Free Republic

Presbyterianism 1291. Whence came Presbyterianism? Presbyterianism was founded by John Knox in Scotland. John Knox was a Catholic priest who had thrown in his lot with John Calvin at Geneva. He began to preach Calvinistic Protestantism in Scotland about the year 1555. He was expelled from the country, but returned in 1559. By Acts of the Scottish Parliament, Protestantism under the form preached by John Knox was made the established religion of Scotland in 1560. Presbyterianism, therefore, was founded by John Knox, and dates from 1560 as an organized Church.

The "Free" or "Nonconformist" Churches 1289. I have heard it said that the Free Churches could not have withstood the onslaughts of Rome had it not been forthe Anglican Church. Never was a statement farther from the truth. The very term "Free Churches" arose from a refusal to submit to Elizabeth's "Act of Uniformity in Religion" by which she tried to make all Englishmen submit to the Anglican Church. Protestants who refused to submit were called "Nonconformists."They would not conform to the Established Church any more than Catholics. They wanted Churches free from Rome, but also free from domination...

Anglican Episcopal Church 1269. I was taught by my parents that the Church of England has always been a distinct Church on its own right from the second century. Your parents apparently belonged to that school of Anglicans which refuses to admit that the Church of England originated only at the time of the Protestant Reformation. Those who belong to that school of thought persuade themselves that the present Anglican Church is one and the same as the Church which was established in England by the first Christian missionaries to that country. But this theory cannot stand the test...

Greek Orthodox Church 1254. What is the Greek Orthodox Church? There are some 16 different Orthodox Churches existing independently of one another. After the first really definite break with Rome when Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, left the Catholic Church in the ninth century, the Eastern Church followed in the path of all schismatical Churches, splitting up into further divisions. Eight of these separate sections of Orthodoxy have their own Patriarchs, namely, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, Bulgaria, Rumania, Russia, and Servia. The others lack definite rule. The term "Greek Orthodox Church" is popularly applied to any or all of these Churches;...

Coptic Church 1251. I have read recently that the Abyssinians belonged to the Coptic faith, the earliest sect of the Christian denominations, to which all the Christian world adhered until the rise of the Church of Rome. It is true that the Abyssinians belonged to the Coptic Church. But the rest of the statement is erroneous. Firstly, a sect is a group of dissentient people who abandon a previous position in order to set up a new form of Church. If the Coptic Church were the original Church to which the whole Christian world adhered, then it is not a...

Eutychianism 1249. What was the Eutychian heresy? Eutyches was the Superior of a Monastery in Constantinople who strongly opposed Nestorius. Unhappily his reaction against the errors of Nestorius led him into an opposite error. The Catholic doctrine teaches that in Christ there is one Person only, that of the Eternal Son of God, and two natures, the one Divine and the other human. Nestorius had wanted two persons and two natures. Eutyches, to safeguard the one Person of Christ, taught that the human nature was so absorbed into the Divine Nature as to lose its identity, so that as a...

Nestorianism 1248. Will you explain the teachings of Nestorius? As opposed to the Arians who would not admit that Christ was God, Nestorius insisted that we must adore Christ as God. But in explaining how Christ is God, he fell into error; and as he had become Patriarch of Constantinople in 428 A.D., his very influence demanded immediate decision by the Church. Nestorius said that we must adore Christ as God because God dwelt in Christ. However we could not identify Christ with God, and apart from the indwelling of God within Him, Christ was a merely human Person. There...

Arianism 1247. What was the heresy of Arius? Arius was born in Lybia in 256 A.D., and was ordained a Catholic priest in 313 A.D. In the year 318, at the Synod of Alexandria, the Patriarch of that city gave a discourse on the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity. Arius declared that the Patriarch had fallen into error, and proceeded to set out his own ideas of Christian doctrine. He denied that Christ was really the Eternal Son of God, equally sharing in the Divine Nature with the Father. According to him, the Person of Christ existed before all...

Manichaeism 1246. What was Manichaeism? Manichaeism tried to blend Indian and Persian philosophy and mythology with Christian doctrine. It commenced in the third century, became very widespread, but split up, and lingered on until the thirteenth century in various forms, the chief of its later forms being Albigensianism. It therefore had a long run of nearly ten centuries. Encoding copyright 2009 by Frederick Manligas Nacino. Some rights reserved. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 http://www.celledoor.com/cpdv-ebe/

Gnosticism 1245. What was Gnosticism? Gnosticism arose in the second century, being a blend of Greek philosophy and pagan mythology with Christian doctrine. It split up into many independent heresies such as Marcionism and Montanism, and lingered on until about the seventh century. The history of most of these heresies is much the same. Protected by civil authority in many cases, each became fairly widespread, or even very widespread; then split up into warring sections, and eventually died out, or lingered on in a state of stagnation. Encoding copyright 2009 by Frederick Manligas Nacino. Some rights reserved. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No...

Defections From the Catholic Church 1243. How many were the major forms of defection from the Catholic Church since the time of the Apostles? As a general estimate, I would say seven, namely, Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Arianism, Nestorianism, Eutychianism, Greek Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. I have given them in the order of their appearance on the stage of history. 1244. What was the principle cause of desertion in each case? That is a very comprehensive question, and I can but give here a general answer. In each case the dissident movement began either in a denial of the teachings of the Catholic...

Catholic Action 1237. Would you kindly explain in detail the aims and objects of Catholic Action? The aim of Catholic Action is the same as that of the Church — the salvation of souls, and the establishing of the reign of Jesus Christ in all phases of individual, family, and social life, so that Christ is ever better known, loved, and served by men. The object is to secure the coordinated action of the Catholic laity in union with, and under the direction of the Bishops for the defense of religious and moral principles, and for the development of a...

Capital Punishment 1231. You insist that the State has the right to inflict capital punishment? The State possesses the right on the same principle as an individual who may kill an unjust aggressor, if there be no other efficacious way in which to preserve his own life. Those whose crimes gravely threaten the well-being of society may be put to death by social authority when lesser penalties prove inefficacious as a control upon them. God Himself sanctioned this law in Hebrew society, and it is entirely reasonable. If the extreme penalty could not be lawfully inflicted by the State upon...

The Church and Peace 1204. Your Church seems to be "anti" every effort to give peace on earth and good will towards men in practice. No one could write those words save one who has little or no knowledge of the attitude of the Catholic Church towards the problem of peace. 1205. Your Church is in a wonderful position to bring about peace, if it liked. The Catholic Church could be in a wonderful position to do so, if only the nations would accept her advice and submit to her rulings. Don't forget that, at the beginning of the last...

May Individuals Become Soldiers? 1184. What view does the Church take of a soldier killing another so-called enemy soldier? The Catholic Church takes the view that if the soldier knew quite well that the cause of his own country was unjust, he would be guilty of murder, unless he were acting solely in individual self-defense against some individual soldier of the enemy forces. If, however, he did not have certain knowledge that his own country's cause was unjust, he would be free from personal guilt in obeying his officers and fighting for victory, even though it meant his killing enemy...

Morality of War 1178. Is war justifiable under any circumstances according to the will of Christ? If all men did the will of Christ there would be no war. But if some people refuse to do the will of Christ, those who desire to fulfill His will may be compelled to fight and may quite lawfully do so. 1179. Did not Christ counsel meekness, and say that if we are smitten on one cheek, we should turn the other? An individual is free to practice heroic meekness where his own rights are concerned, if he so desires. But, when smitten...

The Fascist State 1163. Do Roman Catholics place the Pope before the King? What would you say were I to ask you, "Does a Protestant boy place his father before the King?" If you reasoned rightly you would say, "In some things he does; in other things he does not." You see, two different factors come into the case, and it is illogical to jump from one to the other in the same breath. The boy would owe filial piety to his father, and civic loyalty to his King. So, too, Catholics owe spiritual allegiance to the Pope, and civic...

Communism Condemned 1139. Why does not the Church accept Socialism? She cannot accept a system which is based upon merely materialistic views of humanity, as if man were composed of body only, and did not possess an immortal soul, nor have any prospects of a future life. Also Socialism in practice, instead of making your lot any better, would reduce thousands of others to the same distressing state. The Church advocates strongly both social justice and social charity, two things conspicuously absent from the world today. Her principles would mean many reforms in the socialistic direction. But she cannot sanction...

The Remedy for Social Ills 1131. Will the Catholic Church tell us how we can get peace on earth while the material conditions of the present economic order pit men against men and nations against nations? The material conditions of the present economic order are not alone to blame for social discord. The psychological factor of selfishness enters largely into the question. But the faults and the injustice of the present economic order do occasion immense distress, and the peace of all is not possible while things remain as they are. Let me quote to you Pope Pius XI. In...

Catholic Attitude Towards Capitalism 1113. Is it not a fact that the Church even opposes many wise reforms merely from ignorance or unwillingness to accept up-to-date ideas? That is not a fact. The Church has many of her clergy devoting their lives to sociological study, who are experts in such subjects. They are neither ignorant, nor in the least unwilling to abandon out-of-date ideas. But they insist upon weighing new ideas on their own merits and if they oppose some of them, they but seem to be opposing wise ideas to those who have not sufficiently studied the matter. 1114....