Gina's notes
June 26
- The Fortnight for Freedom is underway. June 21 to July 4. That means there is time to start a novena today that ends next Thursday.
- Prayer of Azariah.
- [[Calling_All_Catholics#Psychology_--_Loving_with_Understanding|"Think about these things."]
- Jackie from Facebook (may have been answered on Tuesday): Does watching the mass on TV count?
- Frank from Buffalo in conversation: A poll was taken in Italy asking people to name their "favorite religious figure." St. Francis came in first, Jesus came in second. Doesn't that prove that Catholics can be too devoted to the saints?
Manifestations of the spirit in flesh
- John from Facebook:
- - In the Old testament, there are passages that speak of the sons of God coming to earth and having relations with humans. Now would these be fallen angels? Even if they were, you stated before that angels are pure spirits and have no body, so I am confused how could they could father children.
- - In the New Testament, the Angel tells Mary that "the Spirit will come on you and the Power of the Most high will overshadow you." The Spirit is, of course, pure Spirit, so how does the Spirit join together with Mary's humanity to produce Jesus? Does Jesus receive his human nature from Mary and His divine nature from the Spirit?
Fallible Male Hierarchy
- Bob from e-mail: Why should I obey the human beings--all male!--who run the Church? They are all imperfect human beings like myself. They are led by their conscience. Why shouldn't I be led by mine?
Promoting Women's Vocations to Religious Life
- Patti from e-mail: Imagine Sisters wants to make Jesus loved by introducing the world to religious sisters in love with Christ through media and personal encounters. We want to encourage and inspire a culture of vocations to women’s religious life by fostering a deep desire for holiness through the witness of religious sisters.
Who are the vultures?
- From Awesome Lawson: I was told by a priest that the verse, "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather" (Mt 24:28) refers to Eucharistic adoration. Is that true?
Internal Forum Solution
- Erica from Buffalo, New York: There is a woman I know who is having a horrible, down-spiraling, Catholic-hating time as her second "husband," Bob, left her, because he now believes that they were not married and have been fornicating all these years. Both were previously married in the Catholic Church. Bob's first marriage was annulled; Linda's first marriage was not. I tried to explain to her that without an annulment, one cannot remarry, as she is still married in the eyes of the Church. She replied, "Our priest explained to Bob and to me together that, while getting an annulment is preferred, the Church knows some Catholics do not want one for whatever reason. The priest claimed that Vatican II acknowledged that the Church needed to embrace those people and created a new method of dealing with broken marriages called 'the internal forum solution.'" Is she right about that?
Doubt about past sins
- Anonymous from e-mail: I was reading the Supplement to the Summa (Question 6, Article 4) in which St. Thomas says that if we are doubtful about whether we confessed all of our mortal sins in past confessions, we should mention the doubt to the priest in our next confession. Is that good advice?
Footwashing
- Letitia: Footwashing is for everybody--everybody should do it to everybody. She sent slippers, a towel, and foot cream to her nieces and nephews, and asked them to wash their mother's feet. Jesus said, "Do as I do. Such love and humility. Jesus took the place of the last and the least. Usually done by the Gentile slave, by wives for their husbands, by children for their parents, and by disciples for their teachers.
St. Malachy and the End of the World
- St. Malachy and the End of the World
- I have figured out how to prove that Pope Francis is "Peter the Roman." That means the end of the world is near (again!). :-O
- "Pope Francis = Peter The Roman = Antichrist ?"
- "In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The end."
Seven Pilgrim Churches
Catholic Children's Bible
- For parents: The Catholic Children's Bible by St. Mary's Press.
Fr. Walter Ciszek, SJ
- Suellen Ann from Facebook: I just saw a beautiful documentary on EWTN about Fr. Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit who was held captive in Siberia for 15 years. Could you talk a little bit about his life and works?
Catholic understanding of marriage
- Nicole from e-mail: I spoke w/a 20-something co-worker regarding male/female complementarity one day when she mentioned that people who don't accept "same-sex marriage" are bigots. She listened to me kindly but did not accept the idea that opposite genders go together because of procreation. Her immediate answer was, "well, the couple can use IVF." I find that many younger people have a utilitarian point of view - the end justifies the means. How can I present the Church's teaching on marriage and the natural law in the most effective fashion?
Evidence of Ordination of Women?
- Andrew from e-mail: Sylvia Poggioli did a piece on NPR recently entitled "With New Pope, Catholic Women Hope To Regain Church Leadership Roles." What are we to make of the argument that ancient mosaics and epigrams talk about women priests (presbytera) and bishops (episcopa)?
Year of Faith Website
- David M. from Rochester: Here is the Vatican’s website for the year of faith: www.annusfidei.va.
Common Bible includes "Apocrypha"
- John W. from e-mail: I was very surprised this afternoon when you quoted Tobit 4:8 on giving. You said, "The Protestants don’t have Tobit in their Bible." Here in Canada, or at least Toronto, we DO! We also have Judith, Wisdom, Baruch, 1&2 Maccabees, and the other Deuterocanonical Books in the pew Bibles of at least our local Anglican and Presbyterian churches, and probably in the local United Church too. The pew Bibles are the “New Revised Standard Version (with Apocrypha).†These are logical developments based on Vatican II, which began fifty years ago, and the first Anglican-Roman Catholic Common Declaration and the establishment of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission forty-six years ago. Most Protestant churches are also using the Revised Common Lectionary. Is this just a Canadian thing?
Psychology and Catholicism
- John from Facebook: At the school I work, they are doing workshops on motivation and learning. They presented a workshop on William Glasser's "choice theory," which seems to me to advocate faith but no God. When the Church provides counsel through Catholic Charities or even through a priest, how does it merge psychology and faith?
Godly Gynecology; Pregnancy Support Services
- Melissa from Kenmore, New York: "A friend of a friend of mine was told for decades that she had a thyroid problem that would prevent her from becoming pregnant. The doctors were wrong. When she began to gain weight because of a pregnancy, her doctor just adjusted her medication, thinking that her weight gain was due to thyroid problems, not a pregnancy. This was a devastating situation for her, as she ended up having an abortion. Many women who opt for abortion are not FOR abortion in and of itself. Many just do not have the support of the father or their family, and do not know who would help them cope with an unplanned child at the time of birth. Could you list some resources women in such a situation can turn to?"
Pacifism required?
- Anonymous: Why do some candidates who are pro life still support violence via wars, detainment, and the like? Why can't being pro life mean being more vigilant in ending wars through diplomatic talks rather than continuing what seems an endless fight in another country? Our military wants to come home. Does war ever make any sense?"
Feeling guilty after Confession
- Anonymous: "I have a hard time forgiving myself, even after I confess a sin in confession. Is that also a sin?"
Interceding for Sinners
- Anonymous: "What is the consequence if someone who is not Catholic receives the Eucharist in ignorance. Besides educating them, is there a penance one can do for them?"
Spiritual Warfare
- John Z. from Facebook re: spiritual warfare.
- Can people be used by demons to try and fight and create turmoil and strife?
- Are there angels and demons duking it out fighting for our souls?
- Also, I saw on a blog where a guy said to look in the Old Testament as to how many people Satan killed vs God. He claims that Satan only killed ten and God killed thousands. So, in his view, the whole Christian idea of God is false, and Satan got a raw deal.
Genocide in the Old Testament?
- Kevin from e-mail: Why did God order the Israelites to massacre whole villages when they conquered them? Today we would call that "genocide" or "ethnic cleansing." The Church teaches that it is intrinscially evil to target whole populations in warfare. How could God command His people to do evil?
Successors of the other apostles?
- Rich from e-mail: Most Catholics know that the Pope is the successor to Peter. Has the "lineage" from the other apostles been preserved just as carefully? Would the holders of some of those Sees be the Latin Patriarchs? There are not twelve of this class, so who are the direct successors of all of the original apostles and Paul? (I include him because of his unique status).
Patriarchs and Cardinals
- Rich from e-mail: I think that a fairly recent canonical change required that all patriarchs be made cardinals, although they've always actually outranked cardinals in the hierarchy. Is that correct?
How to Create Extra Pages
There are two ways to make more pages for yourself. Well, three, I guess. The first two require being logged in.
1. Search for the title of the page you want to create. When the search fails, click on the red link to create the page.
2. Put the name of the new page you want to create in double square brackets on a current page. When you save the page, the name of the page you are about to create will appear in red.
- Here is a red link; if you click on it, you may choose to create the page: Gina's test page.
3. Ask me to create the page(s) for you.
After you have created a page, putting the name of the page in double square brackets makes a blue link to the page. So, for example, I have been working on the book of Jonah for a few days.
To create an external link, use just one pair of square brackets:
This does depend on a space between the URL and the text that is shown to the reader.
You can link to an existing page using double square brackets and a pipe: This is an active link to my old show preparation page. None of the words you see here in blue are the name of the page. The real name of the page is hidden from view.