We read from the letter of James about how anointing was already established by the time he wrote his letter — sometime in the first century.  “Is anyone ill among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Continue reading

Baptism gets its name from the Greek verb to plunge into water, and that is one of the important things about a valid baptism – that it be natural and flowing water. We pour it over the persons’ head, or we put the baby down into the font, but there is always living water involved. Continue reading

The Church has defined the seven sacraments, most clearly in the documents from the Council of Trent in the 16th century. That council was called in response to the Protestant revolt against the authority of the Church. Prior to that period, the most important councils had been called to settle some matter of doctrine. It Continue reading

When we read the Old Testament, we see the pattern of how God revealed himself to his chosen people. He spoke miraculously to one man in a remote setting, such as speaking to Abraham or sending him three angels. God also spoke through the prophets, such as speaking to Moses on Mt. Sinai and communicating Continue reading

We are going to explore one of the areas where Catholics and other Christians use the same word but do not necessarily mean the same thing. That word is “Church.” Study of the church is called “ecclesiology,” which is based on the greek word for church. Ekklesia is a word in Greek that means “those Continue reading

Some of you may be familiar with a talk given by Scott Hahn called the Fourth Cup. Scott does a great job of taking you on a great journey of discovery as a Protestant preacher to learn something profound about the Catholic Mass. From Scott’s talk, you get the sense that his understanding of the Continue reading

Today I would like to begin talking about the problem that we face as people of faith in the world. Remember we are the Church Militant. So what are we fighting? We are fighting sin, and we are fighting from a disadvantaged position. And this is the problem that Jesus came in human form to Continue reading