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

Angels

547. I believe in God, but I do not believe in theCatholic doctrine that besides this material universe He createdangels.

If you believe in God who is an invisible and purely spiritualBeing, it is difficult to see why you should refuse to believe inangels. If one invisible and purely spiritual being can exist, whynot others? There is nothing against the possibility of theirexistence, did God choose to create them. And God has told us thatHe did create angelic beings.

548. One can go only by his senses.

That is not true. You yourself believe in logic and thought; yetyou have never had sense experience of these things. You may seeprinted words as a dog could see them. But you have never seen withyour bodily eyes the logic of thought. Then, too, you say that youbelieve in God. But you have never had sense experience of God.

549. Would you please tell me what an angel is?

An angel is a purely spiritual creature endowed withintelligence and will power.

550. I read a Catholic book once which solemnly andseriously told me that angels are possessed of wonderfulagility.

That information was quite correct, though it was not set downin the book you read any more solemnly and seriously than othermatters in it.

551. Must Catholics believe that angels have thephysical agility of an acrobat?

By God's revelation we have to believe that angels exist. Weare not required to believe in any theological explanations aboutthe nature and prerogatives of angels. But that does not forbid ourdiscussing their nature, and setting down what reason tells usconcerning them. Now reason compels us to believe in the physicalagility of angels. But that has nothing to do with the agility ofan acrobat. That agility is bodily and muscular. No one assertssuch agility of angels. Bodily and muscular agility, however, donot exhaust the varieties of physical agility. There are otherkinds. Wireless waves have tremendous physical agility. They are aphysical force, traveling with an incalculable rapidity of motion.Angels are physical, though immaterial and spiritual beings. Andthey are endowed with an agility proper to themselves.

552. Perhaps you mean that angels have the samemental agility as clever priests for escaping embarrassingquestions!

Angels have a mental agility far above that possessed by anyhuman mind. Being purely spiritual intelligences, they haveimmediate intuitions as opposed to human methods of discursivereasoning. Still, the reference to physical agility is concernedwith their physical rather than with their intellectualrapidity.

553. What precisely does the physical agility ofangels mean?

It means that angels are not conditioned by time or space as aremen, but that they can operate immediately in widely separatedspheres of action. And since angels are created spiritualsubstances, not possessing the omnipresence of God, they have to bewhere they operate, which supposes instantaneous transition fromone sphere to another. One who believes in angels cannot deny all possiblemovement to them. And if we admit that angels can act now here andnow there, we have no reason to deny that rapid transition ispossible to them.

554. Have non-Catholics "Guardian Angels"to protect them?

Most probably, even though they themselves do not think so.After all, our Lord's words could apply to any little childrenwhen He said, "Their angels always see the face of my Fatherin heaven." Matt. XVIII., 10. St. Thomas Aquinas says that Goddenies to no one the general helps towards salvation. Now amongstthe general helps he ranks the assistance of guardian angels, andgives it as his opinion that every human being has a good angelassigned to him for his protection against evil.

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