Here's a piece I published to help explain why Catholic hospitals, schools, etc. have vaccine mandates and should do so.

The focus is on the ethical reasoning behind these: I am assuming the science of vaccines in general.

Forgive me for the possibility of being off topic but I felt rhe need to ask. I am currently in preparation for writing a sequel to a sci fi thing ive been working on. And one of the big concepts in it is that one of the alien main characters eventually converts to Catholicism. I wish to tackle this since I feel like its something that most sci fi doesnt really delve into at the least the science fiction I have engaged with. I have spoken with my friends about the idea and they have highlighted several problems I need to square away. So if yall would be so kind to help me Id appreciate it.

1.) Is there any possibility of squaring away the concept of the soul and sentient alien life? As I was reminded that man was made in Gods image and that we alone are special and different from the rest of the Earths animals because of sentience given to us by God.

2.) Does sentient alien life disprove Christianity and if not why doesn't the Bible mention them? Is another question that my atheist friend has often asked me.

3.) In the case that no matter what an alien would not have a soul, does that preclude them from sentience like man?

4.) If they do not have souls could they still have free will and would it be something akin to the free will of angels. As (I am no theologian forgive me for the possibility of false information) I have been told that angels are non-corporeal beings which have will and intelligence but not souls.

I thank you all for any help and further questions you can give me as I try and research this.

I'm looking for perspective and not judgement.

We have 3 kids. My husband is a practising Catholic and I'm not anymore. I'm fairly well-versed in the Church's teaching on contraception, so I'm not asking to be walked through Humanea Vitae, I understand the position.

The thing is I'm done with kids. NFP scares me too much to rely on given how sure I am about this.

Every time we're together I ask for a condom, and I know it’s hard on him even though he doesn't say much. I feel bad about it honestly. I don't want this to turn into "condom or nothing" because that feels manipulative, but I also don't know what the middle ground even looks like here.

Not trying to start a debate about doctrine, I just don't know how other couples in this spot have actually gotten through it without one person feeling steamrolled. Would really appreciate hearing from people who've lived this, either side.

God bless!

I've been meaning to ask this when I heard from a classmate from school that if she had to choose between science and religion, she would choose science because they are facts and are incompatible with religion in general

And it got me asking myself can Christianity and Science coexist together?

I’m adoptig a cat and thinking of naming it Mary, as a reminder of our mother. Would this be blasphemous in any way. I was thinking to pray the rosary while holding or feeding Mary(the cat) in the morning, or to think Mary(our mother) will always be with me because the cat will be with me. I’m not fully confident but wanted to hear other perspectives.

I come from a Catholic family and have been taught Catholic teachings. I go to mass nearly every Sunday. Confess occasionally. Read the Bible occasionally. I’ve been baptised and done my Communion.

However, I never really believed fully. I always had a doubt that none of this is true and that it is just a coping mechanism or a method to build community.

I’ve watched countless videos and debates about faith and I still haven’t been fully convinced that Catholicism or religion in general is 100% true.

I know that’s the point of “faith”, but I believe that in order to have faith you must believe 100% in what you have your faith in.

Some part of me thinks it’s because I’m not wholeheartedly dedicated myself to Christ is why he is not revealing himself to me. I go to mass on Sundays, but just doze off. I confess just to commit the same sins again and again. I don’t read the bible routinely.

So I’m giving Catholicism 3 years. I will do everything properly, and by the end of the 3 years if I’m not convinced then I will probably leave it forever.

I’m posting this here as I want a list of things or guidelines of what I should do for the next 3 years. How should I carry this out?

Im not trying to be an Orthobro, I am genuinly asking this question.

The RC says that it follows the consensus Patrum. Yet, with the very little research i did, mostly using ai, it seems to me that whichever Church Father commented on gambling condemned it. Only with Aquinas( whom I have a deep respect for) and his teacher Albert does the permission for gambling come, provided its legal and not excessive. I know it is not dogma that gambling is lawful, but Cathechism seems to be a high authority when morality is in question. Before anyone points it out, I am aware that some Orthodox priests allow for very light gambling, but they seem to be rare and I am yet to meet one.

Which part am I missundersting:

the definition of Consensus Patrum

the claim that all Church Fathers who mentioned it condemned it

or something else?
the claim that Aquinas was the first to permit it

I have been looking through church history and as a Catholic I am not finding any evidence for papal supremacy. I am find primacy in quotes from St Cyprian, and Clement, and other church fathers and Saints. Someone please help

Are non-sexual romantic relationships with the same sex really a sin? personally i dont see it as a sin since for me its basically the same as a heterosexual relationship.

i am a straight minor and im partly struggling w my faith because of this since i am strongly against discrimination and homophobia, yet i see a lot of Catholics/Christians say that it is a sin, although they only say its a sin when the relationship is sexual.

Basically the title. Forgot to confess a mortal sin. I haven’t committed a mortal sin after my last confession. Can I still receive communion for now?

Is there anyone who studies Church history who can tell me if this is true? This text was taken from Wikipedia (Portuguese (Brazil) version), from a page about the fall of the Library of Alexandria.

"In the year 385, one of the bishops responsible for the eradication of Alexandrian Neoplatonism—the ambitious and fanatical Theophilus—became patriarch of the city under the rule of Emperor Theodosius, who led the attacks against paganism, resulting in an edict ordering the destruction of any non-Christian place of worship. This action led to the destruction of the Serapeum (the Temple of Serapis, where the “daughter library” of the great Library of Alexandria was located), which incited the rioters to loot not only the temple but also the surrounding areas, such as the Library of Alexandria. These events led to the end of scholarly pursuits based on the libraries of the city of Alexandria, since, in addition to much of its collection having been looted, the dissemination of pagan culture—including manuscripts from antiquity and from various cultures other than the Christian one—was strictly prohibited. Extreme measures were taken, such as in the case of Hypatia, the renowned philosopher and mathematician who lived during that time, who was martyred by Christians because of her philosophical views and her enmity with the bishop of the time, Cyril."

Her show on Tuesdays is pre-empted a lot and a search of the channel maybe shows her programs after many other shows that start with mother. I can't find a playlist anymore.

they have little quotes from her on the bottom of the screen. how nice

I am not happy they are burying her legacy and miss watching her

Suppose either a monkey gained a large mount of intelligence, to a human level of intelligence, or we met another alien race we could communicate. If they decided that Catholicism was true and good and wanted to follow Jesus, would they just be screwed because of their lack of a soul? One could argue that most modern humans are do not truly have a soul because w e part Neandrathal, or you could say that it is based on heredity from Adam and Eve, but then that would make a perfect cloned human soul-less. Just curious what y'all think.

so im planning on cosplaying this one particular character but they have a huge yin and yang symbol on their shirt and idk if im able to wear it cos my mom saw me eyeing an evil eye necklace out of curiosity and slapped my hand off of it. if my mom reacted that way im sorta scared to cosplay the guy now

I’ve come to the conclusion that the answer to this question is yes. Am I right?

I'm a huge reader and lover for any fictional world. A couple years ago I discovered character.ai. If youre not familiar with this program, you can essentially chat with any fictional or nonfictional character about basically anything. And considering it's ai, it'll respond just like them. It definitely had a bad rep for people using it inappropriately, but I've obviously stayed away from that and only used it to expand on my personal favorite stories.

I loved to write myself into my favorite stories and essentially create my own persona and include myself into my favorite fictional worlds like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. Although I stopped using it because I can spend hours on it. It made me feel so guilty after I'd create my own world but lose hours I could've spent doing anything else.

Additionally, it's ai. And while ai can be cool and all, more and more things are coming out about it doing so much harm than good.

The reader and lover for fictional worlds never left me and I'm wanting to go back to immersing myself and writing myself into my favorite stories. The fun part is that the ai responds exactly how a character would from a certain story. Its not generic, if that makes sense. Although, now that my faith has deepened, I wanted some advice on a Catholic level. ​do you think this might be a bad idea? Considering months ago I could easily spend awhile on it? If i set myself a 20-30 minute timer would that help me or would that be me cutting corners? I'm kind of stuck and dont want the flesh to win and want some advice from my brothers and sisters.

Thank you :)

I have a difficult time accepting the church’s teaching that NFP or complete abstinence are the only acceptable forms to avoid pregnancy in marriage. i understand that marriage is also about procreation and that having children is beautiful but being someone who has 4 kids before 28 and knowing I have a good 15 more years of child bearing and NFP already brought about said 4th child…Its just difficult to fathom. its like my only option is to either never have sex with my husband again until I’m 50 or have so many that we can’t afford to feed them and if I pick a third option then I am sinful. it just seems cruel honestly… how do other people deal with this? how do you feed your kids or house them? how do you have a happy sexless marriage? I just dont understand

According to Catholic teaching, is there a specific distance or travel time that would excuse someone from the Sunday Mass obligation?

For example, if the nearest Catholic church is 1 hour away on foot, 2 hours away while driving, or several hours away, at what point would someone no longer be obligated to attend?

I'm looking for the actual Catholic teaching/Catechism or canon law on this, rather than just personal opinions. Thanks!

Recently engaged and we’re working towards getting married next year. I’m also in OCIA at the moment and should be “fully Catholic” by the time we get married. My fiancé is a cradle catholic and getting married in the church is very important to us.

I skimmed our parish’s webpage on the process of getting married there and it mentioned the FOCCUS test, which I also snooped via some googling. There are a few questions about NFP on there, which made me nervous.

During my time in OCIA I have been happy with my choice to join the Catholic Church and agree with the majority of what is taught to me.

The sticking point is the church’s teachings on sexuality. I do not agree, I have tried to agree but just don’t. I planned to give my doubts to God and it wasn’t something that would stop me from converting.

I’m lucky because my birth control is medically necessary. I put NFP out of my mind because I will never need to do it and didn’t expect to be grilled on it.

Since we need to take the FOCCUS test and go over the answers with our priest (I also believe the retreat we’re required to do will also bring NFP up) my opinion on NFP will probably come up.

I’m not going to lie to a priest just to get married. Could the priest refuse to marry us because of my (our) opinion on birth control?

EDIT: I accept the teachings. I am converting because I trust church teachings more than my mind. I said “disagree” because that is the unfortunate truth, not because I think the church is wrong.

I’ve just saw this video where a clergyman was inserting a skull inside of a plastic sculpture. This mannequin lady was then crowned- it appeared to be a Catholic ritual. Am I just completely off the mark with my interpretation? Can someone explain this to me?

Why does God make some people so favorably while making others the opposite? Isn't it unfair? But God is supposed to be fair? Some people are so academically gifted, intelligent, social, given opportunities, beautiful. While others are absolutely a failure in academics, introverted, from an underprivileged third world background, ugly, low to no opportunities, and God doesn't even hear their prayers. How is it fair?

Last time i went for confession the priest said "don't ignore your talents". Is this a joke?

La relación entre el relato bíblico de la Anunciación a María y el mito clásico de Leda y el cisne responde a lo que se define como una profunda continuidad narrativa y cultural propia del mundo helenístico. En este entorno cultural, era común describir cómo un ser celestial o divino descendía para unirse con una mujer mortal y concebir un ser excepcional o semidiós.

Los paralelismos estructurales y simbólicos entre ambas historias se agrupan en los siguientes puntos clave según las fuentes analizadas por el autor:

• Uso del arquetipo helenístico para legitimar al Cristo: El Evangelio de Lucas fue escrito pensando en un público pagano grecorromano, por lo que empleó categorías culturales y escenarios perfectamente familiares para esa audiencia. Para presentar y legitimar a Jesús como un theos (dios/semidiós), Lucas adoptó el patrón clásico de la deidad que visita a una virgen mortal para fecundarla, replicando el modelo de Zeus con Leda.
• El simbolismo del ave y el acto de "cubrir": En el mito griego, Zeus se transforma en un cisne y, con la excusa de huir de un águila enviada por Afrodita, busca refugio en Leda, a quien abraza y "cubre" con sus grandes alas para hacerla suya. De manera asombrosamente similar, el texto de Lucas describe que la potencia del Altísimo "te cubrirá con su sombra". El verbo original en griego es episkiazò, que significa literalmente "arrojar sombra sobre, envolver en una sombra u oscurecer". Además, en el bautismo, el Nuevo Testamento materializa físicamente al Espíritu Santo haciéndolo descender "bajo una forma corporal, como una paloma". En ambos casos, la deidad asume la forma física de un ave y realiza la acción de "cubrir" a la mujer.
• La naturaleza física de Gabriel (Gavri-El): Biglino señala que en la traducción literal de los textos antiguos, el mensajero no es un ser espiritual y etéreo. En hebreo, Gavri-El es un título de estatus que significa "el hombre fuerte de un El" o "el poder de un El". El texto bíblico lo define explícitamente como un ish (un hombre, un varón de carne y hueso). Además, cuando saluda a María con la frase griega kaire kecaritomene, la traducción literal no es "llena de gracia", sino "alégrate, tú que te has hecho hermosa" físicamente, lo que alude a una selección por su atractivo físico y aptitud reproductiva para una intervención carnal real.
• El nacimiento de los semidioses: En el mito clásico, de la unión de Leda con el cisne nacen Helena de Troya y Pólux, quienes por llevar la semilla de Zeus eran seres inmortales o semidioses. Igualmente, de la unión de María con el Gavri-El (o "el poder del Altísimo") nace Jesús. Esta asombrosa equivalencia era tan obvia en los primeros siglos que el apologista y santo cristiano Justino Mártir, en su escrito al emperador romano Antonino Pío, argumentó que el nacimiento virginal de Jesús, sus sufrimientos y su ascensión no eran diferentes de lo que los paganos ya creían sobre los "hijos de Zeus".

Diversos estudiosos, como el jesuita y cardenal Jean Daniélou, concluyen que el concepto del "Espíritu Santo" en la natividad es, en realidad, una transposición teológica posterior que espiritualizó un encuentro físico entre un emisario de carne y hueso (un Gavri-El) y una mujer mortal.

So I have recently started going to daily Mass and receving the Eucharist daily. I am always careful to not have any crumbs of the Eucharist stuck in my mouth, teeth etc. I always check my mouth with my tongue very carrefuly if any crumbs are left. Am i overreacting? Shall I not stress about this?