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phatcatholic apologetics
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"phatcatholic apologetics" is a blog devoted to defending and explaining the Catholic faith via Q&A's, debates, tracts, papers, and an extensive collection of links to the best Catholic resources on the internet.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'bulletin'
Catholic Q&A: Part 6
Here is a recent batch of questions that I answered in the "Catholicism" category at WikiAnswers. Also see Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.Which days other than Sundays are Catholic obliged to attend Mass?Besides Sundays, Catholics are also obliged to attend...
What Are the "O Antiphons"?
An antiphon is a short verse from a psalm or other usually biblical source that is chanted (or at least recited) before and/or after a psalm. The O Antiphons are the antiphons chanted during the Octave of Christmas, the seven days before Christmas Ev...
What Is a Prophet?
In the Old Testament, a prophet was someone who brought the word of God to the people by the power of the Holy Spirit. “He has spoken through the prophets,” as we say in the Nicene Creed. Sixteen books in the Old Testament (the “prophetic books...
What do we mean when we say in the Creed that Jesus "descended into hell"?
While we use the word “hell” today to refer to the place of the damned, where there is fire, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, the Apostles’ Creed is actually referring to a difference place.The Greek word that we translate as “hell” in t...
How Does the Church Believe a Person Receives Salvation?
One would think that such a simple question would have an equally simple answer. But, it doesn’t. That’s because the object in question – salvation – is itself a mysterious reality. Before we can answer this question, we must attempt to defin...
"Strong Drink" in the Bible
I recently answered the following question in my parish bulletin:Does the Bible say anything about drinking alcohol?Yes, it does, whenever it mentions the consumption of wine or "strong drink."The responsible consumption of wine is encouraged in the ...
Building Booths for God
I recently answered the following question in my parish bulletin:In the Gospel reading for the second week of Lent (cf. Mk 9:2-10), we read that Peter wanted to make “booths” for Elijah, Moses, and Jesus when these three gloriously appeared at th...
Why Didn't Jesus Cast the First Stone?
I answered this question initially a while back (here), but I thought I would expound on it further for my upcoming Q&A in the parish bulletin. Here's what I wrote:Q: Did Jesus break the Law of Moses by not stoning the woman caught in adultery?Great ...
Catholic Perspective of the End Times
A parishioner recently emailed me the following question:Protestants talk a lot about the “rapture” and the “tribulation.” What are these things and what is the Catholic belief about them?Let’s take the “tribulation” first. The tribulat...
Returning Home and Staying There
A parishioner recently sent me the following question:If it is not a requirement to be a Catholic to enter heaven then what can we say to fallen-away Catholics to bring them back to the faith if they are good, practicing Christians? What can we say t...
Scripture on the Fall of the Angels
Irecently answered the following question for my Church bulletin:What is the “fall of the angels”? Is this in Scripture anywhere?At the beginning of time the angels in heaven were given a choice: follow God or rebel against Him. That a resident o...
The Effects and Necessity of the Sacrament of Confession
In response to a parishioner, I recently published the following Q&A in my church's bulletin:What specific graces do we receive from the sacrament of Confession? Why should I go to confession when I can just pray to God and tell Him I’m sorry?The g...
