The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-03-25

I. How did the Catholic Church
first come to have confession?
2. Why do Catholics go to confes-
sion to their ministers, and how do
they know their sins are forgiven?
3. Why do Catholics go to confes-
sion If an act of contrition will forgive
sins?
1. The Sacrament of Pennance, of
which confession is part, was insti-
tuted by Jesus Christ, and formed part
of the Church's teaching and prac-
tice from the beginning of its exist
ence. Any unprecedented person who
reads the Bible must admit that Christ
gave his apostles the power to forgive
sins. Read John Xxx, 21-2S; Matt.
xviii-1S). How could they sit in judg-
ment unless they knew the matter, the
sins, on which they were to pronounce
Judgment? and this implies confession
of sins on the part of those who have
recourse to them.
2. Catholics go to confession to
their priests because the priest alone
has power to forgive sins according to
the words of the Savior quoted in the
passage referred to in the foregoing.
They have the assurance of Christ that
their sins are forgiven if they do all
that is required to make a worthy
confession. The priest acts as the
representative of Christ and forgives
sin in His name.
8. While it is true that an act of
perfect contrition forgives sins, it is
not by any means an easy task to elicit
such an act. The Savior knew the
weakness of human nature and pro-
vided an easier means of forgiving
sins, namely by confession coupled
with an act of imperfect contrition.
God alone who is the one offended by
sin has the right to say in what way
the offence will be forgiven; and He
has constituted confession as the ordi-
nary medium by which sinners are
reconciled to Him.
Did any of the Popes join, or try to
join, the Freemasons?
No. All reports of this nature are
fables put forth for the purpose of de-
ceiving the unwary.
What is meant by the baptism for
the dead spoken Of by st. Paul in
Cor. XIV, 90?
This text is very obscure. The foot
note on this passage in our Bible says:
Some think the apostle here alludes
to ceremony then in use; but others,
more probably, to the prayers and peni-
Hol ID hxrf hn iToi.
tive Christians for the souls of the
faithful departed: or to the baptism of
Affections and sufferings undergone
for sinners spiritually dead" This is
not an entirely satisfactory explana-
ton Possibly the passage alludes to
some practice of the Corinthians which
has not been recorded elsewhere and
of which every other trace has van
ished.
A woman who takes passage on
a vessel which is lost at sea is sup
posed to have been drowned. Her hus-
band tries in vain to find trace of
her. All the evidence he is able to
get confirms his belief that she per.
ished at sea. He marries again. After
ten or twelve years the first wife re-
turns. In such case what would be
the decision of the Church? Would
the first marriage be the legal one?
In such a case the Church would
hold the first marriage as the legal
one. How could she do otherwise as
long as the persons who contracted
it are alive?
(a) Did not God forbid the making
Of images in the first commandment
Will you explain why Catholics have
images in their churches? (b) Do moi
Catholics worship the spirit that 10 rep
resented on the statue?
(a) God, knowing the tendency Of
the Israelites to worship idols, forbade
them in this commandment to make
images for the purpose of worshfpins
them, but He did not forbid it abso
lutely as it is evident from the fac
that He ordered Moses to place owe
the Ark of the Covenant two images o
angels, of course, not that they were tt
be worshiped, but only to remind tn
people that the place was holy. (b
The statues in a Catholic church ar
there to remind us of Christ, or of tn
saints of God who fought the goo
fight and have gone to their reward
When we are reminded of Christ b
His statue, we pay Him worship i
Heaven; when we are reminded of
certain saint by seeing his statue, W
honor him who has departed, just a
the world honors it's departed heroe!
am anxious to become a membe
of the Women's Catholic Order Of Fo
esters; but there is no court in til
town in which live. What must d
in order to join?
The proper thing for you to do is
refer the matter to your pastor and /
y L