Fr. Corapi is the speaker tonight and tomorrow. Not only did my 7 and my 10 year old girls absolutely demand to go with myself and Mrs. Fric, they were absolutely riveted by him. Emma, the oldest, has her Cathlolic Maniacs for Kids blog and commented to me about half way through the second session she wanted to do some blogging about this. She was absolutely animated in a way I rarely see her any more when it comes to Church. She was truly touched by Fr. Corapi in a way I never expected. She said she wanted to run up and hug him!

Can’t wait to see what she blogs and to see her reaction tomorrow.
u

The post Fr. Corapi ROCKS! appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

Again it came back to some different uses of same and similar words in different contexts. I don’t think I was able to convey that Purgatory is not about payment for sins we commit. Christ did that for us. In his view of things, God doesn’t let us die before we are made righteous as he put it. Meaning he believes that Christians die only after they lose all attachment to sin, which is what Purgatory is all about… The purging of our residual attachment to sin.

He agreed that nothing unclean can enter Heaven. He also agreed that there are ramifications to our sins. But he also believes in a Calvinist approach to predestination I think. From comments that he has made, I think he believes that we are predestined to go to Heaven or Hell according to God’s will. That would explain the belief that Purgatory is not necessary. If we are predestined, God doesn’t need to purge us.

I explained the concept that God knows our decisions before we do, therefore he has crafted His plans according to what He knows we will do. Thereby preserving our free will and moving His plans forward at the same time. Our yes and our no are all part of the plan, but not caused or pre-determined by the plan. I think that gave him something to think about.

We also had a great time trying to wrap our brains around the concept of eternity vs. time, etc. How to envision it, how to describe it and how to understand it.

Our attempts were… limited in their success. What else?

Also gave him a great quote that he hadn’t heard before about the Scriptures…

“The Old Testament is revealed in the New and the New is concealed in the Old.”

He really liked that one.

Oh yeah… We also talked about talking to spirits, etc. and the the nature of the Levitical sacrifices compared to Calvary and why they were instituted. Excellent discussion all around.

The post Purgatory Discussion appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

The Clear/Plain Meaning of Scripture ™

How often have you heard someone argue a point of theology and refer to this? Usually it seems to be when referring to a passage that Catholics interpret in a, well… Catholic way.

Or they will refer to some specific doctrine that seems odd to Catholics or others and gloss over it by referring to the above phrase.

It’s kind of funny in a way. Can’t explain your position? Catholics refuted that one?

No problem!

“It’s all right there in Plain Meaning of the Scriptures!”

Gotta love that one. Many times I have listened to the local “Christian” radio station after the Catholic one goes off the air. I like to keep abreast of what the others do ya know. Never know when you might be exposed to some thing useful. Sometimes it’s pretty mundane. Sometimes it’s pretty good, actually.

But sometimes one of these radio preachers will say something that makes no sense at all. Or will make some weird “prophecy” about current events leading to the End Times. Eagerly I await some explanation to be amused with and BAM!

The Clear/Plain Meaning of Scripture!

Most of the time you don’t even get any proof texts or passages to refer to.

Ah well. If you can’t back it up, I guess it’s best to gloss it over.

Anyone else notice this?

The post Interesting Phrase from Non-Catholics appeared first on CatholicManiacs.