Ask a Catholic

[Minimalist]

Yes, similar abuses have happened in schools, in care homes, in the BBC. And in each case that's uncovered, inquiries have been launched and those found guilty sacked and imprisoned.

Yeah...the pope-sniffers always overlook that point.  Wonder why?

[Randy Carson]

Why does doctrine change if the pope is a direct infallible line to god?

A great question! Thank you.

First, infallibility does NOT mean that the pope has all the answers. He can be just as wrong as anyone else on a particular subject. Additionally, he is not impeccable; he commits sins just like the rest of us. HOWEVER, he is prevented from formally teaching error in matters of faith and morals, and that is what we refer to as infallibility. 

As for doctrine changing, the answer is fairly simple: doctrine has NEVER changed in the 2,000 year history of the Church. It can and does develop in the sense that today we see further than the believers of the past because our theology has had more time to mature. In this sense, our theologians, like the modern-day scientists, are standing on the shoulders of giants.

These definitions might help:

Dogma
A dogma is 1) a divinely revealed truth which 2) has been proclaimed as such by the infallible teaching authority of the Church. 
1) A dogma must be found explicitly or implicitly in the deposit of faith given to the Church by Jesus in Sacred Scripture and/or Sacred Tradition.
2) A dogma must be infallibly taught by the Church as divinely revealed. 
All dogmas are infallibly taught as divinely revealed truths, but not all infallibly defined truths are taught as divinely revealed. In the latter case, the infallibly taught truth would not be considered a dogma. 

Doctrine
A doctrine is a way of understanding divine revelation and which is taught authoritatively by the Magisterium of the Church. Doctrine may be defined either infallibly or non-infallibly. All dogmas are doctrines, but not all doctrines are dogmas.

Discipline
A discipline is a rule of the Church which requires obedience due to the authority given to the Church by Jesus. Disciplines may be changed during the course of history based upon the needs of the Church. Examples of Church disciplines include fasting during Lent and the celibacy of priests in the Latin rite.

Devotion
A devotion is a religious exercise or practice other than the regular corporate worship of a congregation. Devotions directed toward God are rightly called worship while devotions directed toward saints are classified as veneration.

[AFTT47]

Does the light REALLY go off when you close the refrigerator door?

I'm not sure about that, but I have seen the resulting darkness when people close their minds. 

My, you're clever. 

Sarcasm aside, have you figured out yet that you are not being taken seriously? Do you honestly think we haven't heard this same nonsense dozens of times before? Here's a suggestion: Pick a specific topic. Respectfully present that topic in the appropriate forum without the ridiculous holier than thou attitude. You'll get your discussion. If you do well, you'll earn our respect - even if we don't agree with you.

But barge in here like a clown and think you're going to wow anybody...sorry, we've been around the block a few times. We've seen better.

[Randy Carson]

IIRC, the KJV NT refers to married bishops, if the catholic bible is similarly encumbered, why aren't there married bishops ?

There are some married clergy in some rites of the Catholic Church and even in the Latin rite, there are married priests who were married before they converted to Catholicism. However, the Church has determined that celibacy is preferred. Here are a few thoughts on why:

Note to mods: I wrote this.

Celibacy and the Catholic Priest

Many people believe that the Catholic Church violates the Word of God because it forbids people to marry (cf. 1 Timothy 4:3) or that it is wrong for priests to remain celibate. To get a clearer picture of this issue, let’s examine what the Bible has to say about the subject of celibacy.

Matthew 19:11-12
11Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."

Jesus offers the celibate life as a gift and tells us that “The one who can accept this should accept it.”
 
1 Corinthians 7:1
1Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.
 
1 Corinthians 7:7
7I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
 
Paul reveals his own celibacy and offers an earnest wish that more people would follow his example.
 
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
 
Paul concedes that getting married is better than struggling with sexual temptation; for those that “cannot control themselves, they should marry.”
 
Is Paul completely opposed to marriage? Not at all. The book of Hebrews states:
 
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
 
Why then does Paul recommend celibacy?
 
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
32I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
 
From this passage, we can see Paul’s primary reason for advocating celibacy: he wants everyone to live in undivided devotion to the Lord, and in all of these verses, the Bible makes it clear that Jesus calls some men to the priesthood and offers them the gift of a celibate life to be lived in undivided devotion to God. Paul understands that not everyone is offered this gift and that not all to whom it is offered can or will accept it.
 
There are Latin Rite Catholic priests who are married; typically, these are men who were priests in the Anglican, Orthodox or other faith traditions and have converted to the Catholic faith after they were married in those churches. Under special circumstances, they may be ordained to serve as Catholic priests. Men who are already Catholic when they begin to discern their call to the priesthood must remain celibate. In other rites, Catholic priests may be married.
 
The Catholic Church forbids no man to marry.However, she does desire that those who will represent Christ, who will stand in persona Christi (in the place of Christ) when administering the sacraments as priests, be like their Lord as fully as possible. This means that like Jesus, they are celibate men prepared to sacrifice their own lives in the service of God and others.

The calling and the gift are offered by God; those who choose to accept them do so freely.

[Minimalist]

The calling and the gift are offered by God; those who choose to accept them do so freely.

Yeah - that's the problem.

[Iroscato]

Randy, I do hope you'll see this and answer, as I am curious to actually nail down a theist and get them to answer this one, something which so far I have not been able to do.
With all of history behind us, and all that is to come ahead, how do you feel knowing your faith is but one of thousands of religions that have arisen, and will eventually decline and fade into nothingness? How do you still believe in a system that will inevitably be lost to time in the centuries to come, becoming nothing more than a footnote in historical academia?
TL;DR - your religion will one day be lost to time and is in the grand scheme of things, utterly irrelevant. How do you reconcile with that?

[Randy Carson]

Early church "fathers" would dispute your opinion.

But then, we know the RCC changes whenever the wind blows.


http://creation.com/church-fathers-flood

Tertullian (c. 160–225), the prolific Carthaginian apologist, spoke of fossils in the mountains testifying to a time when the globe had been covered by water. ‘There was a time when her whole orb, withal, underwent mutation, overrun by all waters. To this day marine conchs and tritons’ horns sojourn as foreigners on the mountains, eager to prove to Plato that even the heights have undulated.’5

Tertullian is not considered one of the Early Church Fathers because he fell into the heresy of Montanism.

[Whateverist]

Q#1: Are there any hot nuns?

Q#2: Have you ever been fondled by a priest?

Q#3: Do you know any catholic atheists like Mother Teresa personally?

[Randy Carson]

Do you think you can be a Catholic and disagree/not obey the pope?

This is a huge issue. The Catholic Church has given much consideration to the question of individual conscience.

I am not especially knowledgeable about this particular subject; however, it is my understanding that the Church teaches that the individual must always follow his or her own conscience. Consequently, I will venture that the answer would be that a Catholic can disagree/disobey the Pope.

My own qualms about this would have to do with the recognition that we have the obligation to form our consciences properly...something that is all to convenient to neglect...and to obey the authority that Jesus has established in His Church.

But I tend to be more black and white than some folks who have more pastoral sensitivity than I do. 

---

Hope this helps.

Not in the least.


You are supporting a criminal conspiracy which, as far as I can tell, reached to the very highest levels and is probably continuing.  You should be ashamed to be part of it.

Min-

I gotta be honest...I feel really, really badly for you. I will try to remember you at mass this weekend. Seriously. 

---

Do you pray to saints to intercede for you to God, and if so which saints do you go to?

Chad-

Talking with the saints - Christians who are already in heaven - is an optional devotion, as you may know.

I am a convert from Protestantism...from Methodist 35 years ago...so, I did not grow up with that. 

I should probably ask them to intercede for me more than I do!

---

This one's been on my mind for a while

How do you reconcile your beliefs with reality?

They are completely incompatible.

For example, I often believe that I am the center of the universe, that my life and problems are the most important, and that everyone else exists to serve me.

Then, I consider the reality that I may be in heaven one day and that I'll be there for the rest of eternity.

Thinking about that helps me to see the foolishness of my selfish beliefs in a clearer light...even if it's only for a few minutes.

---

If there were no catholics, there wouldn't be anyone for protestants to protest against.

And if there were no Protestants, there might be any atheists. 

John 17:20-23
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The unity of believers was supposed to be a sign for the world that Jesus really did come from the Father, but we blew it. 

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Not in the least.

I agree. Playing the "but they do it too" card is a putrid red herring that stinks the place out. Yes, similar abuses have happened in schools, in care homes, in the BBC. And in each case that's uncovered, inquiries have been launched and those found guilty sacked and imprisoned. If the organisations involved quietly moved the alleged abusers around to potential fresh victims, suppressed evidence, and blamed the victims as a matter of policy, as does the Catholic Church, there would be the riot to end all riots. Randy, I appreciate your attempting to tackle the question, but don't you dare try to whitewash the issue in such a pathetic way again.

There was no whitewashing. 

Just my politically-incorrect pointing to the fact that pedophilia (technically, the problem is homosexuality) is MORE prevalent in secular endeavors than in the Catholic priesthood. The media does NOT want to recognize the homosexual angle because it has been championing the LGBT agenda for decades.

And you don't want to acknowledge that because it's too valuable to use as a cudgel with which to pummel the Catholic Church. I DO understand.

<set rant=off>

---

I'm not sure about that, but I have seen the resulting darkness when people close their minds. 

My, you're clever. 

Sarcasm aside, have you figured out yet that you are not being taken seriously? Do you honestly think we haven't heard this same nonsense dozens of times before? Here's a suggestion: Pick a specific topic. Respectfully present that topic in the appropriate forum without the ridiculous holier than thou attitude. You'll get your discussion. If you do well, you'll earn our respect - even if we don't agree with you.

But barge in here like a clown and think you're going to wow anybody...sorry, we've been around the block a few times. We've seen better.

I'm the new guy here, but you've been a member of this forum for what? Four months? And you have the audacity to say "we" as if you are a forum elder.

Dude, in MY home forum, I have 10 years of membership and thousands of posts. Talk to me when you've paid some dues.

Please? 

[Simon Moon]

I'm not sure about that, but I have seen the resulting darkness when people close their minds. 

How do you define 'close minds'?

Do I have a close mind because I don't buy into your religious claims?