| Saturday July 31 Lectionary Readings for |
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 Ask Father Ask Father a Question...Question: Hello Father, I was wondering if you know of any Catholic Church in the Seattle area that has Mass in the Portuguese language! Thank you - Lisa, 12/15/2008Answer: I am not aware of any mass in Portuguese. But you can call the Office of Vicar for Clergy and they would be able to tell you. Their number is 206-382-4839. Fr. Dick Question: First was the "Harry Potter" series of wizardry targeting boys and now the "Twilight" series about vampires has captured the attention of adolescent girls. What is the Catholic postion on the subject of wizardry and vampires? Should we be discouraging this or simply be thankful that our children are reading? Is this harmless entertainment or should it be considered as something else? - Clyde, 11/25/2008Answer: I am not sure of the official stance of the Church on wizardry or on vampires. I don't think that the Church puts much stock in such things as these. I don't think that there is much harm in them as they are not taken seriously by most people. Be happy that your children are not into other harmful things like drugs or gangs or devil worship. Those are things can definitely be harmful to young people and old alike. Fr. Dick Question: I am a protestant and my husband attends St. Francis as a practicing Catholic. When I sometimes visit your church, should I refrain from taking communion? - Lori, 11/01/2008Answer: The Catholic Church's stance on communion is that it is for those who are already Catholic. Many churches have "open" communion where they invite anyone to receive. Because we consider Communion a sacrament our expectation is that only Catholics in good standing with God and the Church can receive these sacraments. Fr. Dick Question: Can I have my children baptized in the Catholic Church if their father and I are not married? Also, do all godparents need to be Catholic? - Anonymous, 09/30/2008Answer: Yes, you can have your children baptized but you need to start the process of having your marriage convalidated or blessed in the Church. At least one of the Godparents need to be Catholic. The other can be a Christian Witness. Fr. Dick Question: If a Catholic couple was not married in the church, can they still baptize their children? - Barbara, 09/12/2008Answer: Hi Barbara, the Catholic church would ideally like the parents to be married in the church so that they can fully practice their faith. If they are going to have their child baptized, it would seem that they would want to go to church and receive Eucharist and other sacraments that are available to them. In the process they would be setting a good example for their child. What we ask is that the parents begin the process of having their marriage validated in the church when they ask to have their child baptized. Now that process might take a long time or a short time depending on whether they were married previously or married by the church the first time or not married by the church. So the best thing to do would be to see the priest and talk it over with him and then work through the process of baptism as well as the marriage validation. Fr. Dick Question: Is it true that if you only get married through the justice of the peace you cannot get communion even though you are a confirmed catholic? Thank you, Angela Z - Anonymous, 07/01/2008Answer: Yes, Angela, it is true that a Catholic can only be married through the Catholic Church. All other marriages of Catholics outside the Catholic church are not recognized by the Catholic church unless a dispensation is given to have the marriage outside the Catholic church. Let me explain. If the Catholic church does not recognize your marriage that means that you are not married in the eyes of the Church. That means that you cannot receive communion at Mass until you have that marriage validated in the Church. The only exception is to get a Dispensation from Form. That means that in a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic, the Catholic party can get a dispensation from the Church to have the marriage witnessed by someone other than a priest or deacon. The couple still has to go through the paperwork and instruction provided for all Catholic marriages. The priest working with the couple will then ask for a Dispensation from Form (meaning that another minister or judge may perform the marriage). The reason that a person whose marriage is not recognized by the Church cannot go to Communion is that that person is considered to be in mortal sin. And the only way to get out of that state of sin is to have the marriage validated in the Church. To do that you need to see a priest and go through all the paperwork and instruction required of any couple getting married in the Church. I hope this is clear enough. If not, let me know your questions and I will try to answer them. Fr. Dick Question: Should Vatican II be revisited by the current Pope and make revisions to bring our church back to it's traditions and standards especially toward the Holy Eucharist? - Anonymous, 01/13/2008Answer: "Should" questions are difficult to answer. It really does not matter whether the Pope should do anything. That is really up to him to decide. The question is a little difficult to understand. Vatican II did try to update the Church by bringing us back to our origins in terms of sacraments and liturgy. The Church had gotten away from some of the original understandings and practices of the very early Church. As a result we went back to the vernacular language of the people. We have the priest facing the people as in the early practice of the Church. We participate more actively in the liturgies and have people involved in the different ministries at Mass such as lectors, Eucharistic ministers, music people and such. We do not just attend Mass, we actively participate in Mass. Now, I am sure that we could be more respectful toward the Eucharist. With familiarity has come a little disrespect. But that is not necessarily the fault of Vatican II or the early Church. Paul scolds the early communities for their lack of sharing with each other at Eucharist. They gathered in their own little groups and created divisions rather than community. So that is more a human thing than a liturgical fault. Well I hope that this is able to help a little. If I am totally off the track in understanding the question, then try again and I will try to answer again. Thanks for the interest. Fr. Dick Question: Father, I hope you can answer a concern that has troubled me. I have faith in God and believe God loves each and every one of us. But sometimes adults do terrible things to children. For instance, the devastating news of six people killed in Carnation, which included a boy and a girl who had barely started life. Their lives were taken from them. Another story that stunned me was a girl who was kidnapped near her home and killed. In these cases, I ask myself why can't God intervene and protect them from disturbed individuals. The last moments on earth for these innocent children were terrifying. It's more than that - when I hear of a child who died from cancer at a young age, it doesn't seem fair. Why would I get to live a long and healthy life and yet some children have to deal with death at such a young age. Could you speak to this, please? - Michael in Des Moines, 01/02/2008Answer: Hello Michael, The questions you ask have been asked from time immemorial. It would certainly be nice if God intervened whenever something horrible was going to happen. Then we would never have war or injustice or poverty or sickness or disease or murder or rape or anything horrible happen in our lives. But God gave us all the gift of "free will". We humans are the only ones, other than angels, who have this gift. Animals do not have free will nor do any other living creatures or plants on this earth. With this gift we are able to freely love God and not "have to" love God. Love is not love unless it is freely given. God wants our love to be genuine and true and that means freely given. So God chooses not to stop us from doing hateful things. If we choose not to love God, we have the freedom to choose that option. But with that option comes all the bad things that happen in the world. People choose to enter into war and hate and kill and do bad things to innocent people. For God to intervene and stop that from happening would be to violate the free will that God has given us. And no matter how terrible the evil, God will not intervene. That is one of the consequences of free will. It is a gift but it is abused. As for the second part of your question, why do innocent children have to suffer from cancer or other horrible disease? One of the consequences of sin (the Original Sin of Adam and Eve as well as our own personal sins) is that evil exists in our world. Evil is defined as the lack of Good. Because we have free will we are capable of committing sin and bringing evil into our world. Cancer is an evil disease as you know. It may not have been caused by a particular sin of an individual but the Original Sin introduced evil into the world. As a result we all live with the consequences of evil in its every facet. We do not know why God allows evil to persist. Why can't God just get rid of all disease and things that kill? I can't answer that for you. God does not cause the evil because God is Good. But God allows evil to exist as a result of the sin that has entered into our world. You and I have to live rejecting the evil in our own lives and producing the Good that is the result of God's love. Michael, I hope that this is helpful for you. I know that it may not be satisfactory. You will have to ask God about why God does some things in the world. I just don't know why God does what God does. Fr. Dick Question: At times during the reading at Sunday mass, I note some differences between the text read from the pulpit and the text written in the Red book and the text written in my St Joseph's Sunday Missal, the Bible, St Joseph Ed. (1963), and other places. Let me be specific with two examples. The reading for the 31st Sun ordinary time regarding Zacchaeus, mentioned that Zacchaeus states, that "...I shall give to the poor... and if I cheated anyone I will pay him back ..." In the same reading from the St Joseph Bible and the St Joseph Missal, it writes about Zacchaeus, " I GIVE half my belongings to the poor..." Also, in one of the Seasonal booklets the Sacramentors read, it states, "the original greek simply says, 'I repay it four times over'. By inserting the word 'shall', the translator puts a particular 'spin on the text." So, I my question and issue becomes one of how much of 'translation' has impacted the 'true' meaning of the WORD? In view of the many social meaning changes that have been imputed into the bible for various reasons, what parts have been inadvertantly changes so as to change the entire meaning of the Word? A second example, 3rd Sun Advent readding II Jms 5,7-10. From the pulpit it read, "...do not complain about one another...lest you be judged...". In the St Joseph Missal, the operative word for 'judged' is 'condemned'. Again a difference in meaning (though not so great). We are told in many other parts of the Bible that we await the FINAL JUDGEMENT. If that it true, then why in James, would there be a caution against being 'judged'? We have no choice. There will be a final judgement. - Anonymous, 12/23/2007Answer: You are right in saying that translation has an impact on interpretation. Scripture scholars go back to the original Greek to find out the meaning of texts. But of course different people interpret words differently. So the many translations of the Scriptures that have been approved by the church over the centuries have given some slight differences of meaning. I think that we have to realize that we take the meaning out of the context of the Scriptures and not depend on just one word here or there. Many evangelical Christians interpret and take meaning out of words and verses without taking into consideration the whole context. So we have to be careful. Even using the word "judgment" does not always imply the Final Judgment. So be careful how you interpret the interpretations. If you really want to be accurate, learn Greek and study along with the other experts in Scripture. Otherwise do a lot of reading from the experts and see what they say. Where most of them agree, I would take that meaning. If there is controversy about a certain interpretation then I would continue reading and studying and see what I come up with, always being open to someone else's interpretation if they are truly qualified. The Red book, the St. Joseph Sunday Missal and the New American Translation which is what we use for our readings today are all different translations. All are approved but the latest translation is probably more accurate than earlier ones. Good luck. Keep reading the Scriptures and don't get hung up on a particular word. I don't think that you are going to be condemned if you disagree or agree with a particular translation. Question: What is the significance of incense used for different liturgies? - Anonymous, 12/08/2007Answer: Incense has been used in the Old Testament for centuries to designate the holy places such as the altar of sacrifice and the Holy of Holies. It is used in our liturgies today as a symbol of holiness and our prayers rising to God in heaven. We use incense at funerals to incense the body of the deceased made holy in baptism. We use it on special holy days to incense the Book of the Gospels, the altar, and the priest and people to designate these as holy and blessed. It adds a certain degree of solemnity to those special feast days.
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