Choose a topic from Vol 2:

God

Proof of God's existence
God's nature
Supreme control over all things and the problem of suffering and evil

Man

Destiny of man
Death
Immortality of man's soul
Pre-existence denied
The human free will
Determinism absurd

Religion

Necessity of religion
Salvation of the soul
Voice of science
Religious racketeers
Divine revelation
Revealed mysteries
Existence of miracles

The Religion of the Bible

Gospels historical
Missing Books of the Bible
The Bible inspired
Biblical account of creation
New Testament problems
Supposed contradictions in Sacred Scripture

The Christian Faith

Source of Christian teaching
Jewish rejection of Christ
Christianity a new religion
Rational foundation for belief
Causes of unbelief

A Definite Christian Faith

Divisions amongst Christians
Schisms unjustified
Facing the problem
The wrong approach
Is one religion as good as another?
Obligation of inquiry
Charity and tolerance

The Protestant Reformation

Meaning of "Protestant"
Causes of the Reformation
Catholic reaction
Reformers mistaken
The idealization of Protestantism
The Catholic estimate

The Truth of Catholicism

Meaning of the word "Church"
Origin of the Church
The Catholic claim
The Roman hierarchy
The Pope
The Petrine text
St. Peter's supremacy
St. Peter in Rome
Temporal power
Infallibility
Unity of the Church
Holiness of the Church
Catholicity of the Church
Apostolicity of the Church
Indefectibility of the Church
Obligation to be a Catholic

The Church and the Bible

Catholic attitude towards the Bible
Is Bible reading forbidden to Catholics?
Protestant Bibles
The Catholic Douay Version
Principle of private interpretation
Need of Tradition
The teaching authority of the Catholic Church

The Dogmas of the Church

Revolt against dogma
Value of a Creed
The divine gift of Faith
Faith and reason
The "Dark Ages"
The claims of science
The Holy Trinity
Creation and evolution
Angels
Devils
Man
Reincarnation
Sin
Christ
Mary
Grace and salvation
The Sacraments
Baptism
Confession
Holy Eucharist
The Sacrifice of the Mass
Holy Communion
The Catholic Priesthood
Marriage and divorce
Extreme Unction
Judgment
Hell
Purgatory
Indulgences
Heaven
The resurrection of the body
The end of the world

The Church and Her Moral Teachings

Conscience
Truth
Charity
Scandal
Tolerance
Censorship
The Inquisition
Astrology
Other superstitions
Attendance at Mass
Sex education
Attitude to "Free Love"
Abortion
Suicide

The Church in Her Worship

Magnificent edifices
Lavish ritual
Women in Church
Catholics and "Mother's Day"
Liturgical Days
Burial rites
Candles and votive lamps
The rosary
Lourdes water
The Scapular

The Church and Social Welfare

Social influence of the Church
The education question
The Church and world distress
Catholic attitude towards Capitalism
The remedy for social ills
Communism condemned
The Fascist State
Morality of war
May individuals become soldiers?
The Church and peace
Capital punishment
Catholic Action

Comparative Study of Non-Catholic Denominations

Defections from the Catholic Church
Gnosticism
Manichaeism
Arianism
Nestorianism
Eutychianism
Coptic Church
Greek Orthodox Church
Anglican Episcopal Church
The "Free" or "Nonconformist" Churches
Presbyterianism
Methodism
Church of Christ
Baptists
Seventh Day Adventists
Plymouth Brethren
Catholic Apostolic Church or Irvingites
Salvation Army
Spiritualism
Christian Science
Christadelphians
British Israelism
Liberal Catholics
Witnesses of Jehovah
Buchmanism or the "Oxford Group Movement"
From Protestantism to Catholicism

To and From Rome

Conversion of Cardinal Newman
Why Gladstone refrained
The peculiar case of Lord Halifax
Gibbon the historian
Secession of Father Chiniquy
Father Tyrrell, the modernist
Bishop Garrett's departure
Judgment on lapsed Catholics
Protestant apathy towards conversion of Catholics
Principles for converts to Catholicism
God's will that all should become Catholics

From Protestantism to Catholicism

1388. Why are you so particularly hard on Protestantism?

I have no more reasons for the discussion of Protestantism than for the discussion of any other form of religion. But Protestants are more numerous than others in this country, and consequently more questions are submitted from the Protestant viewpoint than from others. Were I in a country where the Greek Orthodox Church is in the ascendancy, my discussions would have to do chiefly with the differences between Greek Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The Catholic Church is the same everywhere, but she has not the same problems to face everywhere. Conditions are much the same now as when St. Augustine wrote in the fourth century: "You will not find the same heretics everywhere, but still you will find heretics everywhere. Heresies are never wanting; but you will find one type of heresy here; another there. So you will find one sect in Africa; another in the East; another in Egypt; and yet another in Mesopotamia. But the heretics of one region have no connection with the heretics of another region."

1389. If faith has its rights, has not charity its duties?

Undoubtedly. But the demands of charity are not overlooked merely because the things that divide other Churches from the Catholic Church seem to be insisted upon. My particular duty happens to be to explain and defend the accuracies of faith; and the duties of charity do not diminish the rights of truth. In fact, in so grave a matter as religion, any tampering with truth would violate charity; for men have a right to the truth, and the truth in turn will be most beneficial to them. If, by clearing away misconceptions, I can help men to the realization of the truth of the Catholic Church as the one true Church of Jesus Christ in this world, then I have rendered them the greatest possible service—as those who have become Catholics so gladly and gratefully admit.

1390. Why do you prefer the Catholic Church to Protestantism?

The reasons are legion, whether from God's point of view, or from my own point of view, or from the viewpoint of Protestantism itself, or from the aspect of the Catholic Church. I shall try to summarize them for you.From God's point of view, He certainly has the right, not only that I should acknowledge and serve Him, but that I should do so in the way He commands. Not any way of my own choosing will do. And as He has commanded the Catholic way, I am obliged to serve Him in that way.From my own point of view, I want a religion that can really substantiate its claim to be the one true form of religion in this world; that knows its own mind, and can tell me definitely what is to be believed and what is to be done; and which can offer me the necessary spiritual helps in the way of guidance, inspiration, and assistance, to do these things. Catholicism alone can comply with these requirements.From the viewpoint of Protestantism, its origin in the sixteenth century was sixteen centuries too late to be the religion given to the world by Christ; it has no consistent doctrinal teaching; its services vary with the idiosyncracies of individual clergymen; those clergymen have no valid Orders in the Christian sense of the word, and therefore they lack the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the power to destroy sin by sacramental absolution in Confession. In a word, historically, Scripturally, and logically, no form of Protestantism can stand.On the other hand, from the aspect of the Catholic Church, historically, she alone goes right back to Christ, and can alone inherit His promise to be with His Church all days from His time till the end of the world; Scripturally, she alone is in complete accord with God's revealed word; logically, she alone is thoroughly consistent; as a teacher, she alone claims to know her own mind infallibly; and as a guide, she alone knows what discipline really means.

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