The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-07-12

Do Catholics believe IN the ProteS-
tant Bible?
The word Bible is derived from the
Greek, and signifies books. Christian
usage has restricted the term to indi-
cate that collection of sacred writings
placed, by the authority of the Cath
ole Church, in the catalogue of books
inspired by the Holy Ghost. This
catalogue is technically styled the
Canon of Holy Scripture. Now, this
canon is but one; whence it follows
that the Bible which emanated from
the authority of the Catholic Church
is the only one, true Bible. All other
Bibles, therefore are, by the very fact
of their diversity, more or less frag-
mentary representatives of the true
Bible. Nor can Catholics believe in
such an imperfect work, as whole,
though they may admit certain truths
that are contained in both, but that
belong in reality to their own Bible.
If person is baptized in the Cath
Ollie Church, and then goes back to the
Protestant Church, do you think he
will be lost?
The question appears to treat of
convert who has lapsed into state of
former disbelief. Certainly person
who shifts about from one belief to
another discloses an unsettled state of
mind and a want of stability in his
religious convictions. Where this in
constancy arises from levity or any
other human cause, such person
would be guilty of grievous sin with
it's inevitable consequences, just as did
the Relapsed in the early Church. 1t
is well nigh impossible to find Cath
ole who becomes Protestant out of
mentioned above scarcely can be ex-
cused from serious sin. Whether this
person would be lost is known to God
alone.
Please state the difference between
a Doctor and a Father of the Church.
A Father of the Church, properly
speaking, is an ecclesiastical writer
endowed with the threefold quality of
learning, sanctity, antiquity, and whose
writings have at some time or other
been honored by Papal or councillor
recognition. Their sanctity must have
been of an eminent degree, though it
is not necessary that they be ranked
among the canonized saints of God.
Thus, Clement of Alexandria and
Origen are Fathers of the Church,
though neither has been canonized.
Tertullian also is a Father, though
afterwards he fell away from the true
Church His writings as a Catholic
entitle him to the rank among the Fa-
theirs. The age of the Fathers" gen.
orally is taken to signify the period
that elapsed between the death of St.
John the Apostle, about the year 100,
and the death of st. Bernard, in 1853.
Inferior writer's who flourished in this
period are called simply ecclesiastical
writer's, as Minutius Felix. A Doctor
of the Church is an ecclesiastical
writer Of prominence, irrespective of
the time in which he f1ourished, thus
honored by the Church with this spe-
cially distinctive appellation.
Can a Catholic consistently profess
evolution?
AS this question, though of interest,
is so to but comparatively few, we
shall endeavcr to explain the Catholic
position briefly.
A Catholic may consistently profess
~
directly, clash with the sound princi-
pies of Catholic dogma. So-called evo-
luton is so far but an hypothesis, nor
can it claim the dignity of an estab,
lished fact, whatever it's manifold
votaries may claim to the contrary
The deceptive glare and tinsel CLINT OF
it's borrowed sheen often serve, like
some intellectual mirage, to lure on
ward to the poetic realms of aesthe.
ticism the unwary and languid search.
ers after truth. The Catholic Church
has ever fostered science, and fear
lessly spread the aegis of her benign
patronage over true science wherever
found. Only a deplorable ignorance
of history would prompt denial OF
this. Nevertheless, she never defines
question of science save where it has
more or less direct bearing on faith
Evolutionistic theories are very vari
Gus. Between the cold, cherries, dis
couraging tenets of Haeckel, and the
milder opinions of some Catholic writ
ers there is g wide gap. Every scien-
fist of whatever shade of doctrine will
readily admit that there was a time
when no human being trod the vir-
ginal earth, nay, when no life could
subsist thereon. Now, what process
of evolution can bridge over the chasm
ID between nothing and something
(2) between the inorganic and the or.
ganic, (S) between this latter and the
rational? We answer: The doctrine
of creation explains this admirably
while evolution does but give utter
ance to theoretical vagaries. For a
Catholic, why forsake the biblical ex.
position of the subject?
To conclude, if your evolution brings
you face to face with denial of the
scriptural account of creation, then
you cannot maintain it and remain a
Catholic. If it is but poetical theory,
that leaves untouched the veracity of
Genesis, you may hold it without be-
coming, for that reason, real hereto
However, it is well to remark that
from the fact that the Church has not