I have issues...

In the past few week I have given a number of talks here at Prince of Peace. I had a Q&A with both the 4th and 5th grade SOR classes (CCD classes). I have had a Q&A with the 7th grade Prince of Peace school class. I have had a Q&A with the PoP Moms group (Prince of Peace Mothers of Ministry). In all these Q&A talks there have been a number of questions that were asked by each group concerning the Catholic faith. I thought that over the next few posts I would tackle some of these questions and the answers I gave that reflect the views of the Catholic Church.

I want to point out that I haven't forgotten the suggestions that were posted and welcome more suggestions. I want to get to those as well, but since these same questions kept coming up in the last few days I thought I'd blog on them first. So, to give you an idea of these questions posed to me this past week, I thought I'd post them in this blog entry and then respond to each in the coming blog entries.

One of the most common questions asked by the kids was:

• Is it a sin for a soldier in Iraq to kill an enemy?
• Is it a sin to kill someone in self-defense?
• Is divorce a sin? What is an annulment and what are the reasons for getting an annulment?

The PoP Moms asked:

• Why did the Vatican come out with 7 new mortal sins? God gave us the original 7 mortal sins in the bible.
• What is the Church planning to do about the priest shortage? Will they change the criteria for being a priest?
• Does the Church support St. Mary's Catholic Academy in St. Mary, KS regarding their banning women referees in boys sports?

These are all excellent questions and I will respond to each in the coming blogs. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 17:18 | link | comments (2) |
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Comments:

#1  08 April 2008 - 07:11

 

What an interesting set of questions!

Standing out to me was that the children are concerned about their morality and salvation. It's quite a breath of fresh air to hear that children want to be good people! Sadly, their questions about divorce and annulments probably point to real-life questions they're facing. Bless you, Fr. Rossman-- that could be a dangerous yet fertile topic for children.

Conversely, the adults' group seems to ask loaded questions-- both positively and negatively. I wonder what their motivations are for asking if the Church will change the criteria for priesthood. In a way, I'd assert that the Church in the United States has changed their criteria for ordination, but that's a complicated (and rhetorically dangerous) topic!

Also, I'm interested in their motivations regarding St. Mary's "Catholic" Academy. There's a growing interest in the Extraordinary form of the Mass and a lot of people are re-centering their lives on Tradition (Liturgical and Cultural) in a way that Americans haven't done in decades. The question to me is whether the Church will continue to de-facto surrender Tradition to the seperatist SSPX, or if she will nurture Tradition in the diocesan parishes.

Fr. Rossman, I don't envy you for answering these questions from both adults and children! They can be heavily charged topics that its easy for all of us to get caught in. These are heady days to be an American Catholic! Bless your good work in the parish!

Saint Charles Borromeo, patron of Catechists, patron of spiritual directors, patron of spiritual leaders, Apostle to the Council of Trent, Father of the Clergy-- Pray for us!

--Joe

Anonymous

#2  09 April 2008 - 07:28

 

I get the same questions from my religious ed (CCD) 6th Graders. As for the PoP Moms I would say.
#1 I hadn't heard that let me look into it.
#2 It should plan to pray as Christ tells us in Luke 10:2
#3 While their intention may be good their approach was poor and the folks at St. Mary's are not in full communion with the Bishop.

Anonymous

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