Class Q & A

In short, the Catholic Church calls all baptized persons to chastity, in accordance with their state in life.

The CCC states (link):

2348 All the baptized are called to chastity. the Christian has "put on Christ,"134 The model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity.

2349 "People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single."135 Married people are called to live conjugal chastity; others practice chastity in continence:

There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others.... This is what makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church.136

See also the following:

Article: CCC Vocation of Chastity

Catholic Answers Tract: Homosexuality

Article: UCCB.org - Homosexuality

Article: Ascension - The Chastity Cheat Sheet

Audio: Formed.org From Love, By Love, For Love - Fr. Mike Schmitz

Full Audio Book: Formed.org Made For Love, by Fr. Mike Schmitz

Book: Made this Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today’s Tough Moral Issues (Ask us if you'd like a copy of the ebook)

In short, the Catholic Church calls all baptized persons to chastity, in accordance with their state in life.

The CCC states (link):

2348 All the baptized are called to chastity. the Christian has "put on Christ,"134 The model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity.

2349 "People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single."135 Married people are called to live conjugal chastity; others practice chastity in continence:

There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others.... This is what makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church.136

See also the following:

Article: CCC Vocation of Chastity

Catholic Answers Tract: Homosexuality

Article: UCCB.org - Homosexuality

Article: Ascension - The Chastity Cheat Sheet

Audio: Formed.org From Love, By Love, For Love - Fr. Mike Schmitz

Full Audio Book: Formed.org Made For Love, by Fr. Mike Schmitz

Book: Made this Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today’s Tough Moral Issues (Ask us if you'd like a copy of the ebook)

God is not limited by time and is the master of time. God had all of history to pick from in order to find the woman who would be the mother of his Son. He didn’t want his Son polluted by sin. As Catholics, we believe that God chose the best possible woman from all history to be his mother. Since she was the best woman in all of history, it’s not really a stretch to understand why Catholics believe that Mary never chose to sin but was completely free from sin. God knew outside of time that he would choose her. So, years earlier, he gave Mary a special grace; she was conceived within her mother’s womb without the stain of Adam’s sin, so that Jesus could be honored by his mother’s purity.

Galatians 4:4-5 and Romans 8:15, 23 deal with our adoption by God through baptism. If we’re children of God, and if Jesus is the Son of God, then Jesus must be our brother. And if Jesus is our brother, and God is our father, then Mary is our mother too.

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Source: Catholic Answers Magazine 5/1/98

Are we Catholics Bible based? Yes. Scripture is needed, but it is not sufficient. It says so in the bible. 

The last chapter of the last gospel of John John 21:25 states "But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Does that mean the other things Jesus said and did weren't important? 

Absolutely not.  2 Thessalonians 2:15 "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." Jesus didn't promise a book, but he promised an authority - the Church. What came first? The Mass or the bible? The Mass. The bible was created to be read at the mass. 1 Timothy 3:15 "if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth."

When someone tells you that all we need is the bible, and not all "this other stuff," You can ask them if they accept the authority of the bible. The authority from which it came. If every word in it is true. If they say yes, then they accept the authority of the Catholic Church.  The Catholic bishops in the Councils of Carthage and Hippo in 393 and 397 determined the canon of the bible. The bible as we know it, didn't exist until 350 years after Jesus' death.  The Mass predates the bible. The Tradition of the Catholic Church determined the bible, and you can't accept that bible, and reject the authority of the Catholic Church. You have to have an authority that determines the truth in what the bible is trying to say.

You can liken the bible to the Constitution, and the Church as the Supreme Court. We have one body that has the authority to teach, otherwise, people will interpret the bible as they wish, and you end up with hundreds of different interpretations and chaos. And that's why there's over 30,000 different Christian denominations.  

Catholics believe the bible is the word of God, inerrant, infallible, and a huge gift from the Lord, but it's not the only way God reveals himself to us. Dei Verbum states that while the bible is the word of God, God also reveals himself definitively or clearly through Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church. Those three have been necessary for the entire history of Christianity.  All Christians believe in the Holy Trinity, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons in one God. That doctrine is not in the bible. It's a teaching of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. There's no Christian who doesn't' believe in the Sacred Tradition of the church. Every Christian believes in the authority of the bible. Even the protestants who have 66. How did they come to the conclusion that those 66 books are authoritative? Because the Catholic Church definitively said these books are the Sacred Scripture.

You can also ask a protestant "Where is the doctrine 'Sola Scriptura' (scripture alone) in the bible? They may point to 2 Timothy 3:14-17 "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Is St. Paul saying all you need is scripture? He's talking about the Old Testament. As a modern day Christian, would you say that all you need is the Old Testament? 

St. Paul said the church of the living God is the pillar and bulwark (foundation) of truth.

The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. 

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Sources:

Catholicism 101: Go Back to Seminary with Fr. Chris Alar - Explaining the Faith 

Why Catholics Use Scripture and Tradition 

Dei Verbum 

TL;DR for the TL;DR: The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ. 

TL;DR - The church is a way for us to encounter the presence of God that we need to live life to the fullest. We can go to it for authoritative teaching and apply what He left us to our lives today. God created us by relationship for relationship. Humans need fellowship because God saves us as a people -a family- therefore we have an organized religion. Human beings are a body and soul composite, so since we exist in our body, the spiritual life has to include the body. This is why Jesus gave us the sacraments – Christ provided us with ritual accompaniments to guide us through Christian life. They are tangible ways for us to encounter God in this life. It’s not enough for us to hear about God from a video, book, or preacher. The only thing that satisfies God’s love for us is to plug into what he did for us – his life, death, and resurrection. When Christ died, the veil of the temple tore in two, because God no longer only existed in the temple, WE are the temple of the living God, the most sacred place in the universe that God felt worth dying for, and in whom He dwells. While Christ walked the earth, He laid the foundation for the church. He left us with the sacraments, so He can continue to encounter people until He comes again at the end of time. People say “I don’t want to follow some man-made religion,” and neither do we. The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ, so that we could encounter and life this spiritual reality through the sacraments here and now.

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The following is sourced from The Search: Episode 7 - Why a Church?

The fastest growing religion in the US is nones. Also, more and more people are unhappy. We throw away religion for what we think it is versus what it actually is.

The journey of faith is the most amazing journey we can take. A ship or vehicle can take you to places you can't go on your own. The church is called the Barque of Peter -a ship is a place where you can quickly and safely venture into the water - safer than swimming on your own. That's what the church does for us. "The church is essentially a way for us to encounter the presence of God that we need to live life to the full. It's the place we can look to for authoritative teaching and interpreting all that He left us, and helping us apply it to our lives today. It takes us into the depths of this life faster, more safely, more efficiently than we could ever hope to go by ourselves."

It's possible to encounter Jesus in our room alone. But it's not enough.

The only way for us to grow into who God wants us to be, and to live the life He intends for us is to be connected with others. We can't fulfill our intended purpose from God and be saved just on our own.

There's a Harvard study that’s been ongoing for over 75 years - The Grant and Glueck study- to figure out how two groups of men's lives would unfold. The research shows that people who go through life in a community, connected to others, end up physically and emotionally in much better shape than their peers. Income, social status, and power were not indicators of happiness. What did was the ability to go through life in a community they were closely connected to. God made us By relationship For relationship. Our God is relationship. We are made in the image and likeness of Him, we are made to be in relationship with Him-the trinity- and also the rest of His creation. Every other human being He's ever created.

We are wired for relationship because we're made by a relationship. Human beings need fellowship with other human beings. He doesn't save us on our own, he saves us as a people. Throughout salvation History, God saves us as a people. Abraham was promised a family that would number the stars. Moses would lead a people set apart.

King David was to lead a kingdom, and one of His descendants would be the king for all eternity. When He started a church, he didn't just encounter individuals. He called us to Himself as a family because He is a father. The church is part of God's Plan for His children - to save us all together.

The fact that God saved us as a family means: we have an organized religion. It was never meant to be a private, personal thing. The communion of persons that is the Trinity, who saves us as a community of persons, intends for us to publicly worship Him together. 

It also means the church is messy. People ruin everything. God chose to need us. And from the start, he chose messy people to work with. Moses, the murderer, David the adulterer, Peter the sinner who denies Christ, and us. There are flaws throughout church History. And really big scandals - the people who make the headlines. The ones who entered the church with the intention of hurting people. How do we still want to be a part of the Catholic church?

There’re many people who have been deeply hurt. It never should have happened. But the church has responded. The safe environment policies have made a difference.

When a bone breaks, the healing process of the body puts so much healing focus on the break that the bone becomes stronger than it was before. This is the mystery of God's love. When sin happens, our God is an incredible source of healing.

You should expect more from the Church and ourselves. There are bad people in the church, but there are also saints. The good people are heroes in the faith. God's calling you to life in the church. When we see scandals in the church we shouldn't leave. It's our church, not theirs. God has shared His life with us and given His teaching to us and all that faithfully follows Him. If you say" I'm leaving because the church is bad" that’s the lazy way out. We have to be part of that transformation. It's amazing how much a parish can thrive with just ONE loving person. One person who loves God and their neighbor can change the world.

The Catholic church is the oldest institution in the western world. First university system, First hospitals. During the plague, when people were running from their towns, Catholic priests and nuns stayed behind to tend the sick and dying. If you have read Plato or Socrates, it’s because they were preserved in Catholic monasteries & passed on to you today. The real History of the church is the History of good people bound by faith to love and serve the world as Christ has. But the church isn't just a humanitarian Organization.

Human beings have a need to express spiritual realities bodily because we are not just spirits. Spirituality is not abstract. We exist in our bodies, so the spiritual life has to include the body. The liturgical experience is part of that. We have incense, processions, we eat, we touch, we bow down, all of these things are meant for our experience to be full. You sitting in your room thinking about God doesn't go very far. As body soul composites, we have to express all these unseen things in our encounters with the divine tangibly.

This is why we have the sacraments.

In the sacraments of the church, Christ has provided these ritual accompaniments through Christian life. As we are naturally born, we are supernaturally born in Baptism. And as we grow in strength, we are given Confirmation which enables us to be strengthened and to mature in Christian life. We are given matrimony, he gives us leaders in the church through holy orders, he gives us healing through reconciliation and the sacrament of the sick. The sacraments represent Christ’s own walk with us throughout Christian life with these sources of power which enable us to be born, nourished, grow, serve, and enter into Glory and enjoy him for all eternity. 

We are a physical people, and God knows that because that’s how God created us to be. That’s the sacramental life of the church. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, while He was walking among us, He left us tangible ways for us to encounter Him through all time. He told the apostles at the last supper “Do this in remembrance of me” so that they would have mass and do it. He left us confirmation and anointing of the sick – confession, so that when we mess up so that we can experience forgiveness in a more direct way. We don’t say “I go straight to God, I don’t need a priest,” you go straighter to God when you go to the sacrament than you could by yourself. Even the timing of the sacraments through our lives, we get God’s life to begin the process of change and transformation to help get us to where we are destined to be. This is the great loss for someone who tries to pursue their faith outside of the context of the church. You lose the power and the grace for the work of transformation God wants to do with us as human beings.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said “At every mass, the curtain of time is torn in two, and you and me are there at calvary.” It didn’t satisfy God’s love for you that you’d hear about him from a video, or a preacher. The only thing that satisfied God love for you is that every Christian throughout History would plug into what exactly he did for us. 

“Body of Christ.” The people of God and Israel valued above all places, the temple. The dwelling of God among men. In the heart of the temple was the Holy of Holies. And separating it from the rest of humanity was a thick curtain. When Christ died, the curtain tore in two. The center of the universe for the Jews was torn in two. Because the new Holy of Holies is you. St. Paul says “do you not know that you are a temple of the holy spirit?” We have all sorts of things that are consecrated – set aside for a sacred purpose. Holy water is consecrated for blessing ourselves. The eucharist is consecrated, becoming the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. We consecrate altars and church buildings, all so we can consecrate us. We are the temple of the living God, the most sacred place in the universe that God felt worth dying for, and in whom He dwells. 

What if what the church says is actually true? That there is a God, which shows us that life has purpose. That God created space and time, so he could put us in it. That God isn’t an angry brute force, but God is love and created us for relationship with himself. When we wandered from His plan, God entered space and time to save us because he loves us. And while he was here on earth, he gathered a small group of followers that he didn’t just call disciples, but called them His friends. He proved His love for us and showed us just how much we are worth by dying for us. He conquered death by rising from the dead and he calls us to new life. But the best part is this isn’t some story, this is our life story. While he was here, he was laying the foundation for a church.

He wasn’t just leaving us with a message, he was establishing a body of believers. He wasn’t just encountering people, he was leaving us with the sacraments, so he can continue to encounter people through the sacraments until he comes again at the end of time. It’s about the encounter that empowers us to live the life we were made for. People say “I don’t want to follow some man-made religion,” neither do we. Our religion was founded by Jesus Christ. Jesus started the church so we could encounter and live this reality in our lives here and now.

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Sources:

Video: Formed: Why a Church?

Additional Sources:

Vid: Fr. Mike - What's the Point of Religion?

Article: Catholic Answers - Religion, Why Bother?

Vid: Catholic Answers - Bad reasons to reject religion

Vid: Catholic Answers - Why be Catholic instead of anything else?

Vid: Fr. Mike - Do all "good people" go to heaven?

Vid: Catholicism 101: Go Back to Seminary with Fr. Chris Alar - Explaining the Faith 

TL; DR: There's non biblical proof;  lots of martyrs died for their faith. 

There's only a tiny minority of critics that believe Jesus never existed historically, but there are a lot of shallow online atheists. 

There are several non-jewish ancient historical accounts of Jesus. Josephus and Tacitus both have accounts of Jesus written less than 100 years after his death.

Josephus was a Jewish military leader who started out against the Roman empire, and later worked for them. He wrote The Jewish Wars and a history of the Jewish people known as the Antiquities of the Jews. He was never a Christian. He wrote Jesus was a “wise man”, and the Christians were a “tribe”. “At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of people who received the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians (named after him) has not died out.”

The Roman historian Tacitus writes in his Annals, that after Rome burned, Nero placed the blame upon the Christians. “Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius.” he had no love for Christianity, and called it a “mischievous superstition.”

These two historians were no friends of the early Christians, yet clearly documented their existence, their belief, and the existence of the historical Christ.

St. Paul was a real person (we have his letters). Historians are as sure Paul's letters exist as they are that Plato's exist.

There are only 3 non biblical sources (Josephus, Tacitus, and Philo) that reference Pontius Pilate, a powerful Roman governor, and that's enough to prove he existed. So it makes sense that there wouldn't be many historical sources proving the existence of a poor fisherman. It's believed only 1% of Greek literature written before 250 BC still exists. If it's enough proof to prove Pilate, it should be enough proof to prove Jesus.

There are some critics who claim the pagans had several “dying and rising gods” and Jesus is just a myth like them. But the fact is the dying and rising represented the crop cycle, and not the god myths themselves.

Unlike mythological characters, the Church is founded on the apostles, who martyred themselves for a teacher and Lord they personally knew. The Faith they died for is about a real man who lived in a place you can visit, died a death recorded by historians, and rose from the dead with evidence to corroborate it for believers today.

Did Jesus exist? The answer is that he did, and he still does.

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Source:

Catholic Answers: Did Jesus Exist?

Additional links for this topic:

Vid: Catholic Central - Who is Jesus?

Vid: EWTN - Historical Evidence Behind the Existence of Jesus Christ

Word on Fire: The Claim of Christianity: Did Jesus Really Exist?

Great question!  I'll start with the second part of your question - "Do we need to be called "Catholic' or can we be 'Christians' too."  The word "Christian" first appears in Chapter 11 of the Acts of the Apostles where it says; "and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called 'Christians'."  This happened near the end of the 1st century.   The word "Catholic" was first used by St. Ignatius of Antioch in the first 10 years of the 2nd century.  So it's not a question of either/or but of both/and.  All the followers of Jesus of Nazareth were called "Catholics" by the 2nd century.

The word "Catholic" means "universal" and we call ourselves Catholic because it describes the scope of Christ's saving mission and the extent of the community he founded.  Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and his church, the Catholic Church, is open to everyone. 

The word "Catholic" is not a denomination, like Methodist or Lutheran.  The word "Catholic" describes a quality or a mark of the Catholic Church -  that it is universal.  Denominations didn't begin until the 16th century.

So does it matter what we call ourselves?  YES!  We call ourselves Catholics because our church was founded by Jesus Christ when he said to Peter, "And so I say to you, you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

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Additional links for this topic:

Article: Why do some Protestant denominations not consider Catholics to be Christian

Vid: Fr. Mike - Why be Catholic and not just Christian?

God established the kingdom of Israel with the twelve sons of Jacob. Centuries later, he appointed David as the king who would unite this kingdom. Centuries after that kingdom was divided, Jesus established a new kingdom by appointing the twelve apostles. 

To unite this new kingdom, which is the Church, he appointed Peter as his vicar here on earth. Jesus is the king, but he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter. This means Peter and his successors play the role of the “prime minister”, or the right-hand-man, or the steward of the king while Jesus is gone. 

The papacy may be a divisive topic today, but clearly God gave his Church a pope as a sign of unity for all who are a part of the new kingdom Christ established. The papacy is actually God’s gift to the Church. It ensures the Church will be united in one faith, one baptism, and the worship of one God who entrusted his Church to the successors of the apostles under the leadership of Peter’s successor, whom we call the pope.

Some people complain about organized religion. Well the alternative to organized religion is disorganized religion. Jesus left us an organized religion with apostles. Peter was left in charge of the apostles, and then, to this very day, that structure of authority has been passed down in the pope and in the bishops. Why? So that we can serve these leaders as a church? NO! The purpose of a well-organized institution is to serve the people, and that was Jesus's mission - that we'd be able to encounter him until he comes again. And that we would stay One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic church.

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Source:

Vid: Fr. Mike - Why Catholics have a Pope 

Article: Defending the Papacy 

Vid: Why do Catholics Have a Pope? (Why is he a big deal?) 

Trent Horn, catholic apologist, answered this question on Catholic Answers live. Here's a paraphrase of his answer, with the video linked below.

There are two common claims skeptics will make to undermine the historical reliability of the Gospels. The first says their authors are anonymous, and the second says that they were written too long after the life of Jesus to be accurate. 

Ask them "What is your standard for a document in the ancient world to be reliable?" If we hold the standard of reliabillity to documents written no longer than 20-50 years after the event, you're going to have to throw out the majority of what we know of ancient history. It will not meet that criteria. If the gospels don't meet your standard of reliability, then you have to throw out almost all of ancient history as well, and if you don't - then you have a double standard against the bible. War Veterans describing their experiences of war 50, 60+ years later as clear as if it was yesterday. If we trust that, that's within the transcription of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which were written before 70 AD.

As for the authorship, ask "How is it that in the ancient church we never found a manuscript that said a gospel was written by someone else?" If they were anonymous, why would you pick nobodies like Mark and Luke, or a lower tier author like Matthew? See The Case for Jesus by Brant Pitre, which has a whole series of chapters on the reliability of the gospels.

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Source:

Vid: Are the Gospels historically reliable? Catholic Answers live 

Additional Links:

Book: The Case for Jesus by Brant Pitre

Formed: Lectio: The Case for Jesus (9 episode Video Series) 

Formed: Lighthouse Talk (1hr) The Case for Jesus

Anyone who dies in God's grace and friendship, but with some imperfection remaining, has to get that taken care of before they get into heaven. Purgatory refers to a purification. It might be a place, it might take a certain amount of time, but we don't know any of that for certain. It just means that we didn't become perfect before we died, so God is finishing the job. Becoming perfect involves suffering. We've grown attached to our imperfections, so when they're purged out of us, it hurts for a bit, but once they're, there's infinate bliss on the other side. It's assumed, however, that the severity of one's punishment will be directly proportional to the severity of the sin.

There's 3 things Catholics believe about purgatory.

1. A place of final purification exists

2. The process is painful or involves discomfort

3. The prayers of those on earth can assist those going through this process

Jesus, by his life, death, and resurrection, took away the eternal consequence of our sin - the eternal separation from God (hell) . Our sins don't only have an eternal consequence, but a temporal (in time) consequence. Even when we are forgiven, we are now attached to sin. We have a proclivity to that same sin, and there are some consequences in time we have to deal with. 1 Corinthians 3 attests that the purification will be "as through fire."   

The time in purgatory can be reduced by our prayers when we offer up a mass or our communion for the souls in Purgatory.  To obtain an indulgence, a Catholic must complete an act listed in the Vatican-issued Handbook of Indulgences; for example, praying the Stations of the Cross or abstaining from pleasurable activities.  (The pope and other clergy may also declare certain, special acts worthy of an indulgence—for example, taking part “attentively and devoutly” in the celebration of World Youth Day or Divine Mercy Sunday).  These “acts” of devotion can be either plenary or partial. The effectiveness of your act depends on the sincerity with which you complete it. (More earnestness, more time off.) 

It is good to remember that an indulgence, whether plenary or partial, does not forgive sins; that can only be done by going to confession.  Indulgences merely lessen the time in purgatory.

We’ll discuss “indulgences” in more detail in one of our future classes.

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Source:

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1030 

Catholic Answers: Fastest Explanation of Purgatory 

Vid: Fr. Mike - What you should know about purgatory 

Vid: Formed - Stations of the Cross (22m) - Enter into our Lord's Passion and Death with the Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori. The meditative tone and pace of this devotional video featuring Catholic artistic masterpieces allows for true accompaniment with Jesus along the Way of the Cross. 

DECREE OF THE APOSTOLIC PENITENTIARY ON SPECIAL INDULGENCES CONCEDED FOR THE 20th WORLD YOUTH DAY IN COLOGNE  

Luke 6: 12-15

12 In these days he went out into the hills to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles; 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

The Catholic Encyclopedia defines “apostle” as “one who is sent forth, dispatched—in other words, who is entrusted with a mission, rather, a foreign mission. It has, however, a stronger sense than the word messenger and means as much as a delegate.”

A disciple just means a student, someone who studies under someone else. Everyone who is a follower of Jesus is a disciple. But some of Jesus' students were comissioned as ambassadors to do things on his behalf. It included "The Twelve." Paul and Barnabus were also apostles, comissioned to preach the gospel from the Holy Spirit in Acts 13. The special "12" were meant to be eyewitnesses to the ministry of Jesus. The Twelve stand out. When Judas died, Peter said "we need to pick someone who's been with us since the start of Jesus' ministry."

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Source:

Catholic Encyclopedia - Apostle 

Catholic Answers Live - 3/28/19 50:37 

Canon Law states that in addition to having completed the Sacraments of Initiation, a person must be at least 16 years old. The reason is that the godparent must be able to assist in forming the child to “live a Christian life befitting the baptized and faithfully to fulfill the duties inherent in baptism” (CIC 872).   

Source:

Code of Canon Law 872 & 874 

Here are a few questions from the book Did Adam & Eve Have Belly Buttons? And 199 Other Questions From Catholic Teenagers - Matthew J. Pinto.

This book is easy to read and the answers are concise and accurate. Check it out.

These questions are answered in the first few pages. Rather than copy and paste, read it directly here via:

Ch. 1 of Did Adam and Eve Have Belly Buttons? by Matthew J. Pinto 

Question #1  "Is there really a God?" Stephen C., 15

Question #2  "Other than the Bible, how do we know God exists?" Travis C., 14

Question #3  "Who is God?" Jan Rio P., 14

Question #4  "What is the nature of God?" Nathan T., 15

Question #7  "How did God create Himself?" John D., 14

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Additonal Sources:

Vid: 3 Minute Catechism - Episode12 - Who is God?

Vid: St. Thomas Aquinas' Favorite Argument for the Existence of God (Aquinas 101)  

TLDR: The Catholic Church does not have an official interpretation of the passage, and allows for various beliefs.  

Father Mike says that theories are ok, "as long as it’s within the parameters of the dogma that we have solemnly defined by the Church, then you get to take an interpretation one way or another. One of the biblical principles for interpretation, is: provided that it doesn’t contradict scripture, and provided that it doesn’t contradict an article of faith, then there’s opportunity to read more deeply at, like, a symbolic level. So we have the literal sense and the spiritual sense."

So, it could be that the people in the bible lived very long lives before the flood. Literally.

Or, The ages could be symbolic. They are all multiples of 19. Long life could have equated to much honor or respect.

Biblical scholar Dr. Scott Hahn explains in his commentary on Genesis that, “Perhaps the best hypothesis, and one that would help to explain both the biblical and Near Eastern data, is that giving primeval figures extremely long lives was a way of conceptualizing the great antiquity of mankind. In other words, this may be simply a literary technique used to assert the remarkable age of the human race itself.”

Fr. Edward McIlmail explains, “God’s original plan for Adam and Eve was immortality — they wouldn’t die. But Adam and Eve fell, and sin entered the world. As we go through the Book of Genesis we see that the life spans of key figures get shorter. This seems to figuratively represent how sin brings death into the world.”

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Here's what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches about scripture:

II. INSPIRATION AND TRUTH OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."69

"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."70

106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more."71

107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."72

108 Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book." Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God, a word which is "not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living".73 If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures."74

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT, INTERPRETER OF SCRIPTURE

109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.75

110 In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression."76

111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written."77

The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it.78

112 1. Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture". Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover.79

The phrase "heart of Christ" can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted.80

113 2. Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church". According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (". . . according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church"81).

114 3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith.82 By "analogy of faith" we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.

The senses of Scripture

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."83

117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism.84

2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction".85

3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.86

118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:

The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;

The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.87

119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgment. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."88

But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.89

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Source:

Catechism of the Catholic Church Article 3 

Vid: Catholic Answers - Did people in the Bible really live 900 years? 

Article: Catholic Answers: One Text, 4 Senses 

Article: Aleteia - Did Noah really live for 950 years? 

Article: Southern Nebraska Register - Ask the Register: did they live that long? 

The short answer is “No.” The basis for the Church’s teaching on ordination is found in the New Testament as well as in the writings of the Church Fathers. 

Here is a Tract from Catholic Answers - The following quotations from the Fathers constitute a part of the tradition on which this infallible teaching rests.

Men and women are made in the image and likeness of God. Formost in our intellect and our will, to know and to love. Women are of equal dignity as men. Eve is taken from Adam's side - they are equal. The Church points to Scripture and Tradition. Jesus appointed men as ordained ministers. Jesus power was not lacking, he was not held by the status quo at the time. He often speaks to women first - such as the woman at the well. He is friends with women, and the Blessed Virgin Mary is the greatest saint there ever was. She was the Theotokos - the God Bearer. And yet Jesus didn't appoint her as a priest.

Pope St. John Paul said in 1994: "The fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the nonadmission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as a discrimination against them," the Pope wrote. "Rather, it is to be seen as the faithful observance of a plan to be ascribed to the Wisdom of the Lord of the Universe."

Fr. Gregory Pine drops this nutshell at the end of one of his videos: "Christ chose what He chose, His choice was not limited, that it's enduring, that is received as such, and perpetuated as such by the Church, and we confirm that it is good because it comes from God who is wise, and who disposes all things unto the praise of His Glory."

The Venerable Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen said "The Blessed  Mother is the beginning of the church. The new Eve. And there's many children came from Eve, and now many children are coming from Mary. And this is the reason why women cannot be priests. Because it is man who gives the seed. The Lord says the WORD is the seed. The woman received the seed, nourishes it, fosters it, loves it. There is no question of inferiority or superiority."

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Source and More links:

Vid: Fr. Gregory Pine - Women Priests: Why Doesn't the Church Allow It? 

Vid: Ask Fr. Josh - Can Women be Ordained as Priests? 

Article: ETWN - Why Women Can't be Priests 

Catechism of the Catholic Church - Part 2 Sec 2 Chapter 3 Article 6 

Vid: Fulton Sheen - Why women can't be priests 

From Catholic Answers: It is called a tonsure and was used to mark a man in the clerical state–in other words a man who had taken religious vows.

This practice finds its origin in the Old Testament (Nm 6:18) and is very much alive in the New. Paul had his head shaved when he made a vow (Acts 18:18); others did likewise (Acts 21:23-24).

The practice continued throughout the early Church and became formalized as part of the externals marking a man as an ecclesiastic. The tonsure was generally part of the ceremony for admitting a novice or a seminarian. In 1972 the “minor orders” were combined with the order of deacon, and the tonsure was no longer required.

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Source:

Article: Catholic Answers - Why are male saints often pictured with a shaved head? 

Catholic Encyclopedia - Tonsure 

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith says:  “The Church does not dogmatically teach that Catholics can’t do the stretches or positions associated with yoga, but Catholics are absolutely not permitted to embrace any of the spirituality associated with yoga.”

Although some Catholics consider yoga as “New Age” because of its pre-Christian origins in Hinduism, the Catholic Church has not forbidden it, because it does not require a single religious meaning.  Pilates is an exercise program, not a religious statement.  Indeed, there are agnostics and atheists who use yoga and/or Pilates to improve their breathing, posture, coordination and concentration. 

Possible misuses of yoga and other non-Christian forms of meditation and prayer are addressed in the October 15, 1989 “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation.”  That document cites Vatican II’s Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christians Religions that the Catholic Church “rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions” (#2).  I think most Americans who use yoga or Pilates do so for exercise.  There is nothing wrong with that.

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Source:

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH  LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON SOME ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION*  October 15, 1989 

Additional links:

EWTN: Women of Grace Looking for Church Teaching on Yoga? 

Video: Exorcist Carlos Martins says No Yoga, no Crystals 

Video: The Whole Carlos Martins Talk (1 hr)

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: "“Noe was a just and perfect man in his generations” and “walked with God” (vi, 9). Hence, when God decreed to destroy men from the face of the earth, he “found grace before the Lord”. According to the common interpretation of Gen., vi, 3, Noe first received divine warning of the impending destruction one hundred and twenty years before it occurred, and therefore when he was four hundred and eighty years old (cf. vii, 11); he does not seem, however, to have received at this time any details as to the nature of the catastrophe. After he reached the age of five hundred years three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth, were born to him (vi, 10). These had grown to manhood and had taken wives, when Noe was informed of God‘s intention to destroy men by a flood, and received directions to build an ark in which he and his wife, his sons and their wives, and representatives, male and female, of the various kinds of animals and birds, were to be saved (vi, 13-21). How long before the Deluge this revelation was imparted to him, it is impossible to say; it can hardly have been more than seventy-five years (cf. vii, 11), and probably was considerably less. Noe had announced the impending judgment and had exhorted to repentance (II Pet., ii, 5), but no heed was given to his words (Matt., xxiv, 37 sqq.; Luke xvii, 26, 27; I Pet., iii, 20), and, when the fatal time arrived, no one except Noe’s immediate family found refuge in the ark."

The church doesn't have a definitive teaching of when the flood was, but here's an article from the Catholic Encyclopedia about the Deluge

Dr. John Bergsma talks about the flood here on Pints with Aquinas

The church also doesn't teach that the Ark has been found. Here's an article about the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

If you really want to geek out on Noah, the flood, and God's covenant, listen to Jimmy Aiken's Mysterious World episode: The Bible and the Great Flood

From Catholic Answers:

The following are some general principles in Church documents regarding the use of sacred music at Mass:

Sacred music is for the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful (SC 26).

Sacred music should consequently possess, in the highest degree, the qualities proper to the liturgy, and in particular sanctity and goodness of form (Tra Le Sollecitudini 2).

It must be holy, and must, therefore, exclude all profanity not only in itself but in the manner in which it is presented by those who execute it (Ibid.).

The introduction into the celebration of anything that is merely secular, or which is hardly compatible with divine worship, under the guise of solemnity should be carefully avoided (MS 43).

Instruments that are generally associated and used only with worldly music are to be absolutely barred from liturgical services and religious devotions (MS 63).

Gregorian chant should be given pride of place in liturgical services (SC 116).

There must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them, and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing (SC23).

Article: Catholic Answers - Rules on Music used for Mass 

Blog: Blessed is She - How to Choose Songs for Mass

Short answer is No. The Church cannot alter the books it has received and declared canonical and inspired. There will never be a "newer" testament. 

Here's an excerpt from an article from Catholic Digest about Public vs Private revelation: 

Public revelation, or divine revelation, is God revealing himself to humanity. The Church teaches that public revelation, as revealed in salvation history, was perfected and completed in Jesus Christ.

“The Christian economy … since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” [see Dei Verbum 4; see also 1 Timothy 6:14; Titus 2:13]. Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries (CCC, 66). 

The Church has long taught that public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle, as the Apostles faithfully taught Jesus’ message. The Church carefully guards its deposit of faith, awaiting its fulfillment in the final coming of Christ.

Yet while the Church maintains that “no new public revelation is to be expected,” the possibility for private revelation continues. However, not all private revelation is viewed as authentic.

Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium  knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept “revelations” that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such “revelations” (CCC, 67). 

The Church teaches that alleged private revelations cannot supersede, change, or improve what has already been revealed through public revelation, of which Jesus Christ is the final Word. This argues against new age mystics, or psychics predicting futures or reading palms. It also rejects as inauthentic the revelations of non-Christian religions such as the words of Mohammed in the Koran, or Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon.

And a teaching from EWTN on the same topic.

Nope! Did you know the guy who came up with the Big Bang was a Catholic Priest!?

Georges Lemaître: The Priest Who Discovered the Big Bang w/ Prof. Jonathan Lunine (Aquinas 101)

Ascension Presents: "I Believe in Science" vs. "I Believe in God"  

Bishop Robert Barron: Why the Supposed Conflict Between Science and Religion is Tragic Nonsense 

No.

God loves all of us, and wants us to love him, choose him, and live with him forever in heaven. God gives us every opportunity in this life to freely trust the Lord and love Him and choose Him. Not everyone chooses Him. Jesus talks more about hell than any other figure in the bible. He said "Narrow is the road that leads to life and wide is the road that leads to destruction," and many are on that road. "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kindom of my Father, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven." Do you do God's will?

You can get hell by choosing hell, or by not choosing God. 

Our choice is fixed at death, and then our eternity is restricted by what we've chosen.

Source:

Vid: Fr. Mike - Is Judas in Hell?

Catholic Answers: Why can't the souls in hell repent?