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The Catholic Answer Book #1
The Catholic Answer Book
The Catholic Answer Book Paperback
190 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1990
16 people want to read
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September 13, 2024
A COLLECTION OF THE POPULAR WRITER'S RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS
Peter M.J. Stravinskas (born 1950) is a well-known Catholic apologist, and editor of 'The Catholic Answer,' and author of other books such as 'The Catholic Response,' 'Catholic Church and the Bible,' 'The Catholic Answer Book 2,' 'The Catholic Answer Book of Mary,' 'Mary and the Fundamentalist Challenge,' etc.
Archbishop Bevilacqua notes in his Introduction to this 1990 book, "there is a growing need for a clear presentation on the basics of our Catholic Faith. It was to achieve this goals that the bimonthly magazine entitled 'The Catholic Answer' was initiated... by Father Peter Stravinskas... By using a question-and-answer format, Father Stravinskas has attempted to respond to the many questions raised regarding the Catholic religion... Catholics have legitimate questions about their Faith and .. now they can get these answers in the form of a well-structured and carefully written book."
On the changing of the Sabbath from Friday/Saturday to Sunday, he comments, "As the Church began, the early Christians went to the synagogue for the Sabbath service and then met in their own homes on the evening of the first day of the week for the celebration of the Eucharist (cf. Acts 20:7), in honor of our Lord's resurrection from the dead on that day. When those first believers in Christ were eventually excommunicated from Judaism and thus expelled from the temple and synagogue, they took the Sabbath service with them and simply tacked it onto the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Hence, the Mass in two parts, as we have it to this day." (Pg. 8)
He counsels a reader about the death of an unbaptized baby, "The simplest answer might be that the desire of the parents that this infant become a child of God is a type of baptism itself. Furthermore, it is important to note that we (or even the Church) cannot limit God's love, mercy, and compassion to human (and even ecclesiastical) formulations, for God's ways are not our ways... although the sacraments are surely the ordinary means of grace, they are not the only means by which God can effect our salvation. And so, we commend such a child to God's fatherly care." (Pg. 30)
Of Anglican priests who convert to Catholicism and want to become priests, he says, "If an Anglican clergyman believes that the Church believes about the Eucharist and the priesthood and was ordained by a validly ordained bishop, he too is validly ordained. As is obvious, this is far more subjective than usual for questions of sacramental validity. However, this is the very procedure being used by the Holy See for the many Anglican clergy coming into full communion with us and also desirous of exercising a priestly ministry in the Church." (Pg. 38)
He suggests, "Gambling is no more inherently evil than is drinking. Circumstances dictate whether the behavior is problematic or not. For example, if you like an evening out with other people, enjoy the excitement of chance, and use money which is not needed for any other purpose, I see nothing wrong with bingo or other games of chance. When gambling becomes compulsive or causes a person to fail to live up to genuine commitments (financial and otherwise), then a moral difficulty exists." (Pg. 55)
In response to the question, "When did it cease to be a mortal sin to miss Mass on a Sunday... without good cause?" he replied, "It didn't. Unfortunately, some people act as though it did. The Sunday Mass obligation is critically important to the living of a fully Christian life... Even someone like Hans Kung... has remarked that 'you can't belong to the club if you don't go to the meetings.'" (Pg. 61)
He admits that after Vatican II, "a reduced sense of sin was creeping in the back door, so that the long confession lines began to disappear, to be replaced by long Communion lines... it is not unusual now to find ninety-five percent of a congregation coming forward at Communion time, while an average parish priest will have heard five to ten confessions on Saturday night... eighty percent of American Catholics ... practice artificial birth control, and only the smallest minority of them confess it as sin; there is one huge category of people who are making unworthy Communions." (Pg. 96)
This series of books will be of great interest to anyone studying Catholic doctrine.
Peter M.J. Stravinskas (born 1950) is a well-known Catholic apologist, and editor of 'The Catholic Answer,' and author of other books such as 'The Catholic Response,' 'Catholic Church and the Bible,' 'The Catholic Answer Book 2,' 'The Catholic Answer Book of Mary,' 'Mary and the Fundamentalist Challenge,' etc.
Archbishop Bevilacqua notes in his Introduction to this 1990 book, "there is a growing need for a clear presentation on the basics of our Catholic Faith. It was to achieve this goals that the bimonthly magazine entitled 'The Catholic Answer' was initiated... by Father Peter Stravinskas... By using a question-and-answer format, Father Stravinskas has attempted to respond to the many questions raised regarding the Catholic religion... Catholics have legitimate questions about their Faith and .. now they can get these answers in the form of a well-structured and carefully written book."
On the changing of the Sabbath from Friday/Saturday to Sunday, he comments, "As the Church began, the early Christians went to the synagogue for the Sabbath service and then met in their own homes on the evening of the first day of the week for the celebration of the Eucharist (cf. Acts 20:7), in honor of our Lord's resurrection from the dead on that day. When those first believers in Christ were eventually excommunicated from Judaism and thus expelled from the temple and synagogue, they took the Sabbath service with them and simply tacked it onto the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Hence, the Mass in two parts, as we have it to this day." (Pg. 8)
He counsels a reader about the death of an unbaptized baby, "The simplest answer might be that the desire of the parents that this infant become a child of God is a type of baptism itself. Furthermore, it is important to note that we (or even the Church) cannot limit God's love, mercy, and compassion to human (and even ecclesiastical) formulations, for God's ways are not our ways... although the sacraments are surely the ordinary means of grace, they are not the only means by which God can effect our salvation. And so, we commend such a child to God's fatherly care." (Pg. 30)
Of Anglican priests who convert to Catholicism and want to become priests, he says, "If an Anglican clergyman believes that the Church believes about the Eucharist and the priesthood and was ordained by a validly ordained bishop, he too is validly ordained. As is obvious, this is far more subjective than usual for questions of sacramental validity. However, this is the very procedure being used by the Holy See for the many Anglican clergy coming into full communion with us and also desirous of exercising a priestly ministry in the Church." (Pg. 38)
He suggests, "Gambling is no more inherently evil than is drinking. Circumstances dictate whether the behavior is problematic or not. For example, if you like an evening out with other people, enjoy the excitement of chance, and use money which is not needed for any other purpose, I see nothing wrong with bingo or other games of chance. When gambling becomes compulsive or causes a person to fail to live up to genuine commitments (financial and otherwise), then a moral difficulty exists." (Pg. 55)
In response to the question, "When did it cease to be a mortal sin to miss Mass on a Sunday... without good cause?" he replied, "It didn't. Unfortunately, some people act as though it did. The Sunday Mass obligation is critically important to the living of a fully Christian life... Even someone like Hans Kung... has remarked that 'you can't belong to the club if you don't go to the meetings.'" (Pg. 61)
He admits that after Vatican II, "a reduced sense of sin was creeping in the back door, so that the long confession lines began to disappear, to be replaced by long Communion lines... it is not unusual now to find ninety-five percent of a congregation coming forward at Communion time, while an average parish priest will have heard five to ten confessions on Saturday night... eighty percent of American Catholics ... practice artificial birth control, and only the smallest minority of them confess it as sin; there is one huge category of people who are making unworthy Communions." (Pg. 96)
This series of books will be of great interest to anyone studying Catholic doctrine.
Displaying 1 of 1 review