Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Mormon Church, taught that not only is God our Heavenly Father an “exalted” man who evolved into godhood, but he lives with his wives on a planet near the star Kolob (Abraham 3:2-3, 16). There, from a distance, he reigns over the earth. Seriously.
— By Brian Saint-Paul, Envoy Magazine, www.envoymagazine.com —
In three short months, Joseph Smith would be dead — murdered at the hands of an angry mob. But on this day in April of 1844, his followers were assembled in a lush grove to pay homage to one who had already passed beyond the veil. The crowds settled into the wooden benches surrounded by a line of trees, and fell silent. All eyes followed the Prophet as he stood up, walked to the fore, and began to deliver a sermon that would be etched deeply into the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).
Smith proclaimed: “That he [God] was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did. . . . Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Press, 1938], 343, 345-346).
And so went the King Follett Discourse, named after the Latter-Day Saint whose death they were gathered to remember. It’s unknown how the crowd reacted to the Prophet’s words. There seems to have been no great disturbance – not surprising, since the teachings were, for Mormons, nothing new. For Catholics, though, these claims are shocking if not offensive. This raises an important question: What is the Mormon view of God and how does it compare with that of classical Christianity? The answer may surprise you.
The late B.H. Roberts, the most influential scholar in the history of the LDS church, boiled the main differences down to three:
“First, we believe that God is a being with a body in form like man’s; that he possesses body, parts and passions; that in a word, God is an exalted, perfected man. Second, we believe in a plurality of Gods. Third, we believe that somewhere and some time in the ages to come, through development, through enlargement, through purification until perfection is attained, man at last, may become like God – a God” (Mormon Doctrine of Deity [Infobase Collector’s Library, Infobases, Inc.], chapter 1). Let’s examine the three points.
One god, two god, three god, four. . .
It’s a big universe out there – plenty of room for a plurality of gods. Well, at least that’s what LDS would have us believe. One of the central tenets of Mormonism is that while this world has but one God (Heavenly Father), there are countless other gods out there, each governing his own world or system of worlds. This position can be best labeled “henotheism,” that is, the belief in many gods, coupled with the worship of only one. The idea of a plurality of gods is found clearly in the Book of Abraham, one of Mormonism’s inspired writings. In it, the Genesis creation story is restated, with a significant modification:
“And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light; And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright. . . . And the Gods called the light Day, and the darkness they called Night” (Abraham 4:3-5). It goes on from there, adding “Gods” to every action in the original Genesis account. . . . (continue reading)
I GOT TO KNOW KARL KEATING in early 1987, back when he was still practicing law full-time and dabbling in apologetics part-time.
“Catholic Answers” was, in those days, simply a part-time tract and newsletter apostolate Karl had operated for a few years from his home, writing new materials in his spare time.
We made contact as the result of an article I happened across in our diocesan newspaper, a brief, blasé squib about a public debate on the papacy that Karl had engaged in with an itinerant Baptist minister who ran an anti-Catholic organization aimed solely at converting Catholics to the “truth.” That caught my attention.
I was excited to see someone else involved in apologetics, something I had developed a deep love for, doing it also in my spare time (I had a full-time career in sales). For some time I had assumed I was alone in the world in my love for apologetics, and it was energizing to see another Catholic out there mixing it up with critics of the Church.
I put down the paper and reached for the phone. The article had provided no contact information for Keating or Catholic Answers, so I doubted I’d be able to reach him, but just for a lark I decided to check with directory information.
To my surprise, presto, I had a phone number for Catholic Answers. But since it was well after 9:00 p.m., I knew no one would be at the office, so I called, intending to just leave a message. After a couple of rings, a voice answered: “Hello, Catholic Answers.”
“Um . . . hello,” I said, surprised that someone was actually answering the phone this late. “I realize I’m calling after hours, but I wanted to leave a message for Karl Keating.”
“This is Karl Keating,” the voice on the other end said.
“Wow,” I exclaimed. “I didn’t expect you to answer the phone,” and then I told him I had read the article and that I was happy to hear about the apologetics work he was doing.
An hour and a half later, we finished our phone conversation, and I had a new friend.
Karl and I had talked enthusiastically about our common love for apologetics, and I was impressed with all the good work he had undertaken, single-handedly, to answer critics of the Church. He told me about the tracts he had written, the monthly apologetics newsletter,Catholic Answers, he produced, and the debates he was engaging in. All of this was very exciting to me, and over the next several months, Karl and I spoke frequently by phone, comparing notes and discussing various apologetics issues.
Fast-forward now to early January,1988. Through a lot of prayer and reflection (read the details of that saga here), I had come to realize that God was calling me to do something for Him, something other than the secular work in sales I was doing at that time. The problem was, though I sensed He wanted something in particular from me, I had no idea what it might be.
For a solid month, in addition to praying the rosary every day for this special intention, I spent my lunch hours at a Catholic parish near my office on my knees in front of the Blessed Sacrament, praying and asking the Lord to show me what He wanted me to do with my life. I knew He was calling me to something, but I simply couldn’t discern what that something was.
So, deciding to “step out in faith,” I resigned from my job, determined to force the issue and find the new career I felt God was calling me to. That weekend, after I quit my job, Karl called. During the course of our conversation, I asked him to keep me in his prayers as I figured out what career direction I’d be headed in.
“Sure, I’ll pray for you,” he said. “But I can do something else. I’ve recently decided to shut down my law practice and open an office for Catholic Answers. I’m going to turn it into a full-time venture. Why don’t you come work with me at Catholic Answers and we’ll build it into something big?”
Without hesitating, I said, “No, thanks. I appreciate the offer, but whatever it is God wants me to be doing with my life, I’m sure it’s not apologetics.” Working in Catholic apologetics had never even remotely occurred to me as an option. It never entered my mind that I could make a living and support my growing family as an apologist.
But Karl was persistent. He reiterated his offer for me to come work with him and help establish the full-time Catholic Answers operation. Though I tried to demur, I can see now that God was working through him.
For the next twenty minutes we discussed the idea, and our call ended with my agreeing to give it a try. After all, he reminded me, what did I have to lose?
That phone call changed my life. Only months later, as I looked back on how it all happened, did it finally dawn on me that my prayers for God’s guidance had been answered. The Lord had shown me what he wanted from me. I was too blind to see it at first. I realized that this- being an apologist- was Christ’s answer to my prayers.
I had the privilege of working with Karl and the many other great people at Catholic Answers for eight years. When I became vice president of Catholic Answers, a few years into my employment there, I had the best seat in the house from which to watch the organization unfold from a part-time apostolate to the major institution it is today.
I thank God for that opportunity to have been a part of such a thing. During my time at Catholic Answers, I saw close-up the dizzying rise of Catholic apologetics: the flood of tapes and books, the seminars and debates, countless new converts, and now the once unheard of luxuries such as Catholic apologetics radio programs, websites, and the plethora of excellent apologetics television programs on EWTN.
Working with Karl, back in those early days before apologetics had caught on- well before being an apologist was acceptable, much less “cool”- was a wonderful and extremely enriching experience for me, personally, spiritually, and professionally. I learned a lot and had an immense amount of fun along the way, helping to “blaze the trail.”
I thank God every day for that privilege. I also thank my friend, Karl Keating, for inviting me to join him on the adventure.
— By Patrick Madrid (www.patrickmadrid.com), all rights reserved.
Visit Catholic Answers.
I got to know Karl Keating in early 1987, back when he was still practicing law full-time and dabbling in apologetics part-time.
“Catholic Answers” was, in those days, simply a part-time tract and newsletter apostolate Karl had operated for a few years from his home, writing new materials in his spare time.
We made contact as the result of an article I happened across in our diocesan newspaper, a brief, blasé squib about a public debate on the papacy that Karl had engaged in with an itinerant Baptist minister who ran an anti-Catholic organization aimed solely at converting Catholics to the “truth.” That caught my attention.
I was excited to see someone else involved in apologetics, something I had developed a deep love for, doing it also in my spare time (I had a full-time career in sales). For some time I had assumed I was alone in the world in my love for apologetics, and it was energizing to see another Catholic out there mixing it up with critics of the Church.
I put down the paper and reached for the phone. The article had provided no contact information for Keating or Catholic Answers, so I doubted I’d be able to reach him, but just for a lark I decided to check with directory information.
To my surprise, presto, I had a phone number for Catholic Answers. But since it was well after 9:00 p.m., I knew no one would be at the office, so I called, intending to just leave a message. After a couple of rings, a voice answered: “Hello, Catholic Answers.”
“Um . . . hello,” I said, surprised that someone was actually answering the phone this late. “I realize I’m calling after hours, but I wanted to leave a message for Karl Keating.”
“This is Karl Keating,” the voice on the other end said.
“Wow,” I exclaimed. “I didn’t expect you to answer the phone,” and then I told him I had read the article and that I was happy to hear about the apologetics work he was doing.
An hour and a half later, we finished our phone conversation, and I had a new friend.
Karl and I had talked enthusiastically about our common love for apologetics, and I was impressed with all the good work he had undertaken, single-handedly, to answer critics of the Church. He told me about the tracts he had written, the monthly apologetics newsletter,Catholic Answers, he produced, and the debates he was engaging in. All of this was very exciting to me, and over the next several months, Karl and I spoke frequently by phone, comparing notes and discussing various apologetics issues.
Fast-forward now to early January,1988. Through a lot of prayer and reflection, I had come to realize that God was calling me to do something for Him, something other than the secular work in sales I was doing at that time. The problem was, though I sensed He wanted something in particular from me, I had no idea what it might be.
For a solid month, in addition to praying the rosary every day for this special intention, I spent my lunch hours at a Catholic parish near my office on my knees in front of the Blessed Sacrament, praying and asking the Lord to show me what He wanted me to do with my
life. I knew He was calling me to something, but I simply couldn’t discern what that something was.
So, deciding to “step out in faith,” I resigned from my job, determined to force the issue and find the new career I felt God was calling me to. That weekend, after I quit my job, Karl called. During the course of our conversation, I asked him to keep me in his prayers as I figured out what career direction I’d be headed in.
“Sure, I’ll pray for you,” he said. “But I can do something else. I’ve recently decided to shut down my law practice and open an office for Catholic Answers. I’m going to turn it into a full-time venture. Why don’t you come work with me at Catholic Answers and we’ll build it into something big?”
Without hesitating, I said, “No, thanks. I appreciate the offer, but whatever it is God wants me to be doing with my life, I’m sure it’s not apologetics.” Working in Catholic apologetics had never even remotely occurred to me as an option. It never entered my mind that I could make a living and support my growing family as an apologist.
But Karl was persistent. He reiterated his offer for me to come work with him and help establish the full-time Catholic Answers operation. Though I tried to demur, I can see now that God was working through him.
For the next twenty minutes we discussed the idea, and our call ended with my agreeing to give it a try. After all, he reminded me, what did I have to lose?
That phone call changed my life. Only months later, as I looked back on how it all happened, did it finally dawn on me that my prayers for God’s guidance had been answered. The Lord had shown me what he wanted from me. I was too blind to see it at first. I realized that this- being an apologist- was Christ’s answer to my prayers.
I had the privilege of working with Karl and the many other great people at Catholic Answers for eight years. When I became vice president of Catholic Answers, a few years into my employment there, I had the best seat in the house from which to watch the organization unfold from a part-time apostolate to the major institution it is today.
I thank God for that opportunity to have been a part of such a thing. During my time at Catholic Answers, I saw close-up the dizzying rise of Catholic apologetics: the flood of tapes and books, the seminars and debates, countless new converts, and now the once unheard of luxuries such as Catholic apologetics radio programs, websites, and the plethora of excellent apologetics television programs on EWTN.
Working with Karl, back in those early days before apologetics had caught on- well before being an apologist was acceptable, much less “cool”- was a wonderful and extremely enriching experience for me, personally, spiritually, and professionally. I learned a lot and had an immense amount of fun along the way, helping to “blaze the trail.”
I thank God every day for that privilege. I also thank my friend, Karl Keating, for inviting me to join him on the adventure.
— By Patrick Madrid (www.patrickmadrid.com), all rights reserved.
Visit Catholic Answers.
When Karl Keating started Catholic Answers in the mid 1980s, he wasn’t setting out to create a new Catholic apostolate with an international outreach. He just wanted to hide behind a name. What started as a simple response to an anti-Catholic tract twenty-one years ago has blossomed into the largest Catholic apologetics and evangelization organization in North America.
— By Tim Drake, Envoy Magazine (www.envoymagazine.com), 2001 —
At the time, Keating was working behind a desk as a general civil lawyer. After Mass one Sunday morning he discovered an anti-Catholic flyer had been placed on the windshields of all the automobiles by a local Fundamentalist church. Upset by the misinformation in the flyer, Keating took matters into his own hands and wrote a response. In order to have the tract taken seriously he rented a post office box, created the name Catholic Answers, and distributed them at the nearby church on a subsequent Sunday morning.
“Somehow,” explains Keating, “the tract got beyond the church where I had distributed it. People positive about its contents wrote letters asking for more tracts.” In the end, Keating wrote two dozen.
Keating then proposed a three-part series for The Wanderer about Fundamentalists and Catholics. The series resulted in a total of thirty weekly installments and became the first draft of his successful book Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on Romanism by Bible Christians, published in 1988.
For several years, “Catholic Answers” was simply a part-time endeavor, something Keating worked on in his spare time. From 1986 to 1989, he sent out a monthly newsletter called Catholic Answers. In 1990, it turned into This Rock Magazine. In 1988, after twelve years practicing law — a vocation he did not enjoy — Keating made the transition to Catholic apologetics. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Catholic Answers promotes and defends the Catholic faith through myriad books and tracts; two magazines, called Be and This Rock; a variety of audio and video materials; seminars by staff apologists; and Catholic Answers Live, a Catholic radio program carried on more than fifty AM and FM stations nationally. “Our goal,” says Keating, “is to explain the Faith, make good Catholics better, and bring the Faith to those who are lukewarm or who aren’t Catholic at all.”
The magazine called Be, says Keating, “ is aimed at lukewarm Catholics. They might go to Mass regularly, but they do not receive any other Catholic publications. It’s designed to help them see the importance of faith in their life and understand the basic tenets of their faith better.” Unlike most Catholic magazines, Be is free, and it currently goes out to 70,000 subscribers.
This Rock is for the advanced reader and focuses on Catholic apologetics and evangelization. “Our hope is to graduate readers from Be to This Rock,” says Keating.
Keating admits that he doesn’t do nearly as much public speaking as he once did. Rather, he’s devoted his energies to writing. To date, he’s published four books. His first, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, was among the first to take the Fundamentalist threat seriously.
“Many Catholics ignored the threat,” explains Keating. “That was a mistake. At the time nearly 100,000 Catholics a year had been leaving the Church for Fundamentalism. The book dealt with the concerns of Fundamentalists in their own terms.”
Keating adds that the book was a timely one and continues to be. “There may be as many Catholics leaving the Church today,” suggests Keating, “but there are a lot more coming back. Eventually, the return rate will overcome the exit rate.”
In addition, Keating has published a collection of his essays titled Nothing but the Truth; a follow-up to Catholicism and Fundamentalism titled The Usual Suspects; and a book that answers the common misconceptions held by most Catholics titled What Catholics Really Believe.
One of Catholic Answers’ most popular publications is only thirty pages. The booklet Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth has out-sold all other Catholic Answers’ publications combined and serves as the apostolate’s “calling card.” A simple explanation of the Catholic faith, the little book has sold more than three million copies. “A parish in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, bought one for every house in town,” Keating notes with pleasure.
The apostolate’s next planned project involves publishing a college newspaper insert that explains the Catholic faith for the average college student. Their hope is to distribute the supplement at the nation’s hundred largest colleges. “It will examine the issues and problems facing college students today,” explains Keating. “Whatever problem you’re facing, the answer is where you may least expect it — in the Catholic Church.”
The Apologetics Service
Aside from such publications, however, Keating notes that the apostolate’s Apologetics Service is one of their most important tasks. As their name implies, their business is providing answers, and provide answers they do, employing a staff of thirty-one full-time employees, including apologists James Akin, Rosalind Moss, Peggy Frye, Jan Wakelin, Jason Evert, and Father Vincent Serpa.
Keating estimates that they receive approximately six hundred phone calls each month and respond to more than 1,500 people with individual questions monthly via email, phone, and letters. The apologists also travel, conducting an average of twelve seminars per month at the invitation of parishes and other organizations.
Keating admits that much time is spent on the phone. “Recently, one of our apologists spent a great deal of time conversing with a couple facing marriage difficulties. The apologist spoke with the Baptist husband whose wife had just returned to the Catholic faith. As a result of the conversation it looks as if the marriage may have been saved,” explained Keating.
Although providing answers is their business, Keating admits that occasionally they’re asked questions that stump them. “If we are unable to answer a question, we look it up and get back to people.” That can be a time-intensive process, but in the end, it helps the apologists as well as the inquirers to grow in their understanding of the Faith.
Overcoming Misconceptions of Non-Catholics
Keating says that the misconceptions about the Church held by many non-Catholics is a hereditary-like thing. “Non-Catholics are told that the Church is either evil or foolish, and therefore they are prejudiced against it. Such misconceptions,” he says, “can be overcome by engaging them on their own terms, answering their questions, and sharing what we really believe.” He’s seen many cases in which individuals who are taught the truth, while not becoming Catholic, at least cease to be anti-Catholic. “That is a kind of conversion in and of itself,” says Keating.
Many times people come demanding a simple answer to what they insist is a simple question. But Keating insists that the faith sometimes requires complex answers even to simple questions. He observes that faith is both simple and complex because that’s the way life itself is.
Catholicism, he explains, is suited both to those who want a simple faith and to those who want the maximum depth of understanding. “Fundamentalism, on the other hand, has no deep theology. It has no theory of spirituality.”
Keating recalls how Fr. Ray Ryland once commented that when he was a Protestant seminarian, all his seminary’s spirituality texts were by Catholics. When Ryland asked a professor why that was the case, the professor responded, “Because only Catholics write about spirituality.” “Protestants have no parallel,” Keating insists. “They focus on how to get saved and drop out all the rest.”
With many of the Catholic Answers staffers, 2001.
Overcoming Misconceptions of Catholics
Yet non-Catholics aren’t the only ones with misconceptions about the Faith. Keating notes that many Catholics as well are uninformed, and he blames the problem on poor teaching. Catholic Answers, he explains, provides answers that people aren’t receiving from the pulpit.
“If people were getting all the answers they needed from the pulpit, there would be no need for a lay organization such as Catholic Answers. However,” adds Keating, “we no longer live in a Bing Crosby kind of Church,” the kind of idealized parish portrayed in old movies such as The Bells of Saint Mary’s.
“Even with those fine priests who represent the Faith as they should, it is no longer enough. It used to be that in places like Chicago you could find four Catholic Churches at one intersection — German, Polish, Irish, and another. We no longer live in that kind of a Catholic ghetto.
“Most Catholics do not receive a Catholic education, and even Catholic schools are insufficiently teaching the Faith. By default there is a need.”
The Second Vatican Council, in its Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, called for lay men and women to “exercise a genuine apostolate by their activity on behalf of bringing the gospel and holiness to men” (par. 2). As Keating sees it, that’s why it’s so important for a lay organization such as Catholic Answers to do the work of evangelism and apologetics.
“Ninety-nine percent of the Church is made up of lay people,” he points out. “We, as lay people, need to be active. This is what Vatican II was talking about.”
For more information about Catholic Answers, visit www.Catholic.com or write KKeating@Catholic.com.
This article appeared in Envoy Magazine (vol. 5.2) in 2001. Written by Tim Drake, copyright Envoy Magazine, all rights reserved. www.envoymagazine.com
When Karl Keating started Catholic Answers in the mid 1980s, he wasn’t setting out to create a new Catholic apostolate with an international outreach. He just wanted to hide behind a name. What started as a simple response to an anti-Catholic tract twenty-one years ago has blossomed into the largest Catholic apologetics and evangelization organization in North America.
— By Tim Drake, Envoy Magazine (www.envoymagazine.com), 2001 —
At the time, Keating was working behind a desk as a general civil lawyer. After Mass one Sunday morning he discovered an anti-Catholic flyer had been placed on the windshields of all the automobiles by a local Fundamentalist church. Upset by the misinformation in the flyer, Keating took matters into his own hands and wrote a response. In order to have the tract taken seriously he rented a post office box, created the name Catholic Answers, and distributed them at the nearby church on a subsequent Sunday morning.
“Somehow,” explains Keating, “the tract got beyond the church where I had distributed it. People positive about its contents wrote letters asking for more tracts.” In the end, Keating wrote two dozen.
Keating then proposed a three-part series for The Wanderer about Fundamentalists and Catholics. The series resulted in a total of thirty weekly installments and became the first draft of his successful book Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on Romanism by Bible Christians, published in 1988.
For several years, “Catholic Answers” was simply a part-time endeavor, something Keating worked on in his spare time. From 1986 to 1989, he sent out a monthly newsletter called Catholic Answers. In 1990, it turned into This Rock Magazine. In 1988, after twelve years practicing law — a vocation he did not enjoy — Keating made the transition to Catholic apologetics. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Catholic Answers promotes and defends the Catholic faith through myriad books and tracts; two magazines, called Be and This Rock; a variety of audio and video materials; seminars by staff apologists; and Catholic Answers Live, a Catholic radio program carried on more than fifty AM and FM stations nationally. “Our goal,” says Keating, “is to explain the Faith, make good Catholics better, and bring the Faith to those who are lukewarm or who aren’t Catholic at all.”
The magazine called Be, says Keating, “ is aimed at lukewarm Catholics. They might go to Mass regularly, but they do not receive any other Catholic publications. It’s designed to help them see the importance of faith in their life and understand the basic tenets of their faith better.” Unlike most Catholic magazines, Be is free, and it currently goes out to 70,000 subscribers.
This Rock is for the advanced reader and focuses on Catholic apologetics and evangelization. “Our hope is to graduate readers from Be to This Rock,” says Keating.
Keating admits that he doesn’t do nearly as much public speaking as he once did. Rather, he’s devoted his energies to writing. To date, he’s published four books. His first, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, was among the first to take the Fundamentalist threat seriously.
“Many Catholics ignored the threat,” explains Keating. “That was a mistake. At the time nearly 100,000 Catholics a year had been leaving the Church for Fundamentalism. The book dealt with the concerns of Fundamentalists in their own terms.”
Keating adds that the book was a timely one and continues to be. “There may be as many Catholics leaving the Church today,” suggests Keating, “but there are a lot more coming back. Eventually, the return rate will overcome the exit rate.”
In addition, Keating has published a collection of his essays titled Nothing but the Truth; a follow-up to Catholicism and Fundamentalism titled The Usual Suspects; and a book that answers the common misconceptions held by most Catholics titled What Catholics Really Believe.
One of Catholic Answers’ most popular publications is only thirty pages. The booklet Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth has out-sold all other Catholic Answers’ publications combined and serves as the apostolate’s “calling card.” A simple explanation of the Catholic faith, the little book has sold more than three million copies. “A parish in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, bought one for every house in town,” Keating notes with pleasure.
The apostolate’s next planned project involves publishing a college newspaper insert that explains the Catholic faith for the average college student. Their hope is to distribute the supplement at the nation’s hundred largest colleges. “It will examine the issues and problems facing college students today,” explains Keating. “Whatever problem you’re facing, the answer is where you may least expect it — in the Catholic Church.”
The Apologetics Service
Aside from such publications, however, Keating notes that the apostolate’s Apologetics Service is one of their most important tasks. As their name implies, their business is providing answers, and provide answers they do, employing a staff of thirty-one full-time employees, including apologists James Akin, Rosalind Moss, Peggy Frye, Jan Wakelin, Jason Evert, and Father Vincent Serpa.
Keating estimates that they receive approximately six hundred phone calls each month and respond to more than 1,500 people with individual questions monthly via email, phone, and letters. The apologists also travel, conducting an average of twelve seminars per month at the invitation of parishes and other organizations.
Keating admits that much
time is spent on the phone. “Recently, one of our apologists spent a great deal of time conversing with a couple facing marriage difficulties. The apologist spoke with the Baptist husband whose wife had just returned to the Catholic faith. As a result of the conversation it looks as if the marriage may have been saved,” explained Keating.
Although providing answers is their business, Keating admits that occasionally they’re asked questions that stump them. “If we are unable to answer a question, we look it up and get back to people.” That can be a time-intensive process, but in the end, it helps the apologists as well as the inquirers to grow in their understanding of the Faith.
Overcoming Misconceptions of Non-Catholics
Keating says that the misconceptions about the Church held by many non-Catholics is a hereditary-like thing. “Non-Catholics are told that the Church is either evil or foolish, and therefore they are prejudiced against it. Such misconceptions,” he says, “can be overcome by engaging them on their own terms, answering their questions, and sharing what we really believe.” He’s seen many cases in which individuals who are taught the truth, while not becoming Catholic, at least cease to be anti-Catholic. “That is a kind of conversion in and of itself,” says Keating.
Many times people come demanding a simple answer to what they insist is a simple question. But Keating insists that the faith sometimes requires complex answers even to simple questions. He observes that faith is both simple and complex because that’s the way life itself is.
Catholicism, he explains, is suited both to those who want a simple faith and to those who want the maximum depth of understanding. “Fundamentalism, on the other hand, has no deep theology. It has no theory of spirituality.”
Keating recalls how Fr. Ray Ryland once commented that when he was a Protestant seminarian, all his seminary’s spirituality texts were by Catholics. When Ryland asked a professor why that was the case, the professor responded, “Because only Catholics write about spirituality.” “Protestants have no parallel,” Keating insists. “They focus on how to get saved and drop out all the rest.”
With many of the Catholic Answers staffers, 2001.
Overcoming Misconceptions of Catholics
Yet non-Catholics aren’t the only ones with misconceptions about the Faith. Keating notes that many Catholics as well are uninformed, and he blames the problem on poor teaching. Catholic Answers, he explains, provides answers that people aren’t receiving from the pulpit.
“If people were getting all the answers they needed from the pulpit, there would be no need for a lay organization such as Catholic Answers. However,” adds Keating, “we no longer live in a Bing Crosby kind of Church,” the kind of idealized parish portrayed in old movies such as The Bells of Saint Mary’s.
“Even with those fine priests who represent the Faith as they should, it is no longer enough. It used to be that in places like Chicago you could find four Catholic Churches at one intersection — German, Polish, Irish, and another. We no longer live in that kind of a Catholic ghetto.
“Most Catholics do not receive a Catholic education, and even Catholic schools are insufficiently teaching the Faith. By default there is a need.”
The Second Vatican Council, in its Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, called for lay men and women to “exercise a genuine apostolate by their activity on behalf of bringing the gospel and holiness to men” (par. 2). As Keating sees it, that’s why it’s so important for a lay organization such as Catholic Answers to do the work of evangelism and apologetics.
“Ninety-nine percent of the Church is made up of lay people,” he points out. “We, as lay people, need to be active. This is what Vatican II was talking about.”
For more information about Catholic Answers, visit www.Catholic.com or write KKeating@Catholic.com.
This article appeared in Envoy Magazine (vol. 5.2) in 2001. Written by Tim Drake, copyright Envoy Magazine, all rights reserved. www.envoymagazine.com
Jakarta, Indonesia:
During the course of his visit to Indonesia His Eminence will ordain 4 priests and 1 deacon. In the ROCOR mission of Indonesia there are already over 2500 Indonesian Orthodox parishioners. The dean of the Indonesian Orthodox mission, Archimandrite Daniel Byantoro, held a press conference with www.pravoslavie.ru to describe the difficult situation in the rapidly expanding Orthodox mission in Indonesia.
“If there is a Russian Orthodox Theological Institution in Moscow who can teach our parishioners and newly ordained clergymen to preach Orthodoxy in the Indonesian language we urge you to establish a branch of your seminary in Indonesia. Many Indonesians will come to learn and obtain a degree in Theology. Our people want to be educated by the Russian Orthodox Church in the Orthodox faith. We do not have the capabilities to send our clergymen overseas to be obtain a theological education in the Russian Church. Also, Indonesians who are not Orthodox are attracted by the prospect of a higher educated with a degree. Through their education in a Theological Institute they will come to the Orthodox faith.”
— Archimandrite Daniel Byantoro
(Source)
NJ.com carries this story:
NEWARK — Hundreds of people — some sobbing and crying out, “Why are they doing this?” — bid an emotional and largely ceremonial goodbye today to a Newark priest who served the same Italian-American parish for 54 years.
It was Msgr. Joseph Granato’s last day at St. Lucy’s Church.
Officially. For now.
But this story won’t end as easily as all that. Even the much reviled Jim Goodness — reviled by St. Lucy’s parishioners — the spokesman for Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, held out the possibility the 80-year-old but energetic priest might return “some time down the road” as pastor emeritus. Once a new pastor is firmly in control.
And supporters of Granato’s desire to remain in the church rectory in retirement vowed to fight on. “It’s not over,” said Dee Kirk, head of the Friend’s of St. Lucy’s.
“We’re just beginning,” said Joseph DiVincenzo, the Essex County executive and the first of a number of political figures to join the fray.
The priest, after all, only moved a few blocks away to the boyhood home on Clifton Avenue he left 60 years ago to enter [the] seminary. He could walk to the church and, according to Goodness, could say Mass there as often as he wishes.
“No,” said an emphatic monsignor, finally granting an interview after years of refusing to speak publicly. “I would not feel comfortable saying Mass here.”
Granato will, however, preside over funerals at St. Lucy’s. “To refuse that would be to punish the families,” he said.
What happened today — starting with a Mass that opened with a choir singing the hymn “Tu Es Sacerdos” (“You are a priest forever”) usually reserved for priests’ first Masses or jubilee celebrations — was the inevitable and dramatic climax to a conflict between an archbishop determined to enforce his authority and an arguably unique Catholic parish with a historic claim on a Newark existing almost solely in memory.
Granato was the living symbol of those memories — the priest who baptized them, gave them First Communion, married them, christened their children, buried their parents — and their spouses. . . . (continue reading)
My 70s hair was never that extreme (thankfully), but for a span of years it was . . . bad enough.
Here’s a helpful little collection of representative statements on Catholic doctrines made by the great early Catholic bishop and theologian, Augustine of Hippo.
1. On the authority of councils and apostolic traditions:“But in regard to those observances which we carefully attend and which the whole world keeps, and which derive not from Scripture but from Tradition, we are given to understand that they are recommended and ordained to be kept, either by the apostles themselves or by plenary [ecumenical] councils, the authority of which is quite vital in the Church” (Letter to Januarius [A.D. 400]).
2. On the canon of Scripture and prayers for the dead:
“The whole canon of the scriptures, however, in which we say that consideration is to be applied, is contained in these books: the five of Moses . . . and one book of Joshua [Son of] Nave, one of Judges; one little book which is called Ruth . . . then the four of Kingdoms, and the two of Paralipomenon . . . . [T]here are also others too, of a different order . . . such as Job and Tobit and Esther and Judith and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Esdras . . . . Then there are the prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms of David, and three of Solomon. . . . But as to those two books, one of which is entitled Wisdom and the other of which is entitled Ecclesiasticus and which are called ‘of Solomon’ because of a certain similarity to his books, it is held most certainly that they were written by Jesus Sirach. They must, however, be accounted among the prophetic books, because of the authority which is deservedly accredited to them” (Christian Instruction 2:8:13 [A.D. 397]).
We read in the books of the Maccabees [2 Macc. 12:43] that sacrifice was offered for the dead. But even if it were found nowhere in the Old Testament writings, the authority of the Catholic Church which is clear on this point is of no small weight, where in the prayers of the priest poured forth to the Lord God at his altar the commendation of the dead has its place” (The Care to be Had for the Dead 1:3 [A.D. 421]).
3. On Apostolic Succession and Papacy:
“There are many other things which most properly can keep me in [the Catholic Church’s] bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15–17], up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called ‘Catholic,’ when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house” (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 4:5 [A.D. 397]).
4. On the authority of the Apostolic See (the Roman Pontiff):
“[On this matter of the Pelagians], two councils have already been sent to the Apostolic See [the bishop of Rome], and from there rescripts too have come. The matter is at an end; would that the error too might be at an end!” (Sermons 131:10 [A.D. 411]).
“If the very order of episcopal succession is to be considered, how much more surely, truly, and safely do we number them [the bishops of Rome] from Peter himself, to whom, as to one representing the whole Church, the Lord said, ‘Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not conquer it.’ Peter was succeeded by Linus, Linus by Clement. … In this order of succession a Donatist bishop is not to be found” (Letters 53:1:2 [A.D. 412]).
5. Intercession of the Saints and masses for the dead:
“At the Lord’s table we do not commemorate martyrs in the same way that we do others who rest in peace so as to pray for them, but rather that they may pray for us that we may follow in their footsteps” (Homilies on John 84 [A.D. 416]).
“Neither are the souls of the pious dead separated from the Church which even now is the kingdom of Christ. Otherwise there would be no remembrance of them at the altar of God in the communication of the Body of Christ” (
The City of God 20:9:2 [A.D. 419]).
6. Perpetual Virginity of Mary:
“In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain a Virgin even before she knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a slave” (Holy Virginity 4:4 [A.D. 401]).
“Heretics called Antidicomarites are those who contradict the perpetual virginity of Mary and affirm that after Christ was born she was joined as one with her husband” (Heresies 56 [A.D. 428]).
7. Miracles from the Sign of the Cross:
“In the same city of Carthage lived Innocentia, a very devout woman of the highest rank in the state. She had cancer in one of her breasts, a disease which, as physicians say, is incurable. . . . This lady we speak of had been advised by a skillful physician, who was intimate with her family, and she betook herself to God alone in prayer. On the approach of Easter, she was instructed in a dream to wait for the first woman that came out of the baptistery after being baptized and to have her make the sign of Christ upon the sore. She did so, and was immediately cured” (The City of God 22:8 [A.D. 419]).
8. The Real Presence:
“I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table. . . . That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ” (Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).
“What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction” (ibid., 272).
9. Mortal/venial sin, baptismal regeneration, confession:
“When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance” (Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D. 395]).
10. No Divorces.
“A woman begins to be the wife of no later husband unless she has ceased to be the wife of a former one. She will cease to be the wife of a former one, however, if that husband should die, not if he commit fornication. A spouse, therefore, is lawfully dismissed for cause of fornication; but the bond of chastity remains. That is why a man is guilty of adultery if he marries a woman who has been dismissed even for this very reason of fornication” (On Adulterous Marriages, 2:4:4).
11. Male priesthood.
“[The Quintillians are heretics who] give women predominance so that these, too, can be honored with the priesthood among them. They say, namely, that Christ revealed himself . . . to Quintilla and Priscilla [two Montanist prophetesses] in the form of a woman” (Heresies 1:17 [A.D. 428]).
12. The Sacfice of the mass.
“For when he says in another book, which is called Ecclesiastes, ‘There is no good for a man except that he should eat and drink’ [Eccles. 2:24], what can he be more credibly understood to say [prophetically] than what belongs to the participation of this table which the Mediator of the New Testament himself, the priest after the order of Melchizedek, furnishes with his own body and blood? For that sacrifice has succeeded all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were slain as a shadow of what was to come. . . . Because, instead of all these sacrifices and oblations, his body is offered and is served up to the partakers of it” (The City of God 17:20 [A.D. 419]).
13. No salvation outside the Catholic Church.
“We believe also in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church. For heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God; and not schismatics, because the Church loves neighbor” (Faith and the Creed10:21 [A.D. 393]).
“The apostle Paul said, ‘As for a man that is a heretic, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him’ [Titus 3:10]. But those who maintain their own opinion, however false and perverted, without obstinate ill will, especially those who have not originated the error of bold presumption, but have received it from parents who had been led astray and had lapsed . . . those who seek the truth with careful industry and are ready to be corrected when they have found it, are not to be rated among heretics” (Letters 43:1 [A.D. 412]).
“Whoever is separated from this Catholic Church, by this single sin of being separated from the unity of Christ, no matter how estimable a life he may imagine he is living, shall not have life, but the wrath of God rests upon him” (ibid., 141:5).
“There are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptism, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance; yet God does not forgive sins except to the baptized” (Sermons to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15 [A.D. 395]).
14. Purgatory.
“But by the prayers of the holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death” (Sermons, 172:2).
“Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment” (
The City of God 21:13 [A.D. 419]).
“That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire” (
Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity 18:69 [A.D. 421]).
15. Queen Mary’s Immaculate Conception and high status.
“That one woman is both mother and virgin, not in spirit only but even in body. In spirit she is mother, not of our head, who is our Savior himself—of whom all, even she herself, are rightly called children of the bridegroom—but plainly she is the mother of us who are his members, because by love she has cooperated so that the faithful, who are the members of that head, might be born in the Church. In body, indeed, she is the Mother of that very head” (Holy Virginity 6:6 [A.D. 401]).
“Having excepted the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, on account of the honor of the Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question when treating of sins—for how do we know what abundance of grace for the total overcoming of sin was conferred upon her, who merited to conceive and bear him in whom there was no sin?—so, I say, with the exception of the Virgin, if we could have gathered together all those holy men and women, when they were living here, and had asked them whether they were without sin, what do we suppose would have been their answer?” (
Nature and Grace 36:42 [A.D. 415]).
16. That “Catholic” means Roman Catholic: not every sect.
We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is catholic and which is called catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless they distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard” (The True Religion 7:12 [A.D. 390]).
“If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, ‘I do not believe’? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so” (ibid., 5:6).
“In the Catholic Church . . . a few spiritual men attain [wisdom] in this life, in such a way that . . . they know it without any doubting, while the rest of the multitude finds its greatest safety not in lively understanding but in the simplicity of believing. . . .There are many other things which most properly can keep me in her bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority,
inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15–17], up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called ‘Catholic,’ when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house” (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 4:5 [A.D. 397]).
Here’s a helpful little collection of representative statements on Catholic doctrines made by the great early Catholic bishop and theologian, Augustine of Hippo.
1. On the authority of councils and apostolic traditions:
“But in regard to those observances which we carefully attend and which the whole world keeps, and which derive not from Scripture but from Tradition, we are given to understand that they are recommended and ordained to be kept, either by the apostles themselves or by plenary [ecumenical] councils, the authority of which is quite vital in the Church” (Letter to Januarius [A.D. 400]).
2. On the canon of Scripture and prayers for the dead:
“The whole canon of the scriptures, however, in which we say that consideration is to be applied, is contained in these books: the five of Moses . . . and one book of Joshua [Son of] Nave, one of Judges; one little book which is called Ruth . . . then the four of Kingdoms, and the two of Paralipomenon . . . . [T]here are also others too, of a different order . . . such as Job and Tobit and Esther and Judith and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Esdras . . . . Then there are the prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms of David, and three of Solomon. . . . But as to those two books, one of which is entitled Wisdom and the other of which is entitled Ecclesiasticus and which are called ‘of Solomon’ because of a certain similarity to his books, it is held most certainly that they were written by Jesus Sirach. They must, however, be accounted among the prophetic books, because of the authority which is deservedly accredited to them” (Christian Instruction 2:8:13 [A.D. 397]).
We read in the books of the Maccabees [2 Macc. 12:43] that sacrifice was offered for the dead. But even if it were found nowhere in the Old Testament writings, the authority of the Catholic Church which is clear on this point is of no small weight, where in the prayers of the priest poured forth to the Lord God at his altar the commendation of the dead has its place” (The Care to be Had for the Dead 1:3 [A.D. 421]).
3. On Apostolic Succession and Papacy:
“There are many other things which most properly can keep me in [the Catholic Church’s] bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15–17], up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called ‘Catholic,’ when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house” (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 4:5 [A.D. 397]).
4. On the authority of the Apostolic See (the Roman Pontiff):
“[On this matter of the Pelagians], two councils have already been sent to the Apostolic See [the bishop of Rome], and from there rescripts too have come. The matter is at an end; would that the error too might be at an end!” (Sermons 131:10 [A.D. 411]).
“If the very order of episcopal succession is to be considered, how much more surely, truly, and safely do we number them [the bishops of Rome] from Peter himself, to whom, as to one representing the whole Church, the Lord said, ‘Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not conquer it.’ Peter was succeeded by Linus, Linus by Clement. … In this order of succession a Donatist bishop is not to be found” (Letters 53:1:2 [A.D. 412]).
5. Intercession of the Saints and masses for the dead:
“At the Lord’s table we do not commemorate martyrs in the same way that we do others who rest in peace so as to pray for them, but rather that they may pray for us that we may follow in their footsteps” (Homilies on John 84 [A.D. 416]).
“Neither are the souls of the pious dead separated from the Church which even now is the kingdom of Christ. Otherwise there would be no remembrance of them at the altar of God in the communication of the Body of Christ” (
The City of God 20:9:2 [A.D. 419]).
6. Perpetual Virginity of Mary:
“In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain a Virgin even before she knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a slave” (Holy Virginity 4:4 [A.D. 401]).
“Heretics called Antidicomarites are those who contradict the perpetual virginity of Mary and affirm that after Christ was born she was joined as one with her husband” (Heresies 56 [A.D. 428]).
7. Miracles from the Sign of the Cross:
“In the same city of Carthage lived Innocentia, a very devout woman of the highest rank in the state. She had cancer in one of her breasts, a disease which, as physicians say, is incurable. . . . This lady we speak of had been advised by a skillful physician, who was intimate with her family, and she betook herself to God alone in prayer. On the approach of Easter, she was instructed in a dream to wait for the first woman that came out of the baptistery after being baptized and to have her make the sign of Christ upon the sore. She did so, and was immediately cured” (The City of God 22:8 [A.D. 419]).
8. The Real Presence:
“I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table. . . . That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ” (Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).
“What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction” (ibid., 272).
9. Mortal/venial sin, baptismal regeneration, confession:
“When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance” (Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D. 395]).
10. No Divorces.
“A woman begins to be the wife of no later husband unless she has ceased to be the wife of a former one. She will cease to be the wife of a former one, however, if that husband should die, not if he commit fornication. A spouse, therefore, is lawfully dismissed for cause of fornication; but the bond of chastity remains. That is why a man is guilty of adultery if he marries a woman who has been dismissed even for this very reason of fornication” (On Adulterous Marriages, 2:4:4).
11. Male priesthood.
“[The Quintillians are heretics who] give women predominance so that these, too, can be honored with the priesthood among them. They say, namely, that Christ revealed himself . . . to Quintilla and Priscilla [two Montanist prophetesses] in the form of a woman” (Heresies 1:17 [A.D. 428]).
12. The Sacfice of the mass.
“For when he says in another book, which is called Ecclesiastes, ‘There is no good for a man except that he should eat and drink’ [Eccles. 2:24], what can he be more credibly understood to say [prophetically] than what belongs to the participation of this table which the Mediator of the New Testament himself, the priest after the order of Melchizedek, furnishes with his own body and blood? For that sacrifice has succeeded all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were slain as a shadow of what was to come. . . . Because, instead of all these sacrifices and oblations, his body is offered and is served up to the partakers of it” (The City of God 17:20 [A.D. 419]).
13. No salvation outside the Catholic Church.
“We believe also in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church. For heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God; and not schismatics, because the Church loves neighbor” (Faith and the Creed10:21 [A.D. 393]).
“The apostle Paul said, ‘As for a man that is a heretic, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him’ [Titus 3:10]. But those who maintain their own opinion, however false and perverted, without obstinate ill will, especially those who have not originated the error of bold presumption, but have received it from parents who had been led astray and had lapsed . . . those who seek the truth with careful industry and are ready to be corrected when they have found it, are not to be rated among heretics” (Letters 43:1 [A.D. 412]).
“Whoever is separated from this Catholic Church, by this single sin of being separated from the unity of Christ, no matter how estimable a life he may imagine he is living, shall not have life, but the wrath of God rests upon him” (ibid., 141:5).
“There are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptism, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance; yet God does not forgive sins except to the baptized” (Sermons to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15 [A.D. 395]).
14. Purgatory.
“But by the prayers of the holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death” (Sermons, 172:2).
“Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment” (
The City of God 21:13 [A.D. 419]).
“That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire” (
Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity 18:69 [A.D. 421]).
15. Queen Mary’s Immaculate Conception and high status.
“That one woman is both mother and virgin, not in spirit only but even in body. In spirit she is mother, not of our head, who is our Savior himself—of whom all, even she herself, are rightly called children of the bridegroom—but plainly she is the mother of us who are his members, because by love she has cooperated so that the faithful, who are the members of that head, might be born in the Church. In body, indeed, she is the Mother of that very head” (Holy Virginity 6:6 [A.D. 401]).
“Having excepted the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, on account of the honor of the Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question when treating of sins—for how do we know what abundance of grace for the total overcoming of sin was conferred upon her, who merited to conceive and bear him in whom there was no sin?—so, I say, with the exception of the Virgin, if we could have gathered together all those holy men and women, when they were living here, and had asked them whether they were without sin, what do we suppose would have been their answer?” (
Nature and Grace 36:42 [A.D. 415]).
16. That “Catholic” means Roman Catholic: not every sect.
We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is catholic and which is called catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless they distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard” (The True Religion 7:12 [A.D. 390]).
“If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, ‘I do not believe’? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so” (ibid., 5:6).
“In the Catholic Church . . . a few spiritual men attain [wisdom] in this life, in such a way that . . . they know it without any doubting, while the rest of the multitude finds its greatest safety not in lively understanding but in the simplicity of believing. . . .There are many other things which most properly can keep me in her bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority,
inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15–17], up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called ‘Catholic,’ when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house” (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 4:5 [A.D. 397]).
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1. On the authority of councils and apostolic traditions:
