Below you will find various questions and answers to our Catholic Faith. If you ever have a question you can always go to www.catholic.com for answers. Just type in your question. May God bless you.
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QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MASS and More
Why do Catholics Genuflect before the Tabernacle? When they pass the Blessed Sacrament, Catholics go down on one knee to honor the Real Presence. This posture of subservience makes perfect sense, since Christ is really present in the tabernacle.
Why do Catholics stand at Mass for the Gospel? At Mass we stand when the Gospel is read, out of respect for the very words of Jesus, and we sit to listen attentively to the other scriptural readings.
Why do Catholics kneel at the Consecration? At the consecration we kneel, kneeling being the posture of adoration. What we are doing is praying with our bodies, not just with our minds, and praying that way makes perfect sense for a creature composed of both body and soul. The postures we use during Mass show us—and those around us—what we believe and what we take seriously.
What are the Sacraments? CCC 1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. Sacraments are visible signs of God’s grace; they are actions that not only signify the transmittal of grace to us but also really do transmit grace.
What is a Sacramental? The 1983 Code of Canon Law (CIC) defines sacramentals as “sacred signs by which effects, especially spiritual effects, are signified in some imitation of the sacraments and are obtained through the intercession of the Church” (1166). A few familiar examples of sacramentals are crucifixes, rosaries, candles, scapulars, holy water, anointing oils, and the sign of the cross. read more
Why do Catholics bless themselves with Holy water? We Catholics dip our fingers in holy water and make the Sign of the Cross when entering a church in order to recall our baptism and our baptismal promises. We must remember that holy water, through a priest, is blessed by God in virtue of Christ’s baptism. The Catholic Church possesses enormous power in being able to impart sacramental grace—and holy water as a sacramental receives its power through the prayer and authority of the Church.
Why do Catholics make the Sign of the Cross? Catholics’ sign of the cross signifies two things at once: our redemption through the death of Jesus on the cross and the Trinity as the central truth of Christianity. When we make the sign we trace the cross on ourselves, and we recite the holy invocation: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We affirm what Christ came down to do for us (to redeem us by his voluntary death), and we affirm his chief revelation to us: that God is simultaneously one and three.
Why do we use Incense? incense symbolizes the pleasant odor of Christian virtue and our prayers rising to God
What Do the Bells at Mass mean? answer
How to Become a Catholic? answer
Are you Ill? When to Stay Home from Mass? answer
Why do Catholics Not Eat Meat on Fridays?
Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays in remembrance of the Lord’s passion, and as an act of communal penance. read more...
When does Lent really end? answer
Why do Catholics practice fasting and abstinence during Lent? answer
Why do Catholics put Ashes on our heads on Ash Wednesday? answer
(Blessed ashes are distributed at the start of Lent as a sign of penance and as an acknowledgement of sinfulness and the need for repentance. Ashes are a sacramental, not a sacrament.)
How valid is the consecration of the bread and wine in a Lutheran or Episcopal holy Eucharist liturgy answer
Can going to Mass on a weekday substitute for Sunday Mass? answer
Can I attend a Non-Catholic Church for my Sunday obligation? answer
Why is it a Mortal Sin to Miss Mass? answer
Can Catholics be Cremated? read Vatican document: Ad Resurgendum Cum Christo
Can Catholics Spread Cremated Ashes or Keep them at Home? answer and answer
Why Do Catholics Worship Mary?
We don’t worship Mary. We honor her because she is Jesus’ mother. CCC 2618. The Gospel reveals to us how Mary prays and intercedes in faith. Example: At Cana, the mother of Jesus asks her son for the needs of a wedding feast; this is the sign of another feast – that of the wedding of the Lamb where he gives his body and blood at the request of the Church, his Bride. Also see video HERE for more information.
Scripture and Tradition (Sola Scriptura)
Protestants claim the Bible is the only rule of faith. Click HERE to see what the Catholic Church says about this.
The Importance of Choosing Godparents
Once a Godparent, always a Godparent...
Why Do Catholics Pray to the Saints?
Click Here to find out
How to answer the question “Are You Saved?” read more
How Redefining Marriage Affects Your Religious Liberty
Video
See Also: Same-sex “marriage” video
Can a Catholic take communion in a Protestant church?
Is it OK to work on Sunday?
Which Protestant sacraments other than baptism does the Catholic Church consider valid?
What is the rule for non-Catholics to receive the Eucharist?
May Protestants who believe in the Real Presence receive Communion?
Answer
What do Catholics believe about Salvation?
Is it okay for Catholics to use yoga as a part of an exercise program? answer
Also read the Trouble with Yoga
Check out Pietra Fitness as an alternative to Yoga
Why Can’t Catholics use Astrology, Psychics, Fortune Telling, Ouiji Boards, Reiki?
The practice of trying to divine the future, whether by directly occult means such as calling up spirits (divination, properly speaking), asking questions of spirits (e.g. a Ouiji Board) or by “reading it” in cards, numbers, the stars etc., is forbidden by the First Commandment. The future is known to God alone, who is its Master. Besides being illicit means to gain knowledge (the dead, the spirits, occult powers), such practices suggest that man is not, by means of free-will, a cooperator with God in determining his future. The use of these grievously sinful practices can lead to a fatalistic perspective on life, in which the person feels bound to the judgements of psychics, readers and other third parties, rather than his God-given reason and knowledge of the moral law.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say on these matters,
2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.
2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
Reiki
- Reiki therapy finds no support either in the findings of natural science or in Christian belief.For a Catholic to believe in Reiki therapy presents insoluble problems. In terms of caring for one’s physical health or the physical health of others, to employ a technique that has no scientific support (or even plausibility) is generally not prudent.
- In terms of caring for one’s spiritual health, there are important dangers. To use Reiki one would have to accept at least in an implicit way central elements of the worldview that under-girds Reiki theory, elements that belong neither to Christian faith nor to natural science.Without justification either from Christian faith or natural science, however, a Catholic who puts his or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no-man’s-land that is neither faith nor science.
Superstition corrupts one’s worship of God by turning one’s religious feeling and practice in a false direction. While sometimes people fall into superstition through ignorance, it is the responsibility of all who teach in the name of the Church to eliminate such ignorance as much as possible.
- Since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for Catholic institutions, such as Catholic health care facilities and retreat centers, or persons representing the Church, such as Catholic chaplains, to promote or to provide support for Reiki therapy.
from usccb.org
Why Do Catholics ‘Have” to go to Mass on Sunday? answer
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Why can’t a priest ever marry? answer
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Why do Catholics Pray to Statues? answer
The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, “the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype.” and “whoever venerates in image venerates the person portrayed in it.” The honor paid to sacred images is a “respectful veneration,”not the adoration due to God alone:
Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves,considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is. (CCC2132)
Should I Attend the Wedding or Not?
Answering the question on whether to attend the wedding of a lapsed Catholic who is getting married outside of the Church. answer and answer