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<div>Please explain the "sins of the father" from Exodus.</div><div><blockquote>For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments (Ex. 20:5-6).</blockquote>
The totality of Scripture condemns the idea that children are punished for the sins of the parents. The passage from Exodus on the surface appears to be contradicting that, and this misunderstanding was so prevalent that the prophet Ezekiel was forced to address it:
<blockquote>. . . What is the meaning of this proverb you recite in the land of Israel: “Parents eat sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge”?
As I live—oracle of the Lord GOD: I swear that none of you will ever repeat this proverb in Israel. For all life is mine: the life of the parent is like the life of the child, both are mine. Only the one who sins shall die! (Ez. 18:2-4).
But, in turn, if he begets a son who sees all the sins his father commits, yet fears and does not imitate him—a son who does not eat on the mountains, or raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile a neighbor’s wife; who does not oppress anyone, or exact a pledge, or commit robbery; who gives his food to the hungry and clothes the naked; who refrains from evildoing, accepts no interest or usury, but keeps my ordinances and walks in my statutes—this one shall not die for the sins of his father. He shall surely live! Only the father, since he committed extortion and robbed his brother, and did what was not good among his people—he will die because of his sin! (Ez. 18:14-18).</blockquote>
Exodus 20:5-6 is speaking of the consequences of breaking the commandment against false idols and other gods.
The commandments are not portrayed as arbitrary rules. The commandments are given as the path to true life and the fullness of life.
<blockquote>I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the LORD swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them (Deut. 30:19-20).</blockquote>
The message of the passage from Exodus is that the sins of the parents set a bad example for the children to follow. The parents will certainly experience negative consequences for their sins. The children seeing this bad example may follow it. If they follow this bad example, they too will experience these same consequences. And this bad example may be so ingrained in a family that it will last generations, and they will suffer these bad consequences as well. This passage from Exodus can be seen as a warning to parents that they not only possibly condemn themselves through their sins but that their bad example might condemn future generations.
The message of Scripture is that sin has more than just a personal consequence. Our sins affect not just ourselves but everyone around us.
</div>

Sins of the Father?

Tim Staples explains that anyone in full communion with Rome who attends an SSPX mass out of love for the traditional liturgy legitimately fulfills his Sunday obligation, and then gives a brief overview of the history of the society and its conflicts with the Church.
Transcript:
Host: Olga Marie, on Facebook Live, asks the following question: &#8220;Can we go to SSPX mass and be valid for our Sunday obligation?&#8221;
Tim: Right, well, because of their irregular status—although I don&#8217;t know if our inquirer is aware that there&#8217;s been more good news concerning movement toward full communion today; as many of our listeners know, our Holy Father during the Year of Mercy extended faculties, exercising his immediate juridical authority, he communicated faculties to hear confessions to all SSPX priests. That was really remarkable, and since the Year of Mercy ended, he did not take those away, so they they are yet extended. This is our Holy Father, he is the priest of mercy.
Well, we just—in fact I was just reading it before I came over here, I didn&#8217;t finish reading the whole letter from from the Vatican on this—but it states that our Holy Father is encouraging bishops around the world to grant faculties. It&#8217;s not a mandate, he&#8217;s not exercising his immediate juridical authority as he did with confession, but he&#8217;s encouraging the Ordinaries to extend faculties, where possible, to the SSPX to witness marriages. Now it does say in the letter, as I was just reading—I want to go back and really take it apart after this broadcast—but it did say that, because of the irregular status, the ordinary witness is a priest who is validly incardinated into the diocese; but where that is not possible, where a priest is not available, that sort of thing, he&#8217;s encouraging them to extend faculties to SSPX priests. So it&#8217;s not—it&#8217;s not like the confession, but it is extending—encouraging bishops to extend faculties. So it&#8217;s more movement, I think, in a good direction.
Now, as far as going to masses&#8230;again, because of their irregular status, you know, people should go to parishes where the priest is incardinated into the diocese. However, the Church has been, you know, bending over backward for the SSPX and those who love the traditional mass so that a permission has been given, for those who love the the Latin mass, to attend those those parishes. So, you know, it&#8217;s again a sign that we&#8217;re moving toward—and I think it will be an exciting day, I pray that that day will come soon, where we will have—will no longer have to talk about this irregular status any longer; but those who are attending SSPX masses because they love the Latin liturgy, they are not, you know, dissing Vatican Council II or anything like that&#8230; are not sinning. You know, the Church is not saying that you&#8217;re in sin if you go to those masses.
There are other things that have to be taken into account, though. It doesn&#8217;t mean you&#8217;re free to reject all of Vatican II. That&#8217;s one of the big sticking points concerning full communion with the SSPX, you know, they have to acknowledge that Vatican II is a valid ecumenical council. But I happen to know people who attend those masses from time to time because they love the traditional liturgy, they&#8217;re not available a lot of times very generously in a particular diocese, and they&#8217;re certainly not in sin.
Host: And SSPX, Society of St. Pius the 10th.
Tim: The 10th, correct.
Host: And why—I—maybe I should know this, but why Pius X? What about him is&#8230;
Tim: Yeah well, I think it was a priestly fraternity that was started in France before there was a schismatic act. It was simply a group of seminarians, later priests—I believe it was seminarians and priests back in about&#8230;if memory serves, about 1972, a number of these young seminarians and such approached Archbishop Lefebvre, who was retired at the time, and they asked him, because of the post-Vatican II craziness that was going on, with the promulgation of the Missala Vermanum, the Mass of Paul VI, as it&#8217;s called, and the abuses that were going on, these folks came to Bishop Lefebvre and said, you know, &#8220;We need you to come out of retirement and help us,&#8221; and he did.
And at the outset, because he was not an ordinary, he was a retired bishop, he did not have a diocese, he had to get permission from the local ordinary to begin the SSPX, which he was granted. At that time he was in full communion with the Church; they were just concerned. But—so St. Pius X of course was a reformer bishop who, you know, wrote wonderful documents, you know, the syllabus of errors against modernism and so many things, so it was—a pope like that was a perfect fit for them.
But what happened was, they started to go extreme, pretty early on, to the point where they ordained some priests illicitly, Pope Paul VI got involved; that was not excommunicable, but it was a grave sin. But then what ends up happening is there&#8217;s back and forth between Paul VI and the SSPX, they were suspended &#8220;a divinis,&#8221; that is, their faculties were removed, and they continued in disobedience, and this back and forth went on until Pope Paul VI died in 1978.
John Paul picked it up—and really wanted to have a reunion—he picked up the dialogue, Cardinal Ratzinger, of course, involved when he became Prefect of the CDF. But unfortunately, it took a bad turn in 1988, when the SSPX ordained four—or, Bishop Lefebvre, he ordained four bishops illicitly, and that is matter of excommunication, automatically, latae sententiae, and so that started—but the amazing thing is, I mean, you really sympathize with the SSPX and the craziness that was going on and such; but you also see in this whole thing how the Popes have reached out and continued to reach out. John Paul—he was forced, I mean, he didn&#8217;t do anything. He simply declared what Canon law already stated: that was a latae sententiae excommunication; but the dialogues immediately were started. John Paul established the Ecclesia Dei, which was a—its specific task was to be the mediator to try and get the SSPX back.
And now here we are, you know, there&#8217;s been lots of trials and failures and semi-successes and such, and now it&#8217;s Pope Francis&#8211;some might think the most unlikely candidate—is the one who really seems to be moving the ball forward like none other.
So anyway, that&#8217;s just a brief thumbnail sketch.

Is an SSPX Mass Valid for Our Sunday Obligation?

Vox Media&#8217;s series of explainer videos failed badly when it tried to use science to suggest that monogamy doesn&#8217;t really fit with human nature. We asked Dan Kuebler, Professor of Biology and Dean of the School of Natural and Applied Sciences at Franciscan University, to help us understand monogamy in a more adult way, using both scientific and moral arguments.

Vox FAILS with Monogamy “Explainer”

With &#8220;Oppenheimer&#8221; filling up the cinemas, and today being the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, we take a look back at an earlier episode we produced about the morality of dropping the atom bomb.
Can a Catholic assent to blowing up entire cities? What about when to do so will save perhaps millions of lives? Catholic Answers President Chris Check joins us as we consider again America&#8217;s use of Atomic weapons to end a long, bitter war with Japan.

(Encore) Was Dropping the Atom Bomb Moral?

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Ask Me Anything

In Mark 1, we hear about the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. So let’s just start with that, because as Catholics, some people hear this and panic a little: wait, St. Peter, the first pope, was married?
First, we needn’t panic, because there is nothing intrinsic about priestly ministry that requires celibacy. In Catholic law, this is largely a matter of traditional discipline in the Latin Church, even if it has strong resonances with our theology of the priesthood. In any case, there’s little to no evidence, apart from this one line of scripture, that Peter had a wife in his later ministry in the Church. Many argue that Peter was, by this point already, a widower—the presence of a mother-in-law certainly suggests that there had been a wife, but if she was around, it seems odd that she would never be mentioned in the tradition or the Gospels.
I always think it’s kind of a funny story. Jesus heals this woman, and she immediately turns into the hostess, serving the disciples and Jesus. One the one hand, we might think, let the poor woman have a rest; she’s just recovered from a serious illness. On the other hand, she wants to serve, with that stereotypical grandmotherly insistence, so maybe Jesus healed her precisely because he knew she would do what she wanted to do, regardless of her state of health. Further, the immediate transition shows that she is really healed, completely. It’s not just that the virus or the fever or whatever has left her so that she can now recover over the course of hours or days; she is restored. And no doubt this is what St. Mark wants us to see from this story. Jesus isn’t offering some kind of patchwork medicine; he’s the real deal. When he heals, he heals.
But let’s also notice another theme running through the readings. St. Paul talks about how he has made himself “a slave to all,” that he might “win more.” Everything, including his own rights as an apostle, takes a back seat to his sense of mission. We can connect Paul’s sense of service with Peter’s mother-in-law’s sense of service: in both cases, what matters is not our own needs, but the good of Christ. This service is a joy. It is its own reward.
By contrast, in our first reading, Job gives a rather different perspective on service. Is life, he wonders, anything more than forced slavery or hired drudgery? Months of emptiness, nights of grief, passing through life with no real joy? Of course, he says this after he has lost everything, as he sits in sorrow, wondering why God could have taken away his health and his family and his prosperity. Surely, his friends insist, there is a reason for these things; surely Job has done something wrong. But Job knows that he has done nothing wrong. His chapters of Hebrew verse amount to a beautiful iteration of that modern phrase “it is what it is.” There can be no justice, no healing, when the world is like this—when bad things happen to good people, when death and chance and sickness make our lives into drudgery without meaning.
Not that first-century Palestine is all living in the world of Job, but there’s a real question left lingering there, in the moral universe of the Old Testament: is there any meaning in suffering? Why bother with this life, why bother with service, when it can all fall apart because of a stupid virus that puts you in bed with a fever? Why bother when it can all be taken away for no apparent reason?
If you go back and read the rest of Job, the answer that God gives is not an answer. It is a challenge: what do you know about anything? God says, in effect, you want meaning, but your questions are meaningless. What makes you think you know what justice is? What makes you think you know what suffering is? Were you there when I created the heavens and earth?
I like to think that, by pairing these readings together today, Holy Church wants us to consider Jesus’ healing, and Paul’s preaching, as a kind of response to the pain and questioning of Job. You see, Job is right: suffering can be meaningless; life can be empty servitude. But God’s answer to this is not ultimately to make it meaningful, in some superficial sense, as in “I gave you the flu so that you could learn to be a better person.” Rather, his answer is to show up, in person, and be with us in those moments, and offer to transform them into his good purposes. For Paul, the reality of Christ’s personal presence and power was enough to get through any struggle. For Peter’s mother-in-law, the reality of Christ’s presence meant that her weakness had been transformed into strength. She now had the chance to participate in something of infinite value: the announcement of God’s kingdom come among us.
Rather than worry about what’s wrong, or what’s broken, or what seems to lack meaning—rather than sitting around asking why and what and how—can we instead invite Jesus into it, and ask him to show us how he will transform it into something good? And even harder, can we have the faith, like so many of those healed people in the gospels, to believe that he will?

What’s the Point of It All?

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Is this belief about Mary and purgatory actually Catholic?

How to Explain the Catholic Faith in 30 Seconds

In my book <a href="https://shop.catholic.com/confusion-in-the-kingdom/">Confusion in the Kingdom</a> I document how lots of liberal Catholics refuse to speak frankly about sexual sin and often use ambiguous language to give the impression that sins like sodomy really aren’t so bad. But these same people often have no problem clearly denouncing sins that are not celebrated among their political tribe.
So, for example, Fr. James Martin <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1219216859007880">will say</a> that the Bible has unclear “clobber passages” against homosexuality, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10154197847717882">but then say</a> the Bible is “clear” on the complex issue of <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/a-nation-has-a-right-to-control-its-borders">immigration</a>. Or consider this article Alice Camille wrote in 2022 titled “<a href="https://uscatholic.org/articles/202208/sometimes-hate-is-the-friendly-man-next-door/">Sometimes hate is the friendly man next door</a>”.
She talks about “Bill,” an EMT who seemed to be a stand-up guy and was about to be received into the Church. Bill then, of his own free will, sent Camille articles he wrote that she considered racist. She writes, “It seemed our ‘model’ parishioner-to-be was a card-carrying Neo-Nazi racist.”
She said Bill was uneasy about his identity and so she “urged Bill to denounce [his writings] and put them behind him. I urged him not to approach the Easter mysteries until he had expunged the way of hate from his life.” The article then says she met him years later and she recounts the experience:
<blockquote>I didn’t see or hear from Bill for five years. Then I accidentally ran into him on the street one day. He saw me first and called to me. From a safe 10 paces away, he told me he’d burned all of his hate paraphernalia: books, magazines, flags, and keepsakes. He said he’d changed. He said it was over. I wanted to believe him and promised him my continued prayers. But I was too afraid to get closer and made no attempt to contact him again.</blockquote>
Camille is also the author of an article titled “<a href="https://uscatholic.org/articles/202109/even-god-got-bored-with-the-binary/">Even God got bored with the binary.</a>” The subtitle reads: “Dualisms—whether black and white, male and female, or good and evil—are appealing, but often fail to tell the whole story. ”
And yet for Camille, there is no dualism when it comes to racism. It is evil. Period. And, even worse, racism is an unforgivable sin. Even though this man repented of his racism, he still needed to be treated like a leper.
Let’s change the story and imagine “Bill” was a transgender woman (i.e. a man claiming to be a woman), who engaged in acts of sodomy. I doubt liberal Catholics would denounce his behavior and tell him to put his past behind him (or even address him as “him”). Let’s imagine further that Bill had written articles saying it was okay to kill so-called transphobes but then repented of this hatred.
Bill would be hailed as a hero whose hatred was “of course” wrong but understandable given how traumatic “transphobes” can be. Liberal Catholics certainly wouldn’t treat transgender Bill like an unredeemable monster as they might treat racist Bill, even though a transgender person <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Nashville_school_shooting">could also commit</a> an act of violence.
So, when I see a Catholic effusively praising the LGBT movement without offering even a hint of a call to repentance, I ask that person two simple questions:
<ol>
<li>Are acts of racism wicked?</li>
<li>Are acts of sodomy wicked?</li>
</ol>
They almost always refuse to answer the second question because for many of them, deep down, they don’t think sodomy is sinful. I then ask why they can quickly denounce one sinful act but not another. These same questions also work for “far right” Catholics who may see nothing wrong with racism. As a Catholic, you should be able to easily answer “yes” to both questions; if you don’t, then I question your commitment to Catholic teaching.
As Christians, we should not let our politics cloud our witness of the Gospel. Jesus said that we must repent and believe in the Gospel; that means repenting not just of the sins of “the other side” we snipe about online, but also of the sins that may be common among our own political tribe that have no place among the people of God whose citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20).

Don’t Play Favorites With Sins

Jimmy Akin delves into the complex interpretation of Jesus&#8217; words in John 6 about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Did His followers truly understand His meaning as a literal cannibalistic act, or was there a deeper theological implication they were struggling to grasp?
Transcript:
John 6 when the followers, some of his followers, Christ&#8217;s followers walk away, not being able to accept it. I know it&#8217;s kind of played in Catholic circles, like against people that think it&#8217;s metaphorically to show the literal, that it&#8217;s literal, that look, he meant this, but is that what the followers who walked away understood? Because it almost seems like a reading that that could be, they understood it to be something like cannibalism. And that was like, oh, that&#8217;s weird and gross or something. And they can&#8217;t accept that. And then Christ doubled down on that. Or is it there? That&#8217;s not what their understanding is. They&#8217;re not misunderstanding it. They&#8217;re understanding something correctly, maybe not what so much what he&#8217;s saying, but what that would entail, what that would imply, meaning something to his divinity or something. And they&#8217;re catching that kind of like a John 10 thing with the Jews understood as divinity. Is that what they&#8217;re not accepting?
Okay.
If I understand your question correctly, the individuals here who are from the city of Capernaum, and so this is sometimes called the Caffernaitic interpretation, do initially entertain the idea that Jesus is talking about cannibalism. And they say, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
That doesn&#8217;t mean that they had settled on that as an interpretation of what he said. They may not be sure what he means. It just sounds ridiculous to them. And so the ones who walk away, walk away because what he says sounds ridiculous. And to them, it sounds like cannibalism, but they very well may have not been sure what he meant and thought, well, maybe he means something else. But Jesus doubled down and said, no, no, no, you really got to chew my flesh and drink my blood if you want to have life. And so he, even in the face of the cannibalistic understand, and he said, no, you really got to do this.

Did the Disciples Take John 6 Literally? (Eat My Flesh)

<div>I have a Jewish friend who claims that "sabachthani" does not mean "forsaken." Can you clarify?</div><div>Language, words, and translations can be a bit tricky. To claim that sabachthani does not mean forsaken is either right or wrong, depending on context.
Sabachthani generally means to have been abandoned or left behind, but it means to have been abandoned for a purpose or reason.
When we generally think of &#8220;forsaken,&#8221; we think of an uncaring abandonment. The Aramaic word for being abandoned without care or because of being unwanted would be taatani. The Aramaic for being abandoned because of being forgotten would be nashatani.
In the context of Jesus on the cross, it is clearly a reference to being abandoned, but it does not imply that Jesus felt his Father carelessly abandoned him.
In some ancient cultures, in order to pass from boyhood to manhood, the young male would have to spend the night alone in the wilderness. Alone and in the dark, the young male might wonder, &#8220;Why did my father leave me in this place?&#8221; But the young male knows there is a purpose to being there and that his father knows what he is doing and is doing so with love.
</div>

Does ‘Sabachthani’ Really Mean Forsaken?

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<div>How can I have a relationship with Mary if praying the Rosary is not my favorite? How can I learn to enjoy it?</div><div>Praying the Rosary regularly—or even fairly regularly—is not strictly necessary to have a relationship with the Blessed Mother. By virtue of your being a baptized member of the Church, Mary is your spiritual mother (John 19:27; Rev. 12:17). So you can pray informally to the Blessed Mother, including asking for her intercessory help in various ways.
In addition, a good way to get more out of the Rosary is to focus on the respective Rosary mysteries while you’re praying the 10 Hail Mary prayers associated with each mystery. Meditate on what’s going on in the event(s) of each mystery, placing yourself as an observer or even an active participant.
In the process, also ask our Lord Jesus Christ and Our Lady to help you draw lessons/guidance from the various mysteries for your own life. If you get an inspiration while praying the Rosary to apply in your life, don’t give yourself a hard time that you’ve become “distracted.” Take it as a blessing from the Good Lord and continue meditating on a mystery, and perhaps write down the inspiration so that you don’t forget it. In addition, don’t feel bad if you linger on an inspiration while praying the Rosary, because doing so can also be a gift from God.
If you approach the Rosary in this way, no matter how frequently you pray it, I think you’ll begin to appreciate the Rosary more and profit more from praying it, because you’ll be encountering our Lord and Our Lady in a more personal and otherwise profitable way.
</div>

Relationship with the Blessed Mother without the Rosary?

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In 2024, the most popular French film was The Count of Monte Cristo—the latest of innumerable re-imaginings of the great novel written by Alexandre Dumas in 1846. It is a good thing to be reminded that not all that is popular is bad, and that &#8220;popular&#8221; can mean what appeals to the common sense of the common man.
Novels can be as important to getting to heaven as to creating blockbusters. Doubt it? Consider this line of reasoning: Getting to heaven requires practicing the virtues. (This takes for granted that they are practiced for the love of God. Otherwise, as St. Augustine says, they are just glittering vices.) Practicing the virtues means knowing what they are and knowing what the contrary vices are. Knowing these means remembering. One of the best ways to develop memory, as St. Thomas Aquinas points out, is to associate some striking mental image with whatever one wants to remember. And one of the best ways to fix striking images in the mind is by looking through the eyes of the great novelists.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a case in point: A dramatic masterpiece in its own right, it sears the mind with a damning description of the vices that oppose the four cardinal virtues, as seen in the four principal antagonists.
The Count of Monte Cristo tells of a young man, Edmond Dantès, on the cusp of natural happiness, who is destroyed by four very different men: one who is envious of his career, one who is jealous of his fiancée, a magistrate who sacrifices the duties of his office for the sake of personal interests, and a man who is too cowardly to risk harm. All of this happens in the first fifty pages. The next 1,100 follow Dantès&#8217;s imprisonment, escape, and attempt to punish his enemies.
&#8220;A story of revenge&#8221; is the summary our broad cultural awareness makes of the book, but the truth is that each villain ultimately destroys himself, and does so precisely by cultivating the exact opposite of one of the cardinal virtues. The villains are cardinals of vice, so to speak.
These villains can be analyzed one at a time, following the order of the cardinal virtues as Aquinas presents them, echoed by such interpreters as the great twentieth-century Thomist Josef Pieper: prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance.
<h2>1. Danglars Against Prudence</h2>
Prudence is the form of all moral virtues, since all moral virtue requires knowledge of what is right. Fittingly, the villain who instigates the conspiracy against Edmond is the best example of &#8220;false prudence.&#8221;
Danglars proves throughout the story to be both the most formidable villain and at the same time the most stupid. The reason for this paradox is as deep as the difference between true and false prudence. True prudence is properly ordered toward all reality and the proportion that exists within reality. Ultimately, sin is the stupidest thing we can do. It is our collusion in snatching away our own happiness and sinking ourselves into everlasting misery.
Whereas prudence helps us do the good more effectively, false prudence is just a more effective way of sinning and therefore hurting ourselves. As Aquinas says, it is connected to the vice of covetousness, characterized pithily by Pieper as &#8220;an anxious senility, desperate self-preservation, overriding concern for confirmation and security.&#8221; It is a malicious ignorance that willfully sets lower goals over more excellent ones. Limiting our sight to ourselves, being as we are created for vision of God and for vision of all things in God, is exactly what hurts ourselves.
Danglars lives by lust, greed, and selfishness, unknowingly plotting his own downfall, which Dantès really only hastens. He finds himself in the end with the reward of his unchaste pursuit of self, looking at his graying reflection in a stream. Danglars sees, for the first time, what he has made himself: old and alone. He is a loveless parent in a loveless marriage, because he married and had a child solely to advance his career. He is a man with no friends because he only used relationships to further his interests. He is a man with no appreciation for beauty because he has purchased only tasteless, expensive artwork to advance his mindless acquiring of material goods. What is there for him but his poor, barren self?
<h2>2. Villefort Against Justice</h2>
The signal sinner here is the crown prosecutor, Monsieur de Villefort. He is the most pitiable character, for two reasons. In accord with the sentiment stretching from Socrates to Pieper, &#8220;the person who commits injustice should be pitied,&#8221; but the novel, moreover, presents us most intimately with the inward workings of Villefort’s mind and soul.
Villefort is an exemplar of the pathology of injustice and the way in which attempting to harm another always hurts the self. Villefort violates all three modes of being just, not giving what is due to his superiors, his equals, or his inferiors. The most crucial of his violations is his refusal to distribute justice to young Dantès.
Unlike Danglars, who in practicing false prudence distorts his understanding of reality itself, Villefort fails to recognize the value of other people in relation to himself—a failure that blinds him throughout the book. Fittingly for a man who believes that other people may have to be sacrificed to his own good, his story ends in the discovery that he is prosecuting long-lost son from a hushed-up affair. What better illustration of a man attacking his soul than a father prosecuting his son? Whereas the imprudent man cannot do anything truly good for himself, the man lacking justice can do himself only evil.
<h2>3. Caderousse Against Fortitude</h2>
Whereas Danglars cleverly though unwittingly plots his own downfall, and Villefort wounds his soul again and again, the next character to be considered, Caderousse, is the perfect example of cowardice, the opposite vice of the virtue of fortitude. He takes no active part in the arrest of Dantès, but he repeatedly fails to redress this injustice because he gives into his fear of the possible repercussions.
Caderousse&#8217;s sin—and his vice, which is the cultivation of sin—is a perfect illustration of Christ&#8217;s dictum that &#8220;he who saves his life will lose it in the world to come.&#8221; An excessive valuation of physical safety is the very thing that will endanger one most, sometimes even in the realm of physical safety. Caderousse&#8217;s death is a masterstroke of Dumas&#8217;s genius—the direct result of his previous cowardice, accomplished by the cowardly act of his murderer.
<h2>4. Fernand Against Temperance</h2>
Finally, we come to the sinner against temperance, Fernand, the man who wants Dantès&#8217;s beloved fiancée as his own wife. Fernand&#8217;s crime is not his desire for the chaste and lovely Mercédès, but instead his putting this desire ahead of all other goods, including honesty and integrity. Whereas temperance is the virtue whereby a person keeps his inner life in order, Fernand decides to create his own order.
This decision destroys him and his life. Introduced as an honest and brave man at the beginning of the book, his compromise for the sake of passion gradually eats away all of his virtues. Temperance in itself is only a means for doing and being good, but it is an indispensable one. An intemperate man is like a sieve: No matter what excellent virtues are poured into him, he has no power to contain or use them.
The author of the Book of Proverbs tells us that the &#8220;foolishness of a man perverteth his own way.&#8221; There are no more vivid, engrossing, and powerful illustrations of this saying than the careers of the villains in The Count of Monte Cristo.

4 Ways to Ruin Your Life

What religious group is more likely to convert to Catholicism?

Is it licit for the laity to assume the orans posture during the Our Father in Mass?

I’m a catechumen. Why does the Church sprinkle instead of submerge for baptism?

My Baptist friend taunts me saying ‘nailed it’ referring to Luther and the 95 Thesis. What would be a good reply to this snarky remark?

How do I communicate to people my age (college age) that euthanasia is wrong?

Would it be out of line to say that Protestantism is meant to be a direct insult to God?

Unitarians and the Johannine Comma

Asking Famous Catholics to Sign Old Photos!

How can we respond to Mormons who use Ep. 4:11 and 1 Cor 12:28 to say that the true Church must have modern day apostles?

How can the pope grant faculties to SSPX if they are technically not under his jurisdiction? Is it ok to attend masses at SSPV chapels?

Can you clarify on the deuterocanonical books and its validity since some Jews accepted them?

What are some examples of moral relativism being adopted and failing in the secular world?

Would you be Automatically excommunicated if you had a certain belief or doubt but never shared it?

Regarding a new theory of purgatory and the detachment from sin. I don’t see how it fits with former papal documents.

Can you give a brief overview of the sacrament of marriage and a good resource?

When I adore the Eucharist, who or what am I exactly adoring? Is it Jesus on the cross in 33 AD?

How do you think these new rules of the supernatural by the Vatican affect approval of miracles for canonization?

Why do all Marian apparitions look different? Are they all the same person?

<div>When may a layperson read the Gospel?</div><div>The general rule is that when a priest or deacon is present, they should be the one to proclaim the Gospel.
<blockquote>[W]henever a priest is present, it is more fitting that the office of presiding be assigned to him and that the deacon assist by carrying out those functions proper to the diaconate (Book of Blessings, no. 18).</blockquote>
The only exception to this is on Palm Sunday and Good Friday when the Passion Gospel is divided into several speaking parts.
In the absence of a priest or deacon, a layperson could read the Gospel at a Communion service or other prayer service.
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When May a Layperson Read the Gospel?

What happens to Pontius Pilate’s wife Claudia? Did she ever convert?

How can the Church say that there is no salvation outside the Church yet declare people saints like St. Gregory of Narek?

How did you come to believe in the intercession of saints and confessing sins to a priest? I’m protestant and having a hard time with it

What do you think of Catholics who say that Catholics have to support labor unions?

What are the benefits of being Catholic as opposed to being an atheist? And Why Catholicism instead of another denomination?

Since venial sin doesn’t send one to hell, would one still need Jesus if they’ve never committed a mortal sin?

As a Catholic how do we respond to the Black Hebrew Israelites who assert salvation due to race or culture?

Tips For Defending the Faith

As tempting as it may be to treat social activism as if it were our highest calling, in fact, it is not. Father Jeffrey Kirby&#8217;s new book, Real Religion, attacks the idea that biblical religion can be reduced to a kind of social activism. We asked him about how Christianity views social activism.
Read more from Fr. Kirby <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/skip-fake-religion-go-for-the-real-thing">here</a>.

Religion Is Not Social Activism

Jason Evert from chastity.com joins us for a discussion of transgenderism from a Christian perspective. Most importantly, what is driving the current mania for switching genders, and how might a disciple of Christ respond?

Transgenderism and the Need for Community

Episode 81: Year B &#8211; 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this episode, we focus on two details found in the readings for this upcoming 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, both of which have to do with Mary. The first detail, found in the first reading, taken from Genesis 3:9-15, is the enmity that God promises to set between the devil and the “woman.” For Catholics, as we shall see, this relates to Mary’s freedom from sin: both original and personal. The other detail is found in the Gospel reading, taken from Mark 3:20-35, where Jesus seems to downplay the role of Mary by talking about who truly is his “mother” and “brothers.” Of course, this has apologetical significance for Catholics because it would seem to provide biblical evidence that Catholics make too big of a deal about Mary being the Mother of God.
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Readings: <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060924.cfm">Click Here</a>
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Looking for Sunday Catholic Word Merchandise? Look no further! <a href="https://shop.catholic.com/catholic-answers-merchandise/?q=sunday">Click Here</a>
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The Marian Prophecy in Genesis

George Weigel&#8217;s newest book, The Fragility of Order: Catholic Reflections on Turbulent Times, offers a diagnosis of how the world, and the Church, got into the situation of disorder we face today. Join us, as Weigel discusses the book, the world, and his chats with Pope Francis.

The Fragility of Order

Karlo just finished his new book on purgatory and so he and Trent sit down to discuss a doctrine that even Catholics sometimes misunderstand.

How Does Purgatory Work? (with Karlo Broussard)

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“Matthew and Luke contradict each other. Matthew says that Judas hanged himself (Matt. 27:5), but Luke says that “falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out” (Acts 1:18).”
DEFENSE
The accounts preserve different aspects of the event, but they do not contradict each other.
Both agree Judas died shortly after the Crucifixion. Matthew says Judas hanged himself after returning the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests, while Luke has Peter speaking of the event during the period between the Ascension and Pentecost (between forty and fifty days after the Crucifixion). The fact that they agree on the timing, but describe the death differently, shows independent traditions in circulation that affirmed Judas’ death very shortly after the Crucifixion. That indicates Judas did die at this early date.
Judas probably began accompanying Jesus while in his twenties (Jesus began his ministry when about thirty; Luke 3:23). This suggests Judas died a sudden and remarkable death (i.e., not an ordinary death due to old age). Matthew’s report of his suicidal hanging accounts for this, leaving us to explain Luke’s reference to him falling and bursting open.
The earliest explanation is found in the second-century historian Papias, who wrote around A.D. 120. His works are lost but partially preserved in other writers. According to the fourth-century writer Apollinarius of Laodicea, Judas survived the hanging by being cut down before he choked to death, but he quotes Papias as saying Ju- das suffered severe swelling (edema) of the head and body, eventually causing him to burst open (see Monte Shanks, Papias and the New Testament, chapter 4, fragment 6). We now know that edema of the neck and body can be a consequence of strangulation, so Papias’s account may be based in fact.
Others have proposed that Judas remained hanging on a tree branch until his body began to decompose and swell due to the gases decom- position produces. The rope then broke or slipped, causing his body to burst from the force of impact.
Some have noted that the traditional site of Judas’s death features trees along a high ridge where strong winds occur. The winds may have caused the rope to slip, and the height of the ridge may have added to the force of impact, causing the body to burst.
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How Judas Iscariot Died

Christmas Questions (Encore)

What is the difference between the Douay–Rheims reims and the traditional Douay–Rheims?

Is it okay to not just pray for the souls in purgatory, but to ask for their intercession?

1 Cor 11 says to not pray with your head covered. So how do we reconcile that with clergy praying with heads covered (mitres, cardinals hats, berettas, etc) during Mass?

Should we offer Masses for the recently deceased leader of Iran and his party?

How does one pray to saints? Also, The Bible records Jesus’ words of prayer in the agony in the garden, but how do we know what he said if nobody was there to witness and report it?

How often can one make a general confession?

Can you help me understand this controversy of interpreting the bible as saying we are either “declared” righteous or “made” righteous?

I feel like God’s love and mercy has already washed my sins away even though I haven’t been to confession yet. What’s the deal with that?

&#8220;Is there a scriptural basis for St. Joseph&#8217;s Assumption?&#8221; This question opens a discussion on the biblical foundations of St. Joseph&#8217;s bodily assumption into Heaven. Other topics include the differences between the Douay–Rheims versions, the appropriateness of praying for intercession from souls in purgatory, and the practice of clergy praying with covered heads during Mass.
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Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit <a href="https://www.catholic.com/speakers">Catholicanswersspeakers.com</a>

Is There a Scriptural Basis for the Theory of St. Joseph’s Assumption?

In this episode, Trent reflects on Cameron Bertuzzi’s recent conversion to Catholicism and Protestant apologist Gavin Ortlund’s take on the subject.

Gavin Ortlund on Cameron Bertuzzi’s Conversion to Catholicism

Did the early Church believe that the Eucharist was the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ? Had that been the belief of the Catholic Church since the Last Supper? Find out today with Catholic Answers&#8217; Director of Apologetics, <a href="https://www.catholicanswersspeakers.com/tim-staples-speaker/">Tim Staples</a>.

The Early Church Was Eucharistic

“Jesus Wept”

<div>If Jesus, as God, couldn’t sin, did he really have human freedom of choice as we do? </div><div>Yes, he did, and he had freedom even more perfectly than we do. Freedom of choice is ideally the ability to choose between a variety of goods, not the ability to choose between good and evil. Choosing sin is actually a defect in free choice, like singing a bad note or fumbling a football are in their respective activities. Christ had to be sinless because he was Goodness Itself in person as God, and God cannot not be good! Yet his human will and understanding were able to consider all the possible choices he could make and choose among them most perfectly in every situation.
We would not say that someone whose musical execution is instinctively flawless is less of a musician than someone who has to parse out every note on the score, or that an athlete who has great precision and power is not a true athlete because he does not have to study plays. Rather we would say that they would be the best musician or the best athlete. So, too, a man whose will and mind are so attentive and clear is more free, not less.
May Jesus purify our minds and hearts so that we can be more free!
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Did Jesus Have Freedom of Choice?

Trent was recently invited on Protestant YouTuber Sam Shamoun’s channel to explain the Catholic position on sola scriptura. In this episode, Trent makes his case against sola scriptura and in the next episode, he takes questions from Sam’s Protestant audience.

My Doubts About Sola Scriptura

<div>Can it actually be disproved that Jesus had brothers and sisters?</div><div>Jesus didn’t have any blood brothers and sisters. We cover this matter well in our tract <a href="https://www.catholic.com/tract/brethren-of-the-lord">“Brethren of the Lord”</a> and also <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/jesus-had-brothers">in a related article by Matt Fradd</a>.
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Can It Be Proven Mary Had No Other Children?

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“The only legitimate way to baptize is immersion.”
DEFENSE
There is more than one mode by which baptism can be performed.
Different groups of Christians have baptized using three methods: imimmersion (dunking), affusion (pouring), and aspersion (sprinkling).
There is misinformation in some circles about which the Catholic Church uses, with the claim being that it uses sprinkling and not immersion. However, Catholics do not use sprinkling, and they do use immersion. In fact, the Church acknowledges immersion as the most expressive way of administering baptism.
The Catechism states: “Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been able to be conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate’s head” (CCC 1239).
The New Testament does not identify any particular mode for baptism. If it did, there would be no controversy. As it is, the New Testament is silent on the question, which is why biblical arguments tend to turn on small details (see Day 267).
The reason the New Testament doesn’t discuss the question is that it was written for a Christian audience, and—as Christians—its first readers had already been baptized. There was no need for the sacred authors to spend time explaining how the rite is performed. They expected the audience to look to the practice of the Church on this question.
When we do that, we find that the assumption there must be only one way of administering baptism is false. The first reference we have with any degree of detail about how baptism was performed is found in the Didache. Though not part of the New Testament, this was a first-century document. It serves as our earliest witness to the mode of baptism, and it reveals that it was performed in different ways, stating: “Baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living [i.e., running] water. But if you have not living water, baptize in other water; and if you cannot in cold, in warm. But if you have not either, pour out water three times upon the head in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit” (Didache 7).
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Dunking, Pouring, or Sprinkling?

Why is breaking the fast on a Friday considered a grave matter? How do we know if something is a grave matter?

Why do I have to be in second grade to receive my First Communion (I’m currently in first grade)?

Why does the Church dogmatize beliefs that are not pertinent to salvation (Immaculate Conception)?

Why is missing Church (Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation) considered a mortal sin?

Why do we believe that Jesus had one criminal crucified on his right and one on his left versus more criminals?

Why is Catholicism the true faith (quick response to someone who doesn’t know anything about Catholicism)?

Why does the Church say people outside the church can be saved?

Why does the Church take fasting so seriously, and how do we know if something is a grave matter? Dr. Karlo Broussard answers this and more, including First Communion rules, missing Mass, and salvation outside the Church.

Why Is Breaking the Friday Meatless Fast a Grave Matter?

The idea of going to a priest for forgiveness troubles me.

Isn’t Satan already in hell? The St. Michael prayer asks God to cast him into hell since he’s roaming the world?

How is hell consistent with God’s loving nature?

Not being able to go to confession until I receive confirmation troubles me. I’m in OCIA.

I’m having trouble. How do we partake in sacrificing the Eucharist? Jesus did it, what do we do?

&#8220;How can hell be loving?&#8221; This question opens a discussion on the nature of hell and its compatibility with God&#8217;s love, addressing concerns about annihilationism and the role of confession. Other topics include the implications of seeking forgiveness from a priest and the understanding of Satan&#8217;s presence in hell, providing a comprehensive look at these challenging theological issues.
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How Can Hell Be Loving? Annihilationism and Confession

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Trent takes on tough questions about the Bible from atheists while appearing on Canadian Catholic’s YouTube channel.
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How Atheists Misunderstand the Bible

Are indulgences real?

Why wasn’t Moses allowed to go into the promised land?

Could you explain plenary indulgences and the history of people paying for them?

If someone goes to confession and does their penance, they still have to go through a purgation. Is this true?

Can one listen to music where the singer uses the Lord’s name in vain?

How does the Church reconcile the preferential option for the poor when poverty arises due to one of the 7 deadly sins?

In the Creed it mentions the resurrection of the body. Why is this important and why can’t we just leave the body behind?

The Why’s of Catholic Beliefs

Want to live on the land? In this episode Trent sits down with his wife’s sister and brother-in-law to talk about raising kids, chickens, and cows!

Should I Buy a Cow?

Why does the pope not follow Pope Paul VI’s understanding of synods only being made up of Cardinals? Will he allow women priests and homosexual weddings?

What does the Church require for a marriage to be valid?

Why doesn’t the Church have an articulated position on frozen embryos?

Why does the Catholic moral belief prioritize the individual and neighbor over family and kin?

Why does the Church believe in patron saints?

If Mary was human, how was she sinless?

Why aren’t the remains of a cremated loved one allowed to be kept in a home?

Why do we believe in the God of the Old Testament?

Some Catholics are concerned about recent changes to synod structures and future decisions. We take a closer look at Pope Paul VI’s vision for synods, the Church’s stance on women’s ordination and same-sex unions, and answer more on valid marriage, frozen embryos, and Mary’s sinlessness.
Join The CA Live Club Newsletter: <a href="https://wvw.catholic.com/radioclub?email">Click Here</a>

Will the Pope Allow Women Priests or Same-Sex Weddings?

Ted Cruz’s Wild Endorsement of Anti-Catholic Tripe

In this episode Jimmy Akin joins Trent to rebut a recent video from Gavin Ortlund claiming that the practice of icon veneration provides a big reason to be Protestant.

Gavin Ortlund on Icons (REBUTTED)

When Protestants say, “Catholics believe in doctrines that aren’t found in the Bible,” they often appeal to the dogma of Mary’s assumption in order to justify the claim. In response, some Catholics say <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/must-we-prove-the-assumption-from-the-bible">the Assumption</a> is in the Bible because Mary is the woman John sees in heaven that is described in Revelation 12. Protestants often counter this claim by accusing Catholics of shoehorning Mary into a text that is actually talking about the Church or the people of Israel.
So who is right?
In one sense, both. But before I explain how that could be, I need to remind Catholics that we are not Protestant.
Challenges that we must “prove” all Catholic doctrine from Scripture shouldn’t worry us because we reject the unbiblical doctrine of <a href="https://shop.catholic.com/sola-scriptura-doesnt-work/?searchid=10124767&amp;search_query=sola+scriptura">sola scriptura</a>. When St. John Henry Newman preached on Mary’s assumption and <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/immaculate-conception-a-smart-take">immaculate conception</a>, he gave evidence for those doctrines, but <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hyIugDvyoI4C&amp;pg=PA356&amp;lpg=PA356&amp;dq=%22I+am+not+proving+these+doctrines+to+you,+my+brethren;+the+evidence+of+them+lies+in+the+declaration+of+the+Church%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=HycAPlW66p&amp;sig=ACfU3U2qBzeKuyePJ_j41JWFy_O-TC">he also said</a>, “I am not proving these doctrines to you, my brethren; the evidence of them lies in the declaration of the Church. The Church is the oracle of religious truth, and dispenses what the apostles committed to her in every time and place.”
A plausible case can be made, however, that the Bible “reflects” the doctrine of the Assumption and that evidence for this dogma is implicitly found in John’s description of the woman in Revelation 12:1-6. This isn’t enough to prove that Mary was assumed into heaven, but it does cohere with prior belief in Mary’s assumption and provides additional support for that claim. So let’s examine what John says about this woman and consider the possible Marian symbolism:
<blockquote>A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.
And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.</blockquote>
Protestant author Gregory Beale <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Johns-Testament-Revelation-Library-Studies/dp/0567657523">writes</a>, “Most of Revelation’s symbols have multiple associations or meanings and . . . the interpreter can never be sure that all the multiple meanings of a symbol have been discovered.” This is common in biblical imagery and is a point Protestant critics often miss when they critique Catholic arguments.
For example, <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/matthew-16-and-a-parallel-for-peter">some Protestants say</a> Peter is not the rock in Matthew 16:18 by pointing to Church Fathers who identify the rock with Peter’s confession of faith. But the Catechism says the rock symbolizes both Peter’s confession of faith (424) and Peter himself (881). Likewise, when it comes to the woman in Revelation 12, there is no contradiction in saying the woman represents Mary and other individuals or groups of people.
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/What-Have-They-Done-Jesus/dp/0061120022">Protestant scholar Ben Witherington agrees</a>: “This figure is both the literal mother of the male child Jesus and also the female image of the people of God. Again, the text is multivalent!” <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Revelation-12-22-International-Theological-Commentary/dp/0567036456">Peter Leithart also agrees</a>: “If not only Mary, the woman is also Mary [emphasis added], Mary as eschatos in a line of miracle mothers, as the embodiment of the virginity of Israel’s labor, all of it necessary to form Christ in this world.”
Most biblical scholars see the woman in Revelation 12 as having some connection with bringing about the birth of the Messiah. As a result, they see her as representing the people of God who preceded the Messiah, which includes Mary, Israel, and even Eve. Scholars also believe that this woman represents the Church, who gives birth to the people of the New Covenant. The multiplicity of meanings in the passage answers several common objections to Mary being identified with this woman “clothed with the sun.”
For example, some critics say the woman’s experience of birth pangs conflicts with the longstanding belief that Mary, who was conceived without original sin, did not experience one of original sin&#8217;s punishments in the form of <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/was-mary-free-from-labor-pain">painful childbirth</a> (Gen. 3:16). But these “birth pangs” could refer to Mary&#8217;s trials before the birth of Jesus; the pain she felt at the cross, during which she became a spiritual mother to John (and by extension all believers); and the pain experienced by the people of God both before the Messiah’s birth and after his resurrection during Roman persecution.
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Everyone-New-Testament-ebook/dp/B0085CABW2">N.T. Wright says of this woman</a> that “she is a ‘sign,’ not a literal mother.” In response, we can note that John also describes “the great red dragon” in this passage as being a “sign” (Greek: semeion), but nearly all commenters agree that the dragon represents an individual: Satan. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Behold-Your-Mother-Historical-Doctrines/dp/1938983912/">Indeed, as Tim Staples notes</a>, “there are four main characters in the chapter: ‘the woman,’ the devil, Jesus, and the Archangel Michael. No one denies that the other three mentioned are real persons. It fits the context exegetically to interpret ‘the woman’ as a person (Mary) as well.” Wright even says, “It is from this faithful Israel, admittedly ultimately through the ‘virgin daughter of Israel,’ Mary herself, that the Messiah is born.”
We should also note that in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ mother is never called “Mary.” Jesus never even calls her “mother,” but refers instead to her as “woman” (John 2:4, 19:27). The Church Fathers saw in this language a reference to <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/how-can-you-say-that-mary-is-the-new-eve">Mary being the New Eve</a>, who is also called “woman” (Hebrew: Ishah) in Genesis until after the Fall, when Adam names her &#8220;Eve&#8221; (Hebrew: Ḥawwāh).
Another objection to this conclusion is that the earliest Church Father to identify the woman as Mary is St. Quodvultdeus in the year 430, even though earlier writers like St. Methodius and St. Hippolytus commented on this passage. But this isn’t surprising, given that the early Church disagreed about whether Revelation was even a Christian text!
The Council of Laodicea and Cyril of Jerusalem did not include Revelation in their canonical lists. In 330, <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm">the Church historian Eusebius said of it</a>, “Among the rejected writings must be reckoned, as I said, the Apocalypse of John, if it seem proper, which some, as I said, reject, but which others class with the accepted books.” If the early Church viewed Revelation as a Jewish text, then it makes sense they would not see Mary in it as vividly as they might see other Old Testament motifs until the text was more widely accepted in the early Church.
This echoes the conclusion of the 1978 work <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mary-New-Testament-Collaborative-Assessment/dp/0225662426">Mary in the New Testament</a>, which documents the results of a joint study on Mary carried out by a group of Protestant and Catholic scholars. It concluded that John’s “symbol of the woman who is the mother of the Messiah might well lend itself to Marian interpretation” and admitted that “Revelation was a relatively late comer into the canon of some sections of the Eastern churches, so that this ‘canonical Marian symbolism would not be equally ancient in all areas.’” In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Evangelicals-Toward-Understanding-Mother/dp/083082569X">Mary for Evangelicals</a>, Protestant author Tim Perry reaches a similar conclusion: “It is not surprising . . . to find that Marian interpretation of Revelation 12 begins in the fifth century, after the New Testament canon is fixed.”
Protestant scholars like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Revelation-John-Daily-Study-Revised/dp/0664241166">William Barclay</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Book-Revelation-Dummies-Larry-Helyer/dp/0470045213">Larry Heyler</a> admit that the suggestion that the woman in Revelation 12 is Mary is an “obvious” one to make. They hesitate to do so only because they believe that this woman can’t refer only to Mary. Catholics would agree that this woman is symbolic of many separate things and people, but they would also be prepared to go one step farther and say Mary herself, by virtue of being the mother of God, is that fitting symbol. For example, <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/062308.htm">St. Methodius said the woman is</a>,
<blockquote>according to the accurate interpretation, our mother, O virgins, being a power by herself distinct from her children; whom the prophets, according to the aspect of their subjects, have called sometimes Jerusalem, sometimes a Bride, sometimes Mount Zion, and sometimes the Temple and Tabernacle of God.</blockquote>
It makes sense that later Christians saw how concepts like “Israel” and “the Church” (which Methodius identifies with terms like “mother,” “virgin,” “Temple,” and “tabernacle of God”) are perfectly symbolized in the person of Mary. As Heyler puts it, “the Virgin Mary typifies or embodies the true people of God.”
Mary is the <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-case-for-marys-perpetual-virginity">ever-virgin</a>, <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/mary-mother-of-god">mother of God</a>, <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/our-mothers-singular-grace">mother of all believers</a> and <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/mary-the-ark-of-the-new-covenant">Ark of the New Covenant</a> who stands in contrast with the Ark of the Old Covenant, which is also depicted as being in heaven in the preceding verse (Rev. 11:19). Even Perry, an Evangelical Christian, admits, “As part of the New Testament canon, Revelation’s depiction of the heavenly woman completes the biblical Marian material.”
If this woman symbolizes Mary—or, as we’ve seen can be plausibly claimed, this woman is Mary—then the belief that Jesus took his mother into heaven to reign with him becomes even more reasonable, and the testimony of Scripture would serve as an implicit corroboration of this sublime mystery of our faith.

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In this episode Trent examines why so many pro-lifers end up joining the Catholic church.
When Protestants Were Pro-Choice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkbOEnDFKdc&amp;t=2s
Transcription:
Over the years I’ve noticed that many people who convert to the pro-life movement end up becoming Catholic. These include known figures like former abortionist Bernard Nathanson and former Planned Parenthood director like Abbie Johnson. Lila Rose started Live Action as a teenager when she was an Evangelical and then converted to Catholicism. And of course there are many people who were non-religious or even Protestant and become Catholic after spending years in the pro-life movement.
And in today’s episode I’m going to examine those reasons they convert, some of which should really move all pro-lifers to consider the moral worldview that is unique to Catholicism. But before we do that I hope I can move you to hit the like and subscribe button so you can help our channel grow and reach a lot more people.
Now, I admit that in many cases these conversions come about because of social reasons. Catholics have been overrepresented in the pro-life movement for decades and so it’s not surprising that non-Catholics entering the movement may see Catholicism as a foundational belief system within it. Kristan Hawkins, the President of Students for Life said of her conversion to Catholicism: “I think my conversion story, it’s fairly simple. It’s meeting other Catholic leaders within the movement, talking with staff members over the years, and just really hearing the truth about our faith.”
As I showed in my episode about pro-choice Protestants, which I’ll link in the description below, the Catholic Church started the pro-life movement in the United States through efforts like founding the national right to life committee. Major conservative Protestant bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention, even had pro-choice views until the mid 1980’s.
The hierarchy of the Catholic church also provides a way to mobilize Catholic pro-life activists that isn’t as robust as other Protestant denominations. Finally, if you get involved with grassroots activism like praying outside of an abortion facility, you’ll often find the people praying next to you are Catholics reciting the rosary.
So, one answer is a bit simple, there are a lot of Catholics in the pro-life movement so Protestants who get involved are likely to be introduced to Catholicism by people they already admire as comrades in the fight for life and so they are more open to learning about the Faith than if it were in a more adversarial context.
But beyond the social reason I think there is a deeper theological and philosophical reasons that become apparent when we start thinking not just about abortion, but how we should treat human beings at every moment of their life and even before they come into existence.  And this comes from asking the question, how many rights do unborn children have?
Even pro-lifers mistakenly think the unborn only have one right before they are born, the right-to-life. And they often interpret that right very narrowly as simple the right to not be killed. But this leaves them open to pro-choicers who say, “I’ll agree for the sake of the argument that a fetus is a person. They may have a right to life but they don’t have a right to life support.” According to these pro-choicers, just as a dying patient in a hospital doesn’t have the right to my kidney even if it happens to be a perfect match, unborn children don’t have a right to use someone else’s body to stay alive.
But this argument doesn’t work because the pro-choicer isn’t really granting that the unborn child is a person with a right to life. How can they have a right to life if they don’t have the right to one and only they need in order to have a life, their mother’s body. My kidneys were made for my body so no one else has a right to them but what is the purpose of the uterus, who was it made for?
If you leave adults alone for a long time, you generally respect their right to life. But if you leave small children alone for a long time, you often violate their right to life. A right can make someone leave you alone, but it can also force someone to help you. Many pro-choicers even think the right to abortion can force Catholic hospitals to provide abortions. But at least with small children, the right to life includes the right to assistance from other people, primarily the child’s parents.
Bioethicist O Carter Snead says, “Our embodiment situates us in a particular relationship to one another, from which emerge obligations to come to the aid of vulnerable others, including especially the disabled, the elderly, and children.” Snead says a law that doesn’t take into account our necessary embodiment “fails to recognize these obligations, and leaves the weakest and most vulnerable members of the human community invisible and unprotected.”
As persons the unborn have a right not to be left alone, but a right to be cared for by their mother and father. They have a right to life that compels their parents make sacrifices for them, be it a father’s occupational sacrifice or a mothers anatomical sacrifice using organs designed for that very purpose.
But let’s go deeper. If the unborn are truly persons, then they have more than just the right to be kept alive. They have the right to loved and have a relationship with their parents. If they didn’t have that right, then parents could abandon their children to the state whenever they felt like it. But deep down we know that’s wrong. Parents should only relinquish custody of their children if they are unfit to care for them.
In 2008 the state of Nebraska faced the unintended consequences of having a safe haven law that allowed parents to legally abandon their child but didn’t define what a “child” was. As a result, parents came from out of state with children as old as 17-years old in order to pass them off to state officials.
Safe haven laws don’t contradict the view that children have a right to not be abandoned. In some cases, their parents are truly unfit to care for them. But in other cases, they are a social tolerations that try to prevent greater evils like infanticide. Safe havens go back to the middle ages where Pope Innocent III decreed in 1198 that foundling wheels be installed in Italy to prevent incidents of infanticide.
To summarize, children have more than just a right to life. They have a right to love. They have a right to a relationship with their biological parents. And their parents cannot abandon them simply because they no longer want to raise them. But if children have a right to be loved by his parents, then this entails that he has a right to many other things.
For example, children have the right to come into existence as the fruit of marital love and not as the result of evils like fornication, prostitution, adultery or rape. Obviously children who come into existence through evil means are still persons with human dignity, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was wrong to engage in an act that brought those children into existence by those means.
So far many protestants would agree with what I’ve said and wonder why they should be Catholic. But once again follow the line of reasoning, what else do children in virtue of being embodied persons who can obligate others, have a right to? When you think in this way, distinctly Catholic bioethics start to make sense.
For example, if children didn’t have the right to reside in their mother’s body, then there would be nothing wrong with a pregnant mother choosing to raise her baby in an artificial womb just because she doesn’t want to undergo the difficulties of pregnancies, as can be seen in the 2023 film The Pod Generation. But many Christians would consider this a selfish abdication of motherhood. But you don’t need science fiction to see that many Christians see nothing wrong with the grotesque practice of using egg donors, sperm donors, and gestational surrogates in order to birth children as long as abortion isn’t directly involved.
Pope Francis has recently called for a global ban on gestational surrogacy but I find many Protestants have a hard time articulating why it would be sinful for a married couple to use a surrogate or to create a baby through IVF if the surplus embryos aren’t destroyed. You could say embryonic human beings have the right to be mothered, not manufactured but if Protestants think the Bible doesn’t clearly condemn contraception, and so contraception isn’t sinful, how could the Bible be clear enough to condemn modern evils like gestational surrogacy?
If a protestant believes children have the right to come into existence within the safety of their mother’s bodies as the fruit of the marital act, then many of them may also be open to an argument against contraception. Specifically, the argument that children have the right to come into existence as a freely received gift from God, and not as an invader who managed to overcome birth control security defenses and infiltrate their mother’s womb. In fact, the bio-ethicist William E. May argues in his book The Gift of Life that contraception is wrong because it expresses an evil, anti-life attitude tow ards a couple’s future children. He writes:
Since contraception is specified precisely by the choice to impede the beginning of new human life, it is an anti-life kind of act, one expressing a contra-life will. It is precisely because contraception is specified by a contra-life will that it was, as we saw earlier, regarded for centuries as analogous to homicide by Christian writers . . . Contraception is always seriously wrong because it is always gravely immoral to adopt by choice the proposal to damage, destroy, or impede the good of human life.
Now one might object that natural family planning also “impedes” the good of life but that’s not true. Contraception directly attacks fertility as a bad thing that must be suppressed. NFP merely allows couples to use their natural, God-given yet unequal levels of fertility at different times in marriage. Many authors use a wedding analogy to make this point.
Imagine you and your fiancé are choosing the date to have your wedding. If you pick one Saturday, you know your 20 cousins can attend. If you pick the following Saturday you know the cousins probably can’t attend because they’re busy. If you feel like you can’t host them, you may pick the next Saturday and still send them an invitation. If they surprise you and show up, it may be stressful, but it’s still okay. But imagine how hurtful it would be if you picked the Saturday they can come and you send them a dis-invitation. Stay out of our wedding: You aren’t wanted.
Likewise, when a married couple is intimate during the wife’s fertile time of the month, that’s like having the wedding on the Saturday the cousins can probably attend. Being intimate during the less fertile period is like hosting it during the Saturday they probably can’t attend. But using contraception is like hosting the wedding on the best Saturday for them to arrive, but sending a disinvitation that says, “Stay out of our wedding, or for married couples, our bodily renewal of the wedding vows. You aren’t wanted!”
To summarize, my goal has not been to conclusively prove that contraception, IVF and other anti-life acts are wrong or that Catholic bioethics is true. I just want to point out something I’ve seen among many Protestants who spend time among Catholics and begin to deeply ponder the question: how do I respect every right an unborn child has, and not just their right to life?
Although, a Protestant who agrees with me so far might ask, “Why can’t I be a Protestant who personally rejects IVF, surrogacy and contraception? Some do and I have great respect for their virtue. But some of those Protestants believe that these things aren’t just evil for them, they are evil for everyone.
And if that’s true, then why God didn’t make it clear in scripture that Christians should oppose these evils? Well, maybe God’s ways of authoritatively and infallibly teaching his people go beyond the Bible alone? Maybe God gave us a Church with universal, binding teaching authority that can teach on novel issues facing the Body of Christ and not just make suggestions to Christians, but compel them to follow the natural law and respect the dignity of every person, from when they are conceived and even before that point to making sure they are conceived in a holy and dignified way.
I hope this episode was helpful for you and if you’d like to learn more I recommend Patrick Madrid’s book of conversions to Catholicism among pro-lifers called Surprised by life. For IVF check out Stephanie Gray Connors book Conceived by Science and for other moral issues see my book with Leila Miller Made this Way. Thank you so much and I hope you have a very blessed day.

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