These martyrs were Catholic. They believed in prayer for the dead, prayers to the saints, the monarchical episcopate and the authoritative nature of the apostolic tradition.
I stopped saying the Breviary (the Roman Catholic Church's official prayer for clergy) and the Rosary and began to pray using parts of the Bible itself.
This is the second time you've posted something saying this. For one saying Morning and Evening Prayer according to the Anglican Usage (the first one I could get my hands on), one would say today all these scriptures: Psalms 34, 85, 86, Num 12:1-16, Rom 2:12-24, Matt 18:10-20, Phil 1:2, Psalm 95, a selection from the Song of the Three Young Men from Daniel, 2 Cor 13:14, Psalm 141:2, the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55), the Canticle of Simeon (Lk 2:29-32), and Rom 15:13.
First, I discovered that God's Word in the Bible is absolute and without error. I had been taught that the Word is relative and that its truthfulness in many areas was to be questioned.
Either this man did not really study Catholic theology or he is a liar.
It follows that those who maintain that an error is possible in any genuine passage of the sacred writings, either pervert the Catholic notion of inspiration, or make God the author of such error. And so emphatically were all the Fathers and Doctors agreed that the divine writings, as left by the hagiographers, are free from all error, that they laboured earnestly, with no less skill than reverence, to reconcile with each other those numerous passages which seem at variance-the very passages which in great measure have been taken up by the "higher criticism;" for they were unanimous in laying it down, that those writings, in their entirety and in all their parts were equally from the afflatus of Almighty God, and that God, speaking by the sacred writers, could not set down anything but what was true. The words of St. Augustine to St. Jerome may sum up what they taught: "On my part I confess to your charity that it is only to those Books of Scripture which are now called canonical that I have learned to pay such honour and reverence as to believe most firmly that none of their writers has fallen into any error. And if in these Books I meet anything which seems contrary to truth, I shall not hesitate to conclude either that the text is faulty, or that the translator has not expressed the meaning of the passage, or that I myself do not understand." (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Providentissimus Deus §21)
Then there are other assailants of Holy Scripture who misuse principles - which are only sound, if kept within due bounds - in order to overturn the fundamental truth of the Bible and thus destroy Catholic teaching handed down by the Fathers. If Jerome were living now he would sharpen his keenest controversial weapons against people who set aside what is the mind and judgment of the Church, and take too ready a refuge in such notions as "implicit quotations" or "pseudo-historical narratives," or in "kinds of literature" in the Bible such as cannot be reconciled with the entire and perfect truth of God's word, or who suggest such origins of the Bible as must inevitably weaken - if not destroy - its authority. (Pope Benedict XV, Encyclical Letter Spiritus Paraclitus §26)
In our own time the Vatican Council, with the object of condemning false doctrines regarding inspiration, declared that these same books were to be regarded by the Church as sacred and canonical "not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority, nor merely because they contain revelation without error, but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God for their author, and as such were handed down to the Church herself." When, subsequently, some Catholic writers, in spite of this solemn definition of Catholic doctrine, by which such divine authority is claimed for the "entire books with all their parts" as to secure freedom from any error whatsoever, ventured to restrict the truth of Sacred Scripture solely to matters of faith and morals, and to regard other matters, whether in the domain of physical science or history, as "obiter dicta" and - as they contended - in no wise connected with faith, Our Predecessor of immortal memory, Leo XIII in the Encyclical Letter Providentissimus Deus, published on November 18 in the year 1893, justly and rightly condemned these errors and safe-guarded the studies of the Divine Books by most wise precepts and rules. (Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Divino Afflante Spiritu §1)
To return, however, to the new opinions mentioned above, a number of things are proposed or suggested by some even against the divine authorship of Sacred Scripture. For some go so far as to pervert the sense of the Vatican Council's definition that God is the author of Holy Scripture, and they put forward again the opinion, already often condemned, which asserts that immunity from error extends only to those parts of the Bible that treat of God or of moral and religious matters. They even wrongly speak of a human sense of the Scriptures, beneath which a divine sense, which they say is the only infallible meaning, lies hidden. (Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Humani Generis §22)
When I was asked to talk to the prayer group in St. Stephen's Catholic Church, I took as my subject the absolute authority of God's Word.
How can this man claim to have learned Catholic theology? The oral traditions of the apostles which they commanded to be held are also the Word of God. This distinction suggests that Catholics place authority in what they believe to be human tradition over God's word.
the role I was playing as a priestly mediator -- exactly what the Catholic Church teaches but exactly opposite to what the Bible teaches -- was wrong
Another pseudo-biblical claim without any basis in fact. If this man had ever really studied Catholic theology or the Bible, he would know that the Apocalypse contains the following, which utterly disproves the "sole mediator" Protestant claim.
And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
And another angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer: and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel.
Looks to me like the prayers of the saints are being mediated!
The most difficult repentance for us dyed-in-the-wool Catholics is changing our mind from thoughts of "meriting," "earning," "being good enough," simply to accepting with empty hands the gift of righteousness in Christ Jesus.
Another demonstration that this man simply never knew Catholic theology.
You are glorified in the assembly of your Holy Ones, for in crowning their merits you are crowning your own gifts. (St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 102:7)
Now the gift of grace surpasses every capability of created nature, since it is nothing short of a partaking of the Divine Nature, which exceeds every other nature. And thus it is impossible that any creature should cause grace. For it is as necessary that God alone should deify, bestowing a partaking of the Divine Nature by a participated likeness, as it is impossible that anything save fire should enkindle. (St. Thomas, Summa II-I q. 112 a. 1)
But if we speak of grace as it signifies a help from God to move us to good, no preparation is required on man's part, that, as it were, anticipates the Divine help, but rather, every preparation in man must be by the help of God moving the soul to good. And thus even the good movement of the free-will, whereby anyone is prepared for receiving the gift of grace is an act of the free-will moved by God. And thus man is said to prepare himself, according to Prov. 16:1: "It is the part of man to prepare the soul"; yet it is principally from God, Who moves the free-will. Hence it is said that man's will is prepared by God, and that man's steps are guided by God ... Since a man cannot prepare himself for grace unless God prevent and move him to good, it is of no account whether anyone arrive at perfect preparation instantaneously, or step by step ... So likewise, when God infuses grace into a soul, no preparation is required which He Himself does not bring about. (Summa II-I q. 112 a. 2)
Please stop posting these interviews with supposed former Catholics who either lie about Catholic beliefs or simply don't have a clue.
Thanks for refuting this B.S. I was too tired to spend any time doing it, and you have done it much better than I could have.
gbcdoj: Please stop posting these interviews with supposed former Catholics who either lie about Catholic beliefs or simply don't have a clue.
I know the truth can hurt at times but the answer is not Catholic censorship. Perhaps you can try putting your hands over your ears and singing: la la la la la la ...