Catholicity - Apologetics For Our Time

Saint John Chrysostom  Bishop and Doctor of the Church — Memorial c. 347–407 September 13 Patron Saint of preachers, orators, lecturers, and public speakers Invoked against epilepsy Pre-Congregation canonization Liturgical Color: White Quote:   Are you a sinner? Do not become discouraged, and come to Church to put forward repentance. Have you sinned? Then tell God, “I have sinned.” What manner of toil is this, what prescribed course of life, what affliction? What manner of difficulty is it to make one statement, “I have sinned?” Perhaps if you do not call yourself a sinner, you do not have the devil as an accuser? Anticipate this and snatch the honor away from him, because it is his purpose to accuse. Therefore, why do you not prevent him, and why do you not tell your sin and wipe it out, since you know that you have such an accuser who cannot remain silent? Have you sinned? Come to Church. Tell God, “I have sinned.” I do not demand anything else of you than this. Holy Scriptu...

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,      An interesting phenomenon is taking place: some former atheists and agnostics who seriously investigate Christianity are becoming Catholic — not Protestant.      Now, before anyone gets upset at that, it does not mean that most atheists or agnostics are becoming Catholic. In my experience, these people are quite reluctant to give up their beliefs - or lack of them.      We are also not trying to say that every intellectual seeker of religion reaches the same conclusion.      But we are seeing recent converts who were  compelled to approach religion through history, philosophy and evidence  encountering Catholicism... and discovering their faith in The Church. 1. From the simplistic To Bigger Questions      Serious skeptics eventually confront questions atheism or agnosticism alone do not easily settle: - Why does anything exist? - Can objective morality exist...

Part 1: Scripture Readings In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 1 Corinthians 9:16–19, 22b–27 Brothers and sisters: If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my recompense? That, when I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. Although I am free in relation to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it. Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run...

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ....      Recently I saw a meme in an online, anti-Catholic group that tried to say the Sign of the Cross for which Catholics are noted is secretly an upside down cross invoking the devil.      Now, it doesn't take much common sense to see thought such blatant propaganda. Indeed, I will call it plain ignorance of the truth. But those who loathe the Church to that intense degree, they have convinced themselves that Catholics worship the devil.        In response, some Latin Rite Catholics leap to respond that it is a St. Peters cross, aka, a Petrine cross. According to unverified historical accounts, St. Peter was crucified on an inverted cross, because he claimed he was unworthy to share the same cross as Christ. So these Catholics have adopted the idea that the sign of the cross duplicates a Petrine cross.      But the sign of the cross is not modeled...

  In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: Thus says the Lord to Shebna, master of the palace: "I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station. On that day I will call my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe, gird him with your sash, and transfer your authority to him. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one shall shut, and what he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him as a peg in a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for his father's house." The Word of the Lord. R/ "Thanks be to God" From the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord or who h...