Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 266.  Wed  3-18-92  0:02  (NO KILL)  (MAILED)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Joe Nicholson
 Subject: Comments

+-
| Father, would be like to comment on the following, captured from a local
| echo here in San Diego?  Perhaps you would like to reply in a manner that
| I could re-post your comments back into the local echo.
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    From    : Jefferson Swycaffer
|    To      : Jeff Grimmett
|    Date    :  2 Mar 92  11:43:32
|    Subject : Religion
|  
|    In a message to Tom Walker <01 Mar 92 19:08> Jeff Grimmett wrote:
|    JG> Perhaps, then, one should hold the word of a minister or a pope
|    JG> above that of the bible itself.  Perhaps the Catholics are right
|    JG> and the pope IS the only true go-between.
|  
|  
|    Heh.  Good one.  Sort of on a tangent, though, the Catholics would
|    only say that the Pope is the "head honcho" of the go-betweens:  all
|    priests serve as go-betweens for Catholics.  Also, priests aren't an
|    absolutely indispensable need:  suppose a planeload of folks, many
|    of whom were catholic, crash landed somewhere remote, and had to set
|    up camp for many months.  (It takes a bit of supposing, doesn't it?
|    Still, for the purposes of argument...)  None of them is a priest.
|    But there's a need for a priest:  some people are dying, and some
|    are afraid of dying and want to make confession.  Can they choose
|    one from their number and appoint him "interim" priest?  Can he then
|    hear confession, give extreme unction, baptize newborns, etc.?
|  
|    Turns out, yes.  The Catholic church is kind of generous with
|    "retroactive" permission for this kind of thing.  The guy who
|    accepts this burden is risking a lot -- risking his soul -- so he'd
|    better be sincere.  When he gets home, he needs to make his own
|    confession, and the matter needs to be looked into.  Usually, the
|    church back home will say, "You did what was needful.  Bless you."
|    It is vaguely conceivable the guy is such a rat, and everyone
|    complains about what a crummy job he did, that a regular priest will
|    have to go back over his tracks, re-consecrate the graves, re-
|    baptize the babes, etc. Highly unlikely, though.
|  
|    It's quite an interesting set up, really.  To one degree, it's
|    patronizing and parochial (literally!) but to another, it's
|    protective and honestly paternal (in the best sense of the word.)
|    I'm not a Christian, but if I had to be, there are worse choices
|    than Catholic.
|                                                       Jeffer
+-[JN=>FM]
 
Dear Joe,
 
The exchange between Jefferson Swycaffer and Jeff Grimmet is the
strangest compilation I have seen on this board.  Both gentlemen are
kindly and entirely without malice, yet they are unbelievably
misinformed about the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church.
The mistakes are so many, that I can only list them, and state briefly
the teaching of the Church on each point.
 
1) "The Pope is the only true go-between."  Wrong.  Jesus Christ,
    because in one Divine Person he unites the divine nature with
    our human nature, is the Mediator between God and Man.  He
    is also our one Judge, our one King, and our one Priest.
2) "All priests serve as go-betweens for Catholics."  Correction,
    please: all the baptized share Christ's function of mediator
    ("go-between" if you like) because we all pray for one another and
    serve one another in Christ, drawing ALL OUR POWER to do so from
    Christ alone.  We all have different functions in the Church.
    Ministerial priests, including Bishops and the Pope, are special
    instruments in the hands of Christ, the one High Priest, drawing
    ALL THEIR POWER from Christ.
3) "Priests aren't an absolutely indispensable need" - the interesting
    scenario of a planeload of Catholics stranded indefinitely without
    a priest, who choose one of their number as "interim" priest, is
    totally unreal.  No, they cannot in any way ordain a priest.  Only
    a bishop can do that.
 
    What do they do then?  Well, anybody (even atheists) can confer
    valid baptism.  The community can pray together and study Bibles and
    catechisms if they have them.  Couples who are free to marry can
    marry, because the bride and groom are ministers of that sacrament.
 
    Acts of perfect contrition must supply for the sacrament of
    penance.  Acts of spiritual communion must supply for Mass and Holy
    Communion.  There will be no anointing of the sick because a priest
    with oil must give that sacrament (James 5:14).
 
    The mention of re-consecrating graves, shows a deep lack of
    understanding of our religion and its practices, of what is needful
    and what is peripheral.  If either gentleman wishes to read a
    single book which will enable him to discuss our religion
    knowledgeably, I recommend:
       Lawlor and others,
       "The Teaching of Christ", 3rd edition, 1991.
       Our Sunday Visitor Press, 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, ID 46750.
       The ISBN is 0-87973-850-2.
 
(A private grief: pop psych has made us victims of a host of buzz
words.  I personaly think it's GREAT to be patronizing, parochial, yes,
and provincial and possessive, too.  I exercise these options on every
possible occasion just to burn people up.)
 
                                Sincerely in Christ,
 
                                Father Mateo