Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders - 2020-05-23 - Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders

what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests why did Catholic worship Mary why do I need to confess my sins to a priest where is purgatory in the Bible I think the Pope has too much authority what's stopping you you are called to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network hey everybody welcome again to called a communion here on EWTN this is the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters those of you who have questions about the Catholic faith if you're unsure about how to get those answers that you're looking for we can help you with that here's our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you're listening outside of North America please dial the u.s. country code and then two oh five two seven one two nine eight five you can also text the letters EWTN to five five zero zero zero wait for our response and then text us your first name and your brief question message and data rates may apply those of you watching us on TV today you're in luck here is our email address just for you CTC at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com all right we have the a team in place ready to tackle your questions we have Charles Barry as our producer and also Ryan Penney as our phone screener Jeff person is on social media he'll be glad to pass on any questions you might want to pose via YouTube or Facebook live because we're streaming there right now along with all of our other great platforms I'm Tom price keeping a little bit of social distance between me and dr. David Anders I I am doing what Ron questions wrong let's switch there how are you my friend you know I'm hanging in there thank you you know you really shouldn't put me in front of the controls here cuz you're you're playing with fire don't believe it for a second play those babies like like I don't know a concert pianist except today okay okay so we're gonna lead off here with an email as we're getting some of these calls screen here's one from Mark who says what is the best way to handle family members who have become non Catholic Christians and are now trying to convert me from my Catholic faith okay thanks I appreciate the question so first of all most important thing to do with family members Catholic or not is to love them is to love them yes and and think about what Paul says about love in first Corinthians 13 that it's patient it's kind it's not envious it doesn't boast not proud keeps no record of wrongs hopes all things believes all things and etcetera etcetera you know you act like that towards them it'll go a long way a long way towards helping them understand appreciate maybe even accept your Catholic faith because look with family members like we all just know that the other guy's an idiot we've heard what he has to say for 50 years we just know that you know Bob or Sally or Joe has got nothing to tell us that we hadn't already heard right so they're typically you don't really listen to your family and unfortunately but Jesus had the same problem right he said a prophet has no honor in his own home actually one of my son said to me one time you know Dave the Catholic apologist the Answer Man guy on the radio he says dad you're always right I mean nobody cares great it was a great life but he's really being kind of funny you know is the describe that dynamic of family life so love is the most important thing but but when when whether your family or not when someone challenges you on a matter of Catholic belief I think it's really important not to get caught up not to let the other guy set the agenda for the conversation right not to let him set the terms of the conversation so you know a very common one would be something along the lines of wolf well you Catholics believe so and so what what is it saying the Bible you should do that well you know I might be able to answer the question but if I'd leave that question on unexamined mm-hmm I might be it might seem like I'm accepting the premise that everything Christians do should be found in the Bible now I don't believe that for a second because Christ never told us that so I want to answer a question this is what Jesus did I might want to answer a question with a question you know and it's hard to go wrong with questions right it's hard to go all at one time I was at a family dinner and I turned to a relative of mine and I said let me ask you a question and one of my other sons not the one who made the pithy comments Oh dad don't start an argument I was like what do you mean I'm just I'm just asking a question because oh but dad that's how you are you that's how you argue that's great Wow all right well thank you us so much for your email there mark we have time for one more quick one here this is from Andy checking us out on YouTube and he says is a Protestant service worship I have heard that for worship sacrifice is required so is a Protestant service worship okay thanks so you know this is a matter of degree and the essence of worship is sacrifice as the highest act and the virtue of religion and Christians are called to offer the very bodies in sacrifice to God right and and we can do that in a number of ways I mean every every act of charity every act of self-denial every act of of temperance can be offered to God by way of sacrifice and so clearly when a group of Christians gets together to offer God the sacrifice of praise yeah there is a there is an element of sacrificial worship involved in that but does it fulfill does it meet or is it equivalent to the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood offered truly and substantially in the sacrament of the altar well of course not of course not I mean it's good it's a good thing it's not the full sacrifice that Christ gave to his church and so one of the reasons that Christ gave us the Eucharist is so that we could have a perfect sacrifice to give to God namely the body and blood of his own son now if you want to sing praise and worship songs to have at it but it doesn't take the place of the Eucharist okay very good and finally this one from Aldo if Adam had not fallen how was he - how was he going to receive or achieve the beatific vision great question no guarantee that he would have hmm no guarantee that he would have and in fact Catholic theologians since this is a speculative question it's we're totally getting something count you know counterfactual something contrary to fact there's no dogmatic answer to this but different Catholic theologians have actually speculated that Adam either would or would not have achieved the the same goods that we have through the Incarnation Thomas Aquinas took the position that had Adam not sinned Christ would not have become incarnate John Duns Scotus took the other point of view he said well Christ would have become incarnate even if Adam hadn't sent and and that's one of those questions on which Catholic theologians are allowed to disagree and that's perfectly okay all right very good well we thank you very much for your question Andy and Aldo and everybody else and if you have a question for EWTN via email the address ctc at ewtn.com got a lot of phone calls here Geoffrey in Butte Montana is probably first up here also John and Hillsboro Texas Roger in Albany Oregon and we have a line open for you right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six on this edition of call to communion here on EWTN stay with us it's called a communion here on EWTN if you're ready now let's go to the phones at eight three three two eight eight EWTN we're gonna begin this time with Jeffrey in Butte Montana listing on KQ o V 98.5 FM hey there Jeffrey what's on your mind today yes my question pertains to yet being formally admitted into the Catholic Church and a recent meeting wherein my priest restated I'll not refuse the Eucharist to you okay so what can i how can I help you well how do you feel about that how do I feel about a priest not refusing you the Eucharist well I'm all for people receiving the Eucharist I mean go ahead well we're really not understanding what you're saying here I'm not sure what the dilemma is well the dilemma is I took up a meeting with my priest where and I was asking him to get in contact with the bishop to get something I could just been say and he said I'll not refuse the Eucharist to you and I then called the diocese to see if the priest could over light what I took as a bishops authority and the secretary to the bishop referred my question and me back to my priest and this last Sunday the priest restated that he wouldn't refuse the Eucharist to you so I just thought I'd give you okay okay I'm with you now I'm with you now I understand okay so without going into the details of your case all right and and I don't have to do that I here are some principles so so you know there are there are some there are some standards that church has about who should listen safely receive the Eucharist and our instances when even even Catholics shouldn't receive the Eucharist a for example if they're conscious of mortal sin right and and there are other reasons a little non Catholics many times cannot safely receive the Eucharist and there may be other reasons there may be other reasons now if your bishop has has issued a directive about this and that pertains to your particular case and and your your priest is willing to contravene the bishops direction and this has created a crisis of conscience for you well my my counsel in this matter is to disobey conscience is neither right nor safe yeah right and and you need to resolve in your own mind what the bishops order is and the grounds that the priest has for seemingly disobeying it right because if there's if the church ever makes a declaration about not giving out the Eucharist to some person individual or group it is because the church has the common good of the church and the particular good of the individual in mind the salvation of souls is the ultimate concern of the Catholic Church and so somehow someway in this in this process of reasoning the bishop has got the salvation of souls and the welfare of the church in mind and and and in priests are sworn to obedience to their bishops right now so you need but but not knowing the details right you what I would suggest use first of all if you have a question of consciousness you need to resolve the question of cautions and need to find out what the grounds are on which the bishop has prohibited your communion and why the priest feels like he can do otherwise and since that's beyond the purview of this call that's about all I can say Jeffrey thank you so much for your call that opens up a line for you right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six it is called to communion here on EWTN let's go to John now in Hillsboro Texas listening on Sirius XM 130 John's a first-time caller hey John what's on your mind today good afternoon I had a question about my grandfather he got married in 1931 to my grandmother and she was a Protestant and he always told us that while he was communicated from the church because he married a Protestant girl and he did not get married with her obviously the Catholic Church they got married in the Methodist Church but he continued to go to to to Catholic Mass the rest of his life never took communion up until the 1970s when he met with a really good priest father John who had baptized me and my father and he met with my grandfather he says now he's good he's no longer excommunicated he he can take the Eucharist and he's good I guess my question is how formal was excommunication in the 1930s if we did marry a Protestant and can a priest unex communicate you or is it a formal process which has to be done through the bishop okay thanks yeah so I'm gonna disappoint you and I apologize I just don't know enough about the the particularity zuv the code of law and this would have been the the 1917 code of law not the 1983 code of law I'm certainly not a candidate and even less to I have expertise in that particular code and it's been updated in the pontificate of John Paul the second so I don't know the the judicial details now there are there are some excommunications that are automatic like the church imposes them just you know anybody who does this they're automatically excommunicated don't that probably I don't know if that was your grandfather's case or not those of course can be unilaterally lifted by the Magisterium by the church's authority and then they would no longer pertain obviously not that that's possible one question I do have about your grandfather's case is if at the time he was readmitted to Holy Communion was his wife still alive and if so had he regularized his marriage because regardless of the question of his excommunication we still have the issue of the validity of his marriage mm-hm and his marriage outside of the Catholic Church without a dispensation and without canonical form it would have been invalid no matter what and so he would either have to have regularize Dazz marriage or he would have to be singled because he'd become a widow I mean one of the widower one of those two things would have to have pertained okay hey John thank you so much for your call we appreciate hearing from you today here on call to communion on ewtn our phone number eight three three two eight eight ewtn if you have a question for dr. David Anders eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six quick question here from George watching us on youtube today George says my concern is with how Catholics asked the Saints for things like asking Mary for peace or Saint Anthony for lost things isn't that idolatry how can the Saints give us anything okay thanks so you know I I asked people for peace and lost things all the time right you know I've had members of my family or friends or work with who maybe I fall into enmity perhaps and I go to them and say I'd like peace can we make peace right you know I've lost my keys although I'm usually not the member of my household who does most of the key losing and I have gone to typically my daughter is the best at finding lost things and I go too much you know when she was little we would say we'll give you a dollar if you can find the lost whatever and inside of two minutes she'd come back with it you know amazing and that's not idolatry no if I ask somebody in my household to help me to do something right now let's say I ask someone who's dead well they can't reach down and physically grab my keys and hand them to me they can however pray for me that is something they can do so I'm asking them to do what they can do which is pray for me now it's not idolatry when I asked my daughter to find my lost keys it's not idolatry when I asked st. Anthony to do what he can do which is pray to God that I'll find my lost keys there you go appreciate that and thanks to George for watching us today on YouTube it is called a communion here on EWTN let's go to Roger now in Albany Oregon listening on one of our very first affiliates modern-day radio out of Portland hey there Roger what's on your mind today well I'm the protester that doesn't protest as much as I used to I was talking to a piece of Missouri Lutheran Synod guy and he switched to baptism and we were talking about sin and he didn't think it's that big a deal to keep doing something because we're justified and I'd like you to address the difference between justification and righteousness and what the Catholic view is of somebody with the hanukkah blasé attitude towards the end yeah sure I appreciate the question so first of all the way Lutheran's understand this question away Catholics understand this question is very very different and this is this was one of the critical issues that divided Lutheranism from Catholicism very early on and and it's really over the question of how are we saved and without I'm gonna get to your righteousness versus justification but without going into that language just yet here in a nutshell is the difference Luther believed Luther believed that even if you continued in a life of sin right and he thought that you did he thought that no matter what you did you would always continue to sin and sin mortally that God can accept you anyway as if you had not sinned as if you had no sinned because he would look on the righteousness of Jesus as if it were your righteousness kind of like changing names on a bank account you know one guy's got a full bank account the other ones in in you know in in default and you just switch the names on the bank accounts you know and that was the Lutheran view that Christ has actively obeyed God has merited eternal salvation for the whole world in fact you're stuck in sin and just in virtue of your faith alone and that language of faith alone big deal for Luther that God switches the names on the bank account and considers the righteous deeds of Jesus as if they were yours even though you continue objectively in a state of sin how was Luther's position now he came to this point of view because Luther was a neurotic fellow who had a very tormented conscience and he could never he could never find peace in his own heart or the sense that he was actually acceptable to God and so it kind of drove him mad and then like a lot of kind of mad geniuses he really was a brilliant guy but he was unbalanced emotionally you know he got off in a corner and rethought the whole Christian faith all by himself and came up with this novel idea in fact Luther he knew he came up with it all by himself because he's to wake up at night and go am I alone right mind the only guy who's figured this out then he go yeah guess so and go back to sleep you know it didn't he ultimately recognized that what he was teaching was very very innovative novel not what Christians had believed for 1,500 years so what Scripture teaches and what the Catholic faith teaches is different from that that we are saved because of Christ and we are saved through faith but not by switching the names on the bank account what God does in fact in us is he changes us interiorly so without him we can't do anything we just sent all the time but through the grace of Christ we can actually become new men and women and Jesus and we can be turned from sin to righteousness with God's help and so we could never do alone we can now do with the help of God st. Paul says that God pours his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that's really the key to the New Covenant in Christ is this writing of the law on our hearts is placing it in our minds giving us new hearts in the Holy Spirit so we can obey God happens through faith happens through God's grace but it's not faith alone it's a faith that brings about this interior renovation so it's the difference between justification by faith alone that's the Luther point of view and then the Catholic teaching that we're saved yes by faith yes by grace but not alone a faith that brings an inward transformation so that we can genuinely merit eternal life and so your friends position that you can you can be born again Christ and yet continue to sin is very dangerous it's not what scripture says at all in fact Jesus tells us and passages like Matthew 25 Revelation chapter 20 that on the last day many people will come to Christ and say Lord Lord I had faith alone and he'll say away from me I never knew you mmm cuz you didn't have works okay st. James says in his epistle chapter 2 their faith without works is of no value yeah demons have that right you have to have that interior renovation of the heart that actually lives itself out in meritorious good deeds and God rewards them Jesus says if you give alms and secret if you pray and secret if you fast and secret my father who sees you in secret will reward you see there's reward from merit now your question about what's the difference being righteousness and justification well in in the in the Greek New Testament they're essentially the same word they're different forms etymologically of the same the same word okay refer to the same concept and it's a little bit tricky because the way st. Paul uses the terms righteousness and justification is a little bit different from the way these terms have come to be used in the history of both Catholic and Protestant theology in after st. Agustin both Protestants and Catholics tended to use the word justification and righteousness just to refer to the whole process of salvation like whatever it is that God does inside of us to make us acceptable to him that's how they understood those terms Paul seems to have a little bit more nuanced view when he uses those words and he really is referring more specifically to the way in which God has fulfilled his covenant promises and it involves ultimately the same effect but it's a little bit different see in the Old Testament God promised that he would make Abraham a blessing to all nations and eventually bring even the Gentiles into the Covenant people of God and it wouldn't be just by the Mosaic law be by faith in Christ that everybody could come to participate in this plan of God for the salvation of the world and so the notion of righteousness in Paul has it does include it's like so interior renovation and grace but it also includes this this ecclesia Lodge call this church idea of bringing in to the family of God all of the Gentiles who would come to Christ by faith and not simply the Jews who would who would sort of be within the covenant in virtue of their descent from Abraham or the Mosaic law okay thanks so much for your call quick question here from Chris watching us on Facebook did dr. Andrews just say that if I'm married outside the church that I cannot receive Communion no but that's a good inference that's Fred's right I didn't say it but that's actually the case so if you it but again there's some qualifications if you're Catholic and you receive a dispensation from canonical form from your bishop then then you'll be okay all right but a few but the church actually requires Catholics to either marry in the church in the presence of a priest or Deacon or to receive a dispensation from canonical form so you got to do one of those two things if you don't then your marriage is invalid okay if your marriage is invalid then you're living with somebody and I'm married to and we know what that's called we do indeed all right thank you so much Chris for checking in with us glad that you're watching us today on facebook hope that clarification is helpful for you all right we're gonna go to more phone calls in just a couple of seconds here on EWTN is called a communion we'll be talking with Kate in Sioux Falls South Dakota listening on the great real presence radio and look at this a line open for you right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN if you have a question for dr. David Andrews eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six or you can text the letters ewtn two five five zero zero zero back in a flash with lots more called a communion here on EWTN stay with us it's called a communion here on EWTN our phone number if you have a question for dr. David Anders Hey look at this we've got a line open for you right now in eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six we're going to roll on here with a question from Kate who is listening to the great real presence radio in Sioux Falls South Dakota hey there Kate what's on your mind today well that was a perfect family prayer for the father father he's great for my questions today okay I was a and that's the Catholicism at 25 years old came back at 65 years so I'm the liver of five and a half years my son is 28 and he and he was brought up as a Protestant which at that point I had nothing to give him when I was in my 40s and I had when I was 42 and so he doesn't have much to go back on and of course that's a sort of my heart but anyway he believes in choice and we've talked we talked quite a bit about Catholicism and atheism and one of his questions was because he knows I'm rather against abortion and he knows that we talked about it okay I'm sorry I'm nervous I can't think so he says if if life is so important you Catholics believe that this is a baby and it's alive for nine months why when is born is it not nine months old or a year why do you consider it just born and give it a day one birthday if it's that important and it's really a baby so is he asking the question specifically is he asking specifically why not measure the birth date from the day of conception yeah okay well I mean so so birthdays and naming our cultural convention sure right birthdays and naming our cultural conventions and for most of human history and and to be honest with you you know be pretty tough today it would be nearly impossible to determine the exact date of conception and now of course we have technology that would let us do that plus determine the sex of the of the child after a certain point of gestation but but it you know when you have a Saigon or a newly fertilized egg there's no way in the short of doing a genetic test to determine the sex so naming wouldn't really be relevant I mean it to me this is kind of a silly question because patently obvious why we don't have that Convention but look if some you know if some Catholic wanted to name their child from conception based on this kind of consideration that'd be a perfectly reasonable thing to do right but these are cultural conventions they can change and and to a certain extent maybe they have changed a little bit in in virtue of you know the advances in embryology and so forth maybe people are more likely now to say name a child early mmm-hmm because they're able to determine the sex early that kind of thing but for most of human history such a thing we'd not be possible but there also seems to be something else embedded in the question which is a kind of how can I put this a sort of developmental bias on the part of your son right the idea that that that that some that a human being at us at has to has to have a certain degree of of biological development of growth development to count as a human being right well first of all how does he know that so let's say you said well you know we've you've got to have all your arms and legs sprouted right to be a human or or you have to breathe to be a human or you have to have this level of brain activity to be a human or you have to be this tall like in the old days we used to go to the amusement parks and they say to ride you have to be this tall that's right this tall to be a human how do you know like who established that standard right we don't we don't conduct ourselves that way normally we treat children as with as much humanity as we do adults and infants and so forth it's it's our nature that is human not our stage of embryological development from the moment of conception all the potencies all the potentialities of human life are fully present in the nature of that fertilized embryo their own that that child's own genetic blueprint distinct identity and the whole future course you know barring some kind of catastrophe of their natural biological development is already imprinted in that genetic code and so they're they're just you know they're just a very young human that's right here just a very young human okay and we hope that's helpful for you Kate and for your son as well thank you so much for your call it's called a communion here on EWTN our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six you can get in now if you call now two eight eight of EWTN is that phone number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six let's go now to a Vergil in Brentwood Missouri listening on covenant radio a first-time caller hey Virgil what's on your mind today hi I go to catechism and me and my brother both told him that were representing Jesus on the cross and the mat and honor that's correct or not but they said it was reenactment I just wonder what the difference okay thanks so let me explain to you what the Catholic Church teaches about the relationship of the mass to the cross of Calvary and when I do it I'm going to tell you that there are a lot of Catholics who don't know this doctrine even those who are teaching catechism classes and there are a lot of reasons for that but the short of it is is really not taught anymore okay but I'm going to tell you what's in the writings of st. Thomas Aquinas what's in the Council of Trent what's in the Magisterial texts not maybe not be in all the Catechism books that you find out there but this is what the church has historically said on the question when the priest when the priest has the words of consecration Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist he's body blood soul and divinity present in the host and in the chalice but that Jesus who's present on the altar is Jesus seated at the right hand of God the Father Christ in heaven comes down and is present on the altar doesn't come back from the past we don't we don't rip him off the cross so to speak and then you know throw him into the present his Christ now all right and so he's he's present in the mass but in an unbloody manner we don't we're not taking a bleeding Jesus off a cross we're taking a living glorified Christ and he's their present - so it's an unbloody an unbloody presence it's the glorified Jesus who's present and yet and yet there's a reason why the Church celebrates the Eucharist in two kinds bread and wine you know we could have just done it in one kind if the only thing you wanted to symbolize in the Eucharist and Eucharist is a symbol it's not only assembles more than a symbol but is a symbol if the only thing you wanted to symbolize was Christ's presence well you could have just had one kind you just could have had bread and bread could say you see this bread that's Jesus and we would have presence both two kinds of bread and wine why why they're two kinds well obviously in the symbolism bread calls to mind body wine calls to mind blood and we see that they're separated from one another yep body over here blood over there now Christ Himself is not separated he's entirely present under both kinds but the Eucharistic species are separated under the appearance of bread under the appearance of wine set forth in a state of separation well what happens when your body and blood are separated your that know your dad right and so even though Christ himself is not killed in the Eucharist he's not killed in the Eucharist he's never gonna die again he is set forth in a Eucharistic sacrifice in the form of a victim his victimhood is displayed before us in the separate consecration of blood of bread and wine which is why in the language of the user excuse me in the language of the Eucharistic prayer the priest refers to this as the memorial of Christ's passion because we see shown in front of us set forth in front of us a representation of the separation of Christ's body for a book from blood that is the only respect in which the death of Christ is is visibly present to us in in the Holy Sacrifice of the mass now when we have the mass we and we have Christ truly present we in turn offer that Christ that truly present Christ to God as a sacrifice Christ present on you is called an altar an altar is a table of sacrifice we offer Christ to God the Father in sacrifice an unbloody sacrifice but a sacrifice nonetheless and there's something interesting about this sacrifice the same victim who's being offered on the altar in a none bloody manner was offered once before on Calvary in a bloody manner same victim the same priest who makes the offering Christ the high priest offered himself on Calvary in an unlucky manner that same priest now offers himself again on the Eucharistic altar in the person and through the intention of the ministerial priest the Catholic priest who makes the effects the offering but it's Jesus acting in virtue of the sacrament of ordination through him same priest same victim and for the same reason to make reparation to God for sin and for the sake of the salvation of the world same priest mm-hmm same victim same intent once in a bloody manner now in an unbloody manner that's the way we connect Calvary to the mass and you can use the language of representation and the church does you can use the language of representation and the church does and you can use the language of reenactment provided that you qualify these terms and know what you mean by them and to be honest with you people throw these words around acting like they know what they mean by them and sometimes they mean very different things by oh yeah so you got a quality let's stick to what the church says same prease same victim same intent once in a bloody manner now in a nun bloody manner great question Virgil thank you so much for your call it is called a communion here on EWTN we're going to go to Michael in Cedar Rapids Iowa right now listening on km MK 88.7 FM if time caller hey there Michael what's on your mind today hello doctor I just have a question about the Greek word bapto quiet was translate transliterated instead of translated we talking about bed so the Greek word baptizo for my baptize okay so so why are you asking me why would you translate it as baptized as opposed to the animal yes instead of translated okay so here are you asking let me make sure I get the significance of your question many Baptists people who belong to the Baptist denomination contend that the word baptizo means to immerse that's what they contend and so they think that a good way of rendering the word would mean two would be to refer to the immersion and so they really want to focus in on the mode of of the sacrament the nature of this argument as an immersion in water is that what's motivating your question about the Baptist peach but I do know a little bit of Greek and I was just from I mean sure sure sure okay so that's that's what that is what I was asking that's what motivated your question so that is what the word means etymologically that's what the word means etymologically but it is an exegetical fallacy fallacy means an incorrect form of reasoning exegetical means how we go about interpreting texts it is an exegetical fallacy to assume that the etymology of a word and the meaning of the word are the same because a word can mean something very different from its etymology and in the present case the word to baptize in the New Testament does not refer to an active immersion whether or not the of Baptism should be performed by immersion when the when the disciples or when Saint Paul refers to baptism he is referring not simply to any ol act of dunking like when I go to the County Fair and I you know maybe my my parish priest climbs in the dunking booth and I slam it with a baseball in he goes that's an immersion but it's not a baptism it's not the sacrum it's not the Christian sacrament of baptism and so if we were to translate the word baptizo if we were to translate that as immersion then it would it would obfuscate it would confuse what is really being conveyed namely a Christian sacrament and the Christian sacrament of baptism does not have to be performed by immersion so this is simply a case of the meaning of a word is not the same as the etymology of the word okay appreciate that and thank you so much Michael for your call today here on EWTN is called a communion I want to tell you about the latest offering from EWTN publishing if we could take a moment here to talk about this great book how the Catholic Church can restore our culture it's written by Archbishop Georg ins Vaughn he is the secretary to Pope emeritus Benedict the see the f-16 a sublime collection of essays and homilies and interviews discussing why Pope Benedict resigned you'd probably like to know about that how Pope Benedict interpreted the assassination of attempt of john paul ii in relation to Our Lady of Fatima smash or what about this one a typical day in the life of pope benedict xvi what does he do all day you can find out by checking out this great book how the Catholic Church can restore our culture by Archbishop Georg ons von it's a it's a winner it's available right now at ewtn our c-calm by catholic shop ewtn our see.com back to the phone's right now here on EWTN it's called to communion here is Amelia listening in San Antonio on Guadalupe radio hey Amelia what's on your mind today hi I was calling because I have a little sister where she's a half-sister actually or 14 years apart and she was sexually abused and we found out about three years ago and so it's been three years and I actually experienced the same thing and I wanted to be able to tell her that you know having faith and being in the Catholic Church really helps me with what happened to me but I we're not close so I don't know where she's at religiously and I want to be able to do it but not in a way that like I guess I want to be pushing it on her and then I'm also worried that you know maybe like if I'm in a good position to even be the kind of person to tell her since I still have struggles myself sure yeah I appreciate the question a lot so here's my advice to you first of all you know I always said that you're not real super close to her and but you're concerned about her right and you want to do something to help her and you know how much your Catholic faith has meant to you in this struggle so my my counsel would be first get to be close to her right I mean this is someone who's in a very wounded and vulnerable position and and I think the last thing that she wants to hear or that she's gonna respond to is the sense that someone's trying to manipulate her right religiously or you know for your own agenda or whatever it might be I mean that's the expression she had before was one of manipulation and abuse where her agency and her freedom were taken out of the equation and she was disrespected in a profound way and and even though that's not your intent right there's a danger that that's how she's gonna receive it right and so the thing to do I think is to start with building trust have a very long long-term plan this doesn't have to be something that you get accomplished in six months I mean I would think I would think your time horizon here is ten years really honestly so start building that relationship and and then you because you'll you'll begin to know what her her needs are and the way she expresses them and maybe how she feels about God you know perhaps she's far more open to God in the Catholic Church then you currently know perhaps she's far more closed than you currently know and you need to discern all these things too be able to accompany her and that's really the key word can you come alongside her really be her companion and her friend and get to know her and her interests and her needs and you know I have family members and close friends who've got a lot of issues I have a lot of issues and I'm you know I feel quite certain that that if if all of us could let the light of God and the gospel and the grace of the sacrament shine on our lives gee what a difference it would make and yet I know that I'm just not in the place to be able to share that message for precisely these kinds of reasons and so I've got to just be patient be kind be open be present be loving and then and then leave the timing of the thing up to God I would also suggest that you know I'm a I'm a man I'm an apologist I like to answer questions about people's objections to the Catholicism that's kind of what I do and and I you know I enjoy that but I'm not a woman and I'm not an expert in counseling and I'm not you know an expert in dealing with abuse we do have such experts on EWTN we do know and and so you know you might look at you might look at you might give Johnny Williams a call Teresa Tomeo barber McGuigan lookup Patricius and of all some of the some of the great female women hosts we have an EWTN some of the counseling programs dr. ray the pop checks others whose expertise is more in that area because this is not just a theological question this is really about human relationships sure well we do thank you for calling Amelia I know that Amelia called a couple of days ago couldn't get on because it was toward the end of the show I am so glad that she called back thank you God bless you Amelia let's go back to the phones right now and talk with Ray Ray is in Morgantown West Virginia listening on light of life radio a first-time caller hey there ray what's on your mind today yes I'd like to add I'd like to ask you about the the observatory that the Catholic Church runs in Arizona I think on Mount Graham and since you know they're looking up at the heavens and everything have they establish any kind of protocols for contact with extra that's real life that you know about yeah thanks so much I really appreciate the question so if you would permit me a note of humor right I'm joking when I say this but I think if we ever find extraterrestrial life it won't be a problem you know exactly what to do we'll just send the Jesuits rimshot they they're the guys that set up the observatories to begin with that's true and historically you know every time we the church discovered some new people group someplace you know the Jesuits were the first guys at the top of the mountain um I've got I've got a book on my shelf that I then I have to read I hadn't read it yet but it's called Jesuit on top of the world and it's about the Jesuit missionary that first went at the top of the mountains of Tibet and learned medieval Tibetan so he could debate and evangelize with Tibetan monks over there I mean like you leave it to the Jesuits they'll find a way sure I'll find a way you know but but it's an interesting question right you know I'm not holding my breath to be honest with you and and we do know we do know some extraterrestrial life they called angels and demons and we do have protocols we do have protocols you pray to the one you run from the other right you pray you pray to the one you pray against the other mm-hmm right we have the st. Michael prayer that kind of kills two birds with one stone you know invoke the good ones against the bad ones yep that's the protocol and and if we found extraterrestrial life that was biological life on another planet you know the first thing to determine would be whether or not it was rational life whether or not it was life that had the power of the immaterial intellect because if it was if it was irrational life earthworms and such well you know we would take the proper epidemiological precautions and the relate to it the way we would related to any biological life it was if it was rational self-aware conscious and intellectual life then I think we still have the protocol you know dialogue with the good guys running from the bad guys mm-hmm sounds good to me ray thank you so much for your call let's go to a Eugene really quickly here in Aurora Colorado listening on Catholic radio network hey Eugene what's on your mind today well your last comment completely turned me away from what I was going to say because I want to add on I'll piggyback on what you just said and that is there is a very famous book a science fiction book I might have been the Martian Chronicles in which a Jesuit missionary is part of an earth exploration into outer space they land on a planet they find rational life there the Jesuit is knocking himself out to build a chapel the people on the I know the book planet is that that's a Ray Bradbury book isn't it well the one I'm thinking of is not waste your time in our life there we also had an atom indeed but our atom and he never did fall we are still in the state of grace as God created us so there's a there's a wonderful science fiction trilogy by CS Lewis who is not a Catholic he was a an Anglican it's just his science fiction trilogy the first book is out of the silent planet peril Andrew and then that hideous strength of the three novels and it's a really playful and imaginative a construction of what would happen if we found intelligent spiritual life and biological in spiritual life on other planets and the thesis is what you articulate in Lewis's world these other planets are unfallen and the silent planet and out of the silent planet is in fact earth as it's the one who's whose angelic hosts have been cut off from the heavenly chorus because of the Fallen Angels so it's a delightful little book now I know another novel another science fiction novel in which there actually is a Jesuit specifically who travels to another planet found finds alien life I I don't endorse it because that one's not written by a Christian and the Jesuit doesn't come off all that great in the story right so I do want to bring that one up but I do know if one ok very good and then I think you had another question Eugene real quick we're almost out of time I enjoyed your science fiction bit there and I will save you my time give it to somebody else oh cool again with my real question all right sounds good all right Eugene thank you so much for your call we could not get to Maureen in Detroit sorry about that we just flat ran out of time here Maureen but if you would call us back on another occasion we'll be glad to put you at the head of the line I promise scouts honor dr. David Andrews we ended on a very interesting note today don't you think well you know I love science fiction I've been reading it for years science fiction and fantasy oh absolutely my weakness I know it dr. David Andrews thank you sir hey thanks Tom we do the program Monday through Friday here on EWTN radio at 2:00 p.m. Eastern and then we also bring you an encore of the show at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on the radio side and we bring you the best of call to communions on Sunday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on behalf of our fantastic team here at EWTN that would be Charles and Ryan and Jeff and all the people on the TV side I'm Tom price along with dr. David Andrews thanks so much for joining us today here on EWTN s call to Communion we will see you next time god bless you

Channel: EWTN

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Keywords: ytsync-en, clc, clc16160

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Length: 50min 25sec (3025 seconds)

Published: Tue May 26 2020