Expert: Fr. Timothy Johnson - 1/23/2008

Question
Dear Fr. Tim,

                You are so right about the true church Fr. Tim. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism…& One Church founded by Jesus Christ. Why cant other non catholics see that they are so caught up in there ways and errors that they are afraid to be wrong they know they are wrong.

“Where the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church”
-Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, 1st c. A.D. My favorite quote from St. Ignatius.

See I am a fighter and I fight hard "...I fight hard for the faith" To defend the truth and God because we are the only true church!

"Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence" (1 Peter 3:15)

"And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Rev. 21:14

"You form a building which rises on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone." Ephesians 2:20

"...the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth." 1 Timothy 3:15

"So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." 2 Thessalonians 2:15

"You form a building which rises on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone." Ephesians 2:20

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Acts 2:42  They all were catholic just because Non catholics dont see the word catholic it is still and always be catholic Jesus said he built a universal church and Catholic means just that. Fr. Tim I love theology I study it everyday and hour I have a problem though I got a bible and I feel funny with it, what I mean by that is it isnt traditional catholic I said to my aunt not making her feel bad I liked it but I dont know what to do I want to get a new bible a traditional and my mom was in shocked and said Oh no dont read it any more. She said Why did she get you a protestant bible your catholic dont let her get you a bible any more. I will have a talk with her" Said my mother furious.

I mean she was upset and mad! She was calm though she didnt like that at all. I also have a question I am curious about I have a cyst in my right overy and my monthly was so screwed up that I was sick as a dog. I was put on an artificial birth control pill too regulate my monthly so am I okay with God?

Did artificial birth control suddenly become OK with God?


"I could not understand why these romancers never took the trouble to find out a few elementary facts about the thing they denounced. The facts might easily have helped the denunciation, where the fictions discredited it.

There were any number of real Catholic doctrines I should then have thought disgraceful to the Church... But the enemies of the Church never found these real rocks of offence. They never looked for them. They never looked for anything... Boundless freedom reigned; it was not treated as if it were a question of fact at all... It puzzled me very much, even at that early stage, to imagine why people bringing controversial charges against a powerful and prominent institution should thus neglect to test their own case, and should draw in this random way on their own imagination... I never dreamed that the Roman religion was true; but I knew that its accusers, for some reason or other, were curiously inaccurate."  I now know that Catholicism is true.

"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body..." 1 Corinthians 12:13 RSV

"...one Lord, one faith, one baptism..." Ephesians 4:5 RSV

"And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets... Are all apostles? Are all prophets?" 1 Corinthians 12:27-29 NAB

"Moreover, we [the apostles] possess the prophetic message which is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it... Know first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation." 2 Peter 1:19-20

"In them [Paul's letters] there are some things that are hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures." 2 Peter 3:16 NAB

"Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and in which you stand firm. You are being saved by it at this very moment if you hold fast to it as I preached it to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 NAB

The Catholic religion is an old religion. It dates back to the beginning of Christianity as according to Matthew 16, 17-19, it was founded by Jesus Christ. Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the founder of the Catholic religion and that it has the marks of the true church, one, holy, Catholic and apostolic. The word Catholic means universal.

From the Douay Rheims, Matthew 16, 17-19, we can see that Jesus gave Peter, the first Pope in the Catholic church, instructions to act as shepherd of the Catholic church with Jesus as the Head of the church. And Jesus answering said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jona because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. Matt 16, 17-19

The Holy Mass is not a ritual. It is a remembrance of the Last Supper. At the consecration, the host and the wine become Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. At the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is truly present. We receive Him, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Here, we can read about the first Mass, at the Last Supper, in Matthew 26, 26-28, And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke and gave to his disciples and said: Take ye and eat. This is my body. And taking the chalice, he gave thanks and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.

Refer to Luke 1 for part of the Hail Mary. The latter part simply asks Mary to pray for us.

To clarify this, Catholics confess their sins to God. That part is mentioned in the bible, but it does say in revelation, if you add to or take away from the bible , you will pay the price, and I highly suggest for all to read all passages in the Bible for more clarification. As the case in point goes, the Bible was not written until after 300 a.d., not sure of exact year, so the Bible is really based on tradition and what was passed on in the Catholic church.

I was curious should I get the Douay Rheims bible?  

Answer
Hi, Jacqueline!

Thanks for sharing the insights.  It is great to know that anybody reviewing the Q & A under this category will be able to take note of the great references you give, and look them up for his or herself.
And sure!  Get a Douay Rheims Bible, if you have the chance and know where to order it from.  I remember I bought on years ago, and have since then obtained two older, original print used ones in the past several years.  It is a great version of the Bible.

Fr. Timothy Johnson