A really pointless debate…

AND a stupid one at that.

I am referring to the “debate” between EWTN’s Fr Mitch Pacwa and Walter Martin. I found these audios on that wonderful repository of stuff for your MP3 player, Sonitus Sanctus. But they came originally from The John Ankerberg Show, an American Protestant apologetics TV show.

What possessed Fr Mitch to accept their invitation I have no idea. I mean, what a set up. Here are the topics of the debate, folks:

1. Peter and Papacy
2. Justification by Faith
3. Marian Doctrines
4. Confession and Penance
5. Purgatory

I mean, who’s setting the agenda here? Are these the topics you would start on to tell your friends about the Catholic Church? No, they are the favourite protestant topics when denouncing the Catholic bogey man.

Each topic begins with the host (the Protestant apologist) telling the audience what the Catholic doctrine is. His source? Guess. He quotes directly from the Council of Trent. Not once is Vatican II even mentioned. Not once is the Catechism of the Catholic Church cited. Trent. Only Trent. Nothing but Trent.

He rattles this stuff off with no understanding of what it is he is reading–he does it just because it sounds bad to Protestant ears. Then he gives his Protestant guest first bash at why these are such shocking doctrines. Walter Martin then compounds the issue by attacking the straw man they have imagined for themselves and ‘proving’ why Trent is wrong on the basis of Scripture.

Then they say: “OK, Fr Pacwa. You’re the Catholic expert. You’re the Biblical Scholar. You’re the Jesuit. Where does it say THAT in Scripture?”

Poor Fr Mitch. Talk about getting off on the wrong foot. He tries, but doesn’t succeed. How can he? The whole debate has been hijacked by the “hosts”. To make it worse, Ankerberg hardly remains an impartial umpire. He joins in the case against Fr Mitch!

The tone becomes more and more shrill, and the understanding level plummets. It ain’t hard to understand what happened in the sixteenth century judging by the high levels of misunderstanding going on in these “debates”.

What makes it worse, is that there is absolutely no intention of trying to find common ground. The aim of the exercise is to demonstrate just how far from the truth the “Roman Catholic Church” has strayed. If Fr Mitch agrees with anything his Protestant interlocutors say, they will turn around and tell him why he can’t be agreeing with them.

This is why I prefer dialogue, guys. The aim is to listen and learn. To understand. To seek the Spirit of Christ in what the other is saying.

As Papa Bear said to Baby Bear in the Berenstein Bears The Bike Lesson: “Let this be a lesson to you: That is what you must never do!” I am sure Fr Mitch won’t be doing it again in a hurry.

All Soul’s Indulgences (Something to upset the non-Catholics out there)

Every November 2nd, I find myself looking up the regulations for plenary indulgences again. I can never remember them. So I am placing them here for good keeping and future reference and also as a reminder for all you Catholics out there that this is a significant way you can perform a spiritual work of mercy for your loved ones who have died in the last year.

Of course, this sort of stuff will enrage our protestant and bemuse our Orthodox friends, but we’re not doing it for you (not now any way, we will after you die).

This comes from Father Pat’s Place:

All Souls Regulations

An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. The indulgence is plenary each day from the first to the eighth of November; on other days of the year it is partial.

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A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who on the day dedicated to the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed [November 2 {as well as on the Sunday preceding or following, and on All Saints' Day}] piously visit a church. In visiting the church it is required that one Our Father and the Creed be recited.

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To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary also to fulfill the following three conditions:

sacramental Confession,
Eucharistic communion,
and prayer for the intention of the Holy Father.

The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the visit; it is, however, fitting that communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Holy Father be said on the same day as the visit.

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The condition of praying for the intention of the Holy Father is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary. A plenary indulgence can be acquired only once in the course of the day.

Before you ask, I can tell you that going to confession once will suffice for the whole week (unless you fall into sin in the mean time) but you do have to receive communion once for each indulgence you seek to obtain over the next eight days. It doesn’t have to be on the same day as the fulfillment of the other requirements, but can be some days before or after.

Of course it goes without saying that freedom from any attachment to sin is necessary for the reception of the full plenary indulgence. That, as they say, is the tricky bit.

For more info on the how-to-do-its of indulgences, see: Frequently asked questions about indulgences.