a clean state?" You can always tell God that you're sorry, but through the sacrament of reconciliation you have a complete assurance of God's forgiveness. In addition, you are reconciled not only with God but with all the members in the Church, the Body of Christ, (CCC 1440) and given the grace to start again with that new slate. The favorite aspect I like about this sacrament, is that for all sins I confess to the Lord {the priest representing the Lord}, I am given extra graces not to commit those particular sins I confess again. I still may struggle, but Our Lord is there to continually assist me.

• Number 7: Because they need to forgive others.
  
  Some times people hold on to anger and resentment toward individuals who have hurt them deeply. Maybe it was a family member or friend. Maybe it was someone: a sister, priest or something, in the Church.

  "Will God ever forgive me?"

  Our modern culture condones and encourages anger and revenge. But hatred and bitterness are spiritual cancers that eat at the heart of a person. The Catholic Church provides the opportunity to seek God's help in forgiving others, even when the other person does not ask for forgiveness or does not deserve it. The ability to forgive is a gift that opens a person's heart more fully to God's love and peace.

• Number 6: Because they want to be healed.
  
  Some people carry deep spiritual wounds. They struggle with anger at God over bad things that happen -- a terminal illness, a debilitating injury, a broken relationship, mental or emotional problems, an act of violence against an innocent person, an unexplainable accident, some natural disaster, the death of a loved one or some other deep disappointment. The Catholic Church cannot change these situations or explain why they happened. But there are people in the Church who can assist in the process of spiritual healing and help you get on with your life.
  

• Number 5: Because the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth and grace.
  
  Many people who leave the Catholic Church are blessed by the experience of worshiping for a while in various Christian denominations. But some people come back when they realize that Catholicism has the fullness of truth and grace. The Catholic Church was not founded by a single reformer or historical movement. It is not fragmented by individual interpretations of Scripture. There are thousands of Christian denominations, but only one Catholic Church. This Church has been guided by the Holy Spirit and protected from teaching error on issues of faith and morals from generation to generation for some two thousand years. Our Lord Jesus promised: (foretold Isaiah 22:15-25) Matt 16:13-20; Matthew 18:15-18 (in this verse the word is church, not community); 1 Tim 3:15
  

• Number 4: Because they want their children to have a faith foundation.
  
  Some people return to the Catholic Church because they recognize that raising children in a culture that promotes "doing you own thing" can lead to disaster. Children need to experience the spiritual dimensions of life. They need a structured system of belief and a firm moral foundation that goes beyond human logic and reasoning. People return because they want a solid foundation upon which their children can build their lives.
  

• Number 3: Because they want to be part of a faith community.
  
  Many people seek a sense of belonging. But community is more than just friendly people, good sermons, and interesting activities. A Catholic Christian community is a group of people who gather around the person of Jesus Christ to worship God and live in the light of the Holy Spirit. Catholics come together at Mass, in the Sacraments, and in parish activities to pray, to celebrate joys,, to mourn losses, to serve others, to provide support, and to receive strength for daily life. A Catholic parish offers all of this - and much more - to people who recognize the importance of walking with others toward union with God.
  

• Number 2: Because they want to help other people.
  
  There are lots of opportunities within the secular world to volunteer. What's missing is the spiritual dimension that service within the Catholic Church provides. It's more than just a "feel good" activity. It's part of the "great commandment" (See Mark 12:28ff) to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. In reaching out to others, Catholic volunteers become instruments of God's love. The Catholic Church offers opportunities to touch the lives of people at home or around the world.
  

• Number 1: Because they hunger for the Eucharist.
  [The Eucharist is the number 1 reason that people come back to the Church.]
  
  Many people come back to the Catholic Church because they feel an intense longing for the Eucharist. Sometimes it happens at a wedding, a funeral, a baptism, a First Communion, or a Confirmation. Sometimes it happens when people are alone or facing difficulties in life. They describe it as a deep hunger for the spiritual nourishment that comes when they receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. This hunger for the Eucharist triggers a recognition of the presence of Christ in other Sacraments, which draws them even more deeply into the practice of their faith. It is, without exception, the number 1 reason that people come back to the Catholic Church.

Most people discover that coming back to the Church is not an event as much as it is a process that involves a little pain, a little laughter, some thinking, some prayer, some discernment and a lot of letting go. "My actual return to full participation in a parish took about three years after I felt the first longing," one person admitted.

And what do they get in return? The Catholic Church offers union with Jesus Christ:

• in the Scripture
• in prayer
• in the community of others
• in the Eucharist
• and in the other Sacraments.

It offers spiritual support in good times and bad. It offers divine wisdom which is thousands of years old from people just like YOU who lived in each and every century throughout Christian history: 33AD, 100AD, 800AD, 1000AD, 1300AD, 1964AD and 2005AD. It offers meaning and purpose in this life and the promise of eternal life with Him after death for those who persevere to the end.

You'll know you are home when you begin to feel a deep sense of peace.

My personal side note: For those {families, husbands, wives, etc.} who have left the Church OR non-Catholic Christians who have ruled out becoming a Catholic due to the recent problems in our Church, I want share the following.

We do have problems, but using the crisis in the Church as an excuse for not being a practicing Catholic or, for non-Catholic Christians, not becoming a Catholic, is no excuse. We are and will always be a Church of saints and sinners. Through the Eucharist, where we REALLY partake in Divine Nature, Our Lord molds us in maturity and, if needed, pulls the grudges we have been holding in our hearts for years from our soul. We have to work with him in prayer though, not run away.

Let's hope and pray that over the next few years the divinely appointed leaders of our Church will take a serious look [accompanied by serious actions] at the spiritual life and environment of Catholic seminaries in the United States, from assessing and evaluating rectors, seminary professors, vocational directors and sisters who are employed there.

Though the mass media tends to paint the problems in our Church with a broad brush and never in a positive light, remember, there are many holy priests who carry out their vocation in silence and ARE truly holy witnesses of Jesus. (These are the priests you'll NEVER see on the SIX P.M. evening news.) Just as Jesus was rejected by the world, so will the Church he founded and true followers of that Church be rejected.

Within the past 7 years, a study on sexual abuse within churches was done based on an incident/church population.

Guess which Church had the lowest incident of sexual abuse? You guessed it:

The Catholic Church.

Are you going to hear that from your local news media?

 

Eight Habits of Highly Effective Fathers.

by Chris Erickson, June 2000 Lay Witness Magazine

Educate yourself in the Faith. Put what you learn into practice by forming good habits. Teach Christ's Truths through your own experience. Pray together. Spend time with your children. Guard the windows to the soul! Be vigilant over your children's friends. Make your home a place of tranquility and peace — beginning with loving your wife. By Chris Erickson with improvements by Mike Humphrey

1. Educate yourself in the Faith.

Read a chapter or a passage or two from Sacred Scripture and the Catechism each day. St. Jerome tells us that ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. Pope John Paul II encourages families

"to use the Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn about the faith and to answer the questions that come up, especially the moral questions which confront every­one today."

Listen to God's Word to us as revealed through Scripture and Tradition. In addition to the Bible and the Catechism, there are many other worthwhile books and Church documents, such as Pope John Paul II 's 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio (on marriage and family issues). We cannot pass on to our children what we ourselves have never taken the time to learn.

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2. Put what you learn into practice by forming good habits.

Satan knows the Scriptures better than Scripture scholars do, Knowing God's instructions won't benefit us if we don't live them. A father's primary responsibility is to be a Christian witness to his children.

Our homes can be a haven of moral virtue if we foster it through our own example. We preach in vain if we do not practice what we teach.

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3. Teach Christ's Truths through your own experience.

Jesus asks: "For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?" (Mt. 16:26). The Holy Father reminds us that parents are the first and most important educators of their own children. Teach your children about God through your own experience. There is a great difference between "knowing about God" and "knowing God." Share with them simple stories of faith that reveal how you relate to God in your everyday situations. Tell them about your discernment, your trust, your prayer, your dependence on God, and your love for Him. It doesn't need to be anything weighty. God ought to be as real to them as you are. Avoid the attitude that says,

"My child can learn about religion at Sunday school."

If religion is a subject set aside for an hour on Sundays, your child most likely will be a "Sunday Christian", if he keeps his faith at all. Wouldn't you protest if your child were instructed only one hour each week in literature, mathematics, or some other subject?

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4. Pray together.

Mass, Confession, cerebrating feast days, reading the Bible or a book on a saint and, above all, daily prayer can all be done together. This bonds a family in the faith, and every strengthening of family bonds is a victory for society. Our Holy Father affirms that

"prayer needs to become a regular habit in the daily life of each family."

Even if you only have five minutes of nightly prayer with your children, do not underestimate its value. A child into his adult life those memories — those "seeds of faith." Think of the abundant harvest if a father devoted more time to family prayer! Some pray the Rosary each evening with their children. If that sounds like too much, don't let it discourage you from saying other simple prayers together. If they are sincere and from the heart, they will reap a great reward.

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5. Spend time with your children.

Don't let the pursuit of success or wealth cause you to miss your child's fundamental need to know you as a father. We can teach our children a great deal about Our Lord and ourselves simply by spending time with them. The great truths of our faith and how we personally relate to those truths can be taught through ordinary conversation, fixing cars, collecting bugs, camping, fishing, hiking, gardening, or sports: Any type of hobby allows wonderful opportunities to intimately know each other and to exchange ideas.

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6. Guard the windows to the soul!

Keep a careful check over media influences that can lead your family astray. What if, in place of TV and videos, dad invited two strangers to come into his home to entertain his family? The family sits down with their usual bowI of popcorn, and this time they're entertained by strangers in their home groping one another, and engaging in sexual innuendo in their word, dress, and conduct. Shocking? Unacceptable? Yet we often allow the same sorts of things into our house through the media. These are insidious poisons that strike at our fundamental religious beliefs and actions. Fathers, don't dull your family's sense of sin! The world is already hard at work doing it. With a little diligence you can find wholesome alternatives. It is critically important to inculcate strong moral values into your children at the earliest years so as they mature, they will freely choose to apply these same rules of prudence when viewing videos in other homes.

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7. Be vigilant over your children's friends.

Get to know your children's friends, or at least try to determine whether their influence is good or bad. No kid is going to be perfect, so avoid being over scrupulous. If you find a particular friend to be a thistle in the growth of your child's faith, talk about it with your child and permit your child the opportunity to be a witness and to set an example for his friend. If that fails to correct the behavior, step in and speak directly to his friend, letting him know what you expect if he wants the relationship to continue. Obviously it isn't so simple with teenagers. In these situations, I believe you will achieve better results by appealing to your child's values and concepts of right and wrong. Teach your teenagers to accept responsibility for their spiritual welfare. The best aid a father can have in teaching his teenager is a good memory! Be sympathetic, honest, and remember that "more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar." top

8. Make your home a place of tranquility and peace — beginning with loving your wife

Love your wife as Christ loves the Church (Eph. 5:25). That's a tall order, but your sons will relate to women in much the same way you relate to your wife; and your daughters will learn from your example what to desire and expect from men. St. John Chrysostom said the home should be a "little church," a miniature king­dom of God. Is your home too stern, too demanding on the children? Is dad too busy and mom often irritable? Does the mood reflect a menacing storm? If so, each will seek their freedom and go their own way. Value honesty and hard work, offer great love, admit mistakes, ask forgive­ness, and laugh much. Adorn your home with constant reminders of your Christian faith: A crucifix reminds us of the precious price Christ paid for us; sacred pictures or statues bring to mind events in the life of Our Lord; a favorite Scripture verse or two or an open Bible remind us of what is most important in life. Avoid making others uncomfortable by either exaggerated asceticism or flamboyance.

Fathering is undoubtedly a challenge, and it has been so since antiquity. But the Lord has given fathers the responsibility and the grace to meet the challenge. Probably the most important attributes a father can have for the welfare of his family today are courage and a quiet confidence in God. An exceptional example of courage and quiet confidence, as well as quiet obedience, is the "guardian of the Redeemer," St. Joseph, the preeminent model of "true fatherhood."

We should look to him as our model.

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About the Author

Chris Erickson is the executive director of The Coming Home Network which provides fellowship, encouragement and support for Protestant pastors and laity who are on the journey or who have already been received into the Catholic Church. For more information visit www.chnetwork.org.

From the Heartland with John Kasich, June 21st 2003

John Kaish interviews Bishop Joseph Galante, Coadjutor Bishop of Dallas.

Kaish:

Bishop, let me tell you I was hosting the O'Reilly Factor one night right when you came out with a zero tolerance and I declared the Church to have awaken but I'm still concerned now and I'm a supporter of the Church, it's a great institution, one of the greatest institutions in the world, but you write and have expressed your concern about the growing sense of privilege and entitlement that may have lead to these sorts of sins among the Catholic priests.

Bishop Galante:

I have said this: That certainly at ordination a change takes place theologically however what has accompanied it for a variety of reasons many of which are societal, is a sense of entitlement and privilege.

It's like the old estates in France, the first estate, the 2nd estate, the 3rd estate who were the privileged people in France, I think that, not intentionally, but in fact, this sense of privilege and entitlement has come about and what was lost in it was the sense of being a shepard, a pastor.

Kaish:

You do not believe celibacy is the nub of the problem. Can you explain why?

Bishop Galante:

Yes, I believe very strongly that celibacy is not the nub of the problem. Celibacy properly understood and excepted, is a particular way of living and loving as Jesus does. It is not to exclude people from our lives but it is not to have any exclusive relationships but to open ourselves to all the people that come into our lives. And more importantly, that love is not merely an expression of the genital affection, but that ...

Kaish:

I think the point you've made in your writing is that it is a gift and shouldn't be used for punishment.

Bishop Galante:

It is.

Why Am I a Catholic Child and why should others consider becoming a Catholic?

Why Am I a Catholic?

There are many religions throughout the world. Why are we Catholic? Why do we not belong to some other religion?

Part of the answer is that most of us were baptized when we were very young. Our parents were Catholic, and they therefore chose for us to be Catholics. Very often our parents' parents (our grandparents) and even our great-grandparents were Catholics as well.

But some of our parents or grandparents chose to be Catholics. They were raised in another religion or they might not even have had any religion, and then they chose to become Catholics.

Yet, even those who were raised as Catholics had to make a choice at some point in their lives to stay as Catholics. They decided that they really believed that this is the true religion.

Why do people make the decision either to become or stay Catholic? The answer is that God has given them the gift of Faith, the ability to see many ways that God has blessed them as Catholics. There are so many ways that God shows His love through the Church that they -- and we too -- can truly say that it is wonderful to be a Catholic!

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

The greatest gift that God has given the Church was given the day of its birth on Pentecost Sunday. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead and ten days after He ascended into Heaven, He and the Father sent the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary. They were praying in the Upper Room where Jesus had celebrated the Last Supper.

Suddenly, they heard a great wind and the Holy Spirit descended upon them in the form of flames of fire. They were filled with courage, and they immediately began to preach that Jesus, the Son of God, had died for our sins and had been raised from the dead.

The Apostles would never have had the courage to do this if it were not for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also helped them to remember what Jesus had said and done and to understand its deeper meaning. They experienced a sense of hope because of the consolation of the Spirit. They were guided in what they were to say and do by that same Spirit.

Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would always guide the Church until the day He returned in glory at the end of time.

The Pope and the Bishops

Jesus also gave the Church the gift of leadership. One day Jesus was speaking with the Apostles and asked them who people said He was. They answered that people said He was a prophet or John the Baptist. He asked them who they thought He was. Peter answered that He was the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of the living God.

At this point, Jesus told Peter that this revelation came from God. He gave Peter, and those that would follow in Peter's footsteps, the keys of the kingdom and commanded him to lead and guide His Church.

Ever since then, the Church has been guided by a successor of St. Peter. We call these successors the Holy Fathers or the Popes of the Church.

The Holy Spirit guides the choice of a new Pope, giving the Church the right Pope for every age. The Holy Spirit guides the Holy Father or Pope in his teachings and actions.

The Holy Father leads the Church by making sure Jesus' Teachings don't change and clarifying confusing issues that can arise. That same Holy Spirit also guides each and every Catholic to the special calling, God had planned in their life from the beginning of time.

We also have Bishops who guide the local Church. They have responsibility over a city or an area. Some of these Bishops are Cardinals who advise the Holy Father and who elect a new Pope when one dies.

There are also priests who celebrate the Mass, listen to confessions, anoint the sick, and baptize. They guide the local parish. They are assisted by deacons who preach and baptize and who help the poor. There are also all the people of the Church who work together to live Christ's message in today's world.

The Holy Eucharist

Jesus did and said many things during His life to show people how much God loved them. The seven most important things Jesus did to show us how much God loves us was to give us the Seven Sacraments. These were actions Jesus started and wanted us to continue so His message of love could be continued in every age.

The Sacrament that we receive most often is the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Holy Communion. It is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.

At the Last Supper, Jesus took bread, broke it, gave thanks, and said,

"Take this and eat; this is My Body."

He then gave it to His discipline. He also took a cup of wine and said,

"This is the cup of My Blood in the new covenant poured out for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of Me."

When Mass is celebrated, we do what Jesus commanded us to do. Jesus is truly present in our midst.

Saint Paul also reminded us that we are not only one with Jesus; we are also one with our brothers and sisters. We should treat them with as much respect as we would show Jesus.

We are even called to go forth from church after Mass and share the Good News of how much God loves us with everyone whom we meet.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation

We also see this love in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus died on the Cross so that our sins might be forgiven. The Sacrament of Reconciliation allows us to experience that forgiveness in a very real way.

Our sins make us selfish and lonely. When we sin, we tell God and those around us that we do not care for them. We push those people out of our lives.

Jesus presented many parables (or short stories) that speak about the forgiveness of sins. He spoke of the Prodigal Son who sins against his father. The father is not only ready to forgive him; he wants to forgive him with all his heart. Jesus also spoke about the lost sheep whom the shepherd goes out to find. The sheep represents people who have fallen into sin.

In all the parables, Jesus speaks of the joy God has when the sinner turns back from his sin.

This is the same joy that God feels when we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. God, through the priest, tells us how much He loves and forgives us. We get to start over again, almost as if we were being born anew when we confess our sins.

The Other Sacraments

There are also the other five Sacraments: Baptism; Confirmation; Matrimony; Holy Orders; and Anointing of the Sick.

Baptism is the gift of being reborn as children of God. God sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts to teach us about God's love for us. Saint Paul says that the Spirit reminds us that God is our Father. That same Spirit teaches us how to pray.

This is the first Sacrament we receive. It makes us members of the Christian Community.

Confirmation is a gift of the Holy Spirit that continues the work begun at Baptism. In Baptism we received the gift of the Holy Spirit for ourselves; in Confirmation we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for service in the Church.

Matrimony is the Sacrament in which a man and a woman make a solemn promise to each other and to Christ to be united as husband and wife for the rest of their lives.

Holy Orders is the Sacrament in which the Holy Spirit descends upon a man to consecrate him as a deacon, priest, or Bishop.

Finally, Anointing of the Sick is the Sacrament in which someone who is ill or very elderly is anointed with the holy oil of the sick. We pray for healing and protection and forgiveness.

The Word of God

The Holy Spirit has also given us the gift of the Word of God, the Holy Bible.

The Old Testament has forty-six books and presents the story of how God led his people from the creation of Adam and Eve until the days just before the birth of Jesus.

The New Testament has twenty-seven books and begins where the Old Testament left off. It tells of the life of Jesus and the early days of the Church.

The Holy Spirit inspired all of these books. This means that the Holy Spirit used the talents of many Catholic and Old Testament authors in many different times to reveal God's plan to us. The Holy Spirit guarantees the truth of what these books contain about God and our Faith. The most important books for our Faith are the four Gospels, for they tell us about the teachings and actions of Jesus.

At times, people have gotten confused by the teachings of Jesus when they read in the Bible. During these periods, we turn to the gift of leadership in the Church to clarify any confusion we may have about certain biblical passages.

Every Mass has two parts: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The first part, the Liturgy of the Word, is the time during which we have readings from the Old and New Testament. These readings are God's Word speaking to us and teaching us how to live in God's love.

The Blessed Virgin Mary

God has not only granted blessing through words and actions. God has also blessed the Church through people.

The holiest of these people is the Blessed Virgin Mary.

God protected Mary from sin through the Immaculate Conception. Mary's mother was St. Ann. From the moment that Mary was conceived inside her mother, St. Ann, she was protected from the weakness and selfishness that sin brings into our lives.

Then when Mary was engaged to Joseph, God sent the archangel, Gabriel to her. He greeted her by calling her "full of grace." He invited her to be the Mother of the Son of God. Mary was generous and loving and she called herself the handmaid of the Lord. She asked that, "it be done to me according to Your Word."

Joseph and Mary raised Jesus to be as generous and loving as they were. Jesus, who was both Son of God and Son of Mary, grew in wisdom and grace.

This is why we call Mary the Mother of God; not because she came before God, but because she gave birth to a divine person, Jesus. To say Jesus is a human person is a mistake.

The Blessed Virgin Mary stood by Jesus when He was dying upon the Cross. Then, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday, she was present with them and received the gift of the Holy Spirit just as they did.

The Martyrs

From the earliest days of the Church until our own days, there have been men and women who have been willing to die to give witness to their Faith. We call these people martyrs.

There were many persecutions in ancient times. Saint Stephen was the first to die for the new Faith. Saints Peter and Paul both died for the Faith in Rome. The martyrs were young and old, men and women, lay people, deacons, priest, Bishops and even Popes!

One would think that people would be afraid to join the Church if Christians were suffering for the Faith, but the opposite is true. The more that people died for their Faith, the more people wanted to follow their example. There is a saying that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."

As the Church spread worldwide, it often encountered persecution. Christians have become martyrs in almost every country throughout history.

There also have been many people who have died as martyrs - those who gave up their lives to save others. Saint Maximilian Kolbe is an example of this, for he gave up his life during World War II to save the life of a fellow prisoner.

The Saints

There also have been many, many Saints throughout the history of the Church. They come from all walks of life and each one gave witness to the Faith in small and great ways.

The Church publicly celebrates the fact that certain people are Saints. These are people who were so holy and courageous that the Church says that they are examples for all of us. The Church is very careful before it proclaims someone to be a Saint. It examines everything that the person said or did to make sure that it was the right thing to do. The Church even requires that there be miracles through the person's intercession to make absolutely sure that the person is in Heaven.

There are also millions and billions of people who have lived holy lives and who are in Heaven but might never be officially proclaimed Saints, and we celebrate their feast day on November 1, the Feast of All Saints.

Saints are people who are so holy and generous that they continue to help us even after they die. This is why we pray for their intercession when we need help. They are our friends. They are our family. They present our needs to God Himself.

History and Tradition

God also speaks to the Church through its history. For over two thousand years God has guided it. The Holy Spirit guarantees that it can never make a mistake in Faith or morals.

The Church is guided by Tradition, for it is one of the ways that God reveals His will. Tradition can be defined as practices and beliefs that were not written down in the Bible but which have been passed down to us throughout the history of the Church. Tradition is as sacred as the Bible, for while the Bible was written on paper, Tradition was written on people's lives. You were taught, when growing up, by your parents to:

• behave a certain way,
• perform certain chores around the house at a certain time and
• wake up and go to sleep at a certain time.

These oral traditions were passed on to your parents based on how they were brought up to behave by THEIR parents. The same process happens in passing on Oral Teachings down through the history of the Church.

As we look at the history of the Church, we are filled with a sense of wonder and gratitude. Even though the way that we do things might have changed over these many years, what we are doing stays the same. We can trace our Sacraments back to the actions of Christ Himself. It is the Holy Spirit who keeps us faithful to that Tradition.

Sacramentals

We also have small, everyday things that remind us of our Faith. We call these things sacramentals. They are different from Sacraments. With a Sacrament, whether I believe it or not, Jesus is there. I do not have to believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus for it to be true.

With sacramentals, I have to be willing to believe in order for the sacramental to have an effect. If I do not know that the holy water was blessed, it might as well be regular water for me. If, however, I bless myself with holy water with Faith in my heart, then it can be a true blessing.

Some sacramentals are objects like holy water, medals, rosaries, holy cards, ashes on Ash Wednesday, and palm on Palm Sunday.

Other sacramentals are seasons. The Church sets aside seasons (like Lent, Advent and Christmas) and days (like the feast of Saints) to call us to a greater holiness.

Still other sacramentals are places where we can go to pray and draw closer to God. (like a Church, Adoration Chapel or a Marian Shrine.)

Finally, some sacramentals are actions, like making the Sign of the Cross on our body. This reminds us that we are temples of Our living, loving God.

Living Our Catholic Faith

In other words, we are surrounded by reminders of our Faith. We have Sacraments and sacramentals. We have the Word of God. We have the history of the Church and the gift of Church leaders. Most of all, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But we have to live this Faith every day of our lives. We go to Mass every Sunday to thank God for all these gifts and to praise God's goodness. We should not look at Sunday Mass as something "we have to do." We should see it as something we wish to do, to thank God for his assistance and to assist us in making good choices for the coming week.

Most people during the week have a meal three times a day. This gives them the mental and physical energy needed to perform their daily tasks for each day.

When we go to Mass every Sunday we are feeding our will and intellect so we can make good moral choices for the rest of the week.

It is not so much an obligation as a privilege. Without being spiritually fed on Sundays making good moral decisions throughout the week is fare more difficult.

We begin and end our days with a morning and evening prayer to make God a part of our day's activities and our sleep.

We also say prayers all day long for ourselves and for others.

We have to remember our Faith even when we watch television and play sports or video games. We try to give a good example in these ordinary actions and in everything else that we do.

Being Catholic is a job that never ends.

Our Parish Community

We can thank God that we have help in this. We do not have to be a Catholic alone, for God has placed us in a parish community.

When we come together for Mass or at other moments of prayer, we form a family of Faith that supports and encourages each other. Jesus said that wherever two or more are gathered in His Name, He is in their midst.

We listen to the same homilies at Mass, so we are working on the same things as a community (and it is always easier to do something when you know that you are not doing it alone).

Often we recreate together. We show that being a Catholic does not mean we cannot have fun. Many parishes have sports teams, get-together's, dances, trips, and other activities.

Even when we are outside of church, we are still a family of Faith. That is why we should be so careful to give a good example to everyone, no matter what we are doing.

One of the most important things for a Catholic, is for our words to reflect a matching set of actions on our part. If our actions, don't agree with our words, people will have far less of a reason to believe in what we say to them.

If I say, "I"m a millionaire.", but my friends discover I only have $36.16 in my bank account, how much trust will my friend put into other things I say in the future?

If I say, "I'm a Catholic.", but don't follow well-known Catholic teachings, how much trust will people put into other things I say in the future?

It would be a shame if people would see us acting holy in the church on Sunday and then sinning on Mondays.

Ways to Share Our Faith

It is so great to be a Catholic that we would like to share this gift with everyone. This is why the Church has always sent our missionaries. These are men and women who explain our Faith to others and to invite them to become Catholics too.

But we do not have to go to a distant land to be a missionary. We can do it in our everyday lives.

We can give a good example in everything that we do. If people see that we are at peace and trying our best, then they will be impressed and ask us what our secret is.

We can practice our Faith with devotion by going to Mass, going to Confession, and praying throughout the day. Remember, our Faith is a privilege.

We can be proud of who we are and not be afraid to show that we are Catholics. A good example of this is saying a prayer before we eat, even if we are at school or in a restaurant.

Finally, we can pray for others. If we see that the are having a bad time, we can promise to pray for them. Then, when we say our evening prayers, we ask God to send His help and love into their lives.

Thanking Jesus for the Gift of Our Faith

We have so much for which we can be grateful. Possibly the most precious gift is our Catholic Faith.

Every time that we bless ourselves with holy water and make the Sign of the Cross, we should say a quick thank-yo to God for our Faith.

We have received a gift that not everyone has. Those who do not have the gift of being Catholic are not bad people. They just have not gotten the gift yet. But we who have this gift should work to make it grow in our lives and be willing to share it with others.

Edited content from St. Joseph Picture books, "The Joy of Being a Catholic Child" by Rev. Jude Winkler OFM Conv.

How to share the Gospel with Your Jewish Friends

If you are a Christian and have Jewish friends, coworkers and even family members, then chances are that you have wondered how to go about sharing the Gospel with them. You may also be hesitant to do so. Or even - let's be honest - frightened. Will they be offended and never speak to you again? Will they overwhelm you with their superior knowledge of the Scriptures?

Will they tear the clams of the Gospel to shreds and leave your faith in tatters? Upon closer examination, like most things that "go bump in the night," these fears are revealed to be vastly overblown in the light of the Word. Sharing the Gospel with the Jewish people is not dreadful, but quite the opposite. You may even find unexpected blessings as you do it.

1. The Jewish People - A Broad Spectrum

As with any group, the Jewish people cannot be described in any one way. In fact, since Jewish people have established communities on virtually every continent, their diversity is arguably greater than most. So, from the outset, let it be understood that in this increasingly mobile, "global village" world, there is no one representative Jewish person. The second fact to grasp is that there is also a broad spectrum of religious faith and practice among Jewish people. At one end of the spectrum are the ultra-Orthodox, who form strong, insulated communities and order their lives according to a strict hierarchy of authority and religious observance. On the other end, there are Jewish people with no belief in God or any observable Jewish identity at all. And, of course, there is the vast "in between" that gravitates either to one side or the other.

The approach you take with your Jewish friend will depend greatly on what point along the spectrum he or she happens to occupy.

2. Making Contact

We live in an increasingly secular culture. Like many others, the Jewish people have been affected by this drift. Intermarriage with Gentiles is over fifty percent and religious observance is the exception, rather than the rule. The chances are that, while your Jewish friend may have had a religious grandparent, he or she may not be observant. If this is not the case, you'll soon find out. So, how should you begin? While Jewish people may be less religious, they are also, as a general rule, spiritually curious. While most Jewish people have, for many reasons, an instinctive reaction against Christianity, they may be open to you, as a Christian, personally.

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3. Begin with Friendship

Communication and friendship develops in stages with anyone. Ask questions. You may find that your willingness to listen, learn and take a genuine interest in the other person will produce a similar response.

You also have an ally that is above all others. The Word of God has a power Whose source can never fail. As it is written in Isaiah 55:1, ""My word ... shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

Not everyone will be open to your message, of course. But once you meet a Jewish person who is actually willing to search the Scriptures with you, the Word of God will do its work.

4. Be Patient and Understanding

The Jewish people have had a centuries-long, difficult relationship with the Church. This has been particularly true in Europe and Russia, where most of the Jewish community in North America has its roots. Many families have personal histories of persecution that have been passed down through the generations. Because of this, Jewish people are particularly sensitive about being "coerced" or "manipulated" by Christians.

Also, Jewish people have been taught to equate turning to Jesus with abandoning their Jewish identity. This is a thought from which even the most hardened Jewish atheist recoils. To be a convert is, in the Jewish mind, the equivalent of being a traitor -- to one's family, to one's history and to one's self.

This is the real heart of the matter. The particular challenge of Jewish evangelism is this:

Not only must we make a persuasive case for the Gospel, but we must also show that if a Jewish person accepts the Messiah, he or she remains a Jew or as Rosalind Moss put it, paraphrasing: You can't be more Jewish than by being a Catholic.

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5. Have Confidence in the Lord

The Apostle Paul wrote, "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." (Colossians 4:6). These words continue to be an encouragement to believers everywhere. One need not be a great Bible scholar or theologian to bring the Word of God to others. The eloquent witness of the presence of the Lord in your life is a far more powerful testimony than you may know. You may see the seed you plant come to fruition or that gift may come to someone else. In the end, it does not matter, for it is Messiah who is the Lord of the harvest.

6, Make the Message Clear ... and Jewish

• Pray before you witness.
• Begin with your personal testimony.
• Present the Gospel from the Old Testament:
  • The Jewishness and humanity of the Messiah
  • The divinity of the Messiah
  • The sacrificial death of the Messiah
  • The resurrection of the Messiah
• Avoid "Christian" jargon that Jewish people may not understand.
• Share Chosen People Ministries tracts and books with your Jewish friend.
• Introduce your Jewish friend to a Jewish believer.
  If you don't know one, ask us at 1-888-2-YESHUA or visit our web site.
• Answer objections (see our web site, www.chosenpeople.com, and other publications for more training).
• Don't give up! Keep praying!
  
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Source: The Chosen People: Reaching Jewish People worldwide since 1894. Volume VII, Issue 8 Special Edition