Thursday, September 10, 2015

FIVE THINGS MANY CATHOLICS TEND TO GET WRONG

We haven't has a quiz for a very, very long time.  How about one today?

True or False?

1. If you are divorced, you may not go to communion.

Being divorced has no status whatsoever because the Church does not recognize legal divorce except for the legal separation of property.  If a person does not act as though they are single (by dating etc) before they receive a decree of nullity, they may go to communion.  So the answer is false.

2. The Sign of Peace at Mass is not mandatory.

Recently Rome was asked this question and they responded that occasionally the sign of peace should even be skipped.  So the answer is true.

3. It is still Church law not to eat meat on Friday.

The bishops of the United States said that if you want to eat meat on Friday, you should do another penance instead.  So the answer is true but with qualifications.

4. Purgatory is a theological construct that was never an official part of Church teaching largely done away with after Vatican II.  It's purpose was to take a stab at understanding God's mercy in difficult situations.

The reports of Purgatory's demise are great exaggerated.  It is and always has been an official teaching of the Catholic Church though largely misunderstood.  The above description is a better answer for the idea of Limbo.  So the answer is false.

5.  Lectors and Acolytes are official offices in the Church into which one must be installed by the bishop and are not open to lay people.

Most of the people that you see reading at and serving Mass are not lectors and acolytes, they are readers and altar servers.  It is true that there is an actual office of lector and acolyte but they are open to lay persons though, for various reasons, bishops tend not to install them.  In fact, there was a long tradition of actual acolytes serving at our cathedral until a former bishop decided to bring the practice to an end.  For all these reasons the above statement is false.

1 comment:

Poor Stephen said...


Thank you Father, You are correct. These are 5 things catholics tend
to get wrong. But in my opinion, I think there at 5000 things Catholics tend to get wrong. My opinion is worth what you paid for it.

I am faily educated in my faith and even I learned somethig today. So, since there were five questions, and each question was worth 20% of the grade, I got an 80%. That's about right for me.