The Church1 min read
You have never seen an idol in a Catholic Church. An image is an idol only when it is the object of divine worship. You have seen images in Catholic Churches, but every Catholic knows that divine worship cannot be offered to such images. Would you call the Statue of Liberty, in New York harbor, an idol? As for your not seeing si…
The Church1 min read
She does not hope to do so if it means watering down Christian obligations. Christ could have kept many of His Jewish followers by saying that He did not mean His words, “The bread which I shall give is My flesh.” The Jews said, “This is a hard saying. Who can accept it?” But Christ let them go rather than keep them by mitigatin…
The Church1 min read
If you think that, by departing from the truth, the Catholic Church forfeited the claim to be the true Church, then you believe that the infallible retention of the teachings of Christ must be a mark of the true Church. Is your own Church, therefore, infallible? Does it even claim to be so? I admit that if the Catholic Church ha…
The Church2 min read
They are not. Certain countries, whose inhabitants happen to be mainly Catholics, are characterized by frequent political upheavals, but that is a very different matter. Temperament accounts for this in some degree. Descendants of the Latin races have not the same calm self-possession of the colder and more phlegmatic northern E…
The Church2 min read
Why does the Catholic Church discourage Bible reading when, according to the Apostle, “All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach…[and] to instruct in justice”? (2 Tim. 3:16).
The Church5 min read
Why do Catholics believe in seven sacraments, while Protestants believe in only two? Exactly what is a sacrament, and what does it do for a person?
The Church1 min read
The standard is not set up by the Catholic Church. She did not make the law and she cannot unmake it. And God does not ask the impossible. If a man takes the means he can live up to it, either practicing self-control, or accepting the children God sends. God offers sufficient help with every difficulty to the man of goodwill who…
The Church1 min read
Naturally the offerings of millions of people would amount to millions. That s to be expected. A million people in Sydney contribute some millions yearly for various transport services; but the individual traveller is not unreasonably burdened, and the officials do not receive exorbitant remuneration. Your point proves nothing s…
The Church5 min read
Why do Catholics believe that good works are necessary for salvation! Does not Paul say in Romans 3:28 that faith alone justifies!
The Church1 min read
She does not. But the Catholic Church to-day is as it was in the time of the Apostles, “not many noble, not many of the worldly wise, not many powerful.” Most of her children are drawn from the class Christ loved so much—the working class. And in civil life the majority of these workers happen to have Labor sympathies. But these…
God & Faith1 min read
No. Not all the sincerity in the world can be a sufficient substitute for authentic credentials in this matter. An immense power and authority over the souls of men requires solid proof that it is really possessed. Christ proved that He had it. The Catholic Church can prove that He entrusted that power to Her. Founders of other …
The Church2 min read
Why are Catholic lay people usually given Holy Communion only under the one form of bread? By not giving the consecrated bread and wine, isn’t the Catholic Church depriving its people of the full benefit of Holy Communion?
The Church2 min read
Senator Delpech, President of the Grand Orient in France, said on September 20th, 1902, “The triumph of the Galilean has lasted many centuries, but now He dies in His turn. He passes away to join the dust of the ages with the other divinities of India, Greece, and Rome, who saw so many deceived creatures prostrate before their a…
The Church1 min read
The right of private property is a natural right and has always been held by the Church. When God gave the commandment, “Thou shalt not steal,” He acknowledged that men could acquire property to which others had no right.
The Church1 min read
No. The Catholic Church would have been very foolish to have copies multiplied only to destroy them. When the printing press was invented by the German Catholic Gutenberg in 1445, the first book printed was a Bible, before Protestantism had come into existence.
The Church1 min read
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.
The Church1 min read
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.
God & Faith2 min read
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…
The Church2 min read
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).
The Church1 min read
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…
The Church1 min read
None whatever. No body of believers has any right to arrogate to itself any powers at all in this matter, just as no ordinary citizen has the right to enter a court and declare himself to be judge. Yet a lawfully appointed judge has the right to act in virtue of his commission. The Catholic Church takes nothing upon herself, but…
The Church1 min read
If parents prevent their children from reading harmful literature, would you call that cunning censorship, or wise parental control? The Catholic Church is the mother of all her spiritual children, and she exercies a wise parental control over their spiritual formation. Other churches have not the same interest in their members …
The Church2 min read
For many reasons. Marriage is a Sacrament, and those who desire to receive that Sacrament should be duly and validly baptized Christians. The Church, however, has no certainty that any non-Catholic has ever been validly baptized at all. Again, it is a sacrilege to receive a Sacrament whilst one is in a state of grave sin. The Ca…
The Church1 min read
One may always renounce error for truth; but no one is free to forsake truth for error.