If meat products are used in foods (such as gelatin), are
such foods forbidden on days of abstinence?
No. The Church law about abstinence pertains to that which is commonly called "meat" and to soup or gravy made from meat. Gelatin or other foods which may have meat derivatives in them are not forbidden. The important thing about fast and abstinence rules is not to be scrupulous, but rather to have a strong sense of penance in following the spirit of the law. Particular questions about fast and abstinence laws are best answered by the priest who hears your confession.
Reprinted from November 15, 1996
Why did Jesus take the good thief immediately to paradise without his going
to purgatory? My Protestant friends use this example of the good thief to
deny the existence of purgatory.
The beautiful recounting of the words of Jesus to the good thief (Luke 23:43), to whom legend gives the name St. Dismas, tells us nothing about purgatory, either for the thief or for us. It is possible the suffering of the thief on the cross and his intense contrition and love were sufficient to expiate all the temporal punishment that was due to his sins. Also, we have no idea about he duration of purgatory in temporal terms. Jesus said "Amen I say to you, this day you will be with me in paradise". But the Bible says, "… one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8) How long in our kind of measurement was "this day" of which Christ spoke? Jesus Himself ascended into heaven only forty days after His resurrection (Acts of the Apostles 1:3). Your Protestant friends are off the mark in their efforts to disprove what Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture clearly affirm, the existence of purgatory.
Reprinted from November 22, 1996
Is it ever permissible to leave the Catholic Religion and join another church?
The Second Vatican Council, teaching what the Catholic Faith has always held, declared: "whoever, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by God through Jesus Christ, would refuse to enter her or to remain in her cannot be saved". St. Cyprian said, "No one can have God for Father unless he also has the Church for his Mother". The situation is different, of course, for those people who, through no fault of their own, do not know the truth or the full truth about the Catholic Religion. So long as their ignorance is truly invincible, it is possible for them to be connected with the Catholic Church, even though they did not this, and thus salvation could be possible for them.
Reprinted from October 11, 1996
St. Peter is buried beneath the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica on the Vatican Hill in Rome. Recent archaeological findings deep beneath the Basilica scientifically confirm the presence of the tomb there of the first pope A visitor to the Vatican Basilica can go into the crypt, which is the floor of the original church built by the Emperor Constantine. Sometimes visitors can also go deep into the excavations beneath the crypts to be nearer to the actual tomb of the Prince of the Apostles.
Reprinted from October 4, 1996
How
many ecumenical councils have
there been in Church History?
There have been twenty-one ecumenical or general councils recognized as such by the Catholic Church, the last being the Second Vatican Council which ended on December 8, 1965. These twenty-one councils do not include the "apostolic council" which was held by the Apostles in Jerusalem (Acts of the Apostles 15:6-29). The first ecumenical council was that of Nicea (a suburb of present day Istanbul) held in 325 AD.
Reprinted from September 20, 1996
What are the marks of the Church?
There are four marks which distinguish the Catholic Church: one, holy, catholic and apostolic. There are three attributes of the Church: authority, indefectibility, and infallibility.
Reprinted from September 20, 1996