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Welcome Amazing Catechists

Published by webmaster on November 18th, 2011 - in Catechetics Online, Website News

Catechetics Online has teamed up with Lisa Mladinich of Our Sunday Visitor fame. Lisa has published some incredible resources for catechists to help them prepare for classroom work. She is a Catholic wife and mom, writer and workshop teacher, and the founder of www.amazingcatechists.com. We are proud to call her a friend of Catechetics Online and look forward to working with her and her team at Amazing Catechists in the future. We are serving as their home forum and will be featuring some of their columnists in our blog feed in the future. Visit today!

 

 

 



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Catholic Charismatics

Published by webmaster on August 29th, 2011 - in apologetics

Question: What is a “Charismatic”?

Answer: To directly answer your question the common understanding of “a charismatic” in Catholic circles is a person who practices a spirituality that is founded in the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church. Both Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI approve of the renewal. To flesh it out a bit, the renewal is built up through the charismatic gifts which the catechism speaks of:

Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning “favor,” “gratuitous gift,” “benefit.” Whatever their character – sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues – charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church. – Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2003.
The renewal in the Church is distinctive than Protestant charismatic Christianity.
At the heart of a world imbued with a rationalistic skepticism, a new experience of the Holy Spirit suddenly burst forth. And, since then, that experience has assumed a breadth of a worldwide Renewal movement. What the New Testament tells us about the Charisms – which were seen as visible signs of the coming of the Spirit – is not just ancient history, over and done with, for it is once again becoming extremely topical. – Cardinal Suenens, 1983
Common groups within the renewal include Franciscan University of Steubenville who have a particular call to the practice of the renewal through Father Mike Scanlon. At the heart of the summer youth conferences which serve some 40,000 teens is Eucharistic Adoration where the Holy Spirit is judged to give many attendees special gifts of healing, forgiveness, peace, rest, tongues, etc. The clergy and religious have a special role of discernment. There are also Life In the Spirit seminars throughout the nation, special healing Masses with charismatic priests, and local parish groups that practice a charismatic spirituality.

Distinctive of the renewal is a loyalty to the faith and teachings of the Catholic Church, a devotion to the Sacraments, and a focus on spiritual formation leading to right living and perfection through the grace of God. Many self-avowed Catholic charismatics also have a significant attachment to the Traditional practices of the faith such as the rosary, Extraordinary Form of the Mass, Adoration, and chant as well as newer forms of non-liturgical worship. And of course there is the devotion to the Holy Spirit, stronger than most forms of spirituality.

Significant books for today to better understand the renewal include Ralph Martin’s The Fulfillment of All Desire, Dr. Alan Schreck’s Your Life in the Holy Spirit, and Sober Intoxication of the Spirit by Father Cantalamessa.

In some way we are all called to be charismatic in the sense that we remain open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and renew our relationship with the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, while we may not be members of the renewal or practice their distinctive spirituality. It cannot be contested that the fruits of the renewal are significant, especially in the call to conversion, expression of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and production of Catholics who are practice a strong fidelity to Church teaching.


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The Catechism in Examples

Published by webmaster on August 25th, 2011 - in Catechetics, Catechetics Online, Reviews

Great teachers teach in examples. For those of you familiar with the text “How to Win Friends and Influence People” the entire book is written in just a few sentences – if you take out all of the stories the author tells. The whole book is basically stories. We remember stories. The catechism is our key tool of the trade, after the Bible. The catechism though is not written in stories. It’s not suppose to be. We should take the catechism though and teach the doctrines we intend to convey to our students using stories as often as possible, an the more creative the better, so long as they remain faithful. We all know Paul VI’s famous line “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” (EN, 41) Sometimes though it can be difficult to come up with relevant and reverent stories for the faith. That’s where Catechetics Online comes in – we have stored the entire 5 volume series “Catechism in Examples” on our website, totally free for your use. Just use the search bar to search by key word, or browse the whole text. It is even easy to print each volume off in its entirety if that’s your fancy.

And remember to add your own stories to The Project or on our forums to share with catechists all over the world!


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The Greatest University in the World

Published by webmaster on August 24th, 2011 - in Reviews

Not that I am biased or anything, but your faithful webmaster is at Franciscan University of Steubenville right now finishing his final graduate course preparing for the exams at Damon’s Grill on campus. I joined the university after I converted to Catholicism and have an undergraduate degree and am now finishing my Masters in Theology. I have gone to three colleges and the professors are by far some of the best I have ever had. I can confidently say that nearly every one of them truly loves and cares about their students. The program has always been intense, but it has been worth it. If you work in the catechetical field and have never considered a master’s degree the university offers a MA in theology through a distance education program. You listen to recorded lectures, communicate with your professor, and complete assignments within 6 months. The degree ends with a comprehensive final exam and is much more affordable than most on campus programs – yours truly has been able to pay for the MA in cash. I’ll be paying off my BA until I’m 112. Check out more at www.franciscan.edu



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Why Did The Israelites Have To Make Sacrifices To Atone For Sins?

Published by webmaster on August 23rd, 2011 - in apologetics

Question: Was it just because God said so, or do we know the reason behind it?

Answer: I am writing this without by biblical commentaries or notes, so I would be happy if another scholar chimed in. The answer is a long one, and in fact Scott Hahn’s texts on Salvation History help explain the Mosaic Law. I recommend a Father Who Keeps His Promises. There is also Singing in the Reign by Michael Barber and The Lord of History by Danielou.

As you are familiar with God established his relationship with us in the Garden of Eden when he created us. God made us for communion with God. Adam and Eve were perfect in the garden of Eden. John Paul II often called us to ‘become what we are meant to be”. Perfection is being all you are suppose to be before God. Adam and Eve were living their vocation fully and perfectly before the fall. With that perfection they could exist peacefully and perfectly with God.

God himself cannot be in the presence of a sinful being. His perfect simplicity (utterly unchanging nature) does not allow for it. After the fall and the introduction of original sin we have a broken relationship with God and incur the penalty of death – after all only God holds us in existence and gives us life. Since God is perfect and we have, through our own choice, severed our ability to live with God and have a relationship with him, God establishes a covenant with us through a sacred oath, a family bond.

Our relationship with God is restored and we are brought back to perfection only through God’s covenant promise and redemption in Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament God established a covenant with Moses (Gen 15,17,22) in which sin was atoned for by placing the penalty for sin on the sacrificial animal as a form of restitution. Actual sin could be atoned for through this method of sacrifice at the temple. However we know from the second reading of the law in Deuteronomy that God hates our sacrifice because our hearts are not with God, instead we remain broken by original sin. At the end of Deuteronomy Moses declares the blessings for keeping the law and the curses for breaking the law with the nation of Israel. The curses far outweigh the blessings and there is a planned obsolescence (failure) built into the law. Moses, in Deut 30:1-6 declares that he knows the Israelites will fail to atone for their sins through the law and sacrifice because at the root they have a sinful heart and a broken relationship with God. There must be more than simply making restitution. These sacrifices can only serve to condemn the sinful man, who no matter how much he offers at the temple, must offer faithfulness to God, rather than sacrifice (Hebrews talks about the Law and Gospel extensively, the Old Testament fathers were saved by faith in God rather than the precepts of the law).

Since this mode of restitution through sacrifice left us broken God eventually sends his Son to fulfill the law through the sacrifice of Himself to atone for the sins of the world. There in through faith do we celebrate the perpetual sacrifice of the New and Everlasting Covenant through Christ in the Mass. He becomes the Lamb of God through which restitution for sin as a matter of justice is rectified and our relationship is not only restored, we become a new creation in baptism (1 Peter 3). Not only is our conscious cleansed, but our very souls are and we are brought into newness of life, and it is up to us to cooperate with that grace. No longer to we sacrifice animals for our sin, but Jesus Himself is our sacrificial lamb. Perfection for the Christian now is to die to ourselves so that Christ may live in us. St. Teresa of Avila expressed the heights of perfection in perfect mystical union where the soul is more divine than human as God so completely lives in us again. Pretty amesome if you ask me.


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Joining the Catholic Church

Published by webmaster on August 22nd, 2011 - in Catechetics

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Whether you just stumbled on Catechetics Online in a search engine or if you are a member here, we are glad you are here.

Are you interested in finding out more about how to become a Catholic?

Do you ever ask yourself…
• What am I looking for in life?
• What is the meaning of my life?
• How can I be a better person?
• What can I do about the loneliness I feel?
• How can I come to know God’s love?
• How can I know the right path God has in store for me?

If you are asking these questions, or questions like them, the Catholic way of life awaits you. For centuries, people have turned to the Church to find the answers to the deepest and hardest questions of everyday life. All of the Catholics here at CO invite you to learn what Catholics believe in an open and welcoming environment. Your local Catholic Church also has opportunities for you, and others that you may wish to invite, to ask those perplexing and difficult questions you may have about the Church through a program called “RCIA”. It’s like membership classes, but you are under no obligation to become Catholic. Not every RCIA class is created equal, and if you have questions about the one you join, ask us here. Through RCIA, which starts in the fall, if you decide to become Catholic you will be enrolled as a catechumen (if you are not baptized) or a candidate (if you are baptized). You will receive the Sacraments at the Easter Vigil the highest feast day in the Catholic Church where we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Links that will be helpful:

Find a Catholic Church: masstimes.org
Don’t be afraid to go to Mass! No one is watching you and you won’t stick out if you are not fully participating. Just being at Mass does the soul good. Don’t be afraid to ask the priest after Mass for help and let him know you want to know more. You’ll make his day (or week, or year).

Ask questions you have here: Q&A
Only approved priests and professional catechists can answer. You know the answers you are getting are truth.

Explore more on your own: Catholic Articles
The defense directory is filled with information on the Catholic faith.

We will not find true peace and true fulfillment until we allow ourselves to rest in the arms of our Savior, Jesus.

We’re here to help, and we’re praying for you. What are you waiting for?


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21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Published by webmaster on August 21st, 2011 - in Scripture Reflections

As Catholics we seem to forget that Sundays are Holy Days of Obligation. When we hear that term, Holy Days of Obligation our minds tend to wander immediately to days like Christmas where we have to go to Mass even if it falls on a day other than Sunday. Every Sunday though is a celebration of the 8th Day, Resurrection Day, where we celebrate Christ’s victory over death and the new creation.

Who is the Church though to tell us we “have” to go to Mass on these days? What are we going to go to hell if we don’t go? Let’s meditate on today’s Gospel:

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesare’a Philip’pi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Eli’jah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Many people would interpret this phrase in its immediately historical context forgetting the deep significance of Jesus’ words at play here. Peter becomes the first among equals having been called out Jesus. Peter is to feed the sheep (John 21), make the first proclamation of the Gospel to Israel (Acts 2), leads and settle disputes in the Church (Acts 15), and have the role of the man with the keys of the kingdom. Only Jesus has such authority that he can delegate it to another man, and after King David, Jesus chooses Peter from one of the 12 to lead the Church. This new seat of authority is not to disappear, but is passed on through the laying on of hands. His office is not under any human protection, but the guard of the Holy Spirit himself. Peter’s Church is to outlast any man made civilization and his successor sits on the same throne today with Peter’s bones buried nearby.

So why did the See of Peter, with the authority of Jesus, declare that we must go to Church on Holy Days of Obligation? The same reason we make our children go to school. It is good for you. Mass though is even better for you than school. It is the School of the Eucharist. You can’t live without that grace in your soul, at least you can’t live well. Blessed John Paul II calls us to be who we are as Catholics and fully embrace our Catholic identity. Mass is one way in which we do that. When we neglect the grace of the Sacraments, freely given, we place our own souls in danger because we neglect our relationship with God. If you never told your spouse you loved him or her or rarely spent time with them, you would be in danger of ruining that relationship too. It is out of love, not a desire for fear, that the Church declares Sunday Mass a necessity for the good of the soul.


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Preparing for the Relaunch: Future Religious Campaign

Published by webmaster on August 21st, 2011 - in Website News

As we gear up for our website relaunch we’ve decided that instead of advertisements or other types of money making campaigns we are going to be all about helping our future religious enter religious life. Many young Catholics with vocations to religious life are required to pay off all of their debt before entering their religious order. For those with school debt this can be a daunting task, putting off their entry for years or longer.

We have started a campaign for nominations on the Internet because we are limiting our website to helping only 6 religious at a time. Their names, future orders, debts, and profiles will always be on our website sidebar, and will be on every page of the website so visitors will see it. As the campaign begins we hope they will be willing to post their vocation stories to our blog.

As soon as the campaign is up and running we will be one step closer to relaunching our website! Remember that anyone can join our forums or our website and contribute their own ideas and projects in this open community.


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A New Doctor of the Church

Published by webmaster on August 20th, 2011 - in Catholic News

Pope Benedict XVI declared a new Doctor of the Church today, St. John of Avila. Not to be confused with St. John of the Cross, also a companion of St. Teresa of Avila. St. Teresa of Avila though was one of the saints who would listen to him preach.

St. John of Avila becomes only the 34th Doctor of the Universal Church.

Vatican Radio reports:

“Pope Benedict has announced he will proclaim St. John of Avila Doctor of the Universal church. His announcement came on Saturday at a Mass for young seminarians in the cathedral of Santa María la Real de La Almudena in Madrid.”

Wikipedia gives us more insights:

He saw in the severing of natural ties a vocation to foreign missionary work and prepared to go to Mexico. In 1527, while he was in Seville looking for a favorable opportunity to set out for his new field of labour, his unusually great devotion in celebrating mass attracted the attention of Hernando de Contreras, a priest of Seville, who mentioned him to the archbishop and Inquisitor General, Don Alonso Manrique de Lara. The archbishop saw in the young missionary a powerful instrument to stir up the faith in Andalusia, and after considerable persuasion Juan was induced to abandon his journey to America.

His first sermon was preached on 22 July 1529, and immediately established his reputation; crowds thereafter packed the churches at all his sermons. At Seville he was brought before the inquisitor and charged with exaggerating the dangers of wealth and closing the gates of heaven to the rich. His innocence of the charges was quickly proved, and by special invitation of the court he was appointed to preach the sermon on the next great feast in the church of San Salvador, in Seville. Like other Spanish mystics of the period, including La Beata de Piedrahita, he was suspected several times during his career of belonging to the Alumbrados, deemed a heretical sect.

He began his career as apostolic preacher of Andalusia, aged thirty. After nine years he returned to Seville, only to depart for the wider fields of Cordova, Granada, Baeza, Montilla and Zafra. For eighteen years before his death he was the victim of constant illness, the result of the hardships of his apostolate of forty years. He was declared Venerable by Pope Clement XIII on 8 February 1799 and beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 12 November 1893. In 1970 he was canonised by Pope Paul VI.



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YouCat Youth Catechism

Published by webmaster on August 20th, 2011 - in Catechetics, Catholic News, Reviews

There has been a lot of controversy over the new Youth Catechism from Ignatius Press known as “YouCat”. Based on various other blogs including the near famous dialogue with Aquinas and More regarding the way in which the text is translated. The publishers reply was not satisfactory and Aquinas pulled the book from their shelves.

YouCat was produced for World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain in 2011. Translation into various languages has been extremely problematic with at least one translation prompting recalls. The English translation is also under fire and I have taken the time to examine it.

YouCat is set up in question and answer format, and for those of us who still love the concept of the Baltimore Catechism this is great news. The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is also done in question and answer format. After each question the full Catechism, meant as the normal source for local and age specific catechism, is summarized followed by a second paragraph which is meant to explain the faith in a simple way for teens. It is usually this second paragraph that causes trouble.

I have asked around our parish and to other catechetical professionals about what they think of the offending paragraphs in the catechism. The response has been very mixed. Some believe the text is faithful and interpret it as such, others see problems with it, similar to Aquinas and More.

This leads me to the conclusion that a revision is in order and that the text is ambiguously written, and sometimes even misleading enough that non-evangelized teen readers may use the text to justify a false belief, such as that the homosexual act can be approved and is a path to salvation. It is somewhat of an unwelcome conclusion because a text like this is much needed in the Church. I hope a revision is quickly prepared and a second edition can be released soon.


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