Called To Communion - May 11, 2020- Dr. David Anders

come I'm Teresa Tomeo in a call to communion with dr. David Anders starts now what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests one eighty three three two eight eight EWTN I don't understand why I have to earn salvation one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six why do I need to confess my sins to a priest what's stopping you this is called to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network well a happy Monday to each and every one of you thanks so much for joining us here on EWTN it's call to communion this is the program designed primarily for our non Catholic brothers and sisters if you'd like to be on the program the number is eight three three two eight 8 e WT n that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six we asked the question every day on this program what is stopping you from becoming a Catholic if you're outside the United States and Canada we'd love to get your answer to that question as well the number for you is one two zero five two seven one two nine eight five and we'll put you straight to the front of the line at one two zero five two seven one two nine eight five you can always send us an e-mail CTC at ewtn.com or you can text your question to dr. Andrews text the letters ewtn two five five zero zero zero wait for a response text your first name and your question message and data rates may apply I'm Jack Williams sitting in today for Tom Price who has the day off your call screener is Ryan Penney producing the program today mr. Charles Barry and Jeff Burton handling our social media endeavors at least for the first half of the program so if you're watching on YouTube or Facebook live you can type a question into the chat window and amaya it may find its way to us by the end of the program our host is he is every single day at this time dr. David Anders how are you jack I'm fine how about you you know what I am fantastic you know we live in interesting times we've been talking about that a great length but here in the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama our Bishop Bishop Robert Baker made provisions for outdoor masses this past weekend and also if you don't have the capability for an outdoor mass for there to be distribution of Holy Communion and I know you traveled a little bit to the slightly more northern reaches of the diocese and actually were able to attend Mass outdoors my wife Johnetta and I watched the cathedral Mass live streamed on the internet and then drove downtown and were able to receive Communion afterward and boy I'll tell you it's you know I don't know what your experience was David as a convert but when I was going through the RCIA program I had a situation that needed to be hashed out so I was not able to enter the church at the Easter Vigil I actually came in in the middle of December later that year but my longing for the Eucharist was so great during those five or six months and that's kind of what it reminded me of to receive our Lord this past Sunday and Holy Communion we got to get a mouse as a family for the first time in a public ceremony public mouse really two months the first time like everybody else and it was fantastic it was tremendous and we bright sunshine we got there and my eleven-year-old said daddy why do those people have umbrellas 30 minutes and he knew why they had a number of son that's a parasol today exactly but but it was glorious and we were so grateful and I'm with you there on your longing for the Eucharist I remember before my my entry into the Catholic faith like you I did not come in at Easter Vigil I came in in November if not December and but but for a year or two before I had was even certain I was going to be Catholic but I was being drawn more and more to the Catholic faith more and more to Christ as he was presented to us in the church I remember driving into the parking lot of a Catholic parish near the home I was living in and I would go there at night and park my car in the parking lot and just sit and look at the church because I knew that in the tabernacle of the church Christ was reposed and that was about as close as I could get to the Eucharist at that time in my life but that was my act of devotion to drive into the church parking lot and think about Christ in the Blessed Sacrament so what I actually went to Holy Communion it was a bit of a trip I'll tell you yeah you know it's interesting because when I grew up in st. Louis which was a in my era of youth was a very very very Catholic place and as a matter of fact when I was a small child they used to say there were three kinds of people in st. Louis Catholics Jews and tourists and so growing up in that environment you know I lived in us in a small town where the biggest building in town was the Catholic Church and you know thought I had a pretty good handle on what was going on but I remember the first time I met with a priest before I converted I had no earthly idea of the Church's teaching on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist so if we have some of our evangelical brothers and sisters that might be listening to the sound of your voice today who might be saying dr. Anders what is the big hoopla about this communion stuff well to talk about communion we have to say something about sacraments and what is a sacrament well a sacrament is a sign or a symbol we all know what signs and symbols are but there's something unique about the signs and symbols of the Catholic Church they come with a promise from God that when when you enact the symbol the thing that is being symbolized will also be made present and that most symbols don't work that way you know I mean like if I if I the the three letters do G or assemble a sign to indicate a dog but if I if I write do G on my little yellow pad a dog does not suddenly pop up on my desk right the symbols of the Catholic Church the sacraments when you enact a symbol the reality is they're also made present by the power of the Holy Spirit what is symbolized in the sacrament of the Eucharist the presence of Christ with us so intimately present to us how can you have be more physically intimate than mastication eating it's about as intimate as you can get literally taking something inside your body but Christ says when we enact that symbol when the priest can fax that sacrament the reality is given to us as well Christ Himself body and blood soul and divinity given to us that's how close that's how intimate the Catholics relationship with Jesus is this is not mere sentiment this is something that transcends sentiment and reason and as an it is a kind of Union unlike anything else in the created world again the number is 8 3 3 2 8 8 e WT n that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six what is keeping you from becoming a Catholic or maybe you are a fallen away Catholic or a Catholic who's found some solace in another Christian sect or somewhere else and you're contemplating possibly returning to the church we want to talk to you today and also if maybe if you're in dialogue with someone who finds themselves in that situation please give us a phone call today at eight three three two eight eight e WT n that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six it's EWTN it's called communion with dr. David Anders [Music] there is no single event it was more gradual you know eventually you just don't go one Sunday and then you don't go two Sundays in a row then went through a divorce and ended up being a single parent if I didn't have church or god I would be back at that lonely stage that trouble stage whenever you get anxious and worried about things you just know that Jesus has it under control if you've been away from the Catholic Church for any reason visit catholicscomehome.org while we're on the road again with the coach Danny abramowicz the road to spiritual fitness this time a five-step plan for men just finished a wonderful interview with them on the book coach tell us what this books about and why it's important for men I think basically because men are sort of asking themselves am i really happy the way my life is going right now and I think our hearts will never rest until it rests was the Saint Agustin said and I think this is Doug as a guide based on scriptures and the Catechism not my personal opinion those things I had to walk through this myself over 30-some years and that's why I put it in his format it's not a book to read and throw over in the corner it's not like a journal or whatever you have to take your time and it will change your life the road to spiritual fitness a five-step plan for men available through the religious catalogue and look at the entire interview coming soon this has been a bookmark we appreciate you stopping by and we'll see you next time [Music] eight three three two eight a EWTN is our toll-free number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six a couple of open lines for you be sure to check out women of grace tomorrow morning 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time join my lovely wife John at Williams for a program that is geared towards women but as she always likes to say real men listen to women of grace so lots of good spiritual advice and all sorts of things that you'll find out there so check it out tomorrow women of grace live tomorrow morning 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time right here on EWTN radio first stop for us today as far Hoda Dustin is in Fargo listening to EWTN on real presence radio Dustin thanks for holding your own with dr. Anders hi dr. Andrews your reflections on the Eucharist before the break were were the exact topic that I'm interested in and the context that for my question revolves around the differences between the Protestant belief of Communion and the Catholic belief um my my wife is Protestant I'm Catholic and last night in a discussion we were talking about the differences in faith and I told her how I feel that as a Catholic understand my understanding of the Eucharist there are certain Grace's that I'm able to receive from God because of because of the my faith in the Eucharist and she wanted me to articulate like what those extra graces were that I was getting that she's not getting in her understanding of communion and I feel like like I could I could talk to her for an hour about about it but it's such a big question that it's kind of hard to even articulate and and you know with you formerly being a prostitute sure how how little like those differences are sure absolutely so first of all I just want to say by way of preface anytime someone says to me the Protestant view of communion I must point out that there is no such thing there is no such thing there are different Protestant conceptions of communion they're different there there are at least three major schools of thought within Protestantism on Holy Communion and they differ from one another at least three there are variations on those three so Martin Luther for example believed in the doctrine of the real bodily and local presence of Christ in the Eucharist he thought that when you partook of Holy Communion that you held Christ in your hands and placed him in your mouth or he was placed in your mouth and you really did have a and real and local participation in the body and blood of Christ that was Luther's point of view John Calvin also believed in a real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist in Holy Communion but he did not think it was local meaning he thought that when the communicant communed he received a substantial participation in the actual physical body and blood of Christ but in a manner that transcended locality and was communicated mystically through the spirit sometimes called the spiritual presence then you have swingley who thought that Holy Communion was by and large a merely symbolic reenactment of the Passion of Christ and a memorial in the sense that we would just call to mind the events of the passion but that we were not communicated we did not commune in the actual real presence of Christ's body but so three three different ways of conceiving of communion in the Protestant church not just one and and it's I point that out because historically Protestants were hesitant to go the way of just pure symbol they didn't want to go pure symbol they might not have wanted to go all the way transubstantiation with the Catholics but they they wanted to nod the head at least some towards the idea of a real participation in Christ's body and blood and Holy Communion why did they want to do that for two reasons one scripture teaches it and two sacred tradition is unanimous about it and they knew if they if they went too far with Zwingli then they would have to give up their allegiance to the Bible and any claim to continuity with the historic Christian tradition why do I say scripture teaches as well Christ is the one that said my flesh is real food my blood is real drink and this is my body this is the blood of the Covenant this is the chalice of the New Covenant poured out for you this language and of course understood for 2,000 years in a universal way in one way within the Christian tradition east west north south doesn't matter Christians across the globe Catholic or not understood those words in their in in their literal sense in the way in which Christ communicated the true body true blood now your wife's question so what do we gain from that like why does it matter why does it matter so let me begin here's one issue that the Protestants definitely disagree with Catholics about but it's it's it's principal it's primary it's most important one and it's a substantial difference by giving himself giving him get by giving us his substantial presence his body and blood Christ has left to the church and offering that we give to God the Eucharist the real process of Christ in the Eucharist is there first and foremost so that we have a perpetual offering to give to God the mass as a sacrifice now that is something that all Protestants deny virtually all Protestant maybe a few like very high church Anglicans may waffle on this but by and large all Protestants deny the sacrificial nature of the mass and this is the principle difference between Protestants and Catholics so this is a generalization most Protestants go to church to receive something to receive an experience to have information communicated to them in a good homily or a lesson or a teaching maybe to have their emotions elevated by engaging music or or inner you know entertainment to some extent ratification they go to receive something to be moved to be changed to be edified to be lifted up something of that sort those are good things nothing wrong with with receiving edification and an uplifting of your emotional state by going to Christian worship but that's not the principle reason that Catholics go to worship Catholics go to worship to give something to God namely his do Saint Paul says gift everyone what is his due honor to whom honor reverence to whom reverence custom to whom custom and the principal act of the virtue of religion is to give sacrifice worship to God that's why Catholics go to Mass not primarily to have our minds changed in the sense of somebody communicating information to us or instructing us or elevating our emotions but that we come and bring something to God namely the offering of our very selves along with the Holy Sacrifice of the mass offering up the body and blood of Christ by leaving his real presence with us it is not it's not mere verbage when we say to God the Father we offer you Lord this saving cup now you say is this really a sacrifice right because I mean look it doesn't seem to cost us anything to offer the body and blood of Christ to God you're absolutely right but it calls Christ and he left that so that we could offer it you know when I was a child I would go to the Presbyterian Church and here comes the offering plate my dad would reach in his pocket he'd grab a quarter he'd hand it to me he's here put this in the offering plate who made the offering me I did I put it in the plate who gave me that with wherewith I made the offering my father my god excuse me my father provided me with the gift that I would then turn around give to God that's exactly what God does for us with the Holy Eucharist when Abraham and Isaac are going up on the mountain Isaac looks around says dad we hadn't got offering Abraham says don't worry son God Himself will provide the offering now Abraham had different ideas but he didn't know how prophetic his words were that's exactly what God did he provided us with the offering so we are able to give God do you worship Jesus says the father seeks true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and in truth that's the offering of our very selves along with the body and blood of Christ we can give God that do you worship now when you bring that attitude that understanding of Christian worship it transforms your entire life your understanding of the church your understanding of worship understanding of human relationships is radically transformative or has the capacity to be pious 2/12 says that Holy Sacrifice of the bass properly understood and entered into is the most efficacious way of obtaining sanctity as sanctity is about offering ourselves in love and charity and when you enter into the dynamic of Catholic worship under sunder standing with intention with love and grace then it transforms you into being a person of sacrificial love not somebody who's just permanently set on receive mode but somebody who is who begins to orient their entire life around give mode and not just receive me that's a radical difference in the conception of Christian worship and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is essential to understanding the sacrificial nature for the mass and how it functions as a sacrifice so that's number one number two we by having a real substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist the mass the Eucharist excuse me a Eucharist communion becomes the focal point of the church's unity we all won one loaf Paul says because we partake of the one loaf the one bread or one body in Christ the Eucharist constitutes expresses symbolizes in affects the church's visible unity see the church is not just an invisible collection of people who carry Jesus around in their heart known only to themselves no it's a visible Society it's as recognizable in the world as the nation of France where is the Catholic Church well where is the Eucharist celebrated in communion with the bishops together in union with the Bishop of Rome the Pope everybody knows where the Catholic Church is it's a visible Society and the Eucharist is the the ground that establishes the visible communion of Christ's body the church a fellowship you can be admitted to or excluded from and acknowledging that when we enter into the prayer of Christ that those who confess his name would be visibly one in a manner that the world of unbelievers would recognize the invisible church of Protestants does not have that character but the visible communion of the Catholic Church grounded in that Eucharistic Fellowship has that visible character that Christ desires so when you partake of the Eucharist in this manner you enter into a dynamic of Christian identity of a communion that is bigger than your own interior life it encompasses your neighbor in a common right grounded in that physical presence of Christ all right communicated to us by the sacrum of Holy Orders in apostolic succession again something that our Protestant friends lack so they may celebrate a Eucharist but they can't tell if what that constitutes they don't know where the boundary lines of the church fall finally in the sacrament itself we have we have an assurance the word of Christ's promise see Protestants are always very big on the question do you know for sure the evangelism explosion which is a little evangelism program Jack Kennedy came up with back in the 1980s or 70s EE he used to ask your your mark you'd get a mark you know I said if you died tonight you know for sure you'd go to heaven they're very big on the question of assurance well you can't know for sure you're gonna go to heaven because you don't know if you're not gonna fall into mortal sin tomorrow but what you can know with certainty is am i in fellowship with Christ today and the sign of that Fellowship is that I'm in communion with his body in Holy Communion and I'm admitted by the jurisdiction of the church that public entity that possesses divine authority if you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have life so why viatical is so important in catholic canon law we don't we do everything in our power to make sure that a soul receives that file communion before death so it is a tangible point of reference not just not just assembly of my interior relationship with God the knowledge of which the is purely subjective but it is an object of external standard that if I commune in that physical sacrament like this you can't walk away did I go to communion today you're not in doubt I know that I'm in communion with Christ body both the body that is the church and the body that is the Eucharist with certainty because it's subjective it's not subject to by own interior whim or feelings and it can be difficult in marital relationships when spiritually we're not exactly in the same place I know you can't relate because I'm sure when you decided that you thought you were being called to become a Catholic I'm sure Jill is just a hundred percent on board right off the bat huh yeah I wrote a book about that eight three three two eight eight EWTN is our toll-free number that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six thanks Dustin so much for that phone call we have iris in Germany is watching us on YouTube and she says confession is available here I've been away from the church a while spent months examining my conscience and writing down the things I went to confession I now recall other sins I do not want to receive Communion unworthily do I pray for healing of memories and move forward how long do I wait before being absolved is there a timeframe okay thanks I really appreciate the question so I'm I'm catching a whiff of scrupulous 'ti here and why do I say that it was quite a scrupulous --'tis crew ferocity is a kind of neurotic obsession with the question of my moral purity and and kind of picking away at my conscience picking away my conscience never having any peace and it's not good condition right it's it really it really impedes us in the life of Grace and holiness why do I think that maybe picking up a whiff of scrupulous 'ti here well you you said previously that you had examined your conscience for months to try to determine all of the things you ought to confess that sounds like a pretty thorough examination of conscience to me and and definitely made in good faith with an intent with with no intent to hold anything back and so that is a good confession and every sin that you committed prior to that confession is absolved and you're good you can go to Communion and your conscience is clear now if you really feel like there's another mortal sin that you didn't confess you bring it up in your next regular confession but but you're good to go to communion and I'm thinking give yourself a break really is what I'm thinking EWTN is called to communion with dr. David Andrews eight three three two eight eight EWTN father wave manesis the father himself gauges his son capital G as the most perfect one to act in his stead he whom the father himself sent into the world the leading Catholic voices are on EWTN radio scripture tells us that David beat Goliath with a sling and five smooth stones funny the rosary looks kind of like that the rosary is a Catholic devotional prayer a set of one our Father followed by ten Hail Marys is called a decade you do five decades and you have a rosary and for each decade we meditate on a mystery from Jesus's life so the prayers we're breathing in and out set the stage for an encounter with the Word of God do a quick search online for the mysteries of the rosary which are different for each day of the week what I really love about old school Catholic devotionals like this is simplicity I'll be honest it's not always easy to pray or to lead my family in prayer what do I do what do I say rosary problem solved look every family's a mess in its own special way bring God into the mess your family's problems might be goliaths maybe the solutions are simple as a sling in five smooth stones this is Krista fanuc from real-life Catholic comm on ewtn radio here's today's quote from mother Angelica's perpetual calendar God's whole attitude towards us as one of intense love we have to understand that if we're going to understand the spiritual life that's why the will of God in the present moment and the love of God in the present moment are the same mother Angelica's perpetual calendar is available from the ewtn religious catalogue at ewtn our sitcom that's ewtn our c-calm how aware are you of your mortality do you make regular visits to the cemetery we want to know how you pay respects to those who have passed on that's tomorrow on take 2 with Jerry and Debbie at 12 p.m. Eastern now back to call to communion with dr. David Anders [Music] eight three three two eight eight EWTN is our toll-free number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six next stop is Peoria Illinois Stefanie is in Peoria listening to st. Bernadette radio Stefanie thanks so much for holding you're on the program hi I would like to ask if God allows any soul to wander the earth at all after death you keep hearing stories of people experiencing spiritual things and I do believe some of those are absolutely demonic I would just like to know are all these spirits or things that people see or somehow experience are they all canonic okay thanks I appreciate the question so as you know it sounds like your well cat accosted in this matter the the Church teaches that that there are there are only two final resting places for the human person after death heaven and hell and prior the resurrection of the Dead that Souls the just can also go to purgatory which is kind of an antechamber to heaven and we also know that all the way from the the taurah the law that God gave to Moses the people of God have been have been and completely forbidden to commune with the dead or seek to communion with the dead in any way necromancy spiritism clairvoyance mediums all that kind of stuff absolutely superstitious terribly terribly wrong and profoundly dangerous profoundly dangerous to the soul and in fact the the Catholic exorcists today will tell us that the vast majority of people who get who have a serious problem with demonic oppression or even or even possession are those that that monkeyed around with the occult or spiritism this kind of thing that it's just profoundly dangerous deeply wrong so so whatever speculation we may have on this has to fall within those parameters and it should never generate an unhealthy curiosity about the fate of the deceased Souls and whether we could be in contact with them or receive communications from them we should make no allowances for such things whatsoever at all now if I'm clear on that let's consider a few other facts there is ample evidence from Sacred Scripture itself that God does on occasion permit the souls of the just the souls of the just to appear to souls on earth for some edifying purpose a paradigm example would be Matthew chapter 17 the account of the Transfiguration Moses and Elijah are visible with Christ to the Apostles all right so that's a that is a very interesting case these are these are souls of the just dead and they are visible to the apostles for purposes of edification namely to testify to the preeminence of Christ that's why they came and for God in his own for his own miraculous reasons allowed that particularly thing they didn't seek it they didn't ask for it they didn't try to call up the spirits in any unholy way but God permitted them to be seen now down through the history of the church we have occasional stories that amount to private revelation and so they're not there one is not obligated to believe them and one should not ground any sort of dogmatic claim based on these kinds of accounts but but they have been recounted to us sometimes by pious people who have been canonized by the church whose opinions or at least worthy of note of similar things down through the centuries of the souls of the Justins sometimes the saints who may appear for reasons of edification I've heard some interesting stories about st. Faustina for example being seen by by women in distress in Poland even 5060 years after her death and then you know inevitably the communication is Jesus alone and go to Jesus go to Christ go to the Catholic Church go to the Blessed Mother get your sins forgive and repent of them and live the gospel something like that may be communicated again paradigm case of this sort of private revelation of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary many of which have been approved by the church clearly these this is a soul of Blessed Virgin after she left her earthly dwelling appearing but again to testify to Christ to the truth of the Catholic faith to the life of repentance not to encourage people in any kind of vain curiosity necromancy or spiritism anything like that what about the souls of the damned could the souls of the Damned ever be seen by a faithful or the unfaithful in this life now here were on much shaky er ground right and well the only thing we have to go on that I'm aware of is there are Catholic exorcists and again this is this is this is just private revelation or even maybe not private revelation maybe it's private deception but there are Catholic exorcists who who recount anecdotes I mean these are just anecdotes you understand that sometimes in the context of an exorcism they encounter something that appears to be along with the demonic infestation the cries or the souls or the sufferings or some sort of expression of the state of the Damned this is a realm of deep mystery it's nothing to be investigated in a kind of vain curiosity and it but it's the only evidence that I have that can bring to bear on your question so what's the safe opinion and where we walk away from all of this you know if someone makes a claim to some sort of supernatural or occult phenomenon of any kind either either from the side of you know this was a saint and this is some holy inspiration I had or this was something demonic or what my default position beginning or an off the bat is skepticism and and a kind of an attitude of a determined irrelevance right because whatever this thing is the chances are it has absolutely no bearing on the question of my spiritual life whatsoever at all because my duty towards God and neighbor in my state of life is plain and even if the Blessed Virgin Mary appears to me she's not gonna tell me to do anything other than what I already know to do which is repent of my son believe the gospel love my wife to care my kids you know live the life of the virtues be humble be contrite die and go to heaven and faith hope and charity that's all she's gonna tell me to do so whatever somebody claims to me it cannot deflect from those trees and basically it's a matter of vain curiosity 833 to 880 wtn is our toll-free number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six next up is Robert in Covina for and you're watching us on ewtn TV today Robert you're on with dr. Anders dr. Anders it's a pleasure I've been listening to recently and you have turned me on there are some things you've been saying that it's very inspirational and I just love it every bit of it I want to know if the official start date as a Roman Catholic Church and why they're called Catholics and not Roman's yeah thanks so how about Pentecost 8033 when when Christ fulfilled his promise to pour out the Holy Spirit on the church and gathered Jew and Gentile alike into a common fellowship and 3,000 souls were baptized by his name Peter on that day so that's that's a we could call that the birthday of the church and with a close anticipation coming of course in Caesarea Philippi when Christ declared the st. Peter prophetically Europe Eater and on this rock I'll build my church give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven what have you bought on earth is bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven gates of Hell will not prevail so Christ there established his stated his express intent to call out a visible society founded on the rock of st. Peter to whom he gave this executive authority together with the other apostles who also had the power of binding and loosing now question about Catholic Roman Catholic Ignatius of Antioch third Bishop of Antioch after Saint Peter including Saint Peter is the first person to use the word Catholic the Greek word catholicos which just means universal but the concept the concept that the church would be universal in scope is a biblical idea and it is it is we found it in the teaching of Jesus as well as of course very very explicitly in st. Paul so remember when Christ said that that in in in the final day and the feast with Abraham and all the saints in heaven that many of the sons that the kingdom will be cast out but many will come from the east and the west and take their place at the table with Abraham in that fellowship in the kingdom of God and in similar passages where Christ speaks about this Old Testament promised that in the Messianic Kingdom that it would be the Gentiles the nations that we'd be gathered in to the people of God and it wouldn't just be a matter of Abrahamic genealogical descent and circumcision but it would be all those who were who were called to faith in God through the Messiah the law will go forth from Jerusalem and the nations will stream to Zion and that course is fulfilled to the Ministry of Christ who came and said the kingdom of God is among you and many will come from the east and the west and take their place with Abraham and the prophets in the kingdom of God and of course st. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 that the great mystery of the gospel is that now Jew and Gentile together are one body in Christ and the dividing wall of hostility the law with its commandments is done away with nailed to the cross and so that that universality of the faith in Christ there's no male or female Jew or Greek slave nor free we're all one in Christ because of faith in Him and that this is one faith one Lord one baptism not not fifty five thousand different faiths or ecclesial organizations but one faith and so when questions arise about the content of that Christian faith the church can call a council as it did in Acts chapter 15 in Jerusalem and say it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you the following command and then lay down legislation that is binding universally throughout the Christian world white foundation of Canon Law and that's exactly the way it operated so then the Apostles like saint paul and barnabas carry that like nunzio's you see out into out into the wider christian world say this is what the council this is what the ecumenical council of jerusalem decreed and all christians are obligated to follow this law and if you don't you're not in fellowship with the church that christ founded or in 1st corinthians chapter 11 where st. paul says if anyone wants to be contentious have some other practice know that we have no other practice nor do the Churches of God see it wasn't the First Baptist Church of Corinth where all the rules and policies and leadership structure were voted on in that local congregation independent and isolated from what was going on in Galatia or Rome or Antioch or Jerusalem no you have to be in fellowship with the universal Catholic Church throughout the world anyone wants to be contentious we have no other practice nor did the Churches of God can't say I follow Paul I follow Apollo's I fall Barnabas I follow Cephas I follow First Baptist I follow first pres I follow Henry the eighth I follow John Calvin no no we we have one Lord one Christ one universal Catholic faith founded on the rock of Saint Peter that's a biblical idea now you know Ignatius of Antioch who grasped the significance of this thing attach the word Catholic to that because it's just a description of what the Bible is just a categories of term to describe what the Bible had already established as a universal scope and inclusiveness of of the Catholic Church that Christ founded now why Rome you say why Rome well remember that the church the church is founded on the rock of st. Peter alright so where Peter goes there is the Catholic Church where Peter went was Rome went to Rome and we know from sacred tradition right from sacred tradition that when Peter died at Rome that that his see that means his Episcopal office passed in his power passed to his successor there in Rome that's not just a belief of say the the bureaucratic Catholic Church you can find this east-west north-south even among those Christians that today would consider themself Orthodox would recognize recognize the historicity of this claim that the Church of the second century recognized that that Petra in thority and the sea of Peter passed to Rome and that's why we call Roman 8:33 to 880 wtn is our toll-free number eight thirty three to eight eight three nine eight six next up is Rebecca in Longmont Colorado a first time caller listening on the catholic radio network Rebecca what's your question today for dr. Anders sure always coming back to the church involved I left when I was in Middle School with the rest of my family there everybody became Baptist and so I became Baptist and I married Aptus and my struggle with coming back is how to talk to my husband without hurting because they feel like he's gonna take it you're telling me our marriages hasn't been a marriage and I you know I know he's going to be very confused okay okay great I appreciate the question so I got I got a couple things for you first of all I want you to talk to your priest at your parish about the possibility of radical summation it's a big technical word but what it essentially means is it is it is the process the church uses to convolute ate a marriage like yours when the will to be married exists in both parties but one party is who's not Catholic is not willing to formally cooperate in the process of the Cohn validation does not want to leave like still wants to be married and intends to do what God means by marriage but has a situation like yours where there's a profound misunderstanding of the church in its authority and the process of con validation and and and it just creates all kinds of difficulties all right you can look into something called radical summation where your marriage can be declared valid by the church and yet your husband's sort of active visible cooperation can be mitigated to some extent so that's a last resort but I throw that out there at the beginning because there may be a path for you even if even if he does not want to cooperate the other thing I want to suggest you do is I would encourage you to get a copy of my book the Catholic Church saved my marriage because your situation is different from mine but but there there are enough similarities that I think you might find some help I was Protestant my wife was a fallen away Catholic we had we got married in the Protestant church church did not regard our marriage is valid because neither one of us really cared a fig for what the Catholic Church had to say but it was my initiative not my wife's to come to the Catholic Church and we had to kind of walk through all this thorny stuff and it was quite difficult emotionally and of course my wife was not exactly not excited about me being Catholic and felt kind of the same way your husband felt and at the end of the day after having gone through the whole process and answered all the questions and dealt with all the problems and the legal side the theological side the results were really fantastic in our marriage we have a much much stronger marriage today in consequence and it really is true I mean I don't make I'm not just I'm not whistling Dixie here it is true the Catholic Church did in fact save my marriage which became seriously stressed for reasons that had nothing to do with Catholicism in Catholic Church and this process is what brought healing so I'd really encourage you to take a look at that read the chapters on annulments and and in sacramentality and so forth and at least to help you and your own understanding of how to communicate and if you can get him to read it man I would just be fantastic I would love it if he'd read it too but if he won't at least you get a hold of that and look at it now in terms of how you communicate with him now here's where I would start I would start by saying look you know Baptists Baptists have always been champions of Liberty of conscience it is a it's a sort of core core commitment of Baptists especially in the United States to the idea of Liberty of conscience that's in fact you know Baptists were they didn't want to have an established church they didn't want have a denominational Church they didn't want of a hierarchical church or a state church they wanted to be autonomous and their local congregation be able to follow their conscience it's a big thing for Baptists you're following your conscience that's what you're doing you're following your conscience and you understand that he is not where you are in his understanding of the faith but he is where you are in your understanding of the obligation to follow conscience and and so that's number one secondly the church would also teach you that that from day one your desire to be married to be married to him to have children to follow Christ all of those things are right and just in admirable and and there is no suggestion there's no suggestion that you did anything that that deserved it's a personal blame that that you have any kind of personal culpability you know that we're saying you're in mortal sin or something because no we're not saying that because you acted in good faith and with a good conscience though badly formed conscience so you made you made some mistakes in along the way but but you're not fully responsible for this you know Saint Paul said I acted in ignorance and therefore I was shown mercy and your conscience you were trying to do the right thing before God now what you want to do now is just to keep on doing the right thing before God and and so it's not like you guys don't have something wonderful you want to make it better you want to make it all the way wonderful you want it to be as wonderful as it can be as God desires for it to be and that's all you're trying to do you're not repudiating him you're not repudiating the years that you've had together you're not repudiating the children even the vowels that you took well was there something objectively deficient because they took place outside the Catholic Church and it's sacramental structure yes but insofar as you desire to do the will of God and to have a Christian marriage as you understood it you were doing something meritorious something virtuous of something good you're just trying to complete the picture now the cake was only half baked now you're trying to get it all the way baked we head next to Cleveland Ohio Ryan is watching us on YouTube in Cleveland Ryan you're on with dr. Andrews hi dr. Andrews Ellison your show just about every day thank you thank you my question for you today I wrote it down so don't babble whenever I don't along with product they also net end up asking about the Pope and where it's found in the Bible it's clear the church is founded on Peter but it certainly does seem like a long shot to get today's role of the papacy from that tech since I can't use the argument that the Catholic Church interpreted this text because they don't believe that how would you charitably respond to that criticism I would start this way why do you think every Christian doctrine needs to be established by the testimony of the Bible where did you get that idea from is that claim a biblical claim if not if not if it's not a biblical claim then to assert that claim is to assert it without biblical authority now what what undergirds the question is the hypothesis the Protestant hypothesis that every doctrinal assertion must be established by the express words of the Bible but that hypothesis itself is not a biblical one and so it's self refuting the papacy existed before the Bible before a single book of the New Testament was written we had the papacy had there been no papacy your Protestant friends would not have a Bible the Bible is grounded authoritative Lee in the office of the papacy because it was Pope Damasus the first that authorized the councils that defined the contents of the New Testament Canon no papacy no Bible papacy came first liturgy came first oral tradition came first if you reject the papacy the oral tradition and the liturgy of the Catholic Church you got no Bible you got to get your facts straight on what is the teaching of the Christian Church founded it ain't the Bible alone it's the oral tradition of Christ hand it on to the Apostles with Peter as the head oral tradition communicated especially in the liturgical community that's why st. Paul can say the tradition I received from the Lord not the texts I received from the Lord but the tradition I received from the Lord I hand on to you and as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes we heading out of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and is watching us on EWTN a first-time caller and you are on with dr. Andrew dr. Andrews Enders I listen to your program often on TV and my question is I have a great granddaughter that is sent out invitations over 100 invitations to a marriage to a gay woman and she and my family expects me to go but I just can't go you're right you're absolutely right you cannot go I'm so sorry I'm so sorry but you cannot go you cannot go because you cannot formally cooperate in something that is objectively immoral this is objectively immoral and you cannot go now you know I I think you can you can communicate with your great-granddaughter and tell her I love you profoundly I'm not angry at you I do not hate you I'm not condemning you I don't want to be alienated from you please don't make this an occasion of B of alienation and I'll and I'll talk to this other person potentially that's up for you to decide and I may have goodwill and and and you know all kinds of benevolence towards this other individual know that I don't I can't go too much into that because maybe that's weirder than I you know I don't know that person I don't know what they're like I don't know what they're open to but it's a very least you have goodwill and affirmation towards that granddaughter you do not want this to be an occasion of enmity but but this for you as a matter of profound conscience and you would be in in profound violation of your own conscience before God if you went to this and and so you can't go thank Sam we appreciate that call Carol is in Westminster Maryland watching also on EWTN TV about a minute and a half left with dr. Andrews Carol what's your question dr. Anders I am 88 years old and I three of my family members have purchased a yellow bit that is Darrell above-ground it is Howard Hinton to be cremated and they their page pause I mention a baby is this is this in a cemetery we lost the call is the bench in a cemetery yeah okay so what the Church teaches is that cremation is permitted is permissible as long as the remains are laid to rest in a sacred place such as a cemetery or a church Columbarium or something that's been set aside specifically for that purpose and dedicated by an ecclesial authority okay what you cannot do is put remains on a mantelpiece or scatter them into the forest or over the Ganges something like that but as long as the cremated remains are placed to rest in a sacred place such as a cemetery or columbarium in a dedicated area comp dedicated by ecclesial Authority then you can then you can cremate ewtn is called a community

Channel: EWTN

Views: 3,102

Rating: 4.8888888 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: lUmNS8haF7M

Length: 54min 2sec (3242 seconds)

Published: Mon May 11 2020