[Arguss]

Thank you for your greeting. I am not anybody's re-inforcement, especially those who would pick apart the Catholic faith. Actually I am the host of a traditional, conservative, bulletin board type, discussion group, and have been ivolved in apologetics for many years. Please believe I am not trying to come off as an expert, which I most certainly am not.

I also could have cited many examples, as you just did, but my comment was directed specifically to the one example you used initially. And in that example, nowhere did St. Paul or James Aiken mention praying to dead people on behalf of the living. The mention of Saints praying is in reference to living saints, such as you and I, which is what members of the Church were called in those days.

So, in that context, it was not a good example to give to a non believer, as it didn't address any of his concerns. Indeed, even Protestants pray for each other, which is what your example exhorted us to do.

Actually I pity the poor Protestants who when they die have nobody to pray for them. But they brought that upon themselves when they walked out the door.