Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!wuarchive!psuvax1!psuvm!ANDREW!DL2Y+ From: dl2y+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Donna Marie Lewis) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia Subject: Re: Christia Message-ID: <0ZptDpG00WBKQ35JFf@andrew.cmu.edu> Date: 13 Feb 90 08:33:17 GMT References: Sender: Practical Christian Life Reply-To: Practical Christian Life Lines: 57 Approved: NETNEWS@PSUVM.BITNET Gateway In-Reply-To: >If you are scratchin your head and saying to yourself, "Well, what's he >afraid of, we're just nice folk..." Just look at some of what "Chick >Publications" churns out -- especially with respect to Catholicism. I >was born Protestant (thus closer to God of course), but I am truly >offended by >Chick Publications' rancorous slander against their church -- even >though I myself wonder where the heck they came up with the idea of >having priests and nuns when clearly Jesus had no such commandment. I >still believe we would all do better by shutting our mouths and tuning >in... really I have nothing else to say. Thanks for the comment on Chick Publications. I have never seen one of their publications, thankfully, but from what information I've seen about them, they are both ignorant and hate-filled . As for priests and nuns, the origins of each vocation are quite different. Putting them in the same category is a mistake, though easy enough to make. The office of priest is older. They are mentioned in the Bible, I believe, under the title " presbyter " , with bishops above them and deacons below them. Jesus did say " Do this in remembrance of Me." to the Apostles, and also, " I am with you always." To keep that command, and mindful of that reassurance, the Eucharist was celebrated. As the generation who lived in Christ's time began to die off, and the Second Coming didn't arrive as soon as had been thought, new offices had to be created by the Church, guided by the Spirit of course, to carry on their work. Nuns came later. That story is a little more complicated. It all started with martyrdoms. Christians, men and women, were executed for keeping the Faith by the Roman Empire. Facing death was the ultimate act of love for God. Then Constantine came along. Suddenly, the risk was gone. Now it was actually socially advantageous to be Christian. People who wanted to suffer for the Faith no longer became martyrs. So they started giving everything up, vowing to be poor and celibate, the way Christ was, and going into the desert as solitaries, to give their life to prayer, and to fight the demons that were said to live in the desert. Later, and slowly,starting with loose conglomerations, communities of men, called Brothers, vowed to poverty, chastity, and ( since they were communities), obedience, grew, and so did communities of women, taking the same vows, called Sisters. Such groups started out as Orders,(groups), of prayer, or contemplatives, but later Orders were also devoted to active service of many kinds. Some priests are also members of Orders. Some orders are entirely composed of priests, such as the Society of Jesus. There are also priests who live in community without the extra vows, such as the Oratorians, a group I am familiar with, since my parish is run by Oratorian priests. These groups are called Congregations. By the way, how does being Protestant make one closer to God ? Even by an outsider's standards, at least many of our canonized Saints were close to Him. If you want a modern example, Mother Teresa is a well-known and brilliant exemplar of Catholic Faith and of Christian love. Besides, we believe that at every Mass the Lord comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine. We eat the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus. How much closer can you get ! Yours in Christ, Donna Lewis Cor ad cor loquitur - " Heart speaks to heart " Gaudete semper - " Rejoice always "