Ask George!

Ask George - the place to ask questions about your parish or the Catholic faith.

 

Send your questions to askgeorge@stgeorgeerie.org.

Thank you everyone for your questions.  Please continue to submit them. 

Fr. Johnathan

 

 

Ask George Question For Sunday, 7/3/2011

 

Question: What are indulgences?

 

When a person sins and then has their sins forgiven during the sacrament of reconciliation, a penance is given to the person as an action of sorrow for the sin and a small act of repayment for the harm done by the sin.  The full act of repayment for the harm done by our sins will occur after death during our time in purgatory. 

Grave sin has a double consequence - it deprives us of eternity with God called "eternal punishment" and sin, even venial sin, causes an unhealthy attachment to the things of our world called "temporal punishment".  The Church teaches that through the power of the keys given to Peter, the Church offers forgiveness through the sacrament of Reconciliation from the eternal punishment but temporal punishment remains.  Purgatory then is the process of repaying the temporal punishment, our attachments to the things of our world, prior to entry into heaven. 

Our actions of charity, prayer, and penance mitigate our temporal punishment for sin.  An indulgence is another supernatural action of the Church through the power of the keys granted to Peter to further mitigate the temporal punishment experienced after death in purgatory.  An indulgence is usually attached to various prayer practices like the rosary or a novena, as well as performing a pilgrimage.  The acquiring of the indulgence requires the participation in the prayer practice, reception of communion, and going to the sacrament of Reconciliation.  The Church, beyond granting the remission of our temporal punishment for our sins, calls on us through the acquiring of an indulgence to reflect more deeply on our faith and recommit ourselves to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ.(Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1472-1473)

Fr. Johnathan

 

Ask George Question For Sunday, 5/15/2011

 

Question: Why can’t homosexuals have sex?

Beyond simply quoting the Catechism (CCC 2357-2359), I have found the best contemporary and authoritative writing on this topic is the document, “Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care” by USCCB November 14, 2005.  http://www.usccb.org/doctrine/Ministry.pdf  The article points out both the Catholic teaching that “homosexual acts ‘are contrary to the natural law… Under no circumstances can they be approved.’” (p. 4) and “Although one would be morally culpable if one were voluntarily to entertain homosexual temptations or to choose to act on them, simply having the tendency is not a sin.  Consequently, the Church does not teach that the experience of homosexual attraction is in itself sinful. (Ministry p. 5)
Sex is properly exercised in the matrimonial union of a man and a woman.  
“Any sexual act that takes place outside the bond of marriage does not fulfill the proper ends of human sexuality. Such an act is not directed toward the expression of marital love with an openness to new life. It is disordered in that it is not in accord with this twofold end and is thus morally wrong.” (Ministry p. 3-4)

I hope this explanation gives a fair and accurate presentation of the Church’s position on homosexuality.  If you have any question please feel free to contact me.

Fr. Johnathan   Longer Answer

 

Ask George Question For Sunday, 5/8/2011

 

When is Lent over?

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues for 40 days after, not counting Sundays.  It officially ends on the evening of Holy Thursday before the Mass of the Lords Supper, which begins the Sacred Triduum.  Truduum is comprised of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.  Easter Sunday is the first Mass of the Resurrected Lord.
 

Ask George Question For Sunday, 5/1/2011

 

What were the original given names of the Apostles?

 

 

“The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;  Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus;  Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.”  (Matthew 10: 2-4)

 

SIMON :  From Σιμων (Simon), the New Testament Greek form of the Hebrew name שִׁמְעוֹן (Shim'on) which meant "he has heard".

 

ANDREW:  From the Greek name Ανδρεας (Andreas), which was derived from ανηρ (aner) "man" (genitive ανδρος (andros) "of a man").

 

JAMES:  English form of the Late Latin name Iacomus which was derived from Ιακωβος (Iakobos), the New Testament Greek form of the Hebrew name Ya'aqov (Jacob).

 

JOHN: English form of Iohannes, the Latin form of the Greek name Ιωαννης (Ioannes), itself derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan) meaning "The Lord is gracious".

 

PHILIP: From the Greek name Φιλιππος (Philippos) which means "friend of horses", composed of the elements φιλος (philos) "friend" and ‘ιππος (hippos) "horse".

 

BARTHOLOMEW: From Βαρθολομαιος (Bartholomaios), which was the Greek form of an Aramaic name meaning "son of Talmai".

 

THOMAS: Greek form of the Aramaic name תָּאוֹמָא (Ta'oma') which meant "twin".

 

MATTHEW: English form of Ματθαιος (Matthaios), which was a Greek form of the Hebrew name מַתִּתְיָהוּ (Mattityahu) meaning "gift of the Lord”

 

THADDEUS: From Θαδδαιος (Thaddaios), the Greek form of the Aramaic name Thaddai. It is possibly derived from a word meaning "heart", but it may in fact be an Aramaic form of a Greek name such as Theodoros (Theodore)

 

 

 

 

 

JUDAS: From Ιουδας (Ioudas), the Greek form of Judah - from the Hebrew name יְהוּדָה (Yehudah) which meant "praised".

At the beginning of the Rite of  Baptism the parents of the baby to be baptized are asked: What name do you give your child? This is a very essential question. With a name we receive an identity; we are able to be recognized among a multitude of people. God called and formed his People by choosing man and women by name and even sometimes changing their names. Jesus called his disciples by name. To Simon He attached to his name even a mission  (Peter – the Rock,  on which Christ will build His Church). In this Easter season we here about the beautiful encounter of Mary Magdalene and the risen Lord at the tomb. She recognizes Him at the moment when He calls her by name: Mary. She tenderly answers: Master.

Wishing you a joyous and personal Easter encounter with the Risen Lord,

 

Sr. Josephine Vuodi, FSO  

 

Ask George Question For Sunday, 4/17/2011

 

Question: If Jesus and the Apostles were all Jewish, why aren’t we still Jewish?

 

Answer: We believe that Jesus came as the fulfillment of God’s promises to the Jewish people. He preached to Jews almost exclusively and intended his coming as Messiah to usher in a completely new era in Judaism. In fact, the first Christians were all Jewish believers who accepted Jesus as the Messiah. They thought of themselves as Jews and practiced the Jewish way of life in its entirety. Their hope was that more and more Jewish people would recognize the truth of who Jesus is. As believers in Jesus Christ, they celebrated the “breaking of the bread,” at meals. Also, they lived in common with other Christian believers and, at services in the temple or synagogue, they spoke of Jesus as the fulfillment of the scriptures. See Acts 2:42 ff.

The first split occurred about 15 years after Jesus’ Resurrection. Jewish leaders who rejected the claims of Jesus’ followers had had enough. They refused to allow believers in Jesus to come to the synagogues. So, Jewish Christians formed their own separate synagogues. At this point, people thought of Christianity as a Jewish sect. See Acts 8:1ff

The split deepened under the influence of the increasing numbers of Gentile (non-Jewish) converts who heard the gospel and asked to be admitted to the Church. At first, they accepted Jewish practices like circumcision and Jewish dietary laws. But, when these Gentile converts began to ask what Jewish practices had to do with Christian faith, some Christian leaders agreed with them. If they believed in Jesus Christ, accepted baptism and accepted the Christian way of life, they could be accepted as full members of the community. This decision was not without controversy. Christian preachers known as “Judaizers” plagued Paul, Peter and other Christian leaders for some time. Eventually Gentile Converts outnumbered Jewish Christians. Then, Christians began to think of themselves as a separate religious community. Even the “Lord’s Day” was changed from Saturday to Sunday, the day of Christ’s Resurrection. Eventually, members of the Christian Church abandoned Jewish customs completely. You can read much of this story in Acts chapters 10 and following.
Msgr. Robert Brugger

 

 

Ask George Question For Sunday, 4/10/2011

 

Question: Could we have information about how to find masses when we are out of town?  With vacations coming, would be nice to have this in the bulletin routinely, maybe even in an ad?

 

Answer: There are several sources of information to find Roman Catholic churches and mass times when traveling out of town.  On our website www.stgeorgeerie.org under the menu choice “About Us – Catholic Links” a number of various catholic websites are listed that have been reviewed as good sources of Catholic information.  Toward the top of the list is a section called “Mass Times while Traveling” and we list two websites: The Catholic Directory www.thecatholicdirectory.com and Mass Times www.masstimes.org.   Other sites exist but based on past experience I have found these to be the most accurate. 

 

I would recommend that when you find a church go directly to the parish’s website if possible.  Mass times, particularly for feast days and holidays, may not be the regular schedule and that information would only be found on the parish’s website or by calling the parish directly.  As far as regularly having the sites listed in the bulletin, we will take that into consideration and placing a small note to highlight the websites listed above.

Fr. Johnathan