Tag: Catholic Church

The Sabbath and the Old Covenant, part 1

10 Commandments, 10th century Byzantine Paris Psalter

If you ask the average Christian, “Should we obey the 10 Commandments?” they will likely say “Yes.” Enter the Adventist, who then asks why the average Christian doesn’t keep the 4th commandment, which states that we should keep the Sabbath. … The Decalogue was the actual set of words making up the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was replaced with the New. Even Paul acknowledges that the law written on stone has been replaced.

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What Catholics Believe – Mary, the Virgin Mother of God

Madonna enthroned with Angels

As the symbol of the Church, and as the first Christian, Mary is now what we will become. She birthed God into the world; we are called to bring God to others. She was sinless; we will be made spotless. She was taken body and soul into heaven; we will ultimately be resurrected and our bodies reunited with our souls in heaven.

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Cathoolic – Rosary and Apologetics – Young Evangelists

Icon of the Resurrection

“Cathoolic – New Evangelization and Apologetics. Countering “sheep-stealing” from the Catholic Church” Cathoolic is run by Godwin Delali Adadzie from Ghana, and he also runs two other sites on Catholicism – About the Rosary and Are Catholics Christian? He’s got a short book on the Rosary – visit his Rosary site to get it for your Kindle / PC / other reader.

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The Catholic Apologist – Young Evangelists

Crucifixion from Santa Maria Antiqua

Continuing my posts on young Catholic apologists/evangelists, this is part 2 of 3. A young guy called Joseph has a YouTube channel with (currently) 38 videos defending various Catholic teachings. “To all Catholics in good standing with the Church, I hope that you learn something from these videos that will help you in your life later on. To all non-Catholics and cafeteria Catholics, please be opened to the truth and let God show you the correct path.”

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New Catholic Generation – Young Evangelists

Jacobello Alberegno, Crucifixion, 1375-1397

“New Catholic Generation is an organization composed of all Catholic Teenagers on YouTube testifying to their faith in Jesus Christ.” These people are clearly Catholic apologists in their own right. They know what they believe and share it with others. Most Catholic apologists I follow are older than I am. These apologists of the future are probably all just under half my age. If the Jesuits had the vibrance and spirit of these people, the world would be converted in a matter of weeks.

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Testimony – Adventist converts to Maronite Catholic

St John Maron

This is a series of e-mails I got from a lady who converted from Anglican to Adventist, spent 20 years as an Adventist, realised how wrong it was, went back to the Anglican church for a while, and then finally converted to the Catholic faith. … “I have only recently discovered your Catholic help webpage on the net and wish to thank you for your courage in sharing your faith, plus the extensive biblical/Early Church Fathers debunking of SDA teachings re Catholic Christianity, salvation, the role of Jesus Christ etc. that you have made available.”

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What Catholics Believe – Sunday observance

The Resurrection of Christ

Catholics (and most other Christians) believe Sunday is a special day to be celebrated, because it is the day Jesus rose from the dead. The Jews kept the Sabbath on Saturday, and this is reflected in the 10 Commandments. However, only the moral code of the Old Testament is applicable to Christians – we don’t need to sacrifice animals, keep Passover, Yom Kippur, or the Sabbath, and we are free from the dietary restrictions as well.

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What Catholics Believe – Introduction

The Synaxis of the holy and the most praiseworthy Twelve Apostles

I have been planning to write a series of posts over the next year or so that will cover some of the major points on which Catholics get hassled by non-Catholics, and in particular by Adventists and other Sabbath-keeping groups. Finally I have managed to get round to it. My intention is to present or explain what the Catholic Church believes, what the biblical evidence is, and why the commonly heard objections are faulty. I will not be writing a complete thesis on each topic, but hope to present the basics of what we believe and why we believe it. I will also not be producing a complete encyclopedia of Catholic teaching, and I will not necessarily be writing on the various topics in any specific order.

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Pope Francis does not have an Adventist brother

Pope Francis on March 13 2013

When one group of Christians needs to lie about another group of Christians in order to look good and promote their cause, what does that say about them? The commandment not to lie is part of the same set of 10 that contains the commandment to keep the Sabbath. Yet some Sabbath keepers are more than willing to tell lies about the Catholic Church to promote their agenda.

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Waking Up Catholic – Book review

Waking Up Catholic book cover

In his new book, Waking Up Catholic, Chad Torgerson describes his journey into the Catholic Church. He discusses how his faith in Christ developed over the years, from Lutheran, to agnostic/atheist, to born-again Protestant, and finally Catholic. Specifically, he brings in how his relationship with Christ was influenced by his study of Catholic teachings and practices, and shows how they can bring one closer to Christ. The book is easy to read, but gets to the point of complex issues remarkably well without becoming too complex on the one hand, or being too simple on the other.

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More photos from the Latin Mass training, 2013

Training at the altar, Latin Mass training course, 2013, Ratcliffe College

As mentioned previously, a priest, Fr Noel, from the Archdiocese of Cape Town recently attended the Latin Mass training course at Ratcliffe College in England, which was organised by the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. Fr Noel has kindly given me some photos to share.

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Fraudulent anti-Catholic Adventist video

Donkey, Boston Public Library

Adventism is well know for those members and clergy who misrepresent the Catholic faith. Not all Adventists are dishonest, and I’ve had apologies from Adventists who acknowledge and regret their church’s dishonesty. Unfortunately, via Tesa Beem at “It’s Okay NOT to be a Seventh-day Adventist”, I’ve seen another example of gross misrepresentation of Catholicism by Adventists.

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Training for the Traditional Latin Mass, 2013

Low Mass, LMS training course, Ratcliffe College, 2003.

A priest from the Archdiocese of Cape Town attended the recent training course for the Latin Mass in Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, UK. More photos will follow, but here are a few from the organisers, used with the permission of Joseph Shaw of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.

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Is Easter pagan?

Icon of the Resurrection

Adventists, and others such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and those groups continuing Herbert Armstrong’s legacy, often claim that Easter is derived from a pagan festival. In fact, there are two important points to raise in response to them – a) whether or not Easter is pagan, and, for the Armstrong followers, b) which days of the week the Crucifixion and Resurrection were.

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Is Easter Christian? A reply to Samuele Bacchiocchi

The Crucifixion of the Parlement of Paris

The late Adventist scholar Samuele Bacchiocchi was influenced by the teachings of Herbert Armstrong, and promoted the observance of Jewish holy days instead of Christian holy days. In his Endtime Issues #43 he rearranges the historical evidence to form a revised version of history to support his arguments. He beautifully provides us with a typical example of how historical evidence is misapplied.

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Ideas for new topics please

Christ Pantocrater

I don’t want to become a general Catholic blog, or go into (too much) general apologetics. I want my audience to be a) Catholics who need a defence of their faith specifically from Adventist arguments against Catholicism, and b) Adventists seriously interested in understanding Catholicism and why we don’t accept their arguments as sound. I have a few ideas I’m working on for future topics. For the few visitors I get, please mention what you think I could write posts on. Thanks.

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Ritual and Eternity

The Sacrificial Lamb - Josefa de Ayala, ca 1670

Ritual is repetition that seeks eternity in the thing repeated …

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Pope Francis and Patriarch May Travel to Holy Land Together

Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople

The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople has invited Pope Francis to travel with him to the Holy Land next year to mark the 50th anniversary of the embrace between Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI, the pioneers of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. During their private meeting, Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis explored possible paths towards unity, including theological dialogue, environmental defense, and a visit to the Fanar, after going through proper diplomatic channels.

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“Go and repair my Church” – What should Pope Francis repair?

Icon of Christ Crucified, chapel of San Damiano, near Assisi

God said to St Francis of Assisi, “Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins”. So, what needs repair?

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Pope Francis, the Latin Mass, and elaborate ceremonies – updated

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio SJ, 2008

Will Pope Francis suppress the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, allowing us only the Ordinary Form, thereby reversing the much-needed liturgical reform? He has that authority. He can bind and loose with the authority given to Peter. But I don’t believe he will.

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