The Church1 min read
She does not do these things. The Catholic Church defends law and order, and human rights. She is ever ready to denounce injustice, whether of the government, or of any private individual. If a wealthy Catholic did not pay just wages, and were seriously defrauding his employees, the Catholic Church would be the first to condemn …
The Church1 min read
Yes, provided it takes place according to Catholic rites.
The Church1 min read
Because Christ said, “If a man will not hear the Church, let him be as the heathen.” He did not say, “If a man will not hear a portion of the Gospel in man-made substitute churches.”
The Church1 min read
It is not from want of ability. Nor is it because the Church has robbed the people. It is because England drained the country dry, confiscating property from Irishmen and bestowing it upon Englishmen, and taxing the people to fill the English exchequer. This has been one of the chief causes of the dissatisfaction in Ireland thro…
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…
The Church1 min read
He was. And so is the Catholic Church. She is not a sect. Sect supposes section or cutting off. The Catholic Church has never been cut off from herself. The sects are those religious bodies which have cut themselves off from the Catholic Church, and the clippings from the tree are not the tree.
The Church1 min read
If a man realizes that the Catholic Church is the true Church, he must join it if he wishes to save his soul. That is the normal law. But if he does not realize this obligation, is true to his conscience, even though it be erroneous, and dies repenting of any violations of his conscience, he will get to Heaven. In such a case, i…
The Church1 min read
Catholic and Roman Catholic are alternative expressions. The Roman Catholic Church is the Church universal on earth. All Catholics in Europe, America, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and in the rest of the world, are subject to the present Bishop of Rome. Were you to stop any man indiscriminately in the street and ask him to direct…
The Church1 min read
If you mean by the English Catholic Church that Catholic Church in England which is under the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, there is no difference. But if you mean the Church of England I can only reply that that Church is not Catholic at all.
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?
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).
The Church1 min read
No. Never was scientific study neglected by Catholics before the Reformation. In physical science the invention of instruments—and very many of them by Catholics—has given us much more data than men possessed prior to the Reformation, but this progress would have come in any case, whether the Reformation had occurred or not. It …
The Church1 min read
The idea that there are Protestants as good as Catholics has no bearing on the question. There are very good and sincere Mahometans, but that does not make Mahometanism true. And again, there is not a Protestant Church, there are dozens of different brands of Protestantism. Tell me which brand of Protestantism is as good as the …
The Church1 min read
Yes, look at them, but with open eyes. The temporal administration of these countries is not in the hands of the Church. And, in any case, as I have said, Spain had the Catholic religion when she was the first power in Europe. Meantime, remember that the Catholic Church is the mother of civilization. She preserved literature, an…
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 …
The Church1 min read
However nice that looks on paper, it is impossible. We cannot hold that hundreds of conflicting churches, even those disowning each other, are all one united church. The good Wesleyan who says that Rome is idolatrous would have to admit that the idolatrous Catholic belongs to the same church as himself, and is equally a Christia…
God & Faith1 min read
I am quite prepared to maintain that.
The Church3 min read
“And shall the Fathers rather follow our authority, and the antiquity of Saints give way to be emended by us, and times now putrifying through their sins, pluck out the grey hairs of Apostolic age? And yet, my brother, be not troubled; Christian is my name, but Catholic my surname. The former gives me a name, the latter distingu…
The Church1 min read
The same as between a Britisher and an Englishman, or if you wish, as that between the Jewish and the Mosaic religions. There is no real difference. The words Roman Catholic do not mean that there are other kinds of Catholics, but oniy that all true Catholics belong to that one great Church which has its centre in Rome. There ar…
The Church1 min read
Why did Christ try to convert people to His special doctrines? And whv did He send His Church to teach all nations? If God gives the truth to man by sending His Son, is it not better to have that truth to guide one’s conduct? Or is it better to be in partial or total ignorance, omitting much that ought to be done, and being forg…
The Church1 min read
Grace is given directly in answer to prayer, but many very necessary graces are normally to be obtained only through the Sacraments instituted by Christ.
The Church1 min read
Yes. The Founder of the Catholic Church was certainly a Catholic, and history proves that Christ founded the Catholic Church, and identified it with Himself. Thus St. Paul says, “God hath made Him head over all the church (not churches) which is His body, and the fullness of Him who is filled all in all.” Eph. I., 22-23.
God & Faith1 min read
The Catholic Church can and does claim to have all the truth. For you must not confuse false ideas which are opposed to the truth with merely different angles of the truth. If, for example, it be true that Confession is a Sacrament instituted by Christ, then denial of Confession is not a different angle of the truth, but its neg…
The Church2 min read
Why is Latin the language of the Church? How can the congregation understand the Mass whenever it is said in Latin?