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Catholic Beliefs
Q: Are angels real?
A: Sacred Scripture and Tradition attest to the existence of spiritual, incorporeal beings called angels. They are personal and immortal beings created by God with intelligence and free will. Angels are naturally good and can know and choose good or evil. Before the creation of humanity, some angels, led by Satan, rejected God and separated themselves from him. These fallen angels, also called demons or devils, tried to influence humanity from the beginning, as is seen in the tempting of our first parents in Eden. Yet their power is limited, since they are only creatures. Throughout history, the angels who remained devoted to their creator have proclaimed God’s salvation and served his plan. They announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds, ministered to him in the desert, and proclaimed his resurrection to his disciples. We join them in worship each time we celebrate Mass, and are surrounded by their protection and intercession throughout our lives. We celebrate the feast of the Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, on September 29 and the memorial of the Guardian Angels on October 2.
Q: Do Catholics believe in the Bible?
A: Yes, we do. The Word of God is fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. Catholics believe that the gift of God’s revelation is communicated to us through two sources: the Bible and sacred Tradition. The Bible contains the written Word of God, while sacred Tradition contains the Word of God passed down through the generations from what Christ taught his Twelve Apostles. (Tradition with a capital “T” refers to things like the doctrine of the Trinity; tradition with a lowercase “t” refers to things like abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent.) Since both the Bible and sacred Tradition contain the Word of God, they are always in harmony with one another. The books of the Bible, 73 in all, were written down and collected over the course of many centuries and were preserved through the sacred Tradition. Catholics believe that the Bible communicates the divinely revealed and inerrant Word of God. Every time we hear the Word of God proclaimed from the Bible at Mass, we hear the voice of God speaking to us in the present.
Q: What happens when a person dies?
A: Death is more than an ending: it is a new beginning. In death, the soul is separated from the body, which returns to dust, and the opportunity to accept or reject God’s grace through Christ comes to an end. Each soul then receives the “particular judgment,” in which God respects the free choice made in their earthly life to accept or reject His grace. Those who die in a state of grace and are perfectly purified are immediately welcomed into the company of heaven where they share in communion of life and love with God. Those who die in God’s friendship but are still in need of purification are assured eternal life, but first experience purgatory, a state in which all that is imperfect is purged from their souls. Those who die in a state of mortal sin, which means that they have freely and definitively chosen to reject God’s grace and love, experience eternal separation from God, what we call hell. On the last day, the day of Christ’s Second Coming, the bodies of the dead will be raised and all will experience the “final judgment,” receiving either eternal life or eternal separation from God.
Q: What do Catholics believe about the end of the world?
A: From the Y2K bug to the popular Left Behind series that misinterprets the Book of Revelation, many Catholics are confused and uneasy about the topic of the end of the world. So what do we believe? We believe that there will come a time in human history when the world as we know it will be made radically whole, when the Kingdom of God will culminate in all its fullness. At that time, Christ will return to usher in his Father’s reign. That is why we pray at Mass, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again,” and why we profess in the creed that Christ “…will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” It will be a time of great change, but of eternal peace, happiness, restoration and fullness of life. Thus, “…we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” It is a time towards which all Christian hopes and longings are directed, and it is an essential element of our Catholic faith. The Eucharist we share is a foretaste of that heavenly feast to which we are all invited. Indeed, “Happy are those who are called to his supper.”
Q: If we believe that God is all-knowing, how can we also believe in free will? If, for example, God already knows what I’m going to eat for lunch tomorrow, then do I actually have any choice in the matter?
A: First and unequivocally, we do have free will. Human beings can and do freely choose their actions, not to mention their lunches! God respects our freedom and does not move us around like chess pieces. Yet, God is omniscient. God knows everything, including the “future.” The key to understanding how these two things can be true simultaneously—human freedom and God’s omniscience—is the concept of time. Time is a human construct. That is, we humans are limited by time. Our lives are made up of a series of experiences as we constantly move from past, through present, into future. God, on the other hand, is not limited by time. Though God can and does act in time, God is not limited by time. In a sense, God “sees” the whole timeline all at once, from beginning to end. Some Catholic theologians have said that to God, time is an “eternal now.” So, God knows what decisions you will make in the future, even about lunch, but that’s because God “sees” you make them.
Q: What does our Catholic faith teach about the nature of the human person?
A: Many people mistakenly think that Christianity is dualistic - that it teaches that humans are made up of bodies and souls which are separate, and that the body is sinful but the soul is good. But Catholics believe that human beings, created body and soul in the image and likeness of God, are at once bodily and spiritual beings. There is a profound unity between the body and the soul, so much so that when the two are separated at the moment of death, the human person experiences an unnatural state of being. We are “enfleshed spirits” so to speak, physical creatures animated by that which makes us human: the soul. It is the whole human person, body and soul, that is destined to become a partaker in the divine life of the Triune God. “Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day” ( Gaudium et Spes, 14 §1).
Q: What is the Immaculate Conception? Isn’t that Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus through the Holy Spirit?
A: People often confuse the Immaculate Conception with the virginal conception of Jesus. However, they are not the same. The Immaculate Conception celebrates the “singular grace and privilege” given to Mary by God that preserved her from original sin when she was conceived in the womb of St. Anne, Mary’s mother and our Lord’s maternal grandmother. That is why we celebrate the Immaculate Conception on December 8—nine months prior to September 8, the day when we celebrate Mary’s birthday. On the other hand, we celebrate Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus on the feast of the Annunciation every March 25. Again, this date is exactly nine months prior to December 25 when we celebrate Christ’s birth. So the Immaculate Conception refers to St. Anne’s conception of Mary—“immaculate” because she was free from sin—and the virginal conception of Jesus refers to Mary’s conception of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Q: What does the Catholic Church teach about Judaism?
A: The Catholic Church shares a very special relationship with Judaism and the Jewish People—a relationship that is distinct from those the Church has with other religions. Our faith teaches us that the Jewish people are God’s Chosen People. Out of all the peoples of the world, God chose to enter into a covenant relationship with the people Israel and gave to them the special role of making him known to the nations. This covenant endures to this day and has not been replaced or made irrelevant by God’s revelation in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Rather, it is from the Jewish people that our Savior comes to us. It is within the Jewish religion that we find the foundations of our own faith, so much so that we sometimes refer to Judaism as our “elder brother.” Unfortunately, many Catholics and other Christians have not lived out these truths through the centuries. Our history is riddled with conflict. Because of this, we have sought and must continue to seek healing in our relationship with the Jewish people. We must work together toward mutual understanding and love.
Q: What is meant by the “Paschal Mystery”?
A: The Paschal Mystery refers to the mystery of Christ’s saving death and resurrection. The word paschal comes from the Hebrew word pesach, which refers to the Jewish feast of Passover. When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God sent plagues on the Egyptians to force them to let the Israelites go free. The final plague was the killing of all the firstborn male children. To protect the children of the Israelites from death, God told Moses to have the people sacrifice an unblemished lamb and to smear its blood on the wood of their doorposts. Upon seeing this, the angel of death would pass over their homes and the Israelites would be set free, hence the name Passover. We refer to the saving mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection as the Paschal mystery because, in the same way, Jesus’ blood shed on the wood of the cross frees us from slavery to sin and protects us from eternal death. In is no accident that in John’s Gospel, Jesus is crucified on the same day and even at the same time of day that the lambs are being ritually slaughtered in the Temple in preparation for the Passover feast in Jerusalem.
Q: If God is good and all-powerful, why do we have evil in the world?
A: Unfortunately, we are all too familiar with and cannot deny the reality of evil in our world. Yet as Catholics, we know that God wills only good and is all-powerful to accomplish good. So whence comes evil? In infinite wisdom and love, God created human beings with free will so that our response to his abiding love could be a free response. Soon after our creation, however, humans sinned. Our ancestral parents freely chose evil over good. The consequence of their choice is the state of original sin into which all humans are born, in which we find it impossible to choose good without the help of God’s grace. When we separate ourselves from God’s grace and choose to sin, the result is evil, which leads to suffering. Thus, God is not the cause of evil. All evil is the result of God’s creatures freely choosing sin. The good news is that God always offers us his grace, which alone can bring good out of the evil humans cause. Through God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, God wills to save all humankind from sin and bring us into eternal life. Hence we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from evil.”
Q: Do you have to be Catholic in order to be saved and go to heaven?
A: God desires that all people be saved and share in the fullness of eternal life. Because of his great love for humankind and all creation, God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from sin and death. The Lord’s death and resurrection won salvation for all people, and Christ established his Church so the Good News of salvation could be extended to the whole world. This Church that Christ established fully exists only in the Catholic Church, yet they are not identical. Further, the grace of salvation, which Christ won for us on Calvary, is fully present only in the Catholic Church. Yet, one does not have to be a formal member of the Catholic Church to receive this grace of salvation. This is because the saving grace of Christ and his Church are active outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church. So while it is true that there is no salvation outside the Church of Christ, and that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only way people can attain salvation, that doesn’t mean that you have to be Catholic, or Christian, or even believe in God at all in order to be saved.
Q: Why did Christ have to die for our sins?
A: God created humans for eternal life with him. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they rejected God’s gift of eternal life and were “doomed to die” (Genesis 2:17). Eternal life was no longer possible for our first parents or for us, their descendants. Since that original act of disobedience, the tendency to sin and the reality of death entered into human experience. In his loving mercy, God the Father sent his Son to become one of us in the person of Jesus Christ. Though he was without sin, Christ freely chose to die for our sins, that is, he died in our place, in an act of perfect obedience that defeated sin and death, the consequences of human disobedience. Jesus atoned for our faults and paid the price for our sins to the Father. His death and resurrection make eternal life possible once again for every human being that has ever lived or will ever live! This great gift of salvation is made available to the whole world, and God desires that all would be saved: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Liturgy and Sacraments
Q: Why do we receive ashes on Ash Wednesday?
A: The use of ashes comes from our Jewish ancestors in faith. In Old Testament times, ashes or dirt was placed on the forehead to express grief, especially over the death of a loved one, and to recall human mortality: “Remember man that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” We begin Lent by wearing ashes to express sorrow for our sins and to recall the fragility of our lives. Facing our mortality impels us to repent of our sins and turn back to God now, before we die. The ashes also symbolize our sinfulness. Centuries ago, Christians who had committed notorious sin and who wished to be reconciled to God and the Church were marked with ashes at Mass on the first day of Lent as a public sign of their status as sinners and their commitment to do penance in preparation for Easter, when they would be reconciled with God and the Church. Today all Catholics participate in this gesture as a sign that all are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. We receive ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday to symbolize our commitment to “turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”
Q: Can’t we confess our sins privately to God? Why do we need to confess to a priest?
A: Yes, we can and should confess our sins privately to God. We should ask God to forgive our sins as often as we are aware of them. But that is not enough. Before his death and resurrection, Christ shared with his apostles the authority to extend God’s forgiveness to sinners: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:23). It is necessary to confess serious sins to a priest in the Sacrament of Penance because sin damages more than our relationship with God… it also damages our relationship with the Church. In the Sacrament of Penance, God forgives our sins and restores our relationship with the Church. This happens through the ministry of the ordained priest, who represents the Church and acts on Christ’s own authority. Disclosing our sins to a priest also helps us look at our sin for what it is and name it and take responsibility for it, which opens us up to God’s healing grace. God grants us pardon and renews the relationship that our sin has broken through the ministry of the Church and its ordained minister, the priest.
Q: Why do lay people distribute Holy Communion at Mass?
A: By virtue of their ordination, bishops and priests offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist in the person of Christ, the Head of the Church. Thus, bishops, priests, and also deacons, are considered to be the ordinary ministers of Holy Communion: it belongs to them to distribute the Eucharist to the faithful. If such ordinary ministers are not available, the priest may invite lay people to assist him in distributing Holy Communion. They are then mandated by the bishop in their ministry. The technical name for these lay people is extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. They are “extra”ordinary because the ordinary ministers of Communion are bishops, priests, and deacons. Especially because so many people receive Communion at Mass, because we distribute Communion under the forms of both bread and wine, and because so many people that are homebound or in hospitals desire to receive Communion, these lay people provide an important service to the community.
Q: What is meant by the exchange of peace during the Mass?
A: There are two traditions regarding the sharing of the sign of peace during Mass. In the earliest centuries of Christianity, many churches shared this gesture after the general intercessions and before the bread, wine and gifts for the poor were brought forward. Placed here in the liturgy, the peace signified the reconciliation and communion of the assembly, responding to Christ’s exhortation in Mt. 5:23-24 (“… go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”) The peace thus assured that the people offered their gifts with purity and unity. Though the place of this gesture has moved in today’s liturgy, this meaning is retained. Also in the early centuries, many churches shared peace after the Eucharistic Prayer and before Communion. This practice, which we follow today, invites the assembly to participate in the peace of the risen Christ in our midst in the Eucharistic elements, the same peace Christ shared with his apostles when he appeared to them in the upper room. This gesture calls us to die and rise with Christ in our own lives, which alone gives us this peace.
Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran
Q: What is the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran all about, and who was he?
A: Each year on November 9 the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. This basilica (not St. Peter’s) is the cathedral church and seat of power of the pope as the Bishop of Rome, much like the Cathedral of St. Francis in Metuchen, NJ is the cathedral church and seat of power of the Bishop of Metuchen. This feast commemorates the dedication of the basilica built by the Emperor Constantine, which is said to have taken place on this day. At first the feast was kept only in the city of Rome, but then it was extended to the whole of the Roman Rite as a sign of unity and respect towards the Holy See. Sometimes this basilica is referred to as the “St. John Lateran Basilica,” but there is not actually a saint named John Lateran. The “John” comes from the two patrons of the basilica, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, whose statues flank that of Christ on the façade of the church. The “Lateran” comes from the Laterani family who donated the land on which the basilica stands to Pope Sylvester I in 324 AD.
Morality and Social Teaching
Q: Why does the Church teach that abortion is wrong? Shouldn’t women have the right to choose?
A: The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is wrong because abortion ends a human life. At the moment of conception, a new and unique human life begins. This is not a religious belief or a subjective opinion that only applies to religious people: it is an objectively true scientific fact that does not depend on an individual’s agreement or disagreement. It is true for all people. So how are we to respond to this fact? As citizens of a democratic society that guarantees the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we should seek to legally protect the life of the unborn. As Catholic Christians who believe that all human life is sacred, no matter what its stage of development, we should be outraged at the evil of abortion that destroys thousands of human lives each day. We should pray for and actively work towards the full legal restoration of the right to life for the unborn. Because of the objective nature of the determination that abortion ends a unique human life, no individual should have the legal right to choose to end that life.
Q: What is chastity? What are the requirements of chastity?
A: Chastity is the virtue by which a person lives out the gift of their sexuality according to God’s intentions. God designed sexual intercourse for two purposes that can never be separated or denied: first, to unite men and women together in a life-long relationship of marital love; and second, to allow them to participate in God’s work of creation. Chastity requires that we use our sexuality exclusively for God’s purposes of union and procreation. Those who are not married lead chaste lives not only by abstaining from intercourse, but also by not engaging in any activity that intentionally stimulates sexual arousal or climax. This is because arousal and climax are designed for intercourse, and intercourse is designed for marriage. So the unmarried must never cross the line between physical displays of affection and intentional sexual stimulation or climax. Also, chastity requires that we avoid all forms of masturbation, pornography, non-vaginal intercourse, contraception, and artificial reproductive technologies since all of these deny or separate God’s purposes of union and procreation.
Q: What is the Catholic position on the death penalty?
A: Our Catholic faith holds that all human life is sacred, from conception until natural death. The life of each individual is to be valued as a gift from God, regardless of that individual’s criminal behavior. Notwithstanding this principle, “Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor” (Catechism of the Catholic Church , 2267, emphasis added). In other words, the death penalty is morally acceptable only if it is the only way to protect people from the guilty party. Because the criminal justice system in America is capable of providing non-lethal means for protecting people from convicted felons, the cases in which the death penalty would be a moral course of action are exceedingly rare, if not completely non-existent. For this reason, the Catholic Church is against the death penalty.
Q: Does the Catholic Church teach that men and women are equal?
A: That depends on what you think “equal” means. Yes, the Catholic Church teaches that women and men are both created in the image and likeness of God and in that sense share equally in the dignity of being God’s children. Thus, men and women equally deserve to be treated as fully human persons beloved by God. So if that’s what you mean by “equal,” then yes, the Catholic Church teaches that women and men are equal. However, this equality does not mean that men and women are the same. On the contrary, women and men are different: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). Furthermore, their differences are intended by God because they allow men and women to complement one another. Especially in the covenantal sacrament of marriage, the communion of love that exists between husband and wife reflects the communion of love that is God in a way unlike anything else in God’s created order.
Q: Why is the Catholic Church against “gay marriage” and “civil unions”?
A: “Marriage exists so that the spouses might grow in mutual love and, by the generosity of their love, bring children into the world …” (Administrative Committee, USCCB; Promote, Preserve, Protect, Marriage; 2003). By its very nature, marriage unites one man and one woman in a permanent and faithful partnership of mutual love. While equal in dignity, men and women possess natural differences that complement one another and make them uniquely suited to married life. Because children are the fruit of married love, marriage is also an important social institution—it is the foundation of the family unit, the very building block of civilized society. The Catholic Church strongly opposes what are known as “gay marriages” and “civil unions” between homosexual persons because these relationships cannot express full human complementarity and because they are intrinsically non-procreative. By definition, they can never be what marriage is, and they can never do what marriage does. Accordingly, they cannot be given the status, rights or privileges of marriage.
Q: Is war ever morally acceptable according to the Catholic Church?
A: Because all war involves evil and injustice, all people and nations must work for peace and the avoidance of war. However, “as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed” ( Gaudium et Spes, 79). The conditions for the morally lawful use of military force for self-defense are strict and must be considered and met by those charged to preserve the common good before a nation can engage in a “just war.” These conditions are as follows: 1) the damage inflicted by the aggressor must be lasting, grave and certain; 2) all reasonable alternatives to ending the damage must be exhausted; 3) the defender must have considerable prospects of success; and 4) the means used by the defender must not cause greater evils than the evil caused by the aggressor. Further, non-combatants, prisoners and the wounded must be treated with respect and dignity. Though it is very rarely the case, sometimes war is not a morally unlawful course of action.
Q: Why does the Church teach that premarital sex is wrong? Shouldn’t it be okay if two people love each other?
A: God created human beings as male and female, designing the sexes to complement each other. Men and women help each other develop their full potential as human beings. This sexual identity lies at the heart of what it means to be human. To be whole persons, we must integrate our sexuality into our identity in a way that directs our sexuality towards its proper purpose. This purpose is to unite men and women together in a life-long relationship of love and to allow them to participate in God’s work of creation. Sexual intercourse is simply designed to permanently unite a man and a woman in love and to produce children. Since marriage is the only permanent relationship of love into which all children deserve to be born, sexual intercourse outside of marriage cannot accomplish what it is designed to do. It’s like using a book to hammer a nail: that’s not what books are for. If two unmarried people truly love each other, the last thing they should do is have sex. Instead, the loving thing to do is to help each other use their sexuality properly by waiting for marriage.
Prayer and Spirituality
Q: Where does the tradition of the Advent wreath come from, and what does it symbolize?
A: In pre-Christian times, it was the custom of many Germanic peoples to gather evergreens and light candles in winter as a sign of hope that spring, filled with light and life, would soon return. As early as the Middle Ages, Christians adapted this practice to their own faith, and by the 16 th century, Christians in Germany began lighting candles that adorned a circlet of evergreens to mark their journey through the season of Advent. The shape of the wreath, the circle, has no beginning or end, signifying the eternity of God. Evergreen leaves symbolize the eternal life we find through Christ. The four candles stand for the four weeks of Advent, and their light symbolizes Christ, the Light of the world. The violet candles highlight the penitential nature of the season as we prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. The rose-colored candle, lit on the 3 rd Sunday of Advent, signifies our joy as we arrive at the midpoint of Advent, when our preparation is half over and we draw near to Christmas.
Q: Why do Catholics pray to Saints?
A: In the Nicene Creed that we pray together at Mass, we say that we believe in the “communion of saints.” This phrase refers to all of the members of the Body of Christ—the entire Church—and the relationship of profound union that exists among them. Through baptism and the life of faith, all the members of the Body of Christ are invited into an individual relationship with Jesus Christ, the Head. It is this connection to him that brings the members of the Body of Christ into intimate relationship with one another. Death changes this relationship, but does not destroy it. Thus, both the living and the dead are part of the communion of saints and are in relationship with one another through Christ. This relationship allows us to pray for the saints in purgatory, that they may receive eternal life. This relationship also allows us to ask those who we know to be in heaven, Saints with an uppercase “S”, to pray for us and intercede on our behalf. Praying to a Saint is similar to asking for a friend’s prayers when we are experiencing some need. Saints are friends—praying for us in heaven!
Q: What’s the difference between being a “religious” person and a “spiritual” person? Aren’t they the same?
A: Religion and spirituality are related to one another and should go hand in hand, but they are not identical. Religion is the way in which a group of people express their acknowledgement of God. It is a system of beliefs, morals, and practices related to God that joins its members into a community. Thus, a “religious” person is one who adheres to such a system in the company of fellow believers. Spirituality is the way in which a person seeks an intimate connection with the divine. So a “spiritual” person seeks to deepen their personal relationship with God. Spirituality should always be guided by what is objectively true, lest it become relativistic and detached from reality. Since religion seeks to guide people to what is objectively true, one best engages in the spiritual life in the context of a community of religious faith. Many people in our culture seek to separate religion and spirituality. They say they dislike religion, but they claim to be very spiritual. The danger is that their spiritual journey, unbalanced by a community of religious faith, may not lead them toward objective truth about God.
Miscellany
Q: What are Eastern Catholics? I thought all Catholics were Roman Catholics.
A: Contrary to popular opinion, Catholics come in many varieties. Most people who call themselves Roman Catholics are said to be of the Latin rite, originating in the Western Roman Empire. But Eastern Catholics are from one of five rites that originated in the Eastern Roman Empire: the Alexandrian rite, the Antiochene rite, the Armenian rite, the Byzantine rite and the Chaldean rite. Among these five Eastern rites, there are over 20 different Churches! Eastern Catholics are not Latin rite Catholics, but they are Catholics. If you go to an Eastern Catholic liturgy, you can and should receive Eucharist—and it “counts.” Eastern Catholics are in full communion with the Catholic Church and its leadership, yet they have their own bishops, dioceses, code of canon law, and ways of celebrating the Eucharistic liturgy (what we call Mass). The Western and Eastern Rites have been referred to as the two lungs of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Catholic Churches enrich the life of the Catholic Church in many ways with their diverse cultures, traditions, and theological emphases.
Q: What’s the difference between Catholics and the Orthodox?
A: While there are more similarities than differences between Catholic and Orthodox Christians, the latter are not part of the Catholic Church. Since the eleventh century, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have suffered from the Great Schism. It was in this sad break that some of the Churches in the Eastern Roman Empire separated from those Churches in both the East and the West that recognized the authority of the bishop of Rome, the pope. The historical reasons for this are varied and complex. These Churches that did not recognize the authority of the pope then became known as Orthodox. Our understanding of the papacy is the only significant theological difference that separates us. We share a similar understanding of the Liturgy and the seven Sacraments, yet we celebrate them quite differently. Pope John Paul II has made dialogue with the Orthodox a high priority with the hope that we may all be one. We should all pray for and work towards the day when the Body of Christ may be made whole.
Q: Why can’t Catholic priests get married?
A: While the Church has always held the gift of priestly celibacy in high esteem, it was not always and is still not universally required. Celibacy is optional for many priests in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, such as the Byzantine Rite. Furthermore, when an Anglican or Lutheran minister converts to Catholicism through the Latin Rite and retains his priestly life, he also retains his married life if he was married before he converted. Latin Catholic priests were permitted to marry until the twelfth century. At that time, monastic life became quite popular, and one of its emphases is celibacy. The Church discerned such great practical and spiritual value in the celibate lifestyle, that it became a discipline for all priests in the Latin Rite. Celibacy allows priests to dedicate themselves entirely to the service of the Church without the added responsibilities of family life. Also, along with married life, the gift of celibacy signifies the hope and joy with which we await the Kingdom of God when the Church, the Bride of Christ, will be fully united with her bridegroom.