The following comes from a May 25 story in AsiaNews.
Those who approach the Church must find open doors, not the “faith inspectors,” people also animated by good sentiments but who end up rejecting people, for example, a single mother who wants to baptize her son. This was the focus of Pope Francis homily during Mass in St. Martha.
Vatican Radio reports the Pope, commented on today’s Gospel which tells us that Jesus rebukes the disciples who seek to remove children that people bring to the Lord to bless. “Jesus embraces them, kisses them, touches them, all of them. It tires Jesus, and his disciples “want it to stop.” Jesus is indignant: “Jesus got angry, sometimes.” And he says: “Let them come to me, do not hinder them. For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these…. The faith of the People of God – observes the Pope – is a simple faith, a faith that is perhaps without much theology, but it has an inward theology that is not wrong, because the Spirit is behind it.”
The Pope mentions Vatican I and Vatican II, where it is said that “the holy people of God … cannot err in matters of belief” (Lumen Gentium). And to explain this theological formulation he adds: “If you want to know who Mary is, go to the theologian and he will tell you exactly who Mary is. But if you want to know how to love Mary go to the People of God who teach it better…. The people of God,” continued the Pope, “are always asking for something closer to Jesus, they are sometimes a bit insistent in this. But it is the insistence of those who believe.
“I remember once, coming out of the city of Salta, on the patronal feast, there was a humble lady who asked for a priest’s blessing. The priest said, ‘All right, but were you at the Mass?’ and explained the whole theology of blessing in the church. He did well: ‘Ah, thank you father, yes father,’ said the woman. When the priest had gone, the woman turned to another priest: ‘Give me your blessing!’ All these words did not register with her, because she had another necessity: the need to be touched by the Lord. That is the faith that we always look for, this is the faith that brings the Holy Spirit. We must facilitate it, make it grow, help it grow. ”
The Pope also mentioned the story of the blind man of Jericho, who was rebuked by the disciples because he cried to the Lord, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “The Gospel says that they didn’t want him to shout, they wanted him not to shout but he wanted to shout more, why? Because he had faith in Jesus! The Holy Spirit had put faith in his heart. And they said, ‘No, you cannot do this! You don’t shout to the Lord. Protocol does not allow it. And ‘the second Person of the Trinity! Look what you do… ‘as if they were saying that, right?
“ And think about the attitude of many Christians: “Think of the good Christians, with good will; we think about the parish secretary, a secretary of the parish … ‘Good evening, good morning, the two of us – boyfriend and girlfriend – we want to get married’. And instead of saying, ‘That’s great!’. They say, ‘Oh, well, have a seat. If you want the Mass, it costs a lot… ‘. This, instead of receiving a good welcome. ‘It is a good thing to get married! ‘- But instead they get this response:’ Do you have the certificate of baptism, all right … ‘. And they find a closed door. When this Christian and that Christian has the ability to open a door, thanking God for this fact of a new marriage … We are many times faith inspectors, instead of becoming facilitators of the faith of the people. “ And ‘there is always a temptation,” said the Pope, “try and take possession of the Lord.”
And he tells another story: “Think about a single mother who goes to church, and to the secretary she says: ‘I want my child baptized.’ And then this Christian, this Christian says: ‘No, you cannot because you’re not married!’ But look, this girl who had the courage to carry her pregnancy and not reject her child, what is it? A closed door! This is not zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open doors! And so when we are on this path, have this attitude, we do not do good to people, the people, the People of God, but Jesus instituted the seven sacraments with this attitude and we are establishing the eighth: the sacrament of pastoral customs!”
To read the entire story, click here.
Very good article. Thank you for posting it.
The “faith inspectors” (and this forum appears to be choke-full of them) are every bit as deleterious to the Church as the “liberals” (as labeled by the “faith inspectors”) they constantly attack.
From my practical exposure to the Catholic Christian faith it seems as if those in charge (bishops and priests) typically don’t really have any clue on how to shepherd their flocks. Yes there are notable exceptions but all too often they are not leaders — they are administrators and sadly, often bureaucrats.
Because of this horrid vacuum of leadership, groups and cliques like the “liberals” and the “faith inspectors” — the very worst extremes of the Church, struggle to see which can exert the greatest control. Truly horrible conditions have become the result.
The worst part is that most now view this condition as being “normal.” Those that still attend Mass spend 45-60 minutes in church on Sundays and that’s it. Most would think you’re crazy if you talked in terms of attending a Bible study and a Rosary before Mass and then hung around for a coffee social after Mass. They want to get in and out — largely because of the situation described above.
If the parish even has any activities during the week (many do not), they are dominated by the same 20-30 people (often a mix of the most extreme “liberals” and “faith inspectors”) desperate for attention and determined to curry favor with the pastor.
Ironically the universal EXCUSE for much of the garbage that takes place in the Church today are God’s own awesome gifts to us. Tired of horrible homilies? “BUT WE HAVE THE EUCHARIST!” is the universal excuse. Sad to see few or no opportunities for communal prayer and faith sharing outside of Mass? “BUT WE HAVE THE EUCHARIST!” is the universal excuse. No Catholic Bible studies available where you live? “BUT WE HAVE THE EUCHARIST!” is the universal excuse.
As Catholics we use God’s awesome gifts to us as an excuse not to perform at the level in which we should as members of His Church. It’s all quite sad.
Criticizing the so-called “faith inspectors” as you seem to be doing, is tantamount to being one of the Faith Inspectors yourself. Who gave you authority to declare that the person who appears to only attend to his/her faith one hour a week is not living out the faith all week long? Look to yourself first. Are you not declaring yourself to be an elitist when you say (others) are not living out their faith “which we should as members of His Church?”
Camille,
Thank you and God Bless you! Your wisdom, your spiritual maturity and your beautiful understanding of humility shines through and it is truly valued!
Absolutely no way.
Re-read the article. I would never dissuade anyone from joining the Church (or having their child baptized) based upon my personal judgement of them — that’s the “faith inspectors” role. All you are trying to do is defend them and it stinks.
RB.R.- I’ve never read any posts that says someone should not be able to have their child baptized, or dissuading anyone from joining the Church, or from getting married in the Church.
What have you been reading, and blaming on the posts on this web site?
PETE If a gay child is not welcome in Boy Scouts, do you really think she’d be baptized in the same parish? Really?
Camille God bless you….I agree with you. Rodda surely has misinterpret our Popes message. It was beautiful and now Rodda dirtied it up. It’s a shame and pride sure seems to be a strong attribute of Rodda because he doesn’t see what he just did. God have mercy on us all.
PRIDE is the root of all evil.
Our Pope is humble…His beautiful message was not to be used to insult the faithful and he gave such wonderful examples to help us discern what he actually meant by his message. I am grateful for his message….it’s a shame that some just used it as a weapon…what cowardly action, afraid to say, saddened by it too. : (
A priest is not supposed to baptize a child unless there is a reasonable expectation that the child will be raised in the Faith. The Holy Father perhaps needs to be more complete in his statements. That statement is subject to too much speculation.
Of course many of you don’t think it is important that the child be raised in the Faith, only that he or she be baptized.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
While a reasonable expectation of being raised in the Faith IS, I grant, important, I think what the Holy Father is getting at is that certain attitudes might stand in the way of the Child, in this case, being raised in the faith. If we put up obstacles to the marginally faithful, then they might stumble. I think that is all the Holy Father is saying.
Those obstacles might be as simple as scheduling. Or Over-judicious use of guidelines, or even simple things like the expected donation to the church. These are obstacles that I’m sure we all agree ought not to limit access to the Sacraments.
Mr. Fisher I get what you mean but our Pope certainty took it a step further in deep charity. I don’t think he is discrediting what you said…he is meaning something more added to that…
Very well said, Camille!!!
RB “go along to get along wonder flamingo” Rodda, have you noticed that this blog site is not a church? Let us know if you can see Heaven through the Crystal Cathedral aka Christ Cathedral now?
Wow, you are really a bitter and judgmental and rude individual, aren’t you? I sure wish this forum had an IGNORE function. I suspect I’ll have to do it manually. Ta-ta.
Speak for yourself, RB “wonder lad” Rodda.
I do. Please stop being rude.
Rodda please practice what you are preaching…you ask not to be rude? Really…what did you just do to start up this thread…the root….you were the root of that start up.
I am a faith inspector. I admit it. It is not pleasing to God. I am sorry for it.
foolish….rubbish…and who might you be Anony…show your self..
Totally your post name discredits what stupidity you are trying to convey! No name, No gain!
got issues?
Dear R.B.R.
I don’t often agree with you, but I have to say you bring challenges to my practice of the faith.
When, for example, you say this, my ears perk up:
Ironically the universal EXCUSE for much of the garbage that takes place in the Church today are God’s own awesome gifts to us. Tired of horrible homilies? “BUT WE HAVE THE EUCHARIST!” is the universal excuse. Sad to see few or no opportunities for communal prayer and faith sharing outside of Mass? “BUT WE HAVE THE EUCHARIST!” is the universal excuse. No Catholic Bible studies available where you live? “BUT WE HAVE THE EUCHARIST!” is the universal excuse.
As Catholics we use God’s awesome gifts to us as an excuse not to perform at the level in which we should as members of His Church. It’s all quite sad.”
Consider my ears perked!
God bless Pope Francis. If we welcome the stranger to come into the church, perhaps to attend Mass, the stranger may like what he sees and decide to study the Catholic Faith and choose to be baptized. If we are aloof and show an unfriendly attitude, the stranger will go away.
As Jesus turned the water into wine, the Church turns the stranger into His disciple.
If the disciples were women, they would have not stopped other women with children to come to Jesus.
jenny, there are countless little anti-Christs running amok, according to St John; no doubt one of them will suit your desires.
Skai I appreciate what you just mentioned, it is true. Those human desires are very heartbreaking…when they seek their own and ignore Christ’s.
Jenny, in some cases it is the behavior of the parents that have stopped their own children from “coming to Jesus”. Baptism is not magic. If the parents are not living or practicing the Faith, 10 – 1 the child will not either since children most often do what they see their parents do. If the mother is living with someone outside of marriage, many priests will not baptize the child if the mother and father do not change the situation by either getting married or stop co habitating.
God Bless Pope Francis. God bless the Children. God bless all the People of God.
CCC: “2196 In response to the question about the first of the commandments, Jesus says: “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The apostle St. Paul reminds us of this: “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Beautiful! I’m sure it sounded better than the interpretation (which is still fine) but it sure is beautiful. Reminds me of when I wanted to go to confession during holy week before Easter. I was not welcomed.
Praise God that our Pope is speaking about these things, praise God, it’s about time. He spoke is so humbly, as I know this was interpreted from his original language or the language he originally said it, but since I am Spanish speaking, I understand it at that level, since it has a different tone due to being from another country…not English understanding but I know that here in the USA, they too have those situations often happening to them.
But if there is one gay kid in the Scout troop, the pastor eliminates the entire troop. How is this pastor not an inspector of the faith?
Amen YFC.
Maybe the Pastor wants to prevent sodomy from occurring on Church ground….oh wait you are part of that no judgments crowd…
FIne, let him prevent sodomy and every kind of sexual activity then. But eliminate the entire troop? Sort of overkill, methinks. If it isn’t faith inspector-ism going on then I don’t know what it is.
You have it backwards, YFC: It is not the pastor abandoning the Scouts, but the Scout leadership abandoning the virtuous. It appears to the carnal eye that faithful Scouts and their faithful leaders are abandoning the Boy Scout organization; however, the reality is the opposite, in that the immoral leadership has recused itself and its hordes from the real scouts … they also took the money when they ran.
So now you’re equating homosexuality to necessarily being promiscuous? Really? Using your logic why doesn’t the pastor ban everyone given the potential (no matter how small it might be) for heterosexuals to engage in sex on “Church ground”?
Rodda, gradually you’re cover is evaporating.
R.B. Rodda,
WOW! Look at the ripple effect when priests and bishops defend “ALL” Church teaching. R.B. You are completely coming unglued and it is not for the sake of the gospel but for the sake of serving the false religion of homosexuality.
You have also proven that every dissenter or anonymous enabler on this particular website, always have one thing in common. You are all FIRST & Foremost Servants of the religion of homosexuality.
The saddest part about this …is that I am sure that you don’t even recognize the fact that it took the faithful actions of just one priest, to bring out ALL of the enablers and activists scrambling out into the open with their very revealing posts of being annoyed and irritated.
Google Church Miltant TV “Annoyed and Irritated”
Skai is absolutely right. You’re cover is now evaporated and you did this to yourself. Earlier you were corrected for falsely judging Catholics who “appear” to only attend Church for one hour. This afternoon you are judging the pastor’s actions while you’ve been busy publicly enabling and serving the false religion of homosexuality. Physician heal thyself!
He is a protector of the faith, YFC and peter. You professional career sodomites cannot win over every soul, and when you won’t run away, the Ram will drive you away.
So says Chief Faith Inspector Skai.
Indeed. Let’s hope he really doesn’t know what he spews. It’s ugly…
Skai, he’s not protecting the faith: He’s violating it. The CCC and other Church teachings explicitly forbid discrimination against gay people.
YFC what a hypocritical comment coming from a man who advocates gay lifestyles….skai lives the faith…..all you do is gay activism here on this Catholic website!
Why did Father Perozich cherry pick and change sentences from the CCC and the Vatican documents to distort the Church’s teaching on homosexuality?
It also forbids TOLERATING SIN, by commission or by omission.
You must take the CCC in entirety.
The CCC in its entirety is extremely important. Just as a point of interest (not an argument) read 2447; notice anything? If there is a quote from the Catechism which forbids tolerating sin by commission or by omission, would you please give me the number? I understand that you may be paraphrasing.
YFC since you chose to get off topic, here you go, worth repeating:
Those teens are not homosexuals but they are “gay’s because that is what that agenda has labeled them to help carry out their agenda! They define themselves as gay because adults are using them to be their voice, they are scandalizing their souls. We need to pity those who are scandalizing our youth, for they will have a huge consequence ahead of them with they meet up with our Lord on judgement day! But in the mean time, we must expose their lies!
Also YFC in Charity to answer your question as best as I can:
Sexuality should not be part of the boys scouts, unlike other posters who keep giving irrelevant reasons as their pro-for, we pray for not misleading those youth who may have issues about their sexuality, organizations should not feed into their confusion even further and since we know what is truly at stake here….then it’s good that we speak up against these sort of things that give or condone immoral behavior.
It’s not about who what etc…..its really about the true care and wholesome environment a child should be involved in without ever having to give out the wrong the message. Sometimes to a child who may have had a traumatic rape experience from a predator, they need to get away from any sexual promotion or indication, not to bring more confusion to them or add it to their subconscious mind, but they need an escape method, like the way the boy scouts was in the past, I’m sure that if a child was confused, having the boy scouts stand up for their manhood, may have actually been therapeutic. It may have encouraged the child towards focusing on character and being a boy into a man….but once you add into the equation that perhaps that manhood is questionable (compromised) and can change….then we are falsely giving an indirect message by coming out and accepting or even considering that a child is capable of such immoral sinful lifestyles at so young at age…that it actually encourages them to explore it even further!
I don’t need to be a psychiatrist to discern how harmful this is to their formation into manhood! We insult God, by giving a different message than what our Lord has already implemented. God is perfect, in the Holy Trinity! To have other views is to insult who our Lord and How he designed mankind. Also kids with sexual confusion where always in the Boys Scouts in the past..so that is not the issue.
Really you have no idea what you are talking about Abeca, you should just quit your psychoanalysis gig while you still can.
No it’s you YFC who has no clue…..it is an injustice to have openly gay men tell parents what is at the best interest of their children and their types of activities that they are involved…it is also irrational to take into account the opinions of those whom have a same sex disorder…for they know not how to reason well nor have common decency not to forget that they are also disobedient to the church’s call for them to be chaste!
How did the troop even know that this boy was a homosexual? Good question, don’t most of you think!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
That’s right, Kenneth. If they had kept their innermost thoughts to themselves instead of blabbing them to the world and just confessing to a good priest or parent, there would not be this problem. They were not satified with the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy, no, no. They wanted to tell the whole world. I suspect SOME of the adults got in trouble in their youth for trying to “experiment” on other boys, and they are angry about the fact that they got kicked out for such behavior and are out for revenge. The best thing to do is just ignor them.
Correction: experimenting WITH other boys.
Some Catholic Parishes are setting up their own version of the Boy Scouts.
Catholics who have children in Scouts, will make certain that this is provided in a format which is not under the National Committees which now teach and support the flaunting of sexual preferences an important activity in Scouting.
Prior to the National’s latest votes, sex preference was not a major topic for the kids. I hope they go broke through the lack of dues paying Catholics.
You do not understand. There is nothing that says they can flaunt their sexual preferences or teach homosexuality. All Scouts are saying the same thing. That they never discriminated against homosexual kids and that sexuality has no part in scouting. It is not going to become a stomping ground for promoting evil. It is what it has always been. They just adapted their anti-discrimination statement to reflect it.
Although no one in the State of Mortal Sin may receive
Holy Communion (Sacrilege against the Body and Blood of our Lord),
ALL are called to attend Sunday Mass to worship the Lord and should be welcomed.
Worship (Love) of the Lord – is the first 3 of the 10 Commandments; love of neighbor is the last 7.
Divorced and remarried Catholics, those committing sexual sins, those contracepting, etc., etc, must all attend Mass (without Holy Communion). They should be welcomed. The grace they receive may bring them back into full Communion with the Church. The Church must be about the business of Saving all Souls.
Mike, as long as we are not the ones to judge! That is between the person and God. I am always amazed when I visit other parishes, how few have someone at the door welcoming you to worship, shaking your hand and telling you how happy they are that you are there, introducing you to the pastor, giving you brochures about the parish, the ministries, etc.. Many parishes don’t even have that information on their web site. From time to time I have opportunities to attend services at other denominations. Almost everyone of them has a welcoming committee that makes sure you are introduced to a member, etc. Why can’t we be more welcoming?
Bob, when I attend Mass on vacation, I just want to be left alone. But maybe that’s just me. If I want to learn more about a parish, I can start asking people, but I really don’t expect (or even like) people at the door, being effusive and all that.
I was visiting friends in a town I was unfamiliar with, and I went to the website looking for the address of the mass. Nowhere to be found on their website. The address Google gave was of a thrift store run by the Parish. They couldn’t even be bothered to put the address of the church where mass is held on their website. how unwelcoming is that? (OH there was a picture and an article on the cover page about the parish’s new webmaster though!)
YFC, they knew you were stalking them.
Skai, be nice please. Let’s all try to be a little more civil to one another as long as serious sin is not being advocated.
Anne T.,
In case you haven’t noticed, very serious mortal sin is being advocated!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Well, not in that particular post of YFC’s, Kenneth. That is what I meant.
Thank you Anne T
Usually the Diocese posts a list of all their Parishes with their locations and phone numbers on the web, – including Mass times, Ordinary Form, Extra-ordinary form, etc., and Confession.
Bob One, why do you presume that people want some glad handing on their way into the church? Oh yeah, you believe that everyone needs to be told how and when to take each step, pretty much like the govt, or for that matter the bureaucracy. Next you’ll insist that each person entering for Mass will have to arrive early and go through a hazing of committees.
Skai, it is a little deeper than that. When I grew up in the 40-50s, we were “forced” to go to church or go to hell. You entered the church and kept your mouth shut for an hour or you got a verbal thrashing. In the last 40 years I have seen a marked change in the parishes to which I have belonged. People go to church because they want to be part of the community the comes together to praise and worship God in song, word, Eucharist and peace. They see welcoming as part of being church. They see extending the Peace of Christ to their neighbors as being church. They don’t leave church at the end of Mass until the end of the last verse of the closing hymn, because they want to worship as a community. They stay for coffee to chat and catch up with their fellow worshipers..Mass is no longer something you go to, it is something in which you participate in. It is a community (communion) event. I for one, don’t want to go back to the old ways. Being Catholic is more than attending Mass because you half to. It is going to Sunday worship because you want to praise God with your fellow Christians. I like that.
Bob One in the last 40 years there has been a marked decline in regular attendance at Masses, and going to Confession. Schools and parishes are closing due to lack of attendance and support.
Perhaps the problem when you were a child was yours, or your parents for not teaching you to love God.
When you go to Mass the purpose must always be to worship God (keeping holy the Sabbath), not paying attention to others.
There is plenty of time for socializing outside of the Church itself.
Bob and others, it is because all of us are different and brought up differently and at different stages in our lives. When my adult children were going to college, I worked outside the home and volunteered for three different organizations, one church connected and one pro life. I was very outgoing. Then my mother becamse ill and elderly, and I had to go back and forth on the weekends to another town, while working during the week, to help take care of her. After that I got major “volunteering burn out”. All I wanted to do after I got off work was take care of my own family, go to church on Sundays and sometimes during the week and just sit quietly in a chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. I learned to enjoy my own company for a change, and the Lord’s too. I felt the same after retirement for the most part, finally being able to paint our bathrooms while swinging on a ladder in my early sixties. listening to classical music on my radio, and thinking about Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. My only socializing was with my family and those at stores. I said before that most of my few close friends have been married as long as I have, and I felt it best that married women associate with other married women, but I once had three women friends, two divorced and one widowed who attended meetings of an organization we were in, ethnic festivals, etc. Then one moved to another town and the other two, divorced and widowed decided to go dancing at night and date men. which was not an appropriate option for me since my husband was too busy for such entertainment at that time, so our friendships drifted apart. Please do not judge those of us who seem to want peace and quiet too harshly, as for the most part, we have “been there, done that” and now want a more tranquil life. We do smile and talk to people at our churces, but for the most part, we do not get too involved.
I still do things behind the scene for the Church, though, as my husband is now actively involved, and I help him with certain things at home, and occasionally at the church in our area but mostly I just take care of my family and go to adoration, etc.
Bob that is my post at 2:27 pm.
Bob One, if your Parish your does not do the things you deem important, talk to your Pastor. In fact you can volunteer.
Homosexuals are not as welcoming as they’d have us believe. Decades ago, when I was walking up to Blessed Sacrament in Hollywood one Sunday morning, a corner hooker was trying to attract my attention. (There was one more of them on the back corner as well.) Then a brace of homosexuals intervened and drove her away. Had that not happened, I would happily have invited her into Mass; although, I know she would not have accepted the hospitality. Long ago, a friend who later became a priest, took a job at a convenience store right along the same stretch of the street extending from the White House where hoz would line up for blocks and strike their deals. He did this expressly as a means of witnessing the welcome of the Church to the prostitute, in the ages old work of aiding them in conversion to Christ.
Skai during the years when I tried reaching out to them….I experienced their unwelcome…..even when all I wanted to do was to give them love and share Christ with them….only a few, very few listened. So few but the many rest, that I worry about their salvation.
The homosexuals now are demanding that we all believe that they are victims of some condition they cannot change. I’m now trying to find out if the idea of same sex attraction is infallible; I suspect that it is not, but is a well entrenched fad that has been slyly snuck in with actual doctrines of the Church. After all, it was a bureaucracy that produced this CCC. There are levels of magisterialness, which implies that some candidate ideas are subject to elimination. The CCC may not even be a magisterial document. Imprimaturs have been given to works that later have been rejected by the Church. I sense that this same sex attraction stuff is a scam job.
Also Skai in continuing to my post from May 28, 2013 at 3:33 pm, I remember when I tried reaching out to a young man, who ran away from home at a very young age, he later on got a job at where I was working, he told me his story. He was only 20 or 21, I don’t remember, he wasn’t much younger than I, I was a few years older than he. But I remember when he came to work one day, in tears, he was so depressed that he wanted to drug himself up. (well that is what he told me when he finally opened up) I saw a great sadness in him. I kept talking to him and even sat with him in our break room during lunch. I knew he was an active homosexual. He then confided in me, (I’m trying to recollect the details now, it’s been a while now) and told me that he just found out that he was HIV positive. He told me crying, I was crying too. I hugged him like a sister would a brother. We were both crying. I shared with him about Jesus and His love for him. Before I didn’t want to come off so strong and decided to wait before I would share more good news about forgiveness, repentance and salvation so I just asked him about his partner situation.
He told me that he was a run away, he didn’t have a good home life. I didn’t allow him to bash his family because I also knew that there were two sides to a story but wanted him to take responsibility as well for his choices and where they got him. Almost everyday, we kept talking, he kept sharing. He told me that when he ran away at 17, his partner now (an older man of 30 years old at the time when he was 17) took him in, acted like a father figure to him, promised him a better life than what his parents gave him etc…..well taking advantage of him and his immaturity, allowed him to get drunk and smoke pot and when he was heavily intoxicated, that is when he first experienced sodomy. His first sexual experimentation with another man. He then felt so ashamed but the only way he would feel better was to blank it out of our his mind and that is when that man convinced him that he was gay and that there was no need in fighting it. Since he had no family or a place to go, he has been living with him since then.
Then one day, he didn’t show up for work…I was so worried about him. I didn’t have his personal information to try to reach him or look for him. He shared with me how abusive that man was to him. This young man had so much anger. I wanted to save him but I didn’t get to reach him on time, it took some time just to get him to confide in me. It still haunts me, I feel my heart break, poor young man.
Thank you Abeca for sharing that very sad story. I am sure that if that young man is still alive today, he would still remember your compassion and your kindness that reflected Christ’s merciful love for all sinners.
Thank you Catherine. God bless you and I appreciate your support.
Skai,
Were you at Blessed Sacrament when we used to conduct a “Holy Innocence Procession, Mass, and Rosary” on December 28. We even had a Cardinal and Bishops participating along with some real Hollywood Celebrities. Roger changed all of that.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Kenneth, I recall, prior to the advent of roger, a pro life march having something to do with Blessed Sacrament Church (not totally sure, but it was in Hollywood I recall although again not for certain), led by the feather hatted Knights of Columbus, somewhere around 1979-84. Cdl Manning was not a stress out to read about, as has been mahony.
So uplifting. Thank God for our Pope!
I noticed the Pope shaking hands with Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, on the day of his holiness’ installation… Mugabe should have been arrested at the airport, when he landed in Rome…HE IS BANNED from travel into the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY!…The Pope seemed far to conciliatory to a man that has rigged innumerable election’s, violalated the human rights of millions of african’s, butchered scores of his countrymen and instilled a climate of fear and dread in this nation, the likes of which will never be seen again!…I would have spurned this global pariah, and not been so gracious as to extend my hand, to this “devil” from Zimbabwe, he was born in Salisbury by the way…as I was
Rhodesian, per your account of the Pope and Mugabe: “All knees shall bow and all tongues confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”. How is this to be done, without we try to bear true witness? Answer, we are to become holy, and this alone shall convert the sinners. And please do not ask me how many sinners I’ve converted … let’s just simply hope that this happens some day; same with all of the faithful.
Bowing to a muderer and maniac who is on par with Pol Pot, gives good witness to no one! Not the worldwide community, or the memory of those he butchered…he should have been arrested at the airport in Rome!
I was picturing it the other way around, where Mugabe came to the Pope and bowed his knee and confessed that Jesus is Lord. Perhaps all he came there for was support for his evil ways … My question is not an advocacy but merely a question, as I have very little knowledge of Mugabe. I simply have not paid much attention to the news of him.
Skai,
I have a great deal of knowledge about politicians, and Mugabe is an evil politician. They use the Church for their own evil purposes, and I am not so sure that Our Lord and His Mother approve of members of His Church who enable them.
Count me with Rhodesian from salisbury on this.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Well, I’ll go with you two on the Mugabe issue, then. Jesus did not shake hands with every pharisee clamoring to get to Him.
Skai, you have converted no one!…God does the conversion, with the individual’s responding to a supernatural grace…if you were involved, it was only as an instrument to facilitate the conversion process, as we all are…
Rhodesian, why not update us a bit more thoroughly on Mugabe and the situation?
Why don’t you google it on the internet?…and then tell us what your own impression’s are based on your limited research…
Pope Francis rocks!
Pope Francis is the Rock, upon which Jesus builds His church. good cause and others, you keep making statements that reflect a laziness in learning what the words mean in a Catholic context.
According to this pope we can just throw out Church laws and dogma. There is a name for that. It is called Protestantism. No surprises there. And all on this web-site seem to embrace it. We should always be charitable but God did give us laws and Jesus did start his Church. There are requirements for certain Sacraments for a reason at least there was before the New Church became the newest Protestant sect.
Oh, Anita, you need a nice nap. The Holy Father is NOT saying we throw out integrity and the Commandments, but rather he is warning us not to imitate those dopey Pharisees who spied on Jesus and his disciples (and on everyone else, for that matter), just to see if they could catch them “in sin.”
Good point, Michael. We ALL tend to be Pharisees at times, and being the eldest daughter in my family, and being partially of French descent, the Eldest Daughter of the Church, I surely can get like the elder brother in the story of the Prodigal Son. I find I get that way when I have taken on too much responsibity and am having no fun. Still my husband and I always look to our oldest daughter and expect her to be the more responsible one, just as was done to me. The oldest ones are always loaded with that guilt, “You are the oldest. You should know better,” and quite often we fail. Lord have mercy on us all.
Anita, the Pope is not throwing out any of the spiritual treasure of the Church. He is trying to attract those who would follow Jesus. You cannot, nor even God cannot, force any soul to take up the Cross and follow Jesus. What I’m getting at is that legalism does not win hearts to Christ; only love can do that. Those with insufficient love need to rely on the Law to keep afloat in the Church, but that ain’t gonna make converts. The Popes have called for holiness … without which all efforts are futile. Read Catholic doctrine and give up the false religion of legalism.
Skai, did you write this? It is one of the most compasionate and Catholic things you have ever posted. Where is the sarcasm? Well, maybe I just agree with your statements.
We’ve all attended churches where there were NO inspectors and the noise can be deafening and there may be dancing and hand clapping and no reverence, but LOTS of pseudo-worship…’look at me, I’m so free, Jesus is my best bud and we hang out together, you sanctimonious hypocrites.” The people who struggle to maintain values and reverence (and it is NOT easy, but takes daily self-discipline and prayer) are always presented as the villains (especially in the Hollywood movies and tv shows and by the CatholicCowboys who write here) whereas the poor struggling girl who had too many drinks and lived life as she saw fit and to hell with everyone else is the sad madonna, scorned by the world. What an angel. Those hypocrites just judge everyone while she, poor dear, made just ONE little mistake…well, more like 30, but who’s counting…what’s an abortion here or there? Who are YOU to judge me!? I don’t know any better…my dad was a drunk and my mother was too busy. sob” Sorry, I guess I taught school too long, but one thing you learn is that accepting excuses and forgiving where there is no genuine repentence never helps anyone but simply encourages lying and bad behavior. As people become more and more wanton and disrespectful in their behavior it just pushes the BS meter to higher levels of tolerance. Anyone who stands up for goodness and righteousness is always presented as the unbending, self-righteous ‘faith-inspectors’. Look at what happened when the priest in the Washington D.C. diocese refused communion to an open lesbian . I read that he’s been relieved of his duties as a priest. Having been a sinner all my life, I can speak from experience, that it is the uncompromising straight-talk from Christians of rectitude who helped me most in returning to Truth and righteousness (and I never said I was righteous…but I sure am closer than I would have been had I listened to people who told me to just listen to my conscience, or just love everybody) I know more people who leave the Church because there was no LOVE of neighbor…they go week after week and no one speaks to them. Now that is a crime, and we all should make a real effort to be friendly and welcoming to everyone. A smile that says, “God is so good, how lovely to see you!’ is sometimes the only Christ some people will see as they come to Church sometimes. St’ Paul was a tremendous ‘faith inspector’ who ran a really tight ship…because he loved Jesus Christ more than he loved popularity or himself. I’m not questioning what our Holy Father said, but I am responding to some of the posters here who took what he said and ran to the usual extremes with it. The first thing they did was criticize those who stand up for tradition and obedience. Pope Francis spoke with love and wisdom and his words will bear fruit…but for others here, I would re-think what he was really saying.
Well said Dana. A Christian is one who believes and follows all that Christ taught the Apostles.
God Bless,
Gerard
No Christian can follow “all” things Christ taught the Apostles, but we follow Christ instead of things. Books contain things; we follow not a book but the Godman, Jesus Christ. Mahony had his “God is in our prayer circle”, which can mean anything, such as a book can mean anything. Jesus, however, does not mean anything but means more than books. He means more than all things, because He created all things. He transitions the faithful from things to Himself.
Dana, your blog covers a lot of ground. The account of the priest in DC who denied Communion to some blowhard reminds me of what I read yesterday about another priest, this one in NY. Cdl Dolan is reported to have been cooperating with contraception coverage in some of his Catholic hospitals, although it is disguised. Further journalism coverage may not yet have delved into this evident hypocrisy … yet. But there seems a strong connection between the Church rulers in NY and WashDC … the connection being obviously money and power.
Dana, Father Guarnizo is still a priest. See him with Lila Rose (CCD story “Lila Rose get Leroy Carhart on video” March 12, 2012) on a Youtube video “Marching to promote a Culture of Life” interviewed at the March for Life in Italy (CCD story “Pope Surprises, joins March for Life” May 13, 2013) See also his written article about Carhart “The Heroes of Sundance” on Catholic News Agency website May 13, 2013
Great post, Dana. it was an old fuddy, duddy priest who preached a hell fire sermon and called heresy, heresy that brought me back into the Church, and he even saved my life later by telling me not to use the Birth Control Pill, which would have killed me with the estrogen in when I had the cancer. over twenty years ago, As one of my faithful Catholic friends said to me, “I guess there is something to be said for obedience.” I say, “Amen, there surely is.”
Thanks everyone for your kind words! I know I sound self-righteous too often, (and some are rolling their eyes as they read this! tsk tsk) but I speak from my heart because I really do want all of us to fight the good fight and someday meet Jesus face to face. K, I’m happy to hear that that wonderful priest is doing so well! Thanks for sharing. And skai, I just read that about Crd.Dolan on New Oxford Review news. Apparently the NYC diocese has been paying for birth control & even abortions, alibiet unwillingly!? It is most disheartening to say the least! The price of gladhanding so indiscriminantly? I want you to know I was praying for everyone here over Memorial Day weekend, as you came to mind during my prayer time. We never know who is praying for us, that’s for sure.
Thanks for the prayers, Dana. That might be what got me off the hook over the weekend : )
haha~with your varied and interesting life, Skai, that is an intriguing comment.
Well, Dana, I make it seem intriguing. Actually it is rather dull, consisting of little other than temptation and salvation.
Dana I pray that people actually hear with a pure heart what our Pope meant with His message, it was not meant to condone sin…some forget that, it was not meant to discredit the teachings on being your brothers keeper, as Jesus Commanded us to be…..no but he was reaching deeper…..God bless our Pope…I am thankful that when I read this the Holy Ghost has blessed me to discern this beautiful message….
God bless our Pope…even looking at his picture, I see a holy human man but if you look deeper, he looks gentle and innocent as a child in Christ.
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Jesus commanded us to be our brother’s keeper? Not exactly.
Jesus commands us to be our brother’s keeper, and does so time after time. Cain asked God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”; now, if you do not see that Cain was trying to deny human nature, then you’ve got a problem. Jesus told us via parable that even on the Sabbath (ie this includes Sunday during Mass) we are to help our neighbor pull his ox out of a fix. The greatest commandment is to worship God and love your neighbor as yourself … If this is not being one’s brother’s keeper, then what is, f.i.#? Love is laying down one’s life for one’s brother. So, f.i.#, what is it you do not get about Jesus’ command to be our brother’s keeper?
Btw, for those readers who may be puzzled at f.i.#’s posting “Buzzzz…zzz”, consider that a jargon name for a rattlesnake is “buzz tail”. Are we reading a signature of the devil in f.i.#’s post, a post which is serpentine in its denial of one of the most central of all of the teachings of Jesus?
Skai fi comments….he is a troll not sent by God that is for sure.
You are correct and I agree with your wisdom on this!
Write a post all about love of neighbor and then turn around and call your neighbor the devil! FAIL
Dana, I forgot to put my name in on my post above at 2:40 pm. Sorry, and you are welcome for your gratitude.
Wonderful post Dana! What a gift you have! You don’t sound self-righteous in the least. Your posts are so logical and it is so very refreshing. I remember a woman telling me that it took the very hard to hear but truthful words of a good Catholic priest, that got her to truly see the evil of her killing her own child through an abortion. This woman had left her Catholic faith after her abortion. Her Protestant pastor really never addressed abortion. Her Protestant friends never payed much attention and they all made her feel as if her abortion was not that big of a deal.
This woman, after years of being away from the sacraments, went to visit a Catholic priest. This priest was not being a faith inspector he was being a faith preserver and Eternal Life Saver. This woman was hurting and she said it was the very first time that anyone got her to see why she was still hurting inside.
People think that silence is charity but silence prolongs and it enables the interior suffering of a person who is simply searching for God’s mercy and the truth. A good priest once told us that many psychological and emotional disturbances were from years of repressed thoughts of unconfessed mortal sins. This woman was so grateful to learn the remedy for her suffering. Thank God for all of our faithful priests who remedy such suffering in the confessional instead of prolonging suffering with false charity or coddling evil through silence.
So true Catherine, and outside of the Church so many go their whole lives with no recourse for absolution. (and thanks so much for your kind words!)
And Anne T , you have much cause for rejoicing. Breast cancer is reaching epidemic proportions! Not one word is mentioned connecting ‘the pill’ with it in the secular press, however!
The solution to this problem is for priests and bishops to set the tone by acting consistently for both orthodoxy and charity. They are not in conflict.
ORTHODOXY =
CCC: ” 2518 The sixth beatitude proclaims, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” “Pure in heart” refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God’s holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity; chastity or sexual rectitude; love of truth and ORTHODOXY of faith.
There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith.
The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed so that by believing they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe.”
CHARITY =
CCC: ” 1822 Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.”
Tom Byrne gets the gold star for his post:
” The solution to this problem is for priests and bishops to set the tone by acting consistently for both orthodoxy and charity.
They are not in conflict.”
“ In this Year of Faith let us ask ourselves if we have actually taken a few steps to get to know Christ and the truths of faith more, by reading and meditating on the Scriptures, studying the Catechism, steadily approaching the Sacraments. ” – Pope Francis 5/13/2013
You pass.
Love your sense of humor, Faith Inspector.
I have a feeling few of the faith inspectors of which Pope Francis speaks will see themselves in the same light.
The premise of the inspectors is that they are Right. They have the Truth. They have an answer for everyone and is able and willing to judge many. They feel themselves ready to declare others Catholics anathema, schismatic, evil, even hell bound. And why? Because they think they know the Truth. (Many even think they’ve have God bound up in their CCC!).
All very well and good. Except that they forget that in Christ, Righteousness and Truth is divinely perfected with Compassion, Forgiveness, Joy, Generosity, Hope, and Charity…. or so argues St. Thomas Aquinas.
Perhaps this is what turns the faith inspector into a faith inspector, this lack of Charity. St. Francis’ comments remind me of St Paul’s: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
This seems to be overlooked by many posters for their own personal purposes, and is a very important teaching of Pope Francis.
“ In this Year of Faith let us ask ourselves if we have actually taken a few steps to get to know Christ and the truths of faith more, by reading and meditating on the Scriptures,
studying the Catechism,
steadily approaching the Sacraments. ” – – – Pope Francis on 5/13/2013
Charity loving God first, and our neighbors as ourselves means that we will want everyone to get to Heaven.
Admonishing sinners, Instructing the uniformed, Counseling the doubtful are 3 of the “Spiritual Works of Mercy”. This helps others get to Heaven.
It is not charitable or nice – to let others go to Hell without correction.
Remember that the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” (CCC) is from the Church – not written by any poster on this site.
Those who promote the CCC are obedient to the direction of our Popes, and want others to accurately know our Faith in entirety without error.
When you criticize the CCC you criticize the Church.
To accurately know our Faith and accurately pass on our Faith, and – , Popes John Paul II, Pope Benedict and now Pope Francis have all encouraged us to study the CCC.
The CCC is soaked in Scripture. See Dr. Scott Hahn’s 5 minute video statement on the web site:
“What Catholics REALLY Believe SOURCE”.
It is very clear that Catholics who criticize the CCC – have never read it in entirety, or have ulterior motives that promote error.
Mt 16:18-19.
Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict, and Pope Francis all have told us to study the CCC.
Think about what you are doing when you try to discourage others from studying it.
When the CCC is quoted, someone is quoting the teaching of Jesus’s Church, not propagating his or her own opinions.
Sandy, the fact is, and you should be able to easily see it, that people quote the CCC and then go on to tell readers what is says. If you cannot really see the problem here, and the duplicity, then you’ve got some mental exercises to catch up on.
s.p., your cliche’ that faith inspectors feel they’re right … dingbat, what do you expect, that they would feel they’re wrong?! When are you homosexuals going to have your depraved minds repaired, so that you do not sound like the village idiot?
Speaking of uncharitable faith inspectors, Skai, did my comments really earn your insults? How does my reflection on Pope Francis and Saint Paul earn me the slurs dingbat and idiot? What about it makes reveals a depraved mind? And how on earth does this post relate to homosexuality?
I don’t get it. Are all things I post so evil in your mind that nothing can go by without an insult? And as this site seems to be, at least a nominally Catholic website, how does your post reveal, elucidate, or reflect anything Catholic or Christian?
He does that to everybody!
False, Anonymous. You are not everybody, but you are of the mindset that you represent everybody.
Anony what a lie….he does not do that to everybody! What a blatant lie! Skai is right what he said about you stating as if you represent everybody. Anony do no represent me…you and I are not alike plus I discount what you say because I do not know you, you are anonymous.
No name no gain!
Mockery, s.p., because you mock the Church and the sincere efforts to ask Jesus, seek the Truth, and your attempt to distract those who knock on the door of Heaven seeking entrance. You are in other words a mockery specialist. Your type of mentality remains stagnant in an emotional mush that is not healthy. Jesus wants hot or cold but you give out lukewarm. If you do not know the verse, then you should check it out, as it is a common one. The only way sometimes to move a mind to the verge of actual reason is to cause it some discomfort. The only way to change the temperature of lukewarm is to hit it with either hot or cold and lots of it. But, see, you’re focused on a few dings to your paint job, instead of perceiving the challenge to your ideas and stepping up to meet them or to discover more of the truth through argument.
Eternal rest grant unto Fr. Andrew Greeley, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.
Well, I will pray for him. That is all I can say.
I know what you mean.
According to the Huffington Post dated 23 May at 11:42 am EDT Pope Francis also said Atheists Who Do Good Are Redeemed, Not Just Catholics
Pope Francis rocked some religious and atheist minds today when he declared that everyone was redeemed through Jesus, including atheists.
During his homily at Wednesday Mass in Rome, Francis emphasized the importance of “doing good” as a principle that unites all humanity, and a “culture of encounter” to support peace.
Using scripture from the Gospel of Mark, Francis explained how upset Jesus’ disciples were that someone outside their group was doing good, according to a report from Vatican Radio.
“They complain,” the Pope said in his homily, because they say, “If he is not one of us, he cannot do good. If he is not of our party, he cannot do good.” And Jesus corrects them: “Do not hinder him, he says, let him do good.” The disciples, Pope Francis explains, “were a little intolerant,” closed off by the idea of possessing the truth, convinced that “those who do not have the truth, cannot do good.” “This was wrong . . . Jesus broadens the horizon.” Pope Francis said, “The root of this possibility of doing good – that we all have – is in creation”
Pope Francis went further in his sermon to say:
“The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can… “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!”.. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”
Responding to the leader of the Roman Catholic church’s homily, Father James Martin, S.J. wrote in an email to The Huffington Post:
“Pope Francis is saying, more clearly than ever before, that Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for everyone. That’s always been a Christian belief. You can find St. Paul saying in the First Letter to Timothy that Jesus gave himself as a “ransom for all.” But rarely do you hear it said by Catholics so forcefully, and with such evident joy. And in this era of religious controversies, it’s a timely reminder that God cannot be confined to our narrow categories.”
Of course, not all Christians believe that those who don’t believe will be redeemed, and the Pope’s words may spark memories of the deep divisions from the Protestant reformation over the belief in redemption through grace versus redemption through works.
The pope’s comment has also struck a chord on Reddit, where it is the second most-shared piece.
More from Reuters:
Atheists should be seen as good people if they do good, Pope Francis said on Wednesday in his latest urging that people of all religions – or no religion – work together.
The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made his comments in the homily of his morning Mass in his residence, a daily event where he speaks without prepared comments.
He told the story of a Catholic who asked a priest if even atheists had been redeemed by Jesus.
“Even them, everyone,” the pope answered, according to Vatican Radio. “We all have the duty to do good,” he said.
“Just do good and we’ll find a meeting point,” the pope said in a hypothetical conversation in which someone told a priest: “But I don’t believe. I’m an atheist.”
Francis’s reaching out to atheists and people who belong to no religion is a marked contrast to the attitude of former Pope Benedict, who sometimes left non-Catholics feeling that he saw them as second-class believers. to the Huffington Post dated: Francis also said:
YIKES! See the follow up story Vatican corrects Pope on Atheists.
What the Pope said according to the above post by Harvey, and what the Jesuit Fr James Martin SJ explains is traditional Catholic theology. Jesus died for the redemption of all souls. If it were not so, then there would be no need for the Judgment.
None of us know whether or not the Lord Jesus will appear to an atheist or anyone else at the end of his/her life if it has been a good one, and ask the person to accept Him. That is one of the things St. Faustina implied or said in her diary. Of course the grace to do good would have come from the Holy Spirit acting on the soul and the person’s salvation would come through the Church from Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Sandy, All this talk about a mere Book of Etiquette. Honestly, take courage and get a copy of the Catechism of the Council of Trent approved by Pope SAINT Pius the Vth (circa 1500s), or the Catechism Explained by Fr. Spirago (circa 1890s), or the less detailed but accurate Baltimore Catechism. Then read anyone of them and make a comparison, they discuss Catholic doctrine i.e. truths of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Family, the Sacraments, and more for the good of our souls based on our Lord’s teachings, they are not a sterile secular-like Book of Etiquette in comparison. Go ahead and find out for yourself, be brave. Knock on the door and it shall be opened.
Thomas B., please don’t be a schismatic. You do not know more about our Faith than our Popes. Regarding the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” –
“ The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved … and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church’s faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion. “ – Pope John Paul II. (CCC page 5)
“….the Catechism has raised throughout the world, even among non-Christians, and confirms its purpose of being presented as a full, complete exposition of Catholic doctrine, enabling everyone to know what the Church professes, celebrates, lives, and prays in her daily life.” – Pope John Paul II (CCC page xiv)
“This catechism will thus contain both the new and the old (cf. Mt 13:52), because the faith is always the same yet the source of ever new light.” – Pope John Paul II (CCC page 4)
“In this Year of Faith let us ask ourselves if we have actually taken a few steps to get to know Christ and the truths of faith more, by reading and meditating on the Scriptures, studying the Catechism, steadily approaching the Sacraments.” – Pope Francis, May 15, 2013.
I own and have read the Catechism of the Council of Trent. It was great for its day (approx. 1566), and the needed teachings are brought forward in the CCC. The Trent catechism does not cover several of today’s issues.
The CCC covers all the things you mentioned in your post. Try reading it sometime.
Pardon me Harvey, but if the Huffington Post article cited above is accurate, there appears to be something that Pope Francis said is counter to Roman Catholic Church teaching, and that could mean heretical because per our Douay-Rheims Holy Bible in St. John 14:6: “Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me”. Therefore how can any hardened aetheist stubbornly refusing to believe in God and by default our Divine Lord be saved and enter the Kingdom of Heaven? The pope’s words were counter to Roman Catholic Church teaching since the time of Christ! Faith is required, but also good works according to St. Paul in his letter to the Galationss 2:16: “But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; we also believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified”. St. James epistle also says in James 2:24 “Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?” Again if the quotes are true, how can Pope Francis make those comments, they appear to be heretical in nature?
If atheists can get to heaven, than what is the need for the sacrament of Baptism? Or any of the other six Holy Sacraments?
Because they were a command of the Lord Jesus Christ to those who believed in him, and a person can get to heaven easier and possibly have a higher place there, all depending on how well they receive the Sacraments and obey the Lord. An atheist might not know any better because of the way they were brought up, but a Christians should know better.
I believe the Holy Father is simply stating in simple, down to earth terms what the Roman Catholic Church has been teaching for ages — namely, that Jesus died to save all humanity, and that some are more “obviously” part of his family (e.g., through Baptism), while others choose to be part of Jesus’ family through decent, generous, and holy lives (even if they have been scandalized by what they “think” Christianity is).
Fortunately for all of us, God is bigger that we imagine and does not allow himself to be put into a little bottle for the select few — which was a great disappointment to the gnarly Gnostics.