Responding to “Where is that in the Bible?”

Introduction “Where is that in the Bible?” is a challenge Protestants commonly issue to Catholics when matters of disputed doctrine arise. Two common response strategies include trying to find a biblical reference to support the belief in question or to return the challenge by asking, “Where in the Bible does it say something must be…

Protestants and Polygamy

A “New Sexual Frontier”? Christianity Today recently posted a report on the shifting views of polyamory  (polyamory is the generic term for multiple-partner sexual relationships / marriages, polygamy only refers to having multiple wives – polyandry for multiple husbands).  After explaining a situation in which a “Christian couple” was encouraged by a “Christian counselor” to…

Indulgences Explained

Introduction Indulgences do not take up a lot of space in Catholic theology. (The Catechism, for example, devotes only 8 of its 2,865 sections to discussing them – a total of about one standard, typed page). However, due to their abuses in the 16th Century (which were acknowledged and dealt with in the same century),…

Five Reference Books Every Catholic Should Own

Introduction The Church has created a massive library of texts over her 2,000 year lifespan, and it can be overwhelming to even contemplate attaining (much less reading) them all. The good news is that among the millions of volumes of writing the Church has produced, many of them are summaries or collections of previous writings. While…

Faithful Catholicism

Introduction St. Paul commands people to “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5). As a Protestant, I always thought that the test for faithfulness was how much I agreed with whatever doctrines I was taught – that faithfulness came in degrees, so to speak. I figured if I was…