Showing posts with label catholic life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catholic life. Show all posts

3.20.2010

"Catholic" Witness

Thank God for the outstanding and courageous leadership of Archbishop Chaput. As Catholics we all need to faithfully witness the truth of the Gospel and never be afraid to do so when challenged. Our world is certainlly in a secular/relativism chaos and the Church needs to stand tall as a pillar of truth, as well as Charity and Social Justice (in that order.) Let us all pray that God will abundantly bless those who fiercely fight for and to protect the great Gift of Life - from conception to natural death.

http://tinyurl.com/yj3hz7a
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2.27.2010

Catholic Apologetics

Apologetics has really revitalized my Catholic faith and life in a big way. I got introduced to Catholic apologetics many years ago through the Beginning Apologetics workbook series by Jim Burnham and Frank Chacon, http://shop.catholic.com/product.php?productid=351. I was totally blown away of how what I believed on faith because I was taught growing up could be explained using logic and reason. Faith is reasonable. I’ve been confident and excited in living out my life as a Catholic in a way I would have never believed before being introduced to Catholic apologetics.

The word apologetics is derived from the ancient Greek word apologia. An apologia was the case a lawyer would build on behalf of his client. So apologetics is about building the case for our faith—learning how to explain and defend our faith.


I have created a set of links dedicated to Catholic apologetics. Please check them out. God bless!

Meat on Fridays

Most Catholics think that Vatican II did away with the requirement of not eating meat on Friday throughout the year. Most think it is now just Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent that we cannot eat meat. However…

This is what the new Code of Canon Law brought out in 1983 says about the matter:
Canon 1251 : Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Canon Law still requires that Catholics not eat meat on Fridays!

Of course, most Episcopal Conferences have determined that, instead of abstaining from meat, Catholics may perform an act of penance of their choosing. But, do you ever remember to abstain from a particular food or do some other penance on Fridays? And, at any rate, the main rule is still to abstain from meat on Fridays, the performance of another penance instead is an optional substitute.

I know a while back that the National Conference of Catholic Bishops was debating whether to repeal the determination and require all Catholics to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. The Bishops thought that a return to meatless Fridays for all Catholics would be of benefit, which I agree. I wonder what came of that because I haven’t heard anything about it since.

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