Sacraments & Worship1 min read
There is nothing wrong with processions. Christ entered Jerusalem with a procession of the populace crying hosanna, waving palms and strewing their garments on the roadway, making it as elaborate as they could. And He rebuked those who would have prevented it. Remember that Eucharistic Congresses are not in honor of ourselves, b…
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
No Catholic has ever believed that Christ is really slain in the Mass. They have never gone beyond the words of Scripture, “As often as you do this you shall show the death of the Lord until He come.” Nor did any theologians attempt a mathematical calculation as to the efficacy of the Mass. They knew that mathematics could never…
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
He may not be in other things, though even that is unlikely. But he is certainly better in God’s sight in so far as he attends Mass. If the church-goer has faults, I do not justify them; but those faults will be less grave than the sin of the man who neglects the greatest of his debts—that to Almighty God.
The Church1 min read
I will not comment upon other Churches in this matter. But as regards the Catholic Church I must make some remarks. She certainly has the principles and teachings necessary to better the lot of men. But she cannot influence men much so long as they refuse to accept her principles. The only solution possible, and the solution whi…
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
At least, Christianity is the superior religion in historical foundation, reasonableness, and in loftiness of teaching and destiny.
Sacraments & Worship2 min read
Any fuss was caused by bigoted Protestants who hoped to work up a scandal against the Catholic Church, and who persuaded the Sister to sue the Bishop for $25,000 for wrongful arrest and detention in the Reception House for deranged people. The verdict was given for the Bishop. In his summing up, after all the evidence of that fa…
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
Not for a moment. They break no commandment of their Church. It is true that God commands His Priests to remain single through the legislation of the Catholic Church. But her legislation in this matter has nothing to do with Protestant clergymen.
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
Yes. Every valid marriage between baptized Christians constitutes the Sacrament of Matrimony.
The Church2 min read
Why do Catholics confess their sins to priests? What makes them think that priests can absolve them of the guilt of their sins? Why don’t they confess their sins directly to God as Protestants do?
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
If the word Nunnery sounds more suspicious and suggestive of evil to you than Convent, then I think you should. Otherwise you would not be speaking with all the bigotry and uncharitableness you might.
The Church2 min read
Why must Catholics pay money for a Mass that is offered up for deceased relatives and friends when the Bible states that the gift of God is not to be purchased with money? (Acts 8:20).
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
A Catholic could not, when there is nothing to prevent his attendance at Mass. It is a mortal sin to miss Mass, and if he put himself into a state of mortal sin he vitiates all else he might attempt to do. That is, of course, unless he makes an act of perfect contrition, after which he could do some good actions; but he would no…
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
That is a sacrificial action offered to God. Latin is the liturgical language of the Catholic Church, just as Hebrew is the official language still used in the Synagogue.
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
The spiritual powers given to the Apostles were to be permanent, and it is a greater miracle to restore the life of the soul by conferring grace than to heal the body from temporal illness. But the power of miraculous healing was given to various individuals in the early Church merely in order to secure the rapid growth of the C…
God & Faith1 min read
The command to believe and be baptized was addressed to adult listeners only who, without faith, would not even see the necessity of Baptism. But children belong to their parents, and the parents may certainly give their children to God, professing faith on their behalf and promising to bring them up as Christians.
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
No money is ever paid for absolution. If absolution cannot be given, $10,000 would not obtain it. If it can be given, it cannot be refused, and it would be mortal sin on the part of any Priest to suggest payment for it. Moreover, if any man came to me and offered to purchase forgiveness from me I would tell him that he was sugge…
The Church1 min read
This means that, whilst the civil legitimacy of such children remains unaffected, the refusal of the Catholic party to comply with the marriage laws of the Catholic Church deprives the children of religious recognition and privileges. Such recognition and privileges are reserved by Canon Law for those children only who are born …
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
It is not The Church washes the child and forbids it to play in the mud again. But if it does play in the mud again in spite of the prohibition, of course she is prepared to wash it again if it be truly sorry—as any true mother would do. If readiness to forgive is to be the cause of further sins, what will you say to God who dec…
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
By religion we honor God, and the chief and highest form of worship has ever been by the offering of sacrifice. Now God demanded continual sacrifices of various kinds from the very beginning of the human race until the coming of Christ, and it is not likely that the Christian and more perfect religion would lack a continual and …
Sacraments & Worship10 min read
The Catholic Church’s teaching on baptism is rooted in the words of Jesus Christ, who declared the necessity of being “born again” through water and the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God ( John 3:5 ). This teaching forms the bedrock of the Church’s understanding of baptism as a sacrament that imparts supernatural grace. Baptism…
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
The sense is simply that one who does take a wife has a duty to her and to his children which is so binding that he must leave even his parents in order to fulfill it in his newly adopted state. But Christ gave a special blessing to those who would renounce father and mother, and the prospects of a wife and children also, for Hi…
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
We do not know how far they understand the gravity of sin. As for the act of contrition, you are leaving out the greatest factor of all—God’s grace. In a flash God can enlighten the mind and move the will to a purely interior act of contrition of which the onlookers know nothing. And God alone knows how many are thus saved.
God & Faith1 min read
The humiliation of Confession is an inconvenience not found in Protestantism, and from that point of view Protestantism is easier. On the other hand Christ was too merciful to leave us without some definite assurance of forgiveness, and He gave us a very definite Sacrament to alleviate our anxiety.
Sacraments & Worship1 min read
Those walls, too, are not to keep the Sisters in, but to keep curiosity-mongers out, and to give the Sisters undisturbed tranquility in their attention to God and to their spiritual lives.