Ask a Catholic

[jeepnut]

So lately, I feel there hasn't been nearly enough drama around these parts. I'm going to try to shake things up a little. What's better than a religious conversation to get people riled up?

So, I propose a question and answer session. As a practicing Catholic, I will answer any question related to my faith to the best of my ability. I will do my best to give the Church's position as accurately as I can and my own opinion if I feel it is warranted. Since I will be striving to be respectful, I ask you to do the same. As I said, any question is fair game. All I ask is that you ask it in a respectful manner and take the time to read my full reply. Let's get on with the drama! I'll leave you with a quote from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen:

"There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church."

[Teuthida]

http://www.wptv.com//dpp/news/nation...eps-Gods-tears

Not really related but reminded me of some questions I had regarding miracles and saints. Keep in mind I know very little of any aspect of Christianity as a whole.

What's the deal with miracles exactly? Need a certain amount to become a saint right? And then folks pray to saints? Isn't that pretty much polytheism with the saints acting as minor gods?

I guess then I'm also confused by what is considered a work of god compared to that of the devil. Say someone performs something that's seemingly magical. Why are they often accused of being in league with the devil over performing a miracle? And the miracle is what exactly? The work of God right? So why does the person get the credit?

And the trinity. Took a religion class once and I left more confused on this topic. If you could explain it as simply as possible that would be swell.

Apologies if wanted more controversial questions. Well, hmmm...ok, so abortion I can sort of see the logic behind, but why reject contraception?

[Combine 017]

Hahaha, when I first looked at this I forgot what Catholic was and read it as Cat-Holic thinking it was some sort of play on words and thought this was going to be about cats.

Whats the deal with God? Do you think hes up in a cloud somewhere or out in space? Or maybe just some average Joe walking around in disguise? And do you think the Devil is down at the center of the Earth? Cause I dont care how evil he is, I think the pressure would still crush him.

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

http://www.wptv.com//dpp/news/nation...eps-Gods-tears

Not really related but reminded me of some questions I had regarding miracles and saints. Keep in mind I know very little of any aspect of Christianity as a whole.

What's the deal with miracles exactly? Need a certain amount to become a saint right? And then folks pray to saints? Isn't that pretty much polytheism with the saints acting as minor gods?

I guess then I'm also confused by what is considered a work of god compared to that of the devil. Say someone performs something that's seemingly magical. Why are they often accused of being in league with the devil over performing a miracle? And the miracle is what exactly? The work of God right? So why does the person get the credit?

And the trinity. Took a religion class once and I left more confused on this topic. If you could explain it as simply as possible that would be swell.

Apologies if wanted more controversial questions. Well, hmmm...ok, so abortion I can sort of see the logic behind, but why reject contraception?

Wow, lots of questions there. I'll do my best to answer them all. And a disclaimer that I probably should have put in the first post. While I am a practicing Catholic and I love to learn new things about my faith, there are still far more things I don't know or can't remember properly so I need to look them up. This takes time which I don't have much of. If it takes me a while to respond to any of your posts, please forgive me.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's dive in.

Your question about miracles specifically intrigues me. It's not something I've thought much about.

I'll start with the saints first however. No, the saints are in no way minor gods. While people do pray to saints and the Church encourages people to do so, do not confuse this with worship. Also, praying to the saints is not a substitute for a relationship with God.

In addition, this can be more accurately understood as praying through the saints. We are not asking the saints to answer our prayers. Rather, we are asking the saints to pray to God on our behalf. Since we believe that the saints are in heaven, we believe that they are the closest to God. This is no different than asking anyone else on earth to pray for you. Any miracle is the work of God. The saint doesn't "get the credit" per se. Rather, if a miracle is proven by the Church to be a result of the intercession of that saint, then that is seen as proof that that saint is in heaven (This is one of the criteria for canonization or sainthood.) In order for a saint to be canonized, two separate miracles must be directly attributed to that saint's intercession. Notice in that link that the Catholic Church has a rigorous process to determine if something is a miracle or not. It must be not have a scientific explanation. This means the weeping tree in the link you posted would likely not pass muster due to the fact that this behavior seems to be common for these types of trees.


On the subject of miracles, a miracle is a supernatural sign or wonder, brought about by God, signifying His glory and the salvation of mankind. Miracles cannot be performed by the devil. The work of the devil is to deceive mankind. If someone is in league with the devil, they cannot perform miracles! This is something I rarely hear though in Catholic circles. It is more often the realm of some Evangelical Protestant faiths to accuse someone of being in league with the devil. And also, a miracle exists to signify the glory of God. If someone is claiming to perform miracles for their own glory, it isn't a miracle!

The Trinity is a tough one. If you are looking for a simple explanation, you won't find it. The Church teaches that it is a mystery and thus cannot be fully understood by the human mind.

Basically, the Trinity is as follows. The Trinity is comprised of three persons: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each is distinct from one another and each is God, but there is only one God, not three. Confusing enough? This video actually does a pretty good job of explaining just how difficult it can be for our human minds to grasp and why it is a mystery.



In addition, Jesus is both fully human and fully God! Another mystery. We can go into that one more deeply at another time if you like.

Let me know if any of the above is confusing. I can try to be more clear.

I was not specifically hoping for controversial topics. Anything is fine, I was just trying to be interesting in my original post.

Contraception is something I'll have to address tonight. I have to leave for work and I don't have the time to flesh out a full response before I go, but I want to give you some response so you know I'm not ignoring you.

Suffice it to say that in order to understand the Catholic teaching on contraception, you must first understand the Catholic teaching on sex. I'll get into that in my next post.

Combine, thanks for your questions. I will respond to you soon.

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

Apologies if wanted more controversial questions. Well, hmmm...ok, so abortion I can sort of see the logic behind, but why reject contraception?

So I just spent the last hour or so typing up a response that I was very happy with and lost it all. This will be attempt number two.


So, contraception? How could the Church be against that? Do they just want us to keep having babies until we are no longer fertile?


First, in order to understand why the Church says no to contraception, we must first understand what the Church is not saying no to. The Church is not saying that you cannot plan your pregnancies. The Church understands that not everyone is capable (either financially or mentally) or desires to have 20 kids. We are allowed to plan our families. The Church simply says that we should not use artificial means to achieve this goal. Why not artificial means? Well, as I said previously, in order to understand this, we must understand the Church’s teaching on sex.


The Church teaches that sex is good and it is one of the gifts that God has given us. Through sex we are able to give of ourselves most completely to another person. No other activity in this existence matches this. When we have sex, we give of ourselves completely to our lover. Anything that prevents this full giving of ourselves misuses the gift of sex. It erects barriers between us and our lover and says I give myself to you, but I withhold this part of my humanity. Condoms and other barrier methods literally put a barrier between us and our lover. We say “I love you enough to share this most intimate experience between two human beings with you, but I want to keep this part of myself separate from you.”


Our humanity is good! God created us and everything that makes us human is good. This includes our fertility. Birth control methods which suppress our natural fertility suppress our humanity! We say to God, I reject this part of my body which you created for me. We use artificial methods to suppress natural functions of the body without a medical necessity simply so we can have sex without the consequence of pregnancy. This doesn’t even take into consideration that some methods of birth control (especially the so called “morning after pill”) can actually prevent a fertilized egg from implanting. If you know anything about Catholic teaching, you probably know that the Church teaches that life begins at conception and is to be respected until natural death. This goes contrary to that teaching.


The great Catholic writer/thinker G.K. Chesterton hated the term “birth control” as he hated all words that were meaningless. He felt that those that used birth control believed in neither birth nor control. Instead they wished for less birth and no control as relates to their sexual desires.


Earlier I mentioned that the Church is OK with natural means to avoid pregnancy. These methods are commonly referred to as Natural Family Planning or NFP and have been shown in various studies when practiced properly to be 95% effective or higher. Basically, a couple practicing NFP works with the woman’s natural cycle to avoid sex during the fertile periods of the cycle and practice sex only during those periods of infertility.

TL : DR version: Our humanity is good. Sex is good. Contraception suppresses our humanity and prevents the full union of husband and wife through sex.

Does that make sense?

[Combine 017]

Do you believe that dinosaurs once roamed the Earth? Or that God just decided to put some random bones in the dirt to screw with us and get a few laughs out of it?

[Jason1]

I was raised Catholic, Baptised, went to communion and confession on occasion, ect. I went to Sunday School, but I was never in Catholic school. My dad was actually a Lutheran and went to Church with my grandma, and I went with my mother and my other grandma.

Anyways I pretty much quit going to church or really associating myself with anything Catholic once I was old enough to realize I don't really agree with anything that they practice. That and my parents don't go to church anymore either and also don't really agree with a lot of the Catholic position on a lot of these controversial issues. I am very pro-choice, im a HUGE fan of artificial contraceptives of all types, I don't have a problem with homosexuality and I don't understand why women cant be ordained priests. And don't even get me started on all the sex abuse stuff and cover-ups. What a Joke.

Im not trying to start a flame war here and I respect all opinions but I honestly believe that in its current state the Catholic church is a joke. I know they still do a lot of good things but they really need to get with the times on a lot of these issues. I don't feel like looking for a source for this information but im pretty sure I read somewhere that the number of Catholics in the United States has been dropping drastically. Cant say it surprises me with their stances on a lot of these issues. But I could say the same about a lot of Religions actually.

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Combine 017

Do you believe that dinosaurs once roamed the Earth? Or that God just decided to put some random bones in the dirt to screw with us and get a few laughs out of it?

Yes, dinosaurs roamed the earth from roughly 230 million years ago to about 66 million years ago. Also, the earth is roughly 4 - 4.5 billion years old. The Catholic Church has no issues with science. In fact some of the world's greatest scientists have been Catholic priests, monks, friars, and nuns.

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Combine 017

Hahaha, when I first looked at this I forgot what Catholic was and read it as Cat-Holic thinking it was some sort of play on words and thought this was going to be about cats.

Whats the deal with God? Do you think hes up in a cloud somewhere or out in space? Or maybe just some average Joe walking around in disguise? And do you think the Devil is down at the center of the Earth? Cause I dont care how evil he is, I think the pressure would still crush him.

God is omnipresent. Which means He is everywhere. There isn't really a teaching on the location of hell.

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Jason1

I was raised Catholic, Baptised, went to communion and confession on occasion, ect. I went to Sunday School, but I was never in Catholic school. My dad was actually a Lutheran and went to Church with my grandma, and I went with my mother and my other grandma.

Anyways I pretty much quit going to church or really associating myself with anything Catholic once I was old enough to realize I don't really agree with anything that they practice. That and my parents don't go to church anymore either and also don't really agree with a lot of the Catholic position on a lot of these controversial issues. I am very pro-choice, im a HUGE fan of artificial contraceptives of all types, I don't have a problem with homosexuality and I don't understand why women cant be ordained priests. And don't even get me started on all the sex abuse stuff and cover-ups. What a Joke.

Im not trying to start a flame war here and I respect all opinions but I honestly believe that in its current state the Catholic church is a joke. I know they still do a lot of good things but they really need to get with the times on a lot of these issues. I don't feel like looking for a source for this information but im pretty sure I read somewhere that the number of Catholics in the United States has been dropping drastically. Cant say it surprises me with their stances on a lot of these issues. But I could say the same about a lot of Religions actually.

I'm sorry you have left the Church.

I don't really see a question here or an invitation to give a response, so I guess I'll just reply with the following:

[Combine 017]

Originally Posted by jeepnut

Yes, dinosaurs roamed the earth from roughly 230 million years ago to about 66 million years ago. Also, the earth is roughly 4 - 4.5 billion years old. The Catholic Church has no issues with science. In fact some of the world's greatest scientists have been Catholic priests, monks, friars, and nuns.

Well thats good. Who are the ones that dont think dinosaurs existed? I dont really know the difference between Catholic and the other Christian or whatever religions.

[Professor S]

Considering the trouble the church has had with priests molesting children, should the marriage ban be removed? The bible does not call for it, and it seems exclude those would otherwise consider being a priest while attracting people that are running from their perverse sexual impulses and hoping priesthood would cure them.

[Teuthida]

Interesting stuff about the trinity. Thanks.


Ok, so if it's having a barrier that's the problem then sex while not completely naked shouldn't be allowed either right? Leaving your socks on should be just as bad.

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Combine 017

Well thats good. Who are the ones that dont think dinosaurs existed? I dont really know the difference between Catholic and the other Christian or whatever religions.

In my understanding, mostly fundamentalist Protestants who are Bible literalists and use the Bible as the only source of authority.

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Considering the trouble the church has had with priests molesting children, should the marriage ban be removed? The bible does not call for it, and it seems exclude those would otherwise consider being a priest while attracting people that are running from their perverse sexual impulses and hoping priesthood would cure them.

First let me say this; the fact that there were priests who took advantage of their position to abuse children sexually is deplorable, should never have happened, and any priest that is found guilty should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Okay, that being said, let's look at what were actually saying here.

No, I do not think the marriage ban should be removed. Your statement is a common one and is a result of the inaccurate coverage of the sex abuse scandal by the media. However, this statement is based off of two assumptions that statistics tell us are false.

The first assumption is that since priests are celibate, they must have no outlet for their sexual desires and they in turn look for whatever they can conviently find to satisfy their urges. The main reason this assumption falls apart is the simple fact that Catholic priests have a similar to significantly lower incidence of pedophilia than the general population. link link. Logic would tell us that if celibacy drives priests to pedophilia, then there should be a significantly higher incidence among priests. Reality tells us this is simply not the case.

The second assumption flows from the first. We've already observed that celibacy does not increase the rate of pedophilia. So the second assumption is that marriage will help cure those attracted to pedophilia. Sadly, this is also not true. With few exceptions, pedophiles do not abuse children because they don't have an outlet for their sexual desires. They practice pedophilia because they have a psychological attraction to children. Marriage does not cure this as it does not simply flow from a need for sexual intimacy, but a disordered desire for sexual intimacy for children.

Put simply, celibacy is not the issue because celibacy has no correlation with pedophilia. Priests who can't deal with being celibate, leave the priesthood and have normal relationships with consenting adults.

Now the statement that pedophiles are running to the priesthood to be "cured", doesn't make sense either. As we saw above, priests abuse at a similar to significantly lower rate than the general population.