The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-01-30

When New Years Day falls on Fri.
day and person is allowed to eat
meat, must he fast from meat the day
before New Years, and is it a sin to
eat meat on both days?
When New Years falls on Friday,
Catholics are allowed to eat meat.
The usual law of abstinence does not
bind. The day before New Years is
not a fast day and, hence, Catholics
may eat meat on both days without
being guilty of sin.
May person who desires to be en-
tireiy consecrated to God and who re-
celved almost miraculous assistance
by invoking Our Blessed Lady, enter
convent dedicated to her honor after
spending five years in another order,
influenced by relatives who were lead
ing holy lives7
The fact that a person has spent
some time in one religious Order does
not necessarily prevent her from join.
ing another if she feel that her first
choice was not the proper one.
Whether or not such a person would
be received into a second Order de-
ponds very largely on the reasons why
she left the first one. If she left of
her own accord and was not asked
by her superiors to leave, it would
probably be much easier for her to be
accepted in another community. But
the fact remains that her first expert
ence does not necessarily preclude her
Joining another Community if, after
having satisfied themselves in regard
to her qualifications and sincerity,
they are willing to accept her.
When did Advent start in 1914, and
when did it end in 1915?
In 1914 the first Sunday of Advent
fell on November 20, and the Advent
season ended with Christmas. Ac.
cording to present usage, the season
of Advent begins with the Sunday
nearest to the Feast of st. Andrew
the Apostle, which is celebrated on
November 80, and embraces four Sun.
days. The first Sunday may be as
early as November 81, and then AID.
vent has twenty-eight days, or it may
be as late as December 3, in which
case it will have only twenty-one days.
AS the name indicates, Advent is a
period of preparation for the coming
OF the Savior and, therefore, it does
not extend beyond Christmas, the day
on which we celebrate His Nativity
The part of the foregoing question re.
ferring to the ending of Advent in 1915,
if 1t refers to the Advent season
through which the Church has just
passed, implies misunderstanding of
what Advent is on the part of the per-
son who asks the question. Since Ad.
vent is preparation for Christmas,
as we have already stated, it does not
extend beyond that date in any year
and hence if the question refers to
the Advent of 1915, it must be answer.
cd by saying that in 1915 Advent will
end on Christmas eve. 1t may be
that the queStioner has confused the
season of Advent with the period dur.
ing which the Church forbids the sol.
emniZation of marriage, namely, from
the first Sunday of Advent until after
the Feast of the Epiphany. During
this time, in some dioceses, there is a
special diocesan regulation prohibiting
certain kinds of amusements, enter.
tainments, etc, which are generally
frowned upon during the Advent sea.
son. But this has nothing to do with
the question of the season of Advent
in itself
Will you please inform me of the
numbers Of Catholics, aenostics,
heathens, atheists and non.Chris-
tIans? An agnostic told me that there
were but 100000 in the U. S. and
takes great pleasure in saying that
the number is decreasing. Also that
the standard of morality is lower in
Church than out Of it and he has sta
tistics to prove this. Are Catholics
decreasing in number?
The foregoing question is so vague
that 1t is impossible to give a definite
answer. In the first place one does
not know whether the questioner
wants the number of Catholics, etc.,
in the whole world or only in the
United States, and in the second
place one does not know whether the
"15,000,000 in the U. S" refers to Cath
olics or not. We presume it does.
AT the outset it must be noted that
agnostics, heathens, atheists do not
constitute definite religious bodies in
the sense that Catholics do. Atheism,
agnosticisnl and heathenism are not re.
ligions in the sense that Catholicism
is a religion. In round numbers it
may be said that there are about
1,600,000,000 people in the world. OF
these 500,000,000 are Christians, which
includes about 300,000,000 Catholics.
From this it is easy to determine the
number Of non-Christians as well as
the number of Christians in the world
An atheist is one who denies the ex.
iStence of God; a heather is one who
rejects the true God; and an agnostic
is one who says that God is unknown
and unknowable. In other words, ii
you ask an agnoStic whether there is
a God or religion or in fact any.
thing, his answer is II do not know .
An agnostic, as the name implies, is
one who does not admit that we have
any real knowledge about anything
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