Did the soul exist before conception?
No. God creates each soul as each body is generated. It is difficult to fix the exact moment, but the more general opinion is as soon as the embryo begins to exist.
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Every original article remains available. Choose a question and take your time.
You seem afraid that Catholics will be harmed by the reading of Scripture.
Even granted a correct version, thousands of people have been harmed by the reading of Scripture, thinking themselves capable of interpreting it aright. The Pharisees read Scripture, yet managed to use, or misuse, quotations from the Bible as an argument against Christ, just as men to-day quote Scripture as an argument against t…
God has given us brains to think for ourselves. We do not need Help to understand Scripture.
God had given men brains before He came to teach them Himself, and He came to teach them precisely because their brains could not succeed in finding out the things which were to their peace. If you say that His revealed teachings in the Scriptures together with our brains are enough, those very revealed teachings tell you that t…
Has not the Catholic Church withheld the light of knowledge from the worker?
She cetainly tries to preserve her own children from the knowledge of evil. But she desires to hold from them no useful knowledge of all that is lawful.
You could not say the things in other countries that you say in this!
In other countries I would not have to deny that the temporal ruler was head of the Church. That anomaly seems to be peculiar to the British Empire. Of course it is no fault of our present good king. I think he must feel very uncomfortable about it at times.
Our Protestant ministers forbid sport on Sunday.
If so, they do so on their own authority, not on the authority of the Scripture.
Did not the Pope give Napoleon a divorce?
No. Napoleon married Josephine in 1796, a marriage validated by a dispensation from the Pope. From that marriage Napoleon never secured any divorce by lawful ecclesiastical authority. He forced a declaration of nullity from some unauthorized clerics, and they put him through a second marriage ceremony in 1810, but this attempted…
Holy Trinity – The Catholic Church has the Answer
Catholics believe there is one God consisting of three distinct and equal divine Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – because on numerous occasions God has described Himself thus. The Old Testament gives intimations that there are more than one Person in God. In Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let us make man to our image and likene…
Why can’t they travel without a companion, even when visiting their own homes?
It is the rule of convents that members do not travel alone. The presence of a companion is a protection, and at the same time preserves the good Sisters from the scandal evil-minded people would be so ready to propagate if they were seen travelling and entering houses alone. I wonder whether you would always have the charity to…
You constantly speak of some kind of a relationship between God and man.
I do. A personal God exists. Intelligent human beings exist. Those human beings owe all they have to the personal God who made them, and, being intelligent, are able to recognize the fact. Reason demands that they do so, and render a suitable, practical acknowledgment of the fact to God.
Early Christianity boasted many miracles; Christianity can boast none today!
God has never ceased to perform miracles in favor of true Christianity, but it is not necessary that so many should occur today. More frequent miracles were necessary in the early Church to secure its rapid propagation. But the Catholic Church is now firmly established. Read a little history, note all the forces employed against…
If God makes the Pope infallible, why does he need theologians to go into questions first and arrange what he is to define?
Infallibility is not inspiration. If God inspired the Pope in his official teachings there would be no need of human research. But infallibility means that the Pope acts according to all the laws of ordinary prudence, studying and comparing the doctrines of the Church before coming to a decision. When research has concluded, the…
Does he not say, “He returneth to earth, and in that day all his thoughts perish”? Ps. 146, 4.
When man’s soul departs from his body, that body returns to dust, and all his thoughts and schemes for this earthly life are over.
Why did the Church condemn Galileo? Were not the Cardinals wrong?
They were. But, as I have explained, the decision was not in any way connected with the infallibility of the Church. It was a reversible decision, and it was reversed in due time. The authorities at the time thought mistakenly that the theory of Galileo was opposed to Scripture, and also perceived as a fact that the propagation …
Christ said, “Suffer little children to come to Me . . . for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” He does not mention that they should be baptized.
That text has no reference to Baptism. Christ’s purpose there was to insist upon humility. He impressed the moral lesson that only such as cultivate the dispositions of a child before God will enter Heaven. But he never said that all children, even the unbaptized, will necessarily go to Heaven. He would contradict His own doctri…
You sanction the great shame of almsgiving.
It is inconsistent to demand that the rich share their superfluities with their less fortunate fellow men, and then to say that almsgiving is shameful. The Catholic Church teaches those who are endowed with this world’s goods that they must redeem their sins by almsgiving, as God Himself commands. And there is certainly no shame…
Fasting from Meat – The Catholic Church has the Answer
Why do Catholics practice fasting and abstinence from meat on certain days? Does not St. Paul call abstaining from meats a “doctrine of devils”? (1 Tim. 4:1-3).
Spirits have told Spiritualists that we shall not see God face to face, and that we shall have only natural happiness in Heaven. Is there any truth in this?
The idea of merely natural happiness in Heaven is nonsense. The supreme happiness of Heaven is totally different from any happiness we know on earth. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard . . . what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.” I. Cor. II., 9. An eternity of the things we know here, and of life as we experience …
Did not Christ blame the Pharisees, saying, “Why do you transgress the commandment of God for your tradition”? Matt. XV., 3.
He did, but he called it their tradition, condemning their erroneous and merely human tradition, not the right traditions to which, according to St. Paul, we must hold fast. You quote this text merely because it happens to contain the word tradition, and without any appreciation of its true sense.
Lutlier believed that he is happy whose conscience alloweth the thing that he doth.
The only lawful sense of such a saying is, “Happy is he whose conduct never goes against what a right conscience allows.” With Luther it meant, “Happy is he whose conscience is twisted and distorted until it allows whatever one wishes to do.” If a Catholic Priest to day did what Luther did then, the Protestant world would hold u…
God did this to enable Joshua to kill a few more innocent people fighting for their homes and families!
That was not the reason. You do not advert to a great principle. God owns the earth, and can allot any particular portion of it to any particular people. And if He, the Owner of all does so, then the tenants for the time being lose their right to the appropriated land. Joshua warned the Gabaonites beforehand, “If you dwell in th…
Why is there such enmity between the Churches?
There should never be enmity between the adherents of various churches. Nor should there be separation between the churches themselves, and the best thing the children of the Reformers could do would be to return to the Catholic Church their forefathers should never have left. Yet, granted the existence of separated churches, Ca…
The real reason is because the Church is afraid that Catholics will find out the truth.
Let me give you a little parable. Almighty God established a paradise on earth, created Adam and Eve, and said, “Do anything you like, but do not eat of the tree which will give you acquaintance with evil. I forbid you to eat of that tree.” But a certain wily serpent came along and said to Eve, “Why has God forbidden you to eat …
If the word Roman identifies your Church as the only Catholic Church, where do the other Churches come in?
They are man-made substitutes which do not come in, but which went out Modern Protestants do not advert to the fact that they have been robbed of membership in the true Church by their ancestors. Protestant Churches cannot claim to have been founded by Christ, yet they confuse many people. But the true Church may be discerned by…