The Catholic Message Board

Is it permissible to evangelize in a way that seems like thumping the Bible or catechism over people's heads? Absolutely, if that's what you're called to do in the circumstances. The difficulty with being provocative like this is that it can be desperately difficult to tell if you're really evangel...

I should've clarified a bit in my OP. We're sometimes told "the truth can be harsh." Why can't we be that way with the faith? For example, if my non-Catholic IL decides to receive during Mass, why can't I tell her she's receiving unworthily and she can't have it? Yes, that's kind of mean t...

Based on my reading of collected statistics and from books, people were better at hiding their depravity or masking it to appear socially acceptable. That doesn't make them worse than we are today. They did it differently. I'd say that a culture that maintains expectations that depravity not be dis...

Based on my reading of collected statistics and from books, people were better at hiding their depravity or masking it to appear socially acceptable. That doesn't make them worse than we are today. They did it differently.

I do believe that impotence is an impediment to marriage. Correct me if I'm wrong. Perpetual impotence is an impediment, yes - one who is impotent can't exchange marriage rights with his or her would-be spouse. Of course impotence later acquired wouldn't end a marriage contract. The congregation of...

The secondary ends are always relevant, but a marriage isn't invalid or even "lesser" if the primary end can't be fulfilled. It's when the primary end is willfully frustrated that there are problems. Ah okay, I always thought that the primary ends had to be fulfilled. For example, I've re...

I'm reading Scruton's Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition . How is it? For me, Scruton always alternates between interesting and deep, and doing Kant stuff which I find impenetrable. So far, I haven't found the Kant stuff too much but I'm only halfway through the book. I do like his ...

Thanks for sharing that. Are we supposed to proselytize? In the Bible there are plenty of things said about people who will not listen.

The primary end of marriage is the begetting and raising of children. But there are secondary ends too. If a married couple can't fulfill the primary ends, is that where the secondary ends are relevant? I was reading Baltimore Catechism and noticed that the teaching for the purpose of marriage has ...

I kind of forgot about this topic, oops.

Is it the Church's traditional teaching that marriage is for procreation? If so, what does that mean? Is marriage for breeding?

What's the best way to speak the truth of the faith when people ask about sins or are knowingly committing them? For example-- I've heard a woman say she thought a brother was going to experience eternal damnation because he was raised Catholic, but has a Protestant wife and joined that church. This...

I'm reading Scruton's Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition.

It seems to me that the Early Church Fathers taught that sex was solely for procreation. In my readings, I was surprised to learn that St. Augustine thought sex with one's spouse was a venial sin (!), and then there were all of the bans in place. This teaching existed for hundreds of years, and then...

I'm not well-versed in geo-politics, but in general was it a bad decision on the US's part to get involved the way we have?

I understand that Russia's a threat, on many levels, but our government has invested a LOT of money.

Paganism and how we have "man-made traditions." The man-made traditions is funny to me, because traditions depend on people to pass on...

Yes. I would participate. It's been sad to me how the old ladies' forum was all but dead, but I guess I didn't help it any. I joined "late," but from what I gather it sounds like a lot of ladies went over to Facebook? For those of us who don't use social media (or use it sparingly), a lad...

Eifelheim, Catholic scifi. It's a genre I'm exploring and after this book I want to start a series about a group of nuns who are space rescuers. I know, that sounds campy, but it's unlike anything I've heard of before!

Yes, I'd still like that!

Yaaaaaaay!!!

I'm here, too. Are the subforums that were at the old board going to be replicated here?