Lent series starts tomorrow!
Tag: featured
Dialog with Jerry: Part 2 (Scripture)
Continuing my exchange with Jerry, we moved onto the subject of Scripture itself. As you’ll see, I spent a lot of time asking questions about Jerry’s various assertions and trying to get at his underlying assumptions…
Quick Apology: Why confess to a priest?
Objection
Today’s “Quick Apology” concerns a very common objection heard by Catholics from Protestants…
“Why do Catholics confess their sins to a priest? He’s just a man. Why not confess your sins to God directly?”
Response
Obviously, a question like this truly deserves thorough theological treatment. However, since these are quick apologies, these are the points I typically try to make:
1. Nowhere in the Bible is confession to God through a priest explicitly forbidden. In fact, Scripture explicitly encouraged to confess to other humans (James 5:16).
2. In the Old Covenant, God set up a priesthood for the forgiveness of sins (Leviticus 5).
3. Following this pattern, in the New Covenant Jesus grants His apostles the particular grace and authority to forgive sin:
“He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whoever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven, whoever’s sins you retain, they are retained'” – John 20:20-23
Why grant this power unless it is to be used? Through exercising this gift, Church leaders are entrusted with a “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18) and to act “in persona Christi” (2 Corinthians 2:10).
However, in addition to these points, when answering the above objection, I try to include a little testimony about the healing I’ve received through the Sacrament Confession. I’ve often found this more effective and lead to more productive conversations than simply giving above the arguments.
Patient Peter and Paul
Today is the feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul, two of the great pillars of the Church:
Liturgical Surprise
This morning at the Byzantine liturgy I was struck by how the themes of patience and perseverance came up again and again in the Liturgy of the Word. The Apostolic Reading (roughly equivalent to the Second Reading in the Roman Mass) even contained my life verse where St. Paul talks about how the grace of God operates through our weakness 🙂
If I had been the one to choose the Readings today I would have probably chosen other readings, so during the Liturgy I pondered why the Church chose those particular passages…
In part, I think it might be due to the fact that Peter and Paul were not only great leaders of the Church, but they were also martyrs, enduring suffering and offering their lives to God in the most radical way. I think by focussing on the theme of patient endurance the Church is teaching us that we are all called to do the same, to be patient in adversity and to allow the “fertilizer of life” to yield fruit within us (Romans 5:1-5) and to offer our entire lives to the Lord.
First Century Example
At the end of the First Century, Clement of Rome wrote a letter to the Church at Corinth. The Church at Corinth was having difficulties (again). This time they had rebelled against their clergy, so St. Clement wrote to them to resolve the issue. During the course of his letter, he spoke about how envy and jealousy had caused havoc and destruction in the lives of different Old Testament characters. He then turned to, what was for Clement, very recent events:
But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes. Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars of the Church have been persecuted and put to death.
Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience – Pope St. Clement of Rome (c. AD 96)
As you can see, Clement reminds the Corinthians of Peter and Paul, examples of those who patiently endured and, who for their fidelity, won crowns of eternal life.
Let’s Feast!
Since today is the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, it is also my Feast Day, since I took the name “Peter” at my Confirmation. I always make a point of celebrating my Feast Day, so I’ll be sure to pick up something delicious for dessert later 🙂
Do you celebrate your feast day? If so, what do you do?
Catholic Bucket List #4: Go on pilgrimage
The previous bucket list task of lighting a votive candle was rather simple. This next bucket list item is a little more involved…
Bucket List Item #4: Go on pilgrimage
The Catholic Church has an extremely rich history of pilgrimage. From the earliest times Christians have travelled to places of significance for the Christian faith. The hope in visiting such places is that the pilgrim’s faith will grow and that he would be enriched by process of the journey. The journey is itself an allegory for the Christian journey through life, a pilgrimage towards Heaven.
Pope John Paul II in Jerusalem
Saints or Suckers?
When I was at University, I read a book by Jean Vanier in which he said that whenever a homeless person asked him for money, he would reach into his pocket and hand over the first coin he found, whether big or small.
Likewise, in an interview with Fulton Sheen’s niece, she said that her uncle would give money to the poor whenever it was asked of him. When she asked him if he might be being lied to by those asking for help, he simply responded “I can’t take the chance”.
A little while ago I did a post about tithing where I spoke about the general responsibility Christians have towards the poor. However, this begs the question: what is the best way in which to help the poor?
For example, most social workers I’ve known have always said that you should never give money to beggars. Following this advice, some of my friends no longer hand over cash, but instead make sure that their car, purse or bag is always stocked with snacks, so that they have something to give when asked for help.
I recently read an article in Crisis Magazine which looks at this issue. I’d be interested to see what you think about it. What you think is the best way to help the poor?
Quick Apology: “What about pregnancy in case of rape?”
Today marks the final most in my series of articles to mark the March For Life. I’d like to end with a post concerning one of the toughest situations concerning abortion: pregnancies which are brought about by rape or incest. Such cases, according to Planned Parenthood accounts for less than 1% of abortions. Today I would like to explain in humility how I try to respond when this difficult issue is raised.
Objection
It is not unusual to find people who are against abortion, but who grant an exception for these “hard cases”. For example, I have heard the following:
“Don’t misunderstand me, I think abortion is wrong, but I can’t say I’m fully pro-life. I think that if a girl gets raped and finds herself pregnant, she should be able to get an abortion, otherwise she’d have a constant reminder of what happened to her for the next nine months. It just seems cruel to force her to go through with the pregnancy. Would you really expect her to raise the child of her rapist?”
How might you respond to this understandably emotionally-charged objection?
Response
When pro-life advocates respond to pro-choice objections, there is a great emphasis on logical consistency and reasoning. However, particularly when the subject of rape is raised, this can have the unintended consequence of making the pro-lifer appear unfeeling and clinical.
Therefore, throughout the abortion debate, but especially when the subject of rape is raised, I think it’s important to communicate a genuine compassion and empathy prior to offering the logical rebuttal. We need to show that we understand the tremendous trauma of such an event and the great burden which has now been placed on the woman without her consent.
Why is abortion wrong?
When someone tells me that he thinks abortion is wrong except in the case of rape, I usually postpone discussing the question of rape and instead first spend a little bit of time asking that person why he is generally against abortion.
The person will usually explain that he recognizes that the unborn are defenseless human beings who therefore should not be killed. If that is the case, I will ask if any of this changes as a result of the circumstances of the conception. Is the unborn child any less defenseless? Is the unborn child any less human?
The truth is that the child conceived in rape is just as valuable as the child conceived in love. Here is a one of many signs I saw at March For Life last year:
The woman holding this sign was not responsible for the circumstances of her conception.
How many victims?
I think it’s also important to take a step back and ask ourselves why rape is such a terrible crime. It’s awful because an innocent person has her body violated in an act of violence by a stronger aggressor. Given this description, is abortion really that different? The act of rape made one victim, but abortion makes another, compounding the first act of violence with another.
If a rapist is brought to justice, he will not receive the death penalty for his horrendous felony. Does it seem reasonable that the child, who has committed no crime and never asked to be conceived, to receive a punishment which even the rapist would not receive?